Abstract:
A tire detection apparatus detects the conditions of a tire of a vehicle and a host device controls a voice broadcasting device to make voice broadcasting of the result of detection. An operation device is also provided to allow for a driver of the vehicle to operate the apparatus. With the driver&#39;s operation of the operation device, the voice broadcasting device of the host device can timely broadcast the result of tire detection to the driver. A forced broadcasting mechanism is also provided, which helps eliminating the situation where a fault normal condition of the tire is incorrectly recognized by the driver due to unawareness of abnormality of the apparatus and thus improving driving safety.

Description:
(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention generally relates to a tire detection apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus that detects the condition of a tire and thus makes a voice broadcasting of the result of tire detection and also allows for forced broadcasting that generates voice message at any desired time. 
       (b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
       [0002]    Tires are important parts of a vehicle. Besides tracks and caterpillar bands, tires are the heavily depended by the most on-ground vehicles for movement. Tires are made of rubber materials. Due to the difference in the manufacturing processes adopted by different manufacturers, different rubber additives, and different tread patterns, tires from different manufacturers and of different modes have significant difference in respect of durability, water expulsion, road gripping, and noise. 
         [0003]    Tire pressure and temperature are also important issues for tires when the tires are running on a road. This is important to maintain service life of the tires and eliminate potential risks of tire explosion and thus ensure driving safety. Probably due to bad driving habit or simply due to abnormality of detection instruments, drivers are often reluctant to detect the tire pressure and temperature. This is often a more severe problem when a vehicle is put in operation for the tire pressure and temperature will increase with the movement of the vehicle. This issue gets noticed recently and some techniques are currently available for detection and alarming improper tire pressure and temperature, such as Taiwan Patent Nos. I295975, I233402, and I296241 and Taiwan Utility Model No. M318528. However, those known techniques can still be further improved and the present invention is made to provide a tire detection apparatus for such a purpose. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention provides a tire detection apparatus that detects the conditions of a tire of a vehicle and broadcasts the result of detection with voice. Further, the tire detection apparatus of the present invention provides a forced broadcasting mechanism, which allows a driver of the vehicle to force the apparatus to provide tire condition broadcasting at any desired time, whereby fault result of detection that leads to misrecognition of normal condition of the tire caused by malfunctioning of the apparatus can be eliminated to ensure driving safety. 
         [0005]    For such a purpose, the present invention provides a tire detection apparatus that comprises a host device, a plurality of tire detection modules and an operation device. The host device comprises a CUP based control system, a wireless signal receiving device, and a voice broadcasting device. The tire detection modules are respectively mounted to tires of a vehicle. Each tire detection module functions to detect the detectable parameters of the respective tire and transmits the result of detection with wireless signals to the host device. The host device, after processing the result of detection and determining an abnormal condition occurs, drives the voice broadcasting device to broadcast the abnormal condition with voice. The operation device is operable by a user to cause the host device to supply an out signal that forces the voice broadcasting device to carry out immediate broadcasting. 
         [0006]    Another objective of the present invention is to provide a tire detection apparatus that comprises an operation device that is set in connection with a host device in a wireless remote-control manner. By separating the operation device from the host device, the installation of the host device is not subjected to any location constrain. Further, a driver, when leaving the vehicle, is also allowed to carry out remote control of the tire detection apparatus with the operation device. 
         [0007]    A further objective of the present invention is to provide a tire detection apparatus that comprises an operation device set in wired connection with a host device, so that the installation of the host device can be done at a site where operation of the apparatus by a user or vehicle driver can be conveniently carried out to facilitate the convenience of the apparatus by the driver. 
         [0008]    The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts. 
         [0009]    Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a tire detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating the setting operation of the tire detection apparatus for tires of a vehicle. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a tire detection apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a tire detection apparatus according to a further embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0014]    The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. 
         [0015]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the present invention provides a tire detection apparatus, generally designated at  1 , which comprises at least a host device  11 , a plurality of tire detection modules  12 , and an operation device  13 . 
         [0016]    The host device  11  comprises a CPU based control system  111 , a wireless signal receiving device  112 , and a voice broadcasting device  113 . 
         [0017]    The tire detection modules  12  are respectively mounted in tires of a vehicle. 
         [0018]    The operation device  13  is operable to provide signal outputs, with which the CPU based control system  111  controls the voice broadcasting device  113  to perform a broadcasting operation. 
         [0019]    To practice, the CPU based control system  111  of the host device  11  are connected to the wireless signal receiving device  112  and the voice broadcasting device  113 . The CPU based control system  111  is pre-loaded with reference values of detectable parameters of tires, such as reference tire pressure, reference temperature, and reference voltage. The wireless signal receiving device  112  of the host device  11  functions to receive wireless signals transmitted from the tire detection modules  12  of the tires and a wireless signal from the operation device  13 . 
         [0020]    Each of the tire detection modules  12  comprises a detector  121 , a high-frequency wireless transmitter  122 , a low-frequency wireless receiver  123 , and a battery  124 . Each tire detection module  12  uses the detector  121  to timely detect the conditions of the respective tire, such as tire pressure, temperature, and voltage level of the battery  124  and transmits the detected data in wireless signals through the high-frequency wireless transmitter  122  to the host device  11 . The host device  11  receives the wireless signals through the wireless signal receiving device  112  and conveys the received wireless signals to the CPU based control system  111  for comparison. If the result of comparison indicates that the tire conditions do not exceed the preset reference values, the CPU based control system  111  takes no action; on the other hand, if the comparison indicates that any item of the tire conditions exceeds the respective reference value, the CPU based control system  111  generates and supplies an output signal to instruct the voice broadcasting device  113  to perform voice broadcasting, by which a driver of the vehicle may be notified of the tire conditions. 
         [0021]    The high-frequency wireless transmitter  122  of the tire detection module  12  can be operated in such a mode of transmission that the transmission is done in an intermittent manner at a preset time interval in order to reduce power consumption of the battery  124 . The voice broadcasting device  113  of the host device  11  can be structured to provide a fixed broadcasting mode to remind a driver of a condition that one of the tire parameters exceeds the reference value, or alternatively, a variable broadcasting mode can be arranged to change the contents of broadcasting according to the result of detection mentioned above in order to more precisely handle the practical situations of the tires and enhance alarming effect. 
         [0022]    Alternatively, the CPU based control system  111  can be arranged in such a way that after the first time or first several times of broadcasting of a situation made by the voice broadcasting device  113 , the broadcasting is then temporarily suspended and switched to the intermittent broadcasting mode that makes broadcasting only at a preset time interval in order to avoid interference with the driver with successive and repeated voice broadcasting. Or, the operation device  13  may be operated to issue a signal that is used to instruct the CPU based control system  111  to provide a signal output for temporarily suspending the broadcasting operation of the voice broadcasting device  113 , resulting in silencing, and again helping reducing interference with the driver by “over-broadcasting”. 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the corresponding tire that is indicated by a tire detection module  12  mounted thereto can be set through the host device  11 , the tire detection module  12 , and the operation device  13  and also through a low-frequency wireless transmitting device  2 . The operation of setting is started by activating the electrical power system of the vehicle to which the tire is mounted and also turning on the operation device  13 , and at this point, the host device  11  enters a setting mode. The voice broadcasting device  113  of the host device  11  notifies the beginning of the setting mode with voice broadcasting. The broadcasting provided by the voice broadcasting device  113  also help identifying the sequence of operation of setting. An operator or user holds and brings the low-frequency wireless transmitting device  2  close to the tire and activates the low-frequency wireless transmitting device  2  to issue a low frequency wireless signal, which will be received by the low-frequency wireless receiver  123  of the tire detection modules  12  mounted in the tire, whereby the high-frequency wireless transmitter  122  of the tire detection modules  12  automatically issues a high frequency wireless signal. The high frequency wireless signal is received by the wireless signal receiving device  112  of the host device  11  and transmitted to the CPU based control system  111  of the host device  11 . The setting operation can thus be completed through electronic logic circuit included in the CPU based control system  111 . After the completion of the setting operation for each tire according to present invention, the voice broadcasting device  113  of the host device  11  makes broadcasting to indicate the completion of the operation to help the user to confirm the completion of the operation. Broadcasting may also be made in respect of the next tire to be set, so that the user may carry out the setting operation in correct sequence. Once all the tires of the vehicle are properly set, the voice broadcasting device  113  makes an ending broadcasting to indicate the completion of setting of all tires. 
         [0024]    To allow a driver of a vehicle to timely aware of the normal operation of the present invention, a real-time forced broadcasting operation can be carried out by the voice broadcasting device  113  as being controlled by using the operation device  13  of the present invention. Namely, the operation device  13  is manually operated to issue a wireless signal, which is received by the wireless signal receiving device  112  of the host device  11  and applied to the CPU based control system  111 . After receiving the signal, the CPU based control system  111  immediately supplies an output signal to instruct the voice broadcasting device  113  to carry out an instantaneous broadcasting. Since at that moment, the tire detection module  12  is in transmission of tire condition data through the detector  121  thereof, the voice broadcasting device  113  will broadcast the tire conditions detected and transmitted at that moment. In other words, even the conditions of tire that are detected by the tire detection module  12  at that moment are not abnormal, the voice broadcasting device  113  is still activated to broadcast the tire conditions. After the real-time tire condition broadcasting made by the voice broadcasting device  113  is completed, the CPU based control system  111 , which is of a proper design, may issue a signal to stop the broadcasting operation of the voice broadcasting device  113  and make the voice broadcasting device  113  resuming a mode where only abnormal conditions of the tire will be broadcast. The driver may get aware of the tire conditions in a real time manner through the forced broadcasting mechanism and through such a mechanism, the driver may realize if the tire detection apparatus  1  of the present invention is in a normal condition for detection operation. 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , another embodiment of the present invention is provided, in which modification is made to the connection between the operation device  13  and the host device  11  to accommodate variations in different applications. The operation device  13  is set in wired connection to the host device  11 , or alternatively, the operation device  13  is combined with the host device  11  as a unitary device. For both cases, namely the operation device  13  being in wired connection with the host device  11  or being combined together as a unitary device, through proper design of electronic circuit, the CPU based control system  111  of the host device  11  is still under control by the operation device  13 , whereby for real time and forced broadcasting, the driver may operate the operation device  13  to cause the CPU based control system  111  to instruct the voice broadcasting device  113  to carry out forced broadcasting. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , in a further modification according to the present invention, the host device  11  is connected to a display device  3 . Through proper design of electronic circuit, when the voice broadcasting device  113  of the host device  11  is making a broadcasting of tire conditions, the display device  3  may show the contents of the broadcasting at the same time. Thus, besides audio alarm, the present invention may also provide visual alarm. 
         [0027]    With the forced broadcasting mechanism according to the present invention, a driver of a vehicle may timely realize if the tire detection apparatus of the present invention is in normal operation. For a vehicle that has been not put into operation for quite a long time, before it to be driven again, a simple operation of the operation device  13  can tell the current conditions of the tires of the vehicle and also identify if the tire detection apparatus is in normal operation. This helps ensuring driving safety for the driver of the vehicle. 
         [0028]    While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.