Patent Publication Number: US-2018033216-A1

Title: Vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a vehicle meter, particularly to one able to connect with an external apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A current vehicle is usually provided with an engine control unit (ECU in abbreviation), which is connected with various sensors, such as an oil pressure sensor or a water temperature sensor, for monitoring vehicle driving conditions, but data sensed and obtained by the sensors will not necessarily display on the instrument panel of the vehicle; therefore, a user has to set up an external meter by himself for watching data changes of the sensors. Generally speaking, the external meter is first connected with the sensors via a signal line for capturing the data output by the sensors and then, the data are interpreted via built-in interpretation circuit of the external meter and subsequently, the interpreted data are shown on the display of the external meter for users to watch. 
     Although foresaid conventional external meter enables a user to read the data obtained by the sensors of the vehicle when driving, but the external meter can only let the user read the sensor data of the vehicle in the moment of driving but cannot have the data downloaded and recorded to an external apparatus, such as a cell phone, for the convenience of subsequent data analysis and data sharing with other users. Therefore, the inventor of his invention has observed foresaid drawback and thinks that the conventional external meter is necessary to be ameliorated and hence devises this invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The objective of this invention is to offer a vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus for transmitting data mutually. 
     The vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention includes a main body installed at the center console of a vehicle. The main body has its interior formed with an accommodating space and its outer side provided with an opening communicating with the accommodating space. A control unit received in the accommodating space of the main body is electrically connected with a connection module, a processing module and a transmission module. The connection module is electrically connected with the sensor of the vehicle for capturing an original datum produced by the sensor, and the processing module can decode the original datum into a decoded datum, while the transmission module can transmit the decoded datum to an external apparatus and receive a control command transmitted by the external apparatus. A display unit is provided at the location of the opening of the main body and electrically connected with the control unit for receiving and displaying the decoded datum. 
     The vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus of this invention can first capture the original datum and decode the original datum into the decoded datum and then the decoded datum is shown on the display unit for the user to watch the decoded datum of the vehicle in real time and simultaneously, the decoded datum of the vehicle is transmitted to the external apparatus via the transmission module. Thus, after driving the vehicle, the user can glance over the changes of data of the vehicle from the external apparatus for carrying out subsequent data analysis or data sharing with other users. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of a vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the first preferred embodiment of the vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the first preferred embodiment of the vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in use in the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the first preferred embodiment of the vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention, showing that the vehicle meter is changed in color; and 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a second preferred embodiment of a vehicle meter able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention; 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A first preferred embodiment of a vehicle meter  100  able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention, as show in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , includes a main body  10 , a control unit  20  and a display unit  30  as main components combined together. 
     The main body  10  installed at the center console of a vehicle  200  has its interior formed with an accommodating space  11  and its outer side provided with an opening  12  communicating with the accommodating space  11 . 
     The control unit  20  received in the accommodating space  11  of the main body  10  is electrically connected with a connection module  21 , a processing module  22 , a transmission module  23 , a database module  24  and a recoding module  25 . The connection module  21  is electrically connected with the sensor  201  of the vehicle  200  for capturing an original datum produced by the sensor  201 . The processing module  22  can decode the original datum into a decoded datum. The transmission module  23  is able to transmit the decoded datum to an external apparatus  300 , as shown in  FIG. 3  and receive a control command transmitted by the external apparatus  300  and in this preferred embodiment, the transmission module  23  is a Bluetooth device able to connect with the external apparatus  300  by wireless through Bluetooth transfer protocol. The database module  24  has built-in basic information of a plurality of vehicle types, the basic information consisting of a sensor coding comparison table of corresponding vehicle types and color of interior lights of corresponding vehicle types. The recoding module  25  is employed to record the decoded datum. 
     The display unit  30  is provided at the location of the opening  12  of the main body  10  and electrically connected with the control unit  20  for displaying the data obtained by the control unit  20 , and the display unit  30  is provided with a variable color backlight module  31  able to be controlled by the control unit  20  to carry out changes of color. 
     In use, referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , firstly, have the vehicle meter  100  installed at the center console of the vehicle  200 , preferably installed at a location adjacent to the instrument panel of the vehicle  200  for facilitating watching of the vehicle meter  100  and then, have the connection module  21  connected between the sensor  201  and the engine control unit  202  of the vehicle  200  by means of a Y-shaped connecting line  400  for capturing the original datum produced by the sensor  201 . At this time, since the data coding modes produced by the sensors of various vehicles are different; therefore, a user must have the transmission module  23  connecting with the external apparatus  300  and have the external apparatus  300  transmitting the control command to the processing module  22  for controlling the processing module  22  to select corresponding vehicle types and obtain the sensor coding comparison table of the corresponding vehicle types from the database module  24 . Thus, by making use of a way of data comparison, the processing module  22  can smoothly decode the original datum into the decoded datum and can further have the decoded datum carrying out real-time display via the display module  30  to enable the user to watch and know the real-time condition of the vehicle at present. Simultaneously, the decoded datum can be transmitted to the external apparatus  300  via the transmission module  23  so that, after driving the vehicle  200 , the user can glance over the data changes of the vehicle  200  from the external apparatus  300  for carrying out subsequent data analysis and data sharing with other users. 
     One special feature of this invention is that the recording module  25  can further be employed to record historical data of the decoded data and thus, after driving the vehicle  200 , the user can once download all the data in the recording module  25  through the external apparatus  300 . 
     Another special feature of this invention is that the database module  24  is provided therein with built-in data of interior light color of corresponding vehicle types; therefore, when a user makes use of the external apparatus  30  to control the processing module  22  to select corresponding vehicle types, the processing module  22  can also obtain the interior light color of corresponding vehicle types from the database module  24  and control the variable color backlight module  31  of the display module  30  to change color, letting the light color of the vehicle meter  100  become consistent with the interior light color of the vehicle and further letting the vehicle meter  100  harmonize with the color matching of the central console of the vehicle  200  and never appear abrupt. 
     A second preferred embodiment of a vehicle meter  100  able to connect with an external apparatus in the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 5 , has the same structure as that of the first preferred embodiment, except that the external apparatus  300  is a notebook computer, and the transmission module  23  is a signal terminal able to connect with the external apparatus  300  by a connecting wire, thus attaining the same effect as that of the first preferred embodiment. 
     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications that may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.