Patent ID: 6960994

Claim:
A vehicle tire information obtaining apparatus for obtaining tire information relating to a plurality of tires of a vehicle which include a mounted tire mounted on an axle of the vehicle and a non-mounted tire carried by the vehicle, said apparatus comprising: tire state detectors which are provided in the respective tires and each of which detects a state of a corresponding one of said tires; transmitters which are provided in the respective tires and which transmit tire data sets, as said tire information, each containing at least one tire-state data element representative of the detected state of a corresponding one of said tires; a receiver which is provided in a body of the vehicle and which receives said tire data sets transmitted by said transmitters; and a non-mounted-tire information separator which separates one of said tire data sets that has been transmitted from said non-mounted tire, from one of said tire data sets that has been transmitted from said mounted tire, wherein said at least one tire-state data element, which represents the detected state of the corresponding one of said tires, includes at least one of a temperature data representative of a temperature of the corresponding tire, an air pressure data representative of an air pressure of said corresponding tire, a shape data representative of a shape of said corresponding tire, an applied-force data representative of a force applied to said corresponding tire, and a motion data representative of a motion of said corresponding tire, and wherein said non-mounted-tire information separator includes a tire-state-basis determining portion which automatically determines whether each of said tire data sets received by said receiver has been transmitted from said non-mounted tire or not, on the basis of said at least one tire-state data element which is contained in said each of said tire data sets.