Patent ID: 7348878

Claim:
A pressure monitoring system for a plurality of tires installed on wheels of a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle being potentially assembled from component sections including tractor and trailers, the pressure management system comprising: a radio frequency identification tag installed on each of the plurality of tires and identifying particular tires with a code, specific to that tire; a plurality of pressure sensors with radio transmitters mounted in communication with valve stems on the wheels, the radio transmitters providing for relay of the codes for the tires mounted on the wheels and for transmission of pressure measurements; a radio repeater installed on a trailer having a communication link with at least a first of the pressure sensors with radio transmitters; a tire pressure management system receiver installed on the tractor having a controller area network interface and further capable of establishing a radio link with the pressure sensors directly or through the radio repeater; a controller area network coupled to the tire pressure management receiver; a body computer connected to the controller area network for exchanging data with the tire pressure management system receiver and for execution of software modules implementing the tire pressure management system; the radio repeater having local data processing facilities allowing determination of variance in pressure readings reported by said at least first of the pressure sensors from preestablished norms; means under the control of the radio repeater for displaying indication of a tire pressure variance from the preestablished norms; the radio frequency identification tags installed on the tires further including a sidewall temperature sensor; the pressure sensors including means for interrogating the radio frequency identification tags for the unique code and the temperature readings; means for retransmitting the unique code and the temperature readings with pressure readings generated by the pressure sensor; and means for responsive to the sidewall temperature readings and pressure readings for generating temperature compensated pressure estimates.