Patent ID: 7817026

Claim:
A wheel position detection apparatus for relating a plurality of tires of a vehicle to positions of respectively corresponding wheels of said vehicle, said wheels comprising a left-side front wheel, a right-side front wheel, a right-side rear wheel and a left-side rear wheel, and said apparatus comprising a plurality of transceiver apparatuses each attached to a corresponding one of said wheels, each said transceiver apparatus comprising a receiving unit formed to receive a externally transmitted trigger signals, a processing unit formed to derive a data frame containing wheel position data indicative of a position of said corresponding wheel, and a transmitter unit formed to transmit said data frame, a first triggering device disposed in a body of said vehicle and formed to transmit a trigger signal conveying a first trigger command toward said left-side front wheel and said right-side front wheel, and a second triggering device disposed in said body and formed to transmit a trigger signal conveying a second trigger command toward said left-side rear wheel and said right-side rear wheel, and a receiver apparatus comprising a receiving unit formed to receive each of said data frames respectively transmitted from said transceiver apparatuses, and a controlling unit formed to process each of said received data frames, for identifying a wheel carrying a transceiver apparatus which transmitted said received data frame as being a specific one of said left-side front wheel, said right-side front wheel, said left-side rear wheel and said right-side rear wheel; wherein said processing unit of each of said transceiver apparatuses comprises: a trigger signal strength measurement unit formed to detect a value of received signal strength of said received trigger signal; a front/rear position determination unit formed to judge whether a trigger signal conveying said first trigger command or said second trigger command is received, and to determine whether said corresponding wheel of said each transceiver apparatus is a front wheel or a rear wheel of said vehicle, based on results of said judgment; a left/right position determination unit formed to judge a received signal strength of said received trigger signal, and to determine whether said corresponding wheel is a left-side wheel or a right-side wheel of said vehicle, based on results of said received signal strength judgment; and a wheel position determination unit formed to determine which of said left-side front wheel, said right-side front wheel, said left-side rear wheel and said right-side rear wheel is said corresponding wheel, based on a combination of respective results obtained by said front/rear position determination unit and by said left/right position determination unit.