JP2013082381A - Wheel position detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wheel position detecting device capable of discriminating positions of wheels at low cost.SOLUTION: The wheel position detecting device includes a mobile terminal held by a user which terminal has: a tire pneumatic pressure information acquisition unit for acquiring pieces of tire pneumatic pressure information containing wheel IDs of the plurality of wheels with tires which wheels are attached to a vehicle so as to discriminate the pneumatic pressure of the respective tires and the respective wheels; a wheel ID acquisition unit for acquiring the respective wheel IDs from the plurality of wheels other than the tire pneumatic pressure information; a wheel ID information generation unit for generating a piece of wheel ID information which reflects a position of the wheel to the acquired wheel ID; and a tire status information generation unit for generating a piece of tire status information relating to the piece of tire pneumatic pressure information to the position of the wheel based on the piece of tire pneumatic pressure information and the piece of wheel ID information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wheel position detection device that detects at which position of a vehicle a wheel is attached.

  One type of tire pressure detection device is a direct type. In this type of tire pressure detecting device, a transmitter equipped with a sensor such as a pressure sensor is directly attached to a wheel side to which a tire is attached. In addition, an antenna and a receiver are provided on the vehicle body side. When a detection signal from the sensor is transmitted from the transmitter, the detection signal is received by the receiver via the antenna, and tire pressure is detected. To be done.

  In such a direct tire pressure detecting device, the ID information determined for each wheel is included in the data transmitted from the transmitter, so that the wheel to which the transmitter is attached can be identified. ing. For this reason, if there is no ID information added for each wheel, it is impossible to determine which wheel corresponds to the data from the transmitter. That is, if the ID information is not used, it is impossible to detect at which position of the vehicle each transmitter is located.

  In the above configuration, when the position of the wheel is changed, such as tire rotation, the ID information of the rotated wheel must be read and the ID information registered so far must be re-registered. The tire pressure detector cannot cope with the wheel position change.

  Therefore, the transmitter side receives the trigger signal output from the vehicle body side trigger device, obtains the received strength, transmits the received strength data representing the obtained received strength to the receiver provided on the vehicle body side, and receives it. From the relationship between the order of magnitude of the received intensity represented by the received intensity data and the distance from the trigger machine to the transmitter attached to each of the plurality of wheels, the transmitter is assigned to any of the plurality of wheels. A wheel position detection device has been devised that can detect which wheel the transmitter is attached to by detecting whether the transmitter is attached without reading ID information by the user (Patent Document 1). reference).

JP 2007-015491 A

  In the configuration of Patent Document 1, a device (such as a transmitter or an antenna) for specifying a tire position such as a trigger machine must be added to the vehicle, which increases the cost of the wheel position detection device. Moreover, since it is necessary to adjust the attachment position and transmission output of a trigger machine for every vehicle, it becomes the hindrance of commonization and standardization of a wheel position detection apparatus.

  An example of the configuration of a conventional wheel position detection device will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 10, the wheel position detection device monitors four wheels 20a (right front wheel), 20b (left front wheel), 20c (right rear wheel), and 20d (left rear wheel) of the vehicle 12, respectively. An air pressure sensor (not shown) for detecting the tire air pressure, a wheel side communicator (not shown) for wirelessly transmitting tire air pressure information detected by the air pressure sensor to the vehicle body side, and a TPMS provided on the vehicle body side (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) The ECU 70 is configured to include the ECU 70.

  Further, an ID (so-called wheel ID) for identifying the air pressure sensor is given to the air pressure sensor of each wheel. Then, the tire pressure detected by the air pressure sensor and the wheel ID are transmitted to the TPMS ECU 70 as tire pressure information. FIG. 11 shows an example of tire pressure information. The wheel ID and the tire pressure are associated with each other, and each wheel is attached to the vehicle 12 as shown in FIG. 10, but in this state, the position of the wheel cannot be determined.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, communication devices 45a to 45d for detecting wheel positions are attached in the vicinity of each wheel on the vehicle body side. The communication range of the communicator 45 (generic name of 45a to 45d) is such that, for example, LF (Low Frequency: long wave) is used so that communication with only the wheel closest to the communicator is possible. It is small. Thereby, a wheel position can be determined, without setting the attachment position and transmission output of a trigger machine like patent document 1 for every vehicle. And after determining a wheel position, the result is displayed on a display part (refer to Drawing 2) of a meter device, for example (refer to Drawing 8).

  However, the configuration of FIG. 12 requires as many communicators for wheel position detection as the number of wheels, leading to an increase in cost. Further, the determination of the position of the wheel is not always performed as in tire rotation, tire replacement in winter, etc., or tire repair, and the cost-effectiveness is not necessarily good.

  Against the background of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a wheel position detection device capable of determining a wheel position at low cost.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  A wheel position detection device for solving the above-mentioned problems is a tire pressure information including a tire pressure of each of a plurality of wheels provided with a tire attached to a vehicle, and a wheel ID for identifying each wheel. In addition to the tire pressure information acquisition unit and the tire pressure information, a wheel ID acquisition unit that acquires each wheel ID from a plurality of wheels, and a wheel that reflects the position of the wheel in the acquired wheel ID A wheel ID information creating unit that creates ID information; and a tire state information creating unit that creates tire state information in which the position of the wheel is associated with the tire air pressure information based on the tire air pressure information and the wheel ID information. It has the portable terminal which possesses.

  With the above configuration, there is no need to attach a device for specifying a tire position such as a trigger machine to the vehicle body. In addition, the creation of tire condition information (that is, the specification of the tire position) may be performed at least during tire replacement or tire rotation, and the operation of obtaining the wheel ID from the wheel also confirms whether the wheel is properly attached. When this is done, it is only necessary to carry out the work as part of the work, so that the burden on the worker can be reduced.

  Each wheel in the wheel position detection device of the present invention includes a wheel ID information display unit including a wheel ID, and the wheel ID acquisition unit reads the wheel ID displayed on the wheel ID information display unit. Includes a reading unit.

  With the above configuration, the wheel ID can be acquired without transmitting the wheel ID from the wheel side to the mobile terminal. In addition, as described above, the wheel ID can be read while making a round around the vehicle while checking the state of the wheel when checking whether the wheel is normally attached, and the burden on the operator can be reduced. . For example, if the process of reading the wheel ID is performed on the condition that the wheel mounting state is visually confirmed, the accuracy and certainty of the wheel mounting work are increased. If the mobile terminal tries to acquire the wheel ID for each wheel wirelessly, the communication device 45 as shown in FIG. 12 is required, which increases the cost of the device.

  Each wheel in the wheel position detection device of the present invention includes a wheel ID information display unit including a wheel ID, and the wheel ID acquisition unit is a wheel ID displayed on the wheel ID information display unit by a user operation. An operation input unit for inputting.

  Even with the above configuration, it is not necessary to transmit the wheel ID from the wheel side to the mobile terminal. Also, the accuracy and certainty of the wheel mounting operation is increased.

  Moreover, the portable terminal in the wheel position detection device of the present invention includes a tire condition information output unit that outputs the tire condition information created by the tire condition information creation unit.

  With the above configuration, the tire condition information created by the portable terminal can be displayed or output to another in-vehicle apparatus or an apparatus outside the vehicle, and the tire condition information can be shared with these apparatuses.

  Further, the wheel position detection device of the present invention includes an air pressure detection unit that detects the tire air pressure, a wheel ID storage unit that stores a wheel ID, and a pneumatic pressure at a predetermined timing. A wheel-side transmitting unit that generates and transmits tire pressure information including a wheel ID, a vehicle-side receiving unit that is provided on the vehicle body side of the vehicle and receives tire pressure information, and A telematics device having a tire pressure information output unit that outputs tire pressure information to a portable terminal possessed by the user, and the tire pressure information acquisition unit acquires the tire pressure information output by the tire pressure information output unit .

  Telematics devices provide services mainly for the purpose of realizing safety and security functions in automobiles and improving convenience through information distribution. As the former, there is an automatic emergency call function linked with an airbag and a tracking function when a vehicle is stolen. In addition, as belonging to the latter, there are distribution of traffic information and weather forecasts based on transmitted current location and destination information, distribution of various information services such as maps and route guidance, and transmission / reception of e-mails. In addition, it is expected to play a part in the intelligent transportation system, and it is spreading. With the above configuration, the telematics device has the role of an in-vehicle information server or an information relay device, and the portable terminal is individually connected to an in-vehicle device (particularly an ECU) such as a tire pressure monitoring device in order to acquire specific information. There is no need for access. That is, the mobile terminal only needs to have a communication interface with the telematics device, and the in-vehicle device only needs to have a communication interface with the telematics device, so that the configuration of the wheel position detection device can be simplified.

  Moreover, the tire pressure information acquisition unit in the wheel position detection device of the present invention acquires tire pressure information by short-range wireless communication.

  Examples of short-range wireless communication include non-contact communication used for reading RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification: wireless IC tag) and short-range communication such as Bluetooth. Among them, Bluetooth (registered trademark) is one of the short-range wireless communication standards for digital devices, including personal computers mouse, keyboard, mobile phone, smartphone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant: personal digital assistant) It is used for wireless communication of relatively low-speed digital information such as text information and voice information. With the above-described configuration, the configuration of the present invention can be realized without adding a new circuit or the like to the mobile terminal by using the existing function of the above-described mobile terminal. In addition, since Bluetooth can communicate only between devices that have been previously paired, a third party cannot obtain tire pressure information without permission, and security can be ensured.

  Moreover, the portable terminal in the wheel position detection apparatus of this invention is contained in a telematics apparatus, and doubles as the portable communication terminal which communicates with the exterior.

  The telematics device receives data from the outside via a DCM (Data Communication Module) or a user's mobile phone. With the above configuration, this mobile phone (that is, the mobile communication terminal) is used as a mobile terminal in the wheel position detection device, so that it is not necessary to prepare a new mobile terminal and the cost of the wheel position detection device can be reduced. . Further, the user does not need to have a plurality of portable terminals.

The block diagram which shows the structure of a wheel position detection apparatus. The block diagram which shows the structure of a telematics apparatus, a portable terminal, and a meter apparatus. The flowchart explaining a tire condition information output process. The figure which shows an example of the content of wheel ID information. The figure which shows an example of the content of tire state information. The figure which shows the example of a display screen of the portable terminal at the time of wheel ID information acquisition. The figure which shows the example of a display screen of the portable machine at the time of the wheel ID information acquisition following FIG. The figure which shows the example of a display of the tire status information in a portable terminal. The flowchart explaining a tire pressure determination process. The figure which shows the structure of the conventional wheel position detection apparatus. The figure which shows an example of the content of tire pressure information. The figure which shows the structure of the conventional wheel position detection apparatus following FIG.

  Hereinafter, the wheel position detection device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a vehicle 12 equipped with a wheel position detection device 10 (as viewed from above the vehicle 12). The wheel position detection device 10 includes a tire pressure monitoring system, a telematics device 80, a portable terminal 90, and a meter device 100. The TPMS ECU 70 (details will be described later), the telematics device 80, and the meter device 100 included in the tire pressure monitoring system are communicably connected via an in-vehicle LAN 110.

  The tire pressure monitoring system includes four wheels 20a (right front wheel), 20b (left front wheel), and 20c (right rear wheel) of the vehicle 12, each including a wheel (not shown) and a tire (not shown). , 20d (left rear wheel), the air pressure sensors 30a to 30d for detecting the air pressure of the tires to be monitored, and the tire pressure information detected by the air pressure sensor 30 (generic name for 30a to 30d, hereinafter the same) are wirelessly transmitted to the vehicle body. Wheel side communication devices (abbreviated as “communication device” in the figure) 40a to 40d and TPMS ECU 70 provided on the vehicle body side.

  The air pressure sensor 30 is attached to a tire air chamber formed by a tire and a wheel of an air pressure adjusting valve (not shown) of the wheel 20 (generic name of the wheels 20a to 20d, hereinafter the same). And it is comprised so that the pressure of a tire air chamber may be detected, for example, a strain gauge type, a diaphragm type, or a semiconductor type pressure sensor can be used. The detection of the air pressure by the air pressure sensor 30 may be performed constantly or only when an instruction is given. The detected tire pressure is sent to the wheel side communication device 40 (generic name of 40a to 40d, hereinafter the same). The wheel side communication device 40 wirelessly transmits tire pressure information to the vehicle body side communication device 72. The air pressure sensor 30 corresponds to the air pressure detection unit of the present invention.

  Note that a valve cap (not shown) of the air pressure adjusting valve protrudes outside the wheel rim (not shown), and the valve cap is removed and an air supply device (not shown) is connected to the valve port (not shown). If a hose (not shown) is connected, air can be supplied to the tire air chamber.

  Further, each of the wheel side communication devices 40 is connected to memories 60a to 60d made of a nonvolatile storage medium such as a flash memory. In the memory 60 (generic name for 60a to 60d, the same applies hereinafter), wheel IDs, which are unique IDs assigned to identify the wheels, are stored, for example, as shown in FIG. The memory 60 can store data necessary for the operation of the air pressure sensor 30 and the wheel side communication device 40. The wheel side communication device 40 corresponds to the wheel side transmission unit of the present invention. The memory 60 corresponds to the wheel ID storage unit of the present invention.

  The air pressure sensor 30 and the wheel side communicator 40 are driven using a battery (not shown) as a power source. The wheel side communicator 40 also performs overall operation control of the wheel side unit including the air pressure sensor 30, the memory 60 and the like in addition to the communication with the vehicle body side communicator 72. Details of the configuration of the wheel side unit are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-264439.

  In addition, a bar code indicating a wheel ID is optically readable on a protrusion on the outside of the wheel rim of the air pressure adjusting valve mounted on each wheel or its valve cap, or on the wheel surface of the wheel 20. Labels 50a to 50d on which various characters or symbols are printed are affixed. The wheel ID may be imprinted on the cap or body of the air pressure adjusting valve or the outer surface of the wheel side unit. Further, the label 50 (generic name for 50a to 50d, hereinafter the same) may be configured with a known wireless IC tag (also referred to as an RFID tag) in which wheel IDs are stored. The label 50 corresponds to the wheel ID information display unit of the present invention.

  The TPMS ECU 70 includes a vehicle body side communication device 72, an input / output circuit 73 for exchanging signals with an external device, and a control unit 71 to which these are connected.

  The vehicle body side communication device 72 receives the tire pressure information from the wheel side communication device 40 and sends the received tire pressure information to the control unit 71. The vehicle body side communication device 72 is driven by using a battery (not shown) included in the vehicle body as a power source. The vehicle body side communication device 72 corresponds to the vehicle body side receiving unit of the present invention.

  The control unit 71 includes a known microcomputer composed of a CPU, ROM, RAM (all not shown) and the like, and its peripheral circuits. The control unit 71 outputs the transmitted tire air pressure information to the telematics device 80 via the in-vehicle LAN 110, for example.

  Further, the control unit 71 can also monitor the tire air pressure periodically by combining the tire air pressure information and the wheel mounting position, and determine the state of the wheel 20 based on the tire air pressure information (details will be described later). .

  The input / output circuit 73 is configured as, for example, a communication interface circuit for performing communication using the in-vehicle LAN 110 or a wireless communication circuit for performing wireless communication with an external device.

  The structure of the telematics apparatus 80, the portable terminal 90, and the meter apparatus 100 is demonstrated using FIG. The telematics device 80 includes a control unit 81 having the same configuration as the control unit 71 of the tire pressure monitoring system described above, and a memory 82 configured by a nonvolatile storage medium such as a flash memory connected to the control unit 81. An operation unit 83 constituted by a mechanical switch or a touch panel formed on the display unit 84, for example, a display unit 84 which is an LCD display, an input / output circuit 85 for exchanging signals with an external device, and a BT I / F 86 The communication I / F 87 is included.

  The BT I / F 86 is a communication interface circuit for performing communication with the mobile terminal 90 based on the above-described Bluetooth standard. The input / output circuit 85 and the BT I / F 86 correspond to the tire pressure information output unit of the present invention.

  The communication I / F 87 is a wireless communication circuit for communicating with an information distribution center or service center (both not shown) connected via a public communication network or a communication interface circuit of the in-vehicle LAN 110. Including at least one. The communication I / F 87 may be configured to use a communication I / F 97 of the portable terminal 90 described later. Moreover, it is good also as a structure containing the interface circuit for connecting with the portable terminal 90 in a straight line.

  The mobile terminal 90 is configured as part of the functions of a mobile phone, a smartphone, and a PDA, for example. Further, it may be a vehicle failure diagnosis terminal called a diagnostic tool. The portable terminal 90 includes a control unit 91 having the same configuration as the telematics device 80 described above, a memory 92 configured by a nonvolatile storage medium such as a flash memory connected to the control unit 91, a mechanical switch, or a display unit 94, an operation unit 93 composed of a touch panel, for example, a display unit 94 as an LCD display, an input / output circuit 95 for exchanging signals with an external device, a BT I / F 96, a communication I / F 97 , And a reading unit 98. The control unit 91 corresponds to a wheel ID information creation unit and a tire condition information creation unit of the present invention. The operation unit 93 corresponds to a wheel ID acquisition unit and an operation input unit of the present invention. The display unit 94 corresponds to the tire condition information output unit of the present invention.

  The BT I / F 96 is a communication interface circuit for performing communication with the telematics device 80 according to the above-described Bluetooth standard. The input / output circuit 95 and the BT I / F 96 correspond to a tire pressure information acquisition unit and a tire condition information output unit according to the present invention.

  Communication I / F 97 includes a wireless communication circuit for performing communication with an information distribution center or a service center (both not shown) instead of communication I / F 87 of telematics device 80. By doing so, the portable terminal 90 is included in the telematics device 80 and can also serve as a portable communication terminal that communicates with the outside. Further, a configuration including a communication interface circuit of the in-vehicle LAN 110 or a configuration including an interface circuit for making a straight line connection with the telematics device 80 may be adopted.

  The reading unit 98 is configured to include at least one of an optical reading device such as a barcode reader or an RFID reader, and reads the display content or stored content of the label 50. The reading unit 98 corresponds to a wheel ID acquisition unit and a wheel ID information reading unit of the present invention.

  The meter device 100 is provided, for example, in an instrument panel in front of the driver's seat, and is for displaying information such as vehicle speed, engine speed, water temperature, fuel remaining amount, and the like. As described above, the meter device 100 includes the display unit 101 that displays tire pressure information output from the tire pressure monitoring system (that is, the TPMS ECU 70). The display unit 101 corresponds to the tire condition information output unit of the present invention.

In addition to the configurations of FIGS. 1 and 2, the wheel position detection device may be configured as follows.
The tire condition information is displayed on the display unit 94 of the mobile terminal 90 or the display unit 84 of the telematics device 80 without including the meter device 100.
The tire pressure monitoring system includes only the wheel side unit (the air pressure sensor 30, the wheel side communication device 40, the label 50, the memory 60), and the function of the TPMS ECU 70 is included in the telematics device 80.

  The tire condition information output process executed in the control unit 91 of the mobile terminal 90 will be described with reference to FIG. This process is included in the portable terminal control program stored in the ROM (not shown) included in the control unit 91, and the CPU (not shown) included in the control unit 91 is included in the program. It is repeatedly executed at a predetermined timing together with other processing.

  First, the control unit 91 acquires tire air pressure information (see FIG. 11) including the tire air pressure and the wheel ID of the wheel 20 by any of the following methods (S11). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a “tire pressure information” button is displayed on the display unit 94 of the mobile terminal 90 that also serves as a touch panel. When this button is touched, acquisition of tire pressure information is started.

-Tire pressure information is acquired from the telematics device 80 by wired communication or Bluetooth communication. In this case, tire pressure information is output from the tire pressure monitoring system (ie, TPMS ECU 70) to the telematics device 80 at a predetermined timing, and the telematics device 80 stores the tire pressure information in the memory 82.
・ The tire pressure information is acquired wirelessly from the TPMS ECU 70. In this case, the communication I / F 97 is configured to be able to communicate with the vehicle body side communication device 72.
-Obtain tire pressure information directly from the air pressure sensor 30 wirelessly. In this case, the communication I / F 97 is configured to be able to communicate with the wheel side communication device 40.
As described above, since it is not limited to the acquisition source of tire air pressure information, the wheel position detection device only needs to include the portable terminal 90 at a minimum.

  In the telematics device 80, a configuration in which information from other in-vehicle devices such as a tire pressure monitoring system is acquired and centrally managed and has a role as an information server or an information relay device, that is, from the telematics device 80, The configuration for acquiring tire pressure information can simplify the information flow and the configuration of the communication line and the communication I / F. Therefore, the configuration of the present invention includes a mobile terminal possessed by the user and an information server device mounted on the vehicle, and the information server device obtains vehicle state information acquired or calculated by the in-vehicle device from other in-vehicle devices. A server-side vehicle state information acquisition unit to acquire and a vehicle state information storage unit to store the acquired vehicle state information, and the portable terminal is a vehicle state predetermined from the vehicle state information stored in the information server device It can also be referred to as a vehicle information processing apparatus having a mobile terminal side vehicle state information acquisition unit that acquires information and an output unit that performs a predetermined calculation based on the acquired vehicle state information and outputs the result.

Next, the wheel ID information (wheel ID and wheel position) is acquired from each wheel by the reading unit 98 using any of the following methods (S12).
When an optically readable symbol or character such as a barcode is printed on the label 50, the wheel ID is read by the reading unit 98 including an optical reading device.
When the label 50 is composed of a wireless IC tag, a signal from the wireless IC tag is received by the reading unit 98 including an RFID reader to read the wheel ID.
When the wheel ID is stamped on the air pressure adjusting valve or its cap, the reading unit 98 is configured to include a camera and a known image processing circuit, and recognizes the wheel ID by processing an image captured by the camera.

  When the wheel ID information is acquired, as shown in FIG. 6, a “wheel ID” button is displayed on the display unit 94 of the portable terminal 90 that also serves as a touch panel. An ID input screen is displayed. Here, according to the screen display, the mobile terminal 90 is brought close to each wheel in order of the left front wheel 20b → the right front wheel 20a → the left rear wheel 20d → the right rear wheel 20c (preferably, it is held in the vicinity of the wheel side unit). To get. Alternatively, the wheel ID is input by operating the operation unit 93. Thereafter, when the “Done” button is touched, the acquired wheel ID is associated with the position of the wheel and stored as wheel ID information (see FIG. 4) in the memory 92 or a RAM (not shown) in the control unit 91. The

  That is, the acquisition of the wheel ID information is performed in a non-contact state with the wheel 20 based on the wheel ID reading request from the mobile terminal 90.

  Returning to FIG. 3, when the wheel ID information of all the wheels is acquired and the “complete” button is touched in FIG. 7 (S13: Yes), tire pressure information (wheel ID and tire pressure, see FIG. 11) and wheels Based on the ID information (wheel ID and wheel position, see FIG. 4), the position of each wheel is determined, and tire state information associating each wheel position tire pressure information as shown in FIG. 5 is created (S14).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when the tire pressure is acquired, the tire state information can be stored for each vehicle as long as the vehicle ID for identifying the vehicle can be acquired. In other words, tire status information of a plurality of vehicles can be stored and managed with one mobile terminal, and a user who owns a plurality of vehicles can store tire status information of all vehicles with his / her mobile phone or the like. I can grasp it. There is no need to prepare a mobile terminal for each vehicle. The vehicle ID is stored in advance in the memory 82 of the telematics device 80, for example.

Returning to FIG. 3, the created tire condition information is output (S15). The output form uses at least one of the following.
As shown in FIG. 8, the tire pressure corresponding to the wheel position is displayed on the display unit 94.
Outputs tire condition information to the telematics device 80. The telematics device 80 stores the acquired tire condition information in the memory 82.
-Outputs tire condition information to the meter device 100. The meter device 100 displays the tire pressure corresponding to the wheel position on the display unit 101 as shown in FIG.

  Further, the TPMS ECU 70 may acquire tire state information from the telematics device 80 and determine whether or not the tire air pressure as shown in FIG. 9 is appropriate. If the tire pressure is not appropriate, a warning output to that effect is output to an external device, or a warning is displayed on a display unit (not shown) connected to the TPMS ECU 70. These processes are executed in such a manner that a CPU (not shown) included in the control unit 71 executes a control program stored in its own ROM (not shown).

  The tire air pressure determination process executed in the control unit 91 of the mobile terminal 90 will be described with reference to FIG. This process is included in the mobile terminal control program stored in the ROM (not shown) included in the control unit 91 described above, and at a predetermined timing together with other processes included in the program. A CPU (not shown) included in 91 is repeatedly executed.

  First, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a “tire pressure determination” button is displayed on the display unit 94 of the portable terminal 90, the tire condition information is acquired by touching this button (S31). That is, tire state information is read from the memory 92. When the telematics device 80 stores the tire condition information, the tire condition information is acquired from the telematics device 80. If the telematics device 80 manages the tire condition information, it can be communicated with the telematics device 80 (of course, limited to those satisfying the security conditions), even in other portable terminals that are not used for wheel position detection. Tire pressure can be determined.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the tire pressure included in the tire condition information is within a predetermined numerical range, that is, whether or not the tire pressure is appropriate (S32). For example, a numerical range is set for each wheel position, such as a front wheel and a rear wheel, and stored in the memory 92. Of course, a numerical range can also be set by an operation input from the operation unit 93 of the user. When the tire state information is obtained from the telematics device 80, a numerical range may be obtained together with the tire state information.

  In addition to determining whether the tire pressure is appropriate, whether the difference between the left and right tire pressures is within a predetermined numerical range, that is, whether the difference between the left and right tire pressures is appropriate. You may judge. If the difference in tire pressure between the left and right tires is too large, it will affect the ride comfort.

When the determination of tire air pressure is completed for all wheels (S33: Yes), the result is output (S34). The output form uses at least one of the following.
The determination result is displayed on the display unit 94. At this time, the display design (i.e., display color, display shading, display brightness, display pattern, etc.) of a wheel where the tire pressure is not appropriate or the difference between the right and left tire pressures is different from the appropriate wheel. To.

  For example, when the tire condition information is as shown in FIG. 5, the range of appropriate values for the front tire pressure is 250 to 200 kPa, the range of appropriate values for the rear tire pressure is 150 to 120 kPa, and the left and right tire pressures. If the range of the appropriate value of the difference between 0 and 20 kPa is within the appropriate range for both the left and right tires, the difference between the left and right tire pressures is too large. For example, in FIG. At least one display design of the numerical values of the air pressure is different from that at the normal time. Further, since the tire pressure of the right rear wheel is below the appropriate range, at least one of the display designs of the right rear wheel tire and the tire air pressure value is different from that in the normal state. Even on the rear wheels, the difference in tire pressure between the left and right tires is too large, but abnormal tire pressure is displayed with priority.

The determination result is output to the telematics device 80. The telematics device 80 stores the acquired determination result in the memory 82.

  In the configuration of FIG. 9, the portable terminal uses a tire pressure determination unit that determines whether the tire pressure of the tire of each wheel is within a predetermined range based on the tire state information, and a tire pressure determination unit. And a determination result output unit that outputs a determination result according to. With this configuration, unlike the conventional tire pressure monitoring device, the state of the tire pressure can be confirmed even from outside the vehicle without unlocking the door. That is, once the tire condition information is created, the condition of the tire pressure can be confirmed even in a place where the tire pressure information and the wheel ID information cannot be acquired.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be used without departing from the spirit of the claims. Various modifications based on this are possible.

20 Wheel 30 Air Pressure Sensor (Tire Pressure Monitoring Device, Wheel Side Unit, Air Pressure Detection Unit)
40 Wheel side communication device (tire pressure monitoring device, wheel side unit, wheel side transmitter)
50 label (wheel ID information display part)
60 memory (tire pressure monitoring device, wheel unit, wheel ID storage unit)
70 TPMS ECU (tire pressure monitoring device, wheel side unit)
71 Control unit 72 Car body side communication device (vehicle body side receiving unit)
80 Telematics device 85 Input / output circuit (tire pressure information output unit, tire condition information output unit)
86 BT I / F (tire pressure information output section, tire condition information output section)
90 mobile terminal 91 control unit (wheel ID information creation unit, tire condition information creation unit)
93 Operation part (wheel ID acquisition part, operation input part)
94 Display section (tire condition information output section)
95 Input / output circuit (tire pressure information acquisition unit)
96 BT I / F (Tire Pressure Information Acquisition Unit)
98 Reading unit (wheel ID acquisition unit, wheel ID information reading unit)
100 Meter device 101 Display unit (tire condition information output unit)

Claims (7)

A tire pressure information acquisition unit for acquiring tire pressure information including a tire ID of each of a plurality of wheels provided with a tire, and a wheel ID for identifying each wheel;
Aside from the tire pressure information, a wheel ID acquisition unit that acquires each of the wheel IDs from the plurality of wheels;
A wheel ID information creating unit for creating wheel ID information reflecting the position of the wheel in the obtained wheel ID;
Based on the tire pressure information and the wheel ID information, a tire condition information creating unit that creates tire condition information in which the position of the wheel is associated with the tire pressure information;
A wheel position detection device comprising a portable terminal possessed by a user. Each wheel includes a wheel ID information display unit including the wheel ID,
The wheel position detection device according to claim 1, wherein the wheel ID acquisition unit includes a wheel ID information reading unit that reads the wheel ID displayed on the wheel ID information display unit. Each wheel includes a wheel ID information display unit including the wheel ID,
The wheel position detection device according to claim 1, wherein the wheel ID acquisition unit includes an operation input unit that inputs the wheel ID displayed on the wheel ID information display unit by the operation of the user.   The wheel position detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the portable terminal includes a tire condition information output unit that outputs the tire condition information created by the tire condition information creation unit. Provided on each of the wheels,
An air pressure detecting unit for detecting the air pressure of the tire;
A wheel ID storage unit for storing the wheel ID;
A wheel-side transmitter that creates and transmits tire pressure information including the air pressure and the wheel ID at a predetermined timing;
A tire pressure monitoring device comprising:
A vehicle body side receiving unit provided on the vehicle body side of the vehicle for receiving the tire air pressure information;
A tire pressure information output unit for outputting the received tire pressure information to a portable terminal possessed by the user;
A telematics device having:
With
The wheel position detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tire pressure information acquisition unit acquires the tire pressure information output by the tire pressure information output unit.   The wheel position detection device according to claim 5, wherein the tire pressure information acquisition unit acquires the tire pressure information by short-range wireless communication.   The wheel position detection device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the mobile terminal is also included in the telematics device and serves also as a mobile communication terminal that communicates with the outside.

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