Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Kenichi Tamagawa

Yukio Miura

Satoshi Hayasaka

Hideki Masudaya

Tsukasa Mizusawa

There is provided a tire state monitoring apparatus including transponders mounted on a plurality of tires possessed by a vehicle, and ECUs provided on a vehicle body repeatedly transmit address electric waves for acquiring data showing tire states to the transponders at fixed intervals. The ECUs transmit estimates of the transmission timing of the address electric waves at the predetermined transmission cycle so that the transponders can transmit the address electric waves within a communicable range, maintain the predetermined transmission cycle if the estimated transmission timing satisfies a predetermined condition, and adjust the predetermined transmission cycle if the transmission timing does not satisfy the predetermined condition.

Tire state monitoring apparatus

There is provided a tire information detector to promptly and accurately detect tire information such as pressure of a tire. The tire information detector includes a transponder including a resonator and disposed in a tire of a vehicle; and a controller disposed in a vehicle body, transmitting an excitation signal allowing the resonator to resonate to the transponder, receiving a resonance signal concerning a resonance frequency of the resonator, and calculating a measurement value in accordance with the resonance frequency of the resonator. The controller determines a frequency of the excitation signal based on the resonance frequency of the resonator obtained from previous communications with the transponder.

Tire information detector

A rear-view mirror driving and controlling mechanism comprising a rear-view mirror manipulator for moving the mirror angle position of the rear-view mirror, a reverse signal detector for generating reverse position signals when the transmission is shifted to the reverse position, a controller for moving the rear-view mirror angle on the basis of the operation status of a rear-view mirror manipulator and the detection result of the presence or absence of reverse position signals, a mirror angle detector for generating angle detection signals indicative of the mirror angle of the rear-view mirror, and a mirror angle storage for storing angle detection signals, wherein the controller stores the angle detection signals generated by the rear-view mirror angle detector into the mirror angle storage for each time the mirror angle position is adjusted at the time when the reverse detection signals are not generated, while moving down the rear-view mirror position angle at the time when the reverse detection signals are generated, and restoring the mirror angle to the original angle on the basis of the latest angle detection signals stored in the mirror angle storage at the time when the reverse detection signals are halted.

Rear-view mirror driving and controlling mechanism

An apparatus for detecting the pinching of an object of a power window which stops the detection of the pinching when a normal pulse edge interval of a two-phase pulse is not obtained is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a motor 4 for opening/closing a window, a motor driving unit 3, a pulse generating unit 5 for generating a two-phase pulse, an MCU 2, and a switching arrangement 1. The MCU 2 detects a motor torque from an interval between pulse edges of the two-phase pulse at the time of opening and closing the window and compares the motor torque with a preset addition value. When the motor torque exceeds the addition value, the MCU 2 determines the occurrence of the pinching of an object and stops or reverses the driving of the motor 4. A timer 14 for resetting time each time the pulse edge in the two-phase pulse arrives is disposed in the MCU 2. When a pulse edge in the two-phase pulse arrives and the next pulse edge does not arrive within the set time of the timer 14, the MCU 2 stops the determination of the presence or absence of the pinching of an object in the window.

Apparatus for detecting pinching of an object in a power window

A method of detecting the pinching of an object of a power window for obtaining an accurate motor torque value dealing with a fluctuation in the ambient temperature and reducing an error at the time of detecting the pinching of an object without using a temperature sensor is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a window opening/closing motor 4, a motor driving unit 3, a pulse generating unit 5, an MCU 2, and an operation switch 1. A base value, a tolerance value and a reference value as an addition value of the base value and the tolerance value are set for each of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the whole window travel range. The MCU 2 detects a motor torque at the time of opening and closing the window and compares the motor torque with the reference value preset for the travel region. When the motor torque exceeds the reference value, the MCU 2 determines the presence of the pinching of an object and stops or reverses the driving of the motor 4. The MCU 2 calculates a correction factor from the motor torque and the base value every travel region and uses a corrected reference value obtained by multiplying the reference value of the next travel region by the correction factor when the motor torque is compared with the reference value in the next travel region.

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Miyagi-ken, Japan

Kenichi Tamagawa