The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 25, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2001
Hidetoshi Yokota, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Morinaga, Tokyo, JP;
Koji Otani, Tokyo, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Bridgestone, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The output level of vibration of a portion below the spring of a vehicle detected by a sensor, and its frequency is converted to obtain the frequency spectrum of the vibration level. Next, an operation is carried out on at least two vibration levels, at different frequency bands. The computed value is compared with a master curve showing the frequency spectrum of vibration level stored in vibration level storage to estimate the condition of a road surface so as to estimate the running state of the vehicle. Further, the running state of each tire including air pressure is detected from the vibration level of the portion below the spring to estimate the running state of the vehicle. Thereby, a multi-function sensing system is constructed for estimating the condition of a road surface or the running state of the tire with one sensor.