WO2024236835A1 - Tire management device, program, and tire management method - Google Patents

Abstract

A tire management device (10) is for managing the attachment state of a tire with a built-in transmitter to a vehicle, and comprises: an acquisition unit (131) for acquiring transmitter ID information read, by a reading unit (70), from a transmitter built in a work target tire that is a target of work among tires, signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and reference signal reception strength when reading the reference transmitter ID information; and a determination unit (132) for determining the attachment position of the work target tire in the vehicle on the basis of a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generates attachment position information in which the transmitter ID information is associated with the attachment position.

Description

TIRE MANAGEMENT DEVICE, PROGRAM, AND TIRE MANAGEMENT METHOD

This disclosure relates to a tire management device, a program, and a tire management method.

In recent years, with the expansion of the use of retreaded tires, technology to grasp the deterioration state of tires has been attracting attention. In order to avoid wasting the cost of retreading, when retreading tires, it is necessary for the base tire to retain sufficient durability to withstand use after retreading. In order to grasp the deterioration state of individual tires and judge their durability, individual identification of tires is necessary, and for example, electronic devices such as transmitters may be attached to tires.

Here, for example, some or all of the tires may be replaced. When replacing a tire equipped with a transmitter, in order to obtain accurate information from the system, it is necessary to update the identification information of the transmitter attached to the replacement tire by associating it with the replacement position on the vehicle. For example, the worker who replaces the tires manually updates the identification information of the transmitter by associating it with the replacement position on the vehicle, so that the system can obtain information continuously. However, when dealing with many vehicles or vehicles equipped with many tires, the amount of work for the worker increases, and mistakes such as incorrect registration are likely to occur. Therefore, a method is required to support the registration work of the worker and prevent errors. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that detects the wheel position on which a tire equipped with a transmitter is mounted based on the sum value and intensity ratio of a first signal strength and a second signal strength.

Patent No. 7060593

Patent Document 1 can detect the wheel position based only on the reception state of a radio signal transmitted from a transmitter attached to the tire. The system of Patent Document 1 enables automatic detection of the wheel position without adding any additional sensors. Here, for example, in a system with limited computational processing power, the addition of a few sensors may be permitted to reduce the computational processing load. Therefore, there is a demand for a method different from the method of Patent Document 1 that can automatically determine the mounting position of a tire with a built-in transmitter.

The purpose of this disclosure, made in consideration of these circumstances, is to provide a tire management device, program, and tire management method that can automatically determine the mounting position of a tire with a built-in transmitter.

(1) A tire management device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,
A tire management device that manages the mounting state of a tire having a built-in transmitter on a vehicle,
an acquisition unit that acquires transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when the transmitter ID information is read, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when the reference transmitter ID information is read;
and a determination unit that determines the mounting position of the target tire on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generates mounting position information that links the transmitter ID information to the mounting position.

(2) As one embodiment of the present disclosure, in (1),
The acquisition unit acquires vehicle data, which is data related to the vehicle including at least information on a wheel configuration,
The determination unit determines the mounting position of the target tire based on the wheel configuration information.

(3) As one embodiment of the present disclosure, in (2),
the vehicle data includes the mounting position information regarding the transmitters built in tires other than the work target tire of the vehicle,
The transmitter built in the other tire is used as the reference transmitter.

(4) As an embodiment of the present disclosure, in (2) or (3),
the determination unit switches between a first determination method for determining the mounting position based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength and a second determination method for determining the mounting position by comparing a maximum value of the signal reception strength in addition to the first determination method based on the information on the wheel configuration;
The transmitter ID information and the signal reception strength are acquired in a plurality of pieces, and are read by the reading unit at different positions or at different times.

(5) As an embodiment of the present disclosure, in any one of (2) to (4),
When the number of pieces of transmitter ID information is greater than the number of wheels obtained from the wheel configuration information, the determination unit does not determine the mounting position for some of the pieces of transmitter ID information based on the magnitude of the signal reception strength.

(6) As an embodiment of the present disclosure, in any one of (2) to (5),
The determination unit causes the output unit to output a warning when the number of pieces of transmitter ID information is smaller than the number of wheels obtained from the information on the wheel configuration.

(7) As an embodiment of the present disclosure, in any one of (2) to (6),
The acquisition unit acquires the vehicle data of the vehicle identified based on an image taken of the vehicle, identification information entered by a worker, or vehicle transmitter ID information read from a vehicle transmitter built into the vehicle.

(8) As an embodiment of the present disclosure, in any one of (1) to (7),
The reference oscillator is provided in a plurality of sources.

(9) A program according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,
A tire management device that manages the mounting status of tires with built-in transmitters on vehicles.
acquiring transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when reading the reference transmitter ID information;
The system executes the following: determining the mounting position of the tire to be worked on on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength; and generating mounting position information that links the transmitter ID information to the mounting position.

(10) A tire management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,
A tire management method for managing a mounting state of a tire having a built-in transmitter on a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
acquiring transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when reading the reference transmitter ID information;
The method includes determining a mounting position of the tire to be worked on on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generating mounting position information linking the transmitter ID information to the mounting position.

The present disclosure provides a tire management device, program, and tire management method that can automatically determine the mounting position of a tire with a built-in transmitter.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a tire management device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a tire management system including the tire management device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the installation of a reference oscillator. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of signal reception strength in the configuration example of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the installation of the reference oscillator. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration in which a transmitter of another tire is used as a reference transmitter. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a change in signal reception strength due to a change in acquisition position. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the signal reception strength that changes depending on the transmitter ID information and time. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a method in which a reader reads transmitter ID information from a transmitter at different positions or at different times. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in signal reception strength in the reading method of FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the process of the tire management method executed by the tire management device.

Below, a tire management device 10 (see FIG. 1), a program, and a tire management method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, identical or corresponding parts are given the same reference numerals. In the description of this embodiment, the description of identical or corresponding parts will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a tire management device 10 according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a tire management system including the tire management device 10 of FIG. 1. The tire management device 10 manages tires mounted on a vehicle 20. In this embodiment, the tire management device 10 manages the mounting state of tires with built-in transmitters 31 on the vehicle 20. The management of the mounting state on the vehicle 20 includes registering and managing the position (wheel) of the vehicle 20 on which each tire with built-in transmitters 31 is mounted. The tires managed by the tire management device 10 are not limited to a specific type, and may be, for example, tires for passenger cars, large tires for trucks or buses, or OR (Off the Road) tires. In addition, the vehicle 20 is not limited to a specific type, but is described as a truck in this embodiment. Trucks include types with dual wheels (double tires).

By incorporating the transmitter 31 in the tire, it becomes possible to identify individual tires, and the use history of each tire can be managed, and for example, the durability of the base tire can be appropriately determined when retreading. However, some or all of the tires mounted on the vehicle 20 may be replaced. In addition to replacement with a new tire, tire replacement includes rotation, in which the positions of multiple tires mounted on the vehicle 20 are changed. When replacing a tire equipped with a transmitter 31, in order to obtain accurate information, it is necessary to update the identification information of the transmitter 31 attached to the replacement tire (the tire to be worked on) by correlating it with the replacement position (new mounting position) on the vehicle 20. Conventionally, the worker who replaces the tires manually updates the identification information of the transmitter 31 by correlating it with the replacement position on the vehicle 20. However, in the conventional method, when many vehicles 20 or vehicles 20 equipped with many tires are targeted, the amount of work for the worker increases, and mistakes such as incorrect registration are likely to occur. As described below, the tire management device 10 according to this embodiment has a function to automatically determine the new mounting position of the target tire, which assists the worker in the registration process and prevents registration errors.

The tire management device 10 includes a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13. The control unit 13 includes an acquisition unit 131, a determination unit 132, and an output unit 133. The tire management device 10 may have a hardware configuration such as a computer. The components of the tire management device 10 will be described in detail later.

In this embodiment, the tire management device 10 is a computer at a location where tire repairs and inspections, including tire replacement work, are performed (hereinafter, the repair location). In this embodiment, the computer is a portable computer device such as a smartphone or tablet terminal used by a worker, but is not limited to a specific type. In addition, there may be multiple tire management devices 10.

Here, the reading unit 70 is a device that reads the transmitter ID information from the transmitter 31 attached to each tire. The transmitter ID information is identification information unique to each tire. The reading unit 70 also measures the signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information. The signal reception strength may be, for example, RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), but is not limited to any other strength that indicates the strength of the radio wave. In this embodiment, the signal reception strength is indicated by a symbol with reference to the figure. The signal reception strength may also be expressed as a unitless numerical value. In this case, the larger the numerical value, the stronger the radio wave. The tire management device 10 constitutes a tire management system together with at least the reading unit 70. The tire management device 10 may further constitute a tire management system together with a server 60 connected by a network 40. The network 40 is, for example, the Internet. The network 40 may also be configured to include, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) in part.

The server 60 is, for example, a computer separate from the tire management device 10. The server 60 may be, for example, a data server that accumulates and manages information. The server 60 may, for example, aggregate the results of the registration work performed by each of the multiple tire management devices 10, and store the management information of each tire in a database as tire management data. The tire management data includes the mounting state of the tire on the vehicle 20. The tire management data may include the tire repair history, the driving history of the vehicle 20 on which the tire is mounted, and the like. The driving history may include information such as the driving distance, the driving speed, and the acceleration/deceleration. The driving history may be data obtained from various sensors mounted on the vehicle 20, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls the operation of the vehicle 20, and the like, and may be sent to the tire management device 10 by a worker at the repair site registering the data. The server 60 may also manage vehicle data, which is data related to the vehicle 20 linked to each tire. The vehicle data may be configured as a database linked to information for identifying each vehicle 20 (vehicle identification information). The vehicle data also includes at least information about the wheel configuration. The wheel configuration information may include, for example, the number of wheels and axles of the vehicle 20, and whether or not the vehicle has dual wheels (dual tires).

The transmitter 31 is built into the tire. Built into the tire includes, for example, being embedded inside the tire and being attached to the surface of the inner surface of the tire. The transmitter 31 may be attached to a surface other than the inner surface of the tire, as long as it is difficult to remove from the tire and is not affected by contact between the tire and the road surface. The transmitter 31 emits a predetermined signal. The predetermined signal includes at least transmitter ID information, which is identification information unique to the transmitter 31. The predetermined signal may further include tire manufacturing information such as the manufacturing date and manufacturing location. The transmitter 31 may be an RFID tag as in this embodiment, but is not limited to a specific type of device as long as it emits a predetermined signal. The RFID tag exchanges information by wireless communication over a short distance (several centimeters to several meters) between the RFID tag and a reader device using an electromagnetic field, radio waves, etc. In this embodiment, the reading unit 70 is a reader device for the RFID tag. Here, the transmitter 31 may be a passive type RFID tag, that is, a type in which the RFID tag itself does not emit data but reflects radio waves from the reader device. Additionally, there may be multiple transmitters 31 built into one tire, but in this embodiment there is only one.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle transmitter 31V may be built into the vehicle 20. The vehicle transmitter 31V emits a signal including vehicle transmitter ID information, which is identification information unique to the vehicle transmitter 31V. The vehicle transmitter ID information is used as identification information for the vehicle 20. In addition, the reference transmitter 31S may be provided at a specific position (the rim, as an example) of the vehicle 20 or in the vicinity of the specific position. The reference transmitter 31S emits a signal including reference transmitter ID information, which is identification information unique to the reference transmitter 31S. The reading unit 70 can read the signals emitted from the vehicle transmitter 31V and the reference transmitter 31S, just like the transmitter 31.

Here, the tire management system is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 2. For example, the tire management system may have a configuration in which the tire management device 10 is integrated (integrated) with the server 60. For example, the tire management device 10 may also have the functions of the server 60 and acquire and manage all necessary information. In other words, the tire management system may be composed of only the tire management device 10 and the reading unit 70. Furthermore, the functions of the server 60 may be realized by a small computer device. The small computer device may include a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal.

The components of the tire management device 10 are described in detail below. The communication unit 11 includes one or more communication modules that connect to the network 40. The communication unit 11 may include a communication module that supports mobile communication standards such as 4G (4th Generation) and 5G (5th Generation). The communication unit 11 may include a communication module that supports a wireless LAN standard (IEEE802.11 as one example). The communication unit 11 may also include a communication module that supports a wired LAN standard.

The storage unit 12 is one or more memories. The memory may be, for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, or an optical memory, but is not limited to these and may be any type of memory. The storage unit 12 is, for example, built into the tire management device 10, but may also be configured to be accessed from outside by the tire management device 10 via any interface.

The memory unit 12 stores various data used in the various calculations performed by the control unit 13. The memory unit 12 may also store results and intermediate data of the various calculations performed by the control unit 13. For example, the memory unit 12 may store tire management data and vehicle data acquired by the acquisition unit 131 from the server 60. The memory unit 12 may also store reference transmitter data, which is information linking the reference transmitter ID information of the reference transmitter 31S with the specific location where the reference transmitter 31S is installed.

The control unit 13 is one or more processors. The processor may be, for example, a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor specialized for a particular process, but is not limited to these and may be any processor. The control unit 13 controls the overall operation of the tire management device 10.

Here, the tire management device 10 may have the following software configuration. One or more programs used to control the operation of the tire management device 10 are stored in the memory unit 12. When the program stored in the memory unit 12 is loaded by the processor of the control unit 13, it causes the processor to function as an acquisition unit 131, a determination unit 132, and an output unit 133.

The acquisition unit 131 acquires the transmitter ID information read by the reading unit 70 and the signal reception strength when the transmitter ID information is read. The acquisition unit 131 also acquires the reference transmitter ID information read by the reading unit 70 and the signal reception strength (reference signal reception strength) when the reference transmitter ID information is read. The acquisition unit 131 may acquire the transmitter ID information read from the transmitter 31 built into the work target tire that is the target of the work among the tires of the vehicle 20. In this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the replacement work of all tires of the vehicle 20 is performed, and the work target tires are all tires of the vehicle 20. However, the work target tires may be some of the tires of the vehicle 20. The acquisition unit 131 may also acquire the position or time when the transmitter ID information was read. The acquisition unit 131 may further acquire vehicle transmitter ID information from the reading unit 70. The reading unit 70 may read the transmitter ID information and the reference transmitter ID information at a predetermined position. Furthermore, the reading unit 70 may read the transmitter ID information and the reference transmitter ID information at a predetermined timing (e.g., at regular intervals).

The acquisition unit 131 may acquire vehicle data of the vehicle 20 including at least information on the wheel configuration. The acquisition unit 131 may acquire vehicle data of the vehicle 20 that is the target of the work, which is identified (selected) based on the vehicle identification information output from the output unit 133, from the server 60. In this case, the acquisition unit 131 may acquire the vehicle identification information. The vehicle identification information may be, for example, an image of the vehicle 20, identification information input by a worker, or vehicle transmitter ID information. The image of the vehicle 20 may be taken, for example, by a camera function provided in the tire management device 10, and may particularly include the license plate of the vehicle 20. The identification information input by the worker may be, for example, the license plate number of the vehicle 20. By being able to identify and acquire vehicle data using the vehicle identification information, it is possible to reduce the work of the worker in acquiring the vehicle data.

The determination unit 132 determines the mounting position of the target tire on the vehicle 20 based on the comparison result between the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 built into the target tire and the reference signal reception strength of the reference transmitter 31S. The determination unit 132 also generates mounting position information linking the transmitter ID information to the mounting position. As described above, the reference transmitter 31S is provided at a specific position on the vehicle 20 or in the vicinity of the specific position, and the determination unit 132 can grasp the specific position using the reference transmitter data, etc. When the target tire is near the specific position, the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 of the target tire and the reference signal reception strength of the reference transmitter 31S provided at the specific position are almost the same regardless of the communication state. Therefore, if the determination unit 132 compares the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 and the reference signal reception strength of the reference transmitter 31S and determines that the difference in signal reception strength is sufficiently small, it can determine that the target tire is near the specific position. The determination unit 132 may use a threshold value obtained from past performance or experiments, and determine that the difference is sufficiently small if the magnitude of the difference in signal reception strength is equal to or less than the threshold value. There may also be multiple reference transmitters. The determination unit 132 can compare the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 with the reference signal reception strengths of the multiple reference transmitters 31S, and determine that the target tire is mounted near the specific position of the reference transmitter 31S with the closest signal reception strength, i.e., with the smallest difference in signal reception strength. When multiple reference transmitters 31S are provided, the determination unit 132 can further improve the accuracy of the automatic determination of the mounting position of the target tire by comparing with the multiple reference signal reception strengths.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the installation of the reference transmitter 31S. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the signal reception strength in the configuration example of FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 3, the vehicle 20 has mounting positions P1, P4, P7, and P10. In this embodiment, the determination unit 132 determines the mounting position after grasping possible mounting positions based on the wheel configuration information before the judgment. The accuracy of automatic judgment can be improved by the determination unit 132 grasping possible mounting positions based on the vehicle data before the judgment. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the reference transmitter 31S is provided on the rim of each wheel as a specific position. Here, when distinguishing each of the reference transmitters 31S, the symbols shown in parentheses in FIG. 3 may be used. For example, the reference transmitter 31S provided on the rim of the wheel at P1 may be referred to as the reference transmitter 31S_S0001 when distinguishing it from other reference transmitters 31S. The reading unit 70 reads signals from the transmitter 31 and the reference transmitter 31S built into the tire to be worked on at position "a1" as a signal acquisition position. For example, position "a1" is the side of the vehicle 20 closer to P1 and P4 (the right side of the vehicle 20 in FIG. 3), and is a position slightly closer to P1 in the front-to-rear direction of the vehicle 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, the reference signal reception strength read by the reading unit 70 is strongest in the order of reference transmitter 31S_S0001, 31S_S0004, 31S_S0007, and 31S_S0010. Here, the reference signal reception strength of reference transmitter 31S_S0001 is sometimes referred to as level L_S0001, and the same applies to the other reference transmitters 31S. The determination unit 132 compares the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 with the reference signal reception strengths of multiple reference transmitters 31S, and determines that the tire to be worked on has been mounted near the specific position of the reference transmitter 31S with the closest signal reception strength. In the example of FIG. 4, the determination unit 132 determines that the mounting position of the tire to be worked on, which includes the transmitter 31, is P1, because the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 with the transmitter ID information "T0001" is closest to level L_S0001. In addition, since the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 with the transmitter ID information "T0004" is closest to the level L_S0004, the determination unit 132 determines that the mounting position of the target tire incorporating this transmitter 31 is P4. Similarly, the determination unit 132 determines that the mounting positions of the target tires incorporating the transmitters 31 with the transmitter ID information "T0007" and "T0010" are P7 and P10, respectively. In this way, the determination unit 132 can automatically determine the mounting position of the target tire by comparing with the reference signal reception strength, and does not need to calculate, for example, the total value of the signal reception strength, so the calculation load is small. Therefore, this method can be applied even if the calculation processing capacity of the processor or the like functioning as the determination unit 132 is not high.

The reference transmitter 31S may be provided near a specific position of the vehicle 20, for example, outside the vehicle 20. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle 20 may be stopped and an object including the reference transmitter 31S may be placed near the wheel rim, which is the specific position (on the road surface). The object may be, for example, a traffic cone used for dividing up areas at construction sites, but is not limited to a specific object. In the configuration example of FIG. 5, as in the configuration example of FIG. 4, the determination unit 132 can automatically determine the mounting position of the tire to be worked on by comparing it with the reference signal reception strength.

Here, a large number of reference transmitters 31S leads to a higher accuracy of automatic determination of the mounting position of the target tire, since the number of reference signal reception intensities to be compared is increased. On the other hand, a large number of reference transmitters 31S may increase the cost because the number of system parts is increased. When the target tire is a tire of the vehicle 20, the transmitter 31 built in the other tire of the vehicle 20 other than the target tire may be used as the reference transmitter 31S. The mounting position of the target tire can be automatically determined without increasing the number of reference transmitters 31S. In this case, the vehicle data includes mounting position information regarding the transmitters 31 built in the other tires of the vehicle 20, and the determination unit 132 can grasp the position of the transmitter 31 of the other tire used as the reference transmitter 31S based on the vehicle data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration in which a transmitter 31 of another tire is used as a reference transmitter 31S. In the example of FIG. 6, the tires at mounting positions P7 and P10 are not the target tire. There is only one target tire, which is mounted at position P1 or P4. Based on the vehicle data, the determination unit 132 determines that the mounting positions of tires incorporating transmitters 31 with transmitter ID information "T0007" and "T0010" are P7 and P10, respectively. The determination unit 132 then uses the transmitters 31 with transmitter ID information "T0007" and "T0010" as the reference transmitter 31S. The reading unit 70 reads signals from the transmitter 31 and reference transmitter 31S incorporated in the target tire at position "a1". Assume that the transmitter ID information of the transmitter 31 incorporated in the target tire is "T0001". The left diagram in FIG. 7 shows the signal reception strength of the signal read by the reading unit 70 at position "a1". Levels L_T0007 and L_T0010 are the signal reception strengths of the transmitter 31 whose transmitter ID information is "T0007" and "T0010", respectively, which is treated as the reference transmitter 31S. Because the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 whose transmitter ID information is "T0001" is closer to level L_T0007, the determination unit 132 may determine that the mounting position of the work target tire containing this transmitter 31 is P1.

Here, the reading unit 70 may read signals from the transmitter 31 and the reference transmitter 31S at multiple positions. In this case, multiple reading units 70 may be provided at different locations, or one reading unit 70 may move to read signals at multiple positions. In the example of FIG. 6, the reading unit 70 may read signals from the transmitter 31 and the reference transmitter 31S built into the tire to be worked on at positions "a1" and "a2". At this time, the acquisition unit 131 may also acquire the position at which the transmitter ID information was read. The determination unit 132 may perform a verification process to determine the mounting position of the tire to be worked on using the signal reception strength of the signal read by the reading unit 70 at positions "a1" and "a2" as shown in FIG. 7, and compare the determination results. In the example of FIG. 7, the determinations using the signal reception strength at positions "a1" and "a2" indicate that the mounting position of the tire to be worked on is P1 in both cases, and the determination results are consistent. Here, if a discrepancy occurs in the verification results, the determination unit 132 may make a second determination. The determination unit 132 can further improve the accuracy of the determination by determining the mounting position of the target tire using the signal reception strength read at multiple positions and verifying the determination result.

Here, in a vehicle 20 having double tires, the signal reception strength of the transmitters 31 of the tires mounted on the two wheels that make up the double tires may differ. For example, if the signal reception strength of the transmitter 31 of the inner tire is small, it may be difficult to identify the mounting position by only comparing with the reference signal reception strength. In such a case, the determination unit 132 may determine the mounting position using multiple pieces of transmitter ID information and signal reception strengths read by the reading unit 70 at different positions or different times. To obtain multiple pieces of transmitter ID information and signal reception strengths, the transmitter ID information may be read while changing the relative distance between the reading unit 70 and the transmitter 31.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the signal reception strength that changes depending on the transmitter ID information and time. The signal reception strength in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10 is a unitless numerical value, and the larger the numerical value, the stronger the radio wave. In the example of FIG. 8, for example, at time "t3", "T0002" is read as the transmitter ID information, and the signal reception strength at the time of reception is "10". At the same time "t3", "T0003" is also read as the transmitter ID information, and the signal reception strength at the time of reception is "3". Furthermore, at time "t4" after time "t3", "T0002" is read again as the transmitter ID information, and the signal reception strength at the time of reception is reduced to "5". The acquisition unit 131 acquires the transmitter ID information and signal reception strength as shown in FIG. 8 from the reading unit 70. In other words, there are multiple transmitter ID information and signal reception strengths acquired by the acquisition unit 131, and they are read by the reading unit 70 at different positions or at different times. The reading unit 70 also reads the reference oscillator ID information and the reference signal reception strength that changes depending on the time. The acquisition unit 131 also acquires the reference oscillator ID information and the reference signal reception strength from the reading unit 70.

9 is a diagram showing an example of a method in which the reading unit 70 reads transmitter ID information from the transmitter 31 at different positions or different times. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of changes in signal reception strength in the reading method of FIG. 9. For example, an operator can read multiple pieces of transmitter ID information from the transmitter 31 by walking near one side of the vehicle 20 (the right side of the vehicle 20 in FIG. 9) while holding the reading unit 70. In this case, the transmitter ID information is acquired at different positions at different times. In the example of FIG. 9, when time t is "t1", the reading unit 70 is near the front wheel at the very front, but because the operator moves to the rear of the vehicle 20 while holding the reading unit 70, the reading unit 70 is near the rear wheel at the very rear at time "t7". In FIG. 9, a reference transmitter 31S_S0003 is provided near the position P3.

The determination unit 132 can perform a determination using the signal reception strength at the above-mentioned multiple positions (see Figures 6 and 7). That is, the determination unit 132 can use a first determination method for determining the mounting position based on the comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength. Here, in a vehicle 20 having double tires, the signal reception strength of the transmitters 31 of the tires mounted on the two wheels that make up the double tires changes in the same way and increases simultaneously near the mounting position. Therefore, in order to distinguish between them, it is necessary to compare the magnitude of the signal reception strength. In addition to the first determination method, the determination unit 132 may use a second determination method for determining the mounting position by comparing the maximum value of the signal reception strength. For example, the determination unit 132 may switch between the first determination method and the second determination method based on the information on the wheel configuration. In the example of Figure 9, the determination unit 132 determines that the vehicle 20 has double tires from the information on the wheel configuration, and switches to the second determination method to determine the mounting position. By switching the determination method based on such wheel configuration information, the determination unit 132 can automatically determine the mounting position of the target tire even for a vehicle 20 that has dual tires. Here, when the vehicle 20 does not have dual tires, the determination unit 132 determines the mounting position using the first determination method, thereby reducing the computational load.

In the example of FIG. 9, the vehicle 20 has mounting positions P1 to P12. As shown in FIG. 10, the signal reception strength from the transmitters 31 with transmitter IDs T0001 to T0006 and the reference transmitter 31S with reference transmitter ID S0003 changes according to time t. The transmitters 31 with transmitter IDs T0001 to T0006 are presumed to be built into the tires with mounting positions P1 to P6. In the example of FIG. 10, the tires mounted at mounting positions P7 to P12 are sufficiently far from the position of the reading unit 70 that signals from the transmitters 31 of these tires are not received. In order to receive signals from the transmitters 31 built into the tires with mounting positions P7 to P12, for example, an operator may walk near the other side of the vehicle 20 (the left side of the vehicle 20 in FIG. 9) while holding the reading unit 70.

The determination unit 132 determines from the wheel configuration information that the signal reception strength peaks (maximum) at the mounting positions of P1, P2, P3, P5, P4, and P6 in that order. The determination unit 132 may determine that the transmitter IDs of the transmitters 31 of the tires of P1 and P2 are T0001 and T0002, respectively, using the first determination method (comparison of the signal reception strength with the reference signal reception strength). The determination unit 132 compares the magnitude of the signal reception strength for double tires as described above. In other words, for the transmitters 31 that simultaneously show peaks, the determination unit 132 determines that the one with the smaller signal reception strength is the inner wheel side and the one with the larger signal reception strength is the outer wheel side. The determination unit 132 determines that the transmitter IDs of the transmitters 31 of the tires of P3 and P5 are T0003 and T0005, respectively. The determination unit 132 also determines that the transmitter IDs of the transmitters 31 of the tires P4 and P6 are T0004 and T0006, respectively. The determination unit 132 then generates mounting position information that links the transmitter ID information to the mounting position.

The determination unit 132 may have a function for verifying the determination result. For example, when the number of pieces of transmitter ID information is greater than the number of wheels obtained from the wheel configuration information, the determination unit 132 may not determine the mounting position of some of the transmitter ID information based on the magnitude of the signal reception strength. In the example of FIG. 10, even if information is obtained from another transmitter 31 with a signal reception strength of 1 or less, the determination unit 132 does not need to determine the mounting position since it is greater than the number of wheels to be associated (six in the example of FIG. 10). This verification function can further improve the accuracy of the automatic determination of the mounting position of the tire to be worked on by the determination unit 132. In addition, the determination unit 132 may cause the output unit 133 to output a warning when the number of pieces of transmitter ID information is less than the number of wheels obtained from the wheel configuration information. The warning can prompt the worker to check early, thereby preventing registration errors.

The output unit 133 outputs the mounting position information generated by the determination unit 132. For example, the output unit 133 may automatically output the mounting position information to the server 60. At this time, the burden of the registration work on the worker can be eliminated. For example, the output unit 133 may display the mounting position information on a display of the tire management device 10, such as a tablet terminal. The worker checks the link between the transmitter ID information and the mounting position, and if there is no problem, may instruct the output unit 133 to output the mounting position information to the server 60. At this time, the burden of the registration work on the worker can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, when there is an instruction to output a warning from the determination unit 132 as described above, the output unit 133 may display a warning on a display of the tire management device 10, such as a tablet terminal. Furthermore, the output unit 133 may output the vehicle identification information to the server 60.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the processing of the tire management method executed by the control unit 13 of the tire management device 10. The processing of the tire management method may be started, for example, when a tire replacement operation is performed.

The acquisition unit 131 acquires vehicle identification information (step S1). Vehicle data of the vehicle 20 that is the target of the work is identified based on the vehicle identification information. The output unit 133 outputs the vehicle identification information to the server 60. The server 60 may transmit the vehicle data of the vehicle 20 identified based on the vehicle identification information to the tire management device 10.

The acquisition unit 131 acquires vehicle data of the vehicle 20 (step S2). The determination unit 132 can grasp candidate mounting positions before making a determination based on wheel configuration information included in the vehicle data, thereby improving the accuracy of automatic determination of the mounting position of the target tire.

The acquisition unit 131 acquires the transmitter ID information and the signal reception strength from the reading unit 70 (step S3). The acquisition unit 131 also acquires the reference transmitter ID information and the reference signal reception strength from the reading unit 70.

The determination unit 132 determines the mounting position of the tire to be worked on on the vehicle 20 using the above method (step S4).

The determination unit 132 generates mounting position information that links the transmitter ID information to the mounting position (step S5).

The output unit 133 outputs the mounting position information generated by the determination unit 132 to, for example, the server 60 (step S6). For example, the server 60 may update the tire management data by using the mounting position information as new registration information.

As described above, the tire management device 10, program, and tire management method according to this embodiment can automatically determine the mounting position of a tire with a built-in transmitter 31 by using the above configuration. The tire management device 10, program, and tire management method according to this embodiment can reduce the calculation load compared to conventional methods by making a determination based on the result of comparing the signal reception strength with the reference signal reception strength.

Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that a person skilled in the art would easily be able to make various modifications or amendments based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications or amendments are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions included in each component or step can be rearranged so as not to cause logical inconsistencies, and multiple components or steps can be combined into one or divided. The embodiments of the present disclosure can also be realized as a program executed by a processor provided in an apparatus and a storage medium having a program recorded thereon. It should be understood that these are also included in the scope of the present disclosure.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Tire management device 11 Communication unit 12 Storage unit 13 Control unit 20 Vehicle 31 Transmitter 31S Reference transmitter 31V Vehicle transmitter 40 Network 60 Server 70 Reading unit 131 Acquisition unit 132 Determination unit 133 Output unit

Claims (10)

A tire management device that manages the mounting state of a tire having a built-in transmitter on a vehicle,
an acquisition unit that acquires transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when the transmitter ID information is read, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when the reference transmitter ID information is read;
a determination unit that determines a mounting position of the target tire on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generates mounting position information that links the transmitter ID information to the mounting position. The acquisition unit acquires vehicle data, which is data related to the vehicle including at least information on a wheel configuration,
The tire management device according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit determines the mounting position of the target tire based on the information on the wheel configuration. the vehicle data includes the mounting position information regarding the transmitters built in tires other than the work target tire of the vehicle,
The tire management device according to claim 2 , wherein the transmitter built in the other tire is used as the reference transmitter. the determination unit switches between a first determination method for determining the mounting position based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength and a second determination method for determining the mounting position by comparing a maximum value of the signal reception strength in addition to the first determination method based on the information on the wheel configuration;
4. The tire management device according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of sets of transmitter ID information and signal reception intensities are acquired, and are read by the reading unit at different positions or at different times. The tire management device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the determination unit does not determine the mounting position for some of the transmitter ID information based on the magnitude of the signal reception strength when the number of the transmitter ID information is greater than the number of wheels obtained from the wheel configuration information. The tire management device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the determination unit causes the output unit to output a warning when the number of the transmitter ID information is less than the number of wheels obtained from the wheel configuration information. The tire management device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the vehicle data of the vehicle identified based on an image of the vehicle, identification information input by an operator, or vehicle transmitter ID information read from a vehicle transmitter built into the vehicle. The tire management device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the reference transmitter is multiple. A tire management device that manages the mounting status of tires with built-in transmitters on vehicles.
acquiring transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when reading the reference transmitter ID information;
determining a mounting position of the target tire on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generating mounting position information linking the transmitter ID information to the mounting position. A tire management method for managing a mounting state of a tire having a built-in transmitter on a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
acquiring transmitter ID information read by a reading unit from the transmitter built into a work target tire that is a work target among the tires, a signal reception strength when reading the transmitter ID information, reference transmitter ID information read from a reference transmitter provided at a specific position of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the specific position, and a reference signal reception strength when reading the reference transmitter ID information;
determining a mounting position of the target tire on the vehicle based on a comparison result between the signal reception strength and the reference signal reception strength, and generating mounting position information linking the transmitter ID information to the mounting position.

Images