Granted Patent B2

US 7,142,102 · App. 10/904,376 · Granted Nov 28, 2006

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. A method of determining a motor vehicle weight overload condition using an existing tire pressure monitoring system and an existing auto leveling system of a vehicle comprising:

using said auto leveling system to determine the weight of the vehicle; and

also using said tire pressure monitoring system to determine an overload condition of the vehicle.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, upon a determination of a vehicle overload condition a warning signal is sent to the vehicle operator.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein, said warning signal further indicates the amount of pressure needed in each tire to overcome the overload condition.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, upon a determination of a vehicle having over-inflated tires a warning signal is sent to the vehicle operator.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein, said warning signal further indicates the amount of pressure needed to bring each tire to the proper operating pressure.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said tire pressure monitoring and said auto leveling system monitors the two front tires and two rear tires.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said auto leveling systems monitors the two rear tires.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said auto leveling systems monitors the two front tires.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, said tire pressure monitoring system monitors the two front tires, the two rear tires, and the spare tire.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, a failure of said tire pressure monitoring system causes a warning signal of said failure to be sent to the vehicle operator.

11. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein, said failure of said tire pressure monitoring system causes the auto leveling system weight determination algorithm to be activated.

12. A method of determining motor vehicle weight overload utilizing the motor vehicle's existing tire pressure monitoring system and existing load leveling suspension system comprising the steps of:

a) starting the weight overload monitoring system;

b) checking the motion of the vehicle;

c) if the vehicle is not motionless, sending a warning signal to the driver and returning to step b);

d) if the vehicle is motionless, checking the tire pressure monitoring system state;

e) if the tire pressure monitoring system does not respond normally, identifying which portions of the tire pressure monitoring system are not responding normally and send a warning to the driver;

f) if the tire pressure monitoring system does not respond normally, starting the load leveling suspension system;

g) entering into memory the upper and lower limit of vertical positions of the suspension spring;

h) calculating the vertical displacement of the suspension spring for an unloaded vehicle and the rigidity coefficient of the suspension spring;

i) calculating the vertical displacement of the suspension spring for a loaded vehicle and the rigidity coefficient of the suspension spring;

j) determining if the actual vertical displacement of the suspension spring;

k) determining if the result of step j) is greater than the result of step h);

l) if the result of step k) is no, sending a warning to the driver that the suspension is out of order and returning to step f;

m) if the result of step k) is yes, determining if the result of step j) is greater than the result of step i);

n) if the result of step m) is no, sending a warning to the driver that the vehicle is overloaded and returning to step f;

o) if the result of step m) is yes, ending.

Assignments (9)