US 5,511,435 AGranted

Apparatus for measuring vehicle running condition

AssigneeCasio Computer Co., Ltd.

InventorsKazuhisa Kitamura, Sadao Nagashima

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Abstract

A battery-powered rotation detector detects passing of a rotating magnet attached to a vehicle wheel to generate and transmit a rotation signal. A receiver receives the rotation signal. A processor computes the vehicle running condition (e.g., speed, traveled distance) from the received rotation signal and displays the results on a display device. The processor monitors intervals between the rotation signals to detect when the vehicle is stopped. When the vehicle is stopped, the processor disconnects a battery power supply from components such as the display device for power savings. In addition, the processor checks the strength of the received rotation signal to determine a capacity of the battery in the rotation detector, and operatively indicates a power failure of the rotation detector.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An apparatus for measuring a running condition of a vehicle, comprising:

a rotation detector for detecting rotation of a wheel of said vehicle to generate a rotation signal;
first signal generating means operatively connected to said rotation detector, for generating a first radio signal when said rotation detector continues to generate the rotation signal for over a predetermined period of time;
second signal generating means for generating a second radio signal when said rotation detector does not continue to generate the rotation signal for over the predetermined period of time;
signal receiving means for receiving the first radio signal when said first signal generating means generates the first radio signal, and for receiving the second radio signal when said second signal generating means generates the second radio signal;
computing means for computing a running condition of said vehicle from said first radio signal received by said signal receiving means;
display means for displaying said running condition computed by said computing means;
and
control means for stopping a flow of electric power from an electric power supply source when said signal receiving means receives the second radio signal generated by said second signal generating means.

5 more elements

An apparatus for measuring a running condition of a vehicle, comprising:

a first device;
and
a second device separated from said first device;
wherein said first device comprises:
rotation detector means for detecting rotation of a wheel of a vehicle to generate a rotation signal;
transmitter means coupled to said rotation detector means for transmitting said rotation signal;
and
battery means for supplying electric power to said rotation detector means and said transmitter means;
wherein said second device comprises:
receiver means for receiving said rotation signal transmitted from said transmitter means;
computing means for computing a running condition of said vehicle from said received rotation signal;
display means for displaying said computed running condition;
and
battery condition determining means for determining a condition of said battery means in said first device from said rotation signal received by said receiver means.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.