Intelligent tire systems and methods

An intelligent tire system (ITS) comprising:

• a first sensor to sense a first condition related to a tire and comprising a wireless transmitter;
• a second sensor to sense a second condition related to the tire and comprising a wireless transceiver to receive data related to the first condition from the first sensor;
• and
• a central control unit to receive data from the second sensor, the data related to the first condition and the second condition.

An intelligent tire system (ITS) comprising:

• a sensor network comprising a plurality of sensors disposed in a tire;
• a transceiver mounted external to the tire and wirelessly coupled to the wireless sensor network by at least one of the plurality of sensors;
• and
• a controller coupled to the transceiver,
• wherein at least one of the plurality of sensors comprises a transceiver to receive data from others of the plurality of sensors and to transmit the data to the transceiver.

An intelligent tire system (ITS) comprising:

• a sensor network comprising a plurality of sensor devices disposed in a tire;
• a lead embedded in the tire, wherein each of the plurality of sensor devices is capacitively coupled to the lead to form the sensor network;
• a transceiver wirelessly coupled to the wireless sensor network by at least one of the plurality of sensor devices;
• and
• a controller coupled to the transceiver.

A method of monitoring a condition related to a tire in a vehicle comprising the steps of:

• sensing information about a first condition related to the tire by a first sensor in the tire;
• sensing information about a second condition related to the tire by a second sensor in the tire;
• transmitting the information about the first condition from the first sensor to the second sensor;
• and
• transmitting the information about the first and second conditions from the second sensor to a controller in the vehicle, wherein a transmitting power of the second sensor is greater than a transmitting power of the first sensor.

A method of monitoring a tire of a vehicle comprising the steps of:

• sensing information about a plurality of conditions related to the tire by a plurality of sensors mounted in the tire;
• collecting the information at one of the plurality of sensors;
• transmitting the information from a short-range transmitter of the one of the plurality of sensors to a transceiver mounted proximate the tire;
• and
• transmitting the information from a long-range transmitter of the transceiver to a central control unit in the vehicle.