Wireless Bicycle Gear Shifting With Cycled Radio Wake Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless bicycle gear changing systems face issues with energy conservation and reliability, particularly due to the need for continuous power consumption in low-power transceivers and periodic beacon signals, which affect performance and security.
Innovation Solution
A wireless control system for bicycles that uses higher-power transmitters and receivers, conserves power by turning them off when not in use and power cycling during activity, and requires physical access for pairing, with features like duplicate shift signals, noise detection, and varying transmission intervals to ensure secure and reliable operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If a low-power transceiver is used to conserve energy, then battery life is extended, but wireless performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The transceiver operates in periodic cycles, alternating between active transmission/reception modes and low-power sleep modes. The system wakes periodically to check for messages, transmit shift commands, and update gear position data, then returns to sleep mode. This periodic operation allows the use of higher-power transceiver components while maintaining acceptable average power consumption and extending battery life.
2Reliability
If continuous transmission is used to ensure reliable communication, then wireless performance is improved, but battery power is depleted faster
Solution Approach 1:
The transceiver operates in periodic cycles, alternating between active transmission/reception modes and low-power sleep modes. The system wakes periodically to check for messages, transmit shift commands, and update gear position data, then returns to sleep mode. This periodic operation allows the use of higher-power transceiver components while maintaining acceptable average power consumption and extending battery life.
3Reliability
If higher-power transmitters and receivers are used, then wireless performance is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transceiver operates in periodic cycles, alternating between active transmission/reception modes and low-power sleep modes. The system wakes periodically to check for messages, transmit shift commands, and update gear position data, then returns to sleep mode. This periodic operation allows the use of higher-power transceiver components while maintaining acceptable average power consumption and extending battery life.
4Ease of operation
If automatic pairing is implemented for ease of use, then ease of operation is improved, but security deteriorates due to unauthorized access
Solution Approach 1:
The system requires manual pairing activation before automatic pairing can proceed. The user must explicitly initiate the pairing process by activating a pairing mechanism on the gear changer, which then enters a pairing mode. This preliminary user action ensures that only authorized users can pair devices, preventing unauthorized access while still allowing convenient automatic pairing once authorized.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention provides a wireless control system for a bicycle, including at least one shift actuator generating an input signal when actuated and a master control unit transmitting a shift signal responsive to the input signal. At least one electromechanical gear changer is provided and includes a gear changer control unit. The gear changer control unit receives the shift signal from the master control unit and controls the at least one electromechanical gear changer corresponding to the received shift signal. The gear changer control unit listens for the shift signal during a part of an awake mode cycle time, the master control unit transmitting the shift signal for a message duration time which is greater than the awake mode cycle time.