Tire type determination method and vehicle inspection method and system using the same

• US 8,284,251 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2009
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Suita, Kazutsugu, Kimura, Kazufumi, Azumaya, Rikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Serrao, Ranodhi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain, Farrukh
• Application Number:
  US12/396,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20090244284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: 348/91, 348/92, 348/128, 348/129, 348/130, 348/148, 348/143
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/02 Tyres

Abstract

In a tire type determination method, a surface image of a tread portion of a tire mounted on a vehicle is captured by a camera fixed at a predetermined position in a tilted hanger conveyor line, which is located downstream in a vehicle-carrying direction with respect to a position at which the tire of the vehicle is lifted from the ground and starts moving diagonally upward. Further, image information is extracted from the surface image of the tread portion, and a tire type is determined by checking the image information against registered information. A vehicle inspection system includes a tire type determination portion and a vehicle type information obtaining portion so as to determine the tire type using the method. A conformance determination portion determines whether the tire type determined by the tire type determination portion conforms to a specified tire type searched based on the vehicle type information.

Claims

1. A tire type determination method, comprising:

detecting a predetermined portion of a vehicle that is being carried on a conveyor line including a rear-down hanger conveyor line;

calculating an image capture time based on a time at which the predetermined portion of the vehicle is detected, a distance between the predetermined portion of the vehicle that is detected and a center of a downstream wheel in a carrying direction of the vehicle, a conveyor speed of the conveyor line, a wheel base length, and a distance between a camera and a surface of a tread portion of a tire when the surface of the tread portion of the tire is opposed to the camera;

capturing an image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire mounted on the vehicle at the calculated image capture time by the camera that is disposed and fixed, with a lens of the camera directed in a horizontal direction, at a predetermined position in a space below the rear-down hanger conveyor line on which, when the vehicle is carried, the vehicle is hung in a state where a downstream end portion of the vehicle in a carrying direction of the vehicle is tilted up, the predetermined position being located near a position at which the tire of the vehicle is lifted from the ground and starts moving diagonally upward;

extracting image information for identifying a type of the tire from the image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire captured; and

determining the type of the tire by checking the image information against registered information for identifying the type of the tire.

2. The tire type determination method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined portion of the vehicle is the downstream end portion of the vehicle in the carrying direction of the vehicle.

3. The tire type determination method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining vehicle type information from the vehicle, wherein the registered information includes the vehicle type information.

4. A vehicle inspection method, comprising:

detecting a predetermined portion of a vehicle that is being carried on a conveyor line including a rear-down hanger conveyor line;

calculating an image capture time based on a time at which the predetermined portion of the vehicle is detected, a distance between the predetermined portion of the vehicle that is detected and a center of a downstream wheel in a carrying direction of the vehicle, a conveyor speed of the conveyor line, a wheel base length, and a distance between a camera and a surface of a tread portion of a tire when the surface of the tread portion of the tire is opposed to the camera;

capturing an image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire mounted on the vehicle at the calculated image capture time by the camera that is disposed and fixed, with a lens of the camera directed in a horizontal direction, at a predetermined position in a space below the rear-down hanger conveyor line on which, when the vehicle is carried, the vehicle is hung in a state where a downstream end portion of the vehicle in a carrying direction of the vehicle is tilted up, the predetermined position being located near a position at which the tire of the vehicle is lifted from the ground and starts moving diagonally upward;

extracting image information for identifying a type of the tire from the image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire captured;

determining the type of the tire by checking the image information against registered information for identifying the type of the tire; and

determining whether the determined type of the tire conforms to a specified type of the tire of the vehicle by checking the determined type of the tire against the specified type of the tire obtained based on vehicle type information corresponding to the vehicle that is being carried on the conveyor line including the tilted hanger conveyor line.

5. The vehicle inspection method according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined portion of the vehicle is the downstream end portion of the vehicle in the carrying direction of the vehicle.

6. The vehicle inspection method according to claim 4, wherein the vehicle type information is obtained from an IC tag in a non-contact manner.

7. A vehicle inspection system, comprising:

a vehicle detection portion that detects a predetermined portion of a vehicle that is being carried on a conveyor line including a rear-down hanger conveyor line;

a calculation portion that calculates an image capture time based on a time at which the predetermined portion of the vehicle is detected, a distance between the predetermined portion of the vehicle that is detected and a center of a downstream wheel in a carrying direction of the vehicle, a conveyor speed of the conveyor line, a wheel base length, and a distance between a camera and a surface of a tread portion of a tire when the surface of the tread portion of the tire is opposed to the camera;

the camera that captures an image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire mounted on the vehicle at the calculated image capture time, and that is disposed and fixed, with a lens of the camera directed in a horizontal direction, at a predetermined position in a space below the rear-down hanger conveyor line on which, when the vehicle is carried, the vehicle is hung in a state where a downstream end portion of the vehicle in a carrying direction of the vehicle is tilted up, the predetermined position being located near a position at which the tire of the vehicle is lifted from the ground and starts moving diagonally upward;

an extraction portion that extracts image information for identifying a type of the tire from the image of the surface of the tread portion of the tire captured by the camera;

a determination portion that determines the type of the tire by checking the image information against registered information for identifying the type of the tire;

a vehicle type information obtaining portion that obtains vehicle type information corresponding to the vehicle that is being carried on the conveyor line including the tilted hanger conveyor line; and

a conformance determination portion that searches the registered information stored in a memory device for a specified type of the tire of the vehicle based on the vehicle type information obtained by the vehicle type information obtaining portion, and determines whether the type of the tire determined by the tire type determination portion conforms to the specified type of the tire of the vehicle by checking the determined type of the tire against the specified type of the tire.

8. The vehicle inspection system according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined portion of the vehicle is the downstream end portion of the vehicle in the carrying direction of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle inspection system according to claim 7, wherein the camera is disposed at a position that corresponds to each of a left side and a right side of the vehicle.

10. The vehicle inspection system according to claim 7, further comprising a lighting device that provides lighting of the surface of the tread portion of the tire.

11. The vehicle inspection system according to claim 7, wherein the vehicle type information is obtained from an IC tag in a non-contact manner.