Patent ID: 7509834
Filing Date: 2009-03-31
Classification: B60C,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of wear level determination, comprising: distributing multiple Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags within a thickness of a wearing surface layer of a tire at an X coordinate and a Y coordinate, said X coordinate being a coordinate along a rotation axis of the tire, said Y coordinate being a coordinate along a radius of the tire, said wearing surface layer of the tire being an outermost surface layer of the tire, said multiple RFID tags and said wearing surface layer adapted to be worn away as the tire is being used such that the thickness of the wearing surface layer is reduced as the tire is being used, said multiple RFID tags consisting of a first plurality of RFID tags that have not been worn away, a second plurality of RFID tags that have been worn away, and a special RFID tag that has not been worn away; after said distributing and after the tire has been mounted on a vehicle and after the second plurality of tags has been worn away and while the first plurality of tags has not been worn away and while the special RFID tag has not been worn away, receiving data from the first plurality of RFID tags and from a table in the special RFID tag; and determining a measure of wear of the wearing surface layer of the tire from said received data, said determining the measure of wear comprising: wherein the table in the special RFID tag comprises a first cell, a first plurality of rows, and a second plurality of rows; wherein the first cell comprises an identifier of the tire; wherein each row of the first plurality of rows corresponds to a RFID tag of the first plurality of RFID tags and comprises an identifier of its corresponding RFID tag and both the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of its corresponding RFID tag; wherein each row of the second plurality of rows is associated with a RFID tag of the second plurality of RFID tags and comprises an identifier of its associated RFID tag, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate at which its associated RFID tag had been disposed in the wearing surface layer before being worn away, and a date and milage of the vehicle at which its associated RFID tag had been worn away.