Patent Description:
The need for technologies that collect and analyze inspection data as big data has increased in recent years. For example, a method has been conceived of in which inspection data of tires is collected, and events relating to the tires are analyzed.

In recent years, techniques of measuring the road noise of tires and evaluating road surfaces have been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (<CIT>). In the technique of <CIT>, information of the current position of a vehicle is acquired from a GPS receiver, the road noise of the tires of the vehicle is measured by using a microphone, image data that enables evaluation of the road surface is generated, and road surface evaluation is carried out.

Other techniques have been proposed for assessment of risks at airports. <CIT> discloses a method to assess risks for airports based on aircraft damage and foreign objects on the tracks. <CIT> discloses computing risks for airlines and aircraft, without using tire data.

In <CIT>, devices for acquiring information of the current position of the vehicle and road noise of the tires in real time must be installed in the vehicle.

When using inspection data of tires, because the inspection data is not data that is acquired in real time, position information cannot be acquired in real time.

Further, if the inspection data of tires that are mounted to an airplane is used as a subject, because position information that is acquired in real time cannot be acquired, the position information must be acquired offline.

The technique of the disclosure was made in consideration of the above-described points, and an object thereof is to provide a risk calculating device, method and program that can calculate risks of respective sites at which there is the possibility that tires may be externally damaged, from information obtained by inspecting tires that are mounted to airplanes.

A first aspect is a risk calculating device comprising:.

A second aspect is a risk calculating method in which a computer:.

A third aspect is a risk calculating program for causing a computer to execute processings of:.

In accordance with the technique of the disclosure, risks at respective sites at which there is the possibility that tires may be externally damaged can be calculated from information obtained by inspecting tires that are mounted to airplanes.

Examples of embodiments of the technique of the disclosure are described hereinafter with reference to the drawings. Note that structural elements and portions that are the same or equivalent in the respective drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, the dimensional proportions in the drawings are exaggerated for convenience of explanation, and there are cases in which they differ from actual proportions.

In the present embodiment, the risk of external damage per airport is calculated from external damage information of tires that is acquired by tire inspections at times of retread inspections, and the operation histories of the tires (the histories of the departure/arrival airports). Due thereto, risk information of the risk of a tire being externally damaged due to fallen objects, fixed objects (e.g., lighting equipment), ruts and the like that exist on runways of airports, can be provided.

<FIG> is a block drawing illustrating hardware structures of a risk calculating device <NUM> of the present embodiment.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the risk calculating device <NUM> has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) <NUM>, a ROM (Read Only Memory) <NUM>, a RAM (Random Access Memory) <NUM>, a storage <NUM>, an inputting portion <NUM>, a display portion <NUM> and a communication interface (I/F) <NUM>. The respective structures are connected via bus <NUM> so as to be able to communicate with one another.

The CPU <NUM> is a central computing processing unit, and executes various programs, and controls the respective sections. Namely, the CPU <NUM> reads-out a program from the ROM <NUM> or the storage <NUM>, and executes the program by using the RAM <NUM> as a workspace. In accordance with programs stored in the ROM <NUM> or the storage <NUM>, the CPU <NUM> carries out control of the above-described various structures, and various types of computing processings. In the present embodiment, a risk calculating program for calculating external damage risk per site where airplanes depart/arrive is stored in the ROM <NUM> or the storage <NUM>. The risk calculating program may be one program, or may be a program group structured by plural programs or modules.

The ROM <NUM> stores various programs and various data. The RAM <NUM> temporarily stores programs or data as a workspace. The storage <NUM> is structured by an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores various programs, including the operating system, and various data.

The inputting portion <NUM> includes a pointing device such as a mouse or the like, and a keyboard, and is used in order to carry out various types of input.

The inputting portion <NUM> receives, as input, external damage information per tire mounted to an airplane, and site information relating to sites at which there is the possibility that the tire may have been externally damaged. Specifically, the inputting portion <NUM> receives, as input, external damage information that includes results of inspection, tire identification information, the places of the external damage, the type of the external damage, and the number of places of the external damage, which are external damage information that are obtained in the tire inspection at the time of a retread inspection. Further, the inputting portion <NUM> receives, as input, external damage information including airframe information, in which the tire identification information and identification information of the airplane to which the tire was mounted are associated with one another, and, per airplane identification information, history information of sites that are the airports where the airplane departed/arrived.

The display portion <NUM> is a liquid crystal display for example, and displays various types of information. A touch panel type display may be employed as the display portion <NUM> such that the display portion <NUM> functions as the inputting portion <NUM>.

The communication interface <NUM> is an interface for communicating with other devices. For example, standards such as Ethernet®, FDDI, Wi-Fi® or the like are used thereat.

Functional structures of the risk calculating device <NUM> are described next. <FIG> is a block drawing illustrating an example of the functional structures of the risk calculating device <NUM>.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the risk calculating device <NUM> functionally has a database <NUM>, a data acquiring section <NUM>, a processing section <NUM> and an outputting section <NUM>.

The external damage information per tire and site information which have been inputted are stored in the database <NUM>. For example, the company that operates the airplane on which the tire was mounted, airports that are bases for airplanes operated by that company, airports at which there is the possibility that the tire may have been externally damaged, information relating to the external damage, and the results of the retread inspection, which were obtained for each tire identification information from the external damage information per tire and the site information, are stored in the database <NUM> (see <FIG>).

In the database <NUM>, the airports used as bases by the company that operates the airplane to which the tire was mounted, and the operation history that is the airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived, are stored as airports at which there is the possibility that the tire may have been externally damaged.

Further, in the database <NUM>, the operation time period of the airplane to which the tire was mounted and the date of the retread inspection of the tire are stored as information relating to the external damage time period.

Further, in the database <NUM>, OK/NG, the place of the external damage (tread/sidewall), the type of the external damage (detachment/cut/puncture), and the number of places where there was external damage, are stored as the results of the retread inspection. The extent (depth/length) of the external damage may be further stored in the database <NUM> as the results of the retread inspection.

The data acquiring section <NUM> acquires, per tire, the external damage information of the tire and the site information from the database <NUM>.

Here, in a case in which the period of time that is the subject of calculation is designated, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires, per tire, the external damage information and the site information that correspond to the calculation subject time period from the database <NUM>. For example, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires the airport where external damage was incurred and the results of inspection, per tire identification information whose information relating to the external damage time period (the center of the operation time period or the inspection date) is included in that calculation subject time period.

Further, in a case in which the place where there is external damage is designated, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires, per tire, the external damage information and the site information that correspond to that place of external damage from the database <NUM>. For example, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires the airport where the external damage was incurred and the results of inspection, per tire identification information whose place of external damage that is in the inspection results corresponds to the designated place.

Further, in a case in which the type of external damage is designated, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires, per tire, the external damage information and the site information that correspond to that type of external damage from the database <NUM>. For example, the data acquiring section <NUM> acquires the airport where the external damage was incurred and the results of inspection, per tire identification information whose type of external damage that is in the inspection results corresponds to the designated type.

On the basis of the external damage information and the site information acquired for each tire, the processing section <NUM> calculates the risk, at each site, of tires being damaged externally.

Concretely, per tire, on the basis of the history information of sites that are airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived, the processing section <NUM> respectively specifies the sites that are airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived. On the basis of the results of specifying the sites per tire, and the external damage information per tire, the processing section <NUM> calculates the risk per site.

At the time of calculating the risk, for each tire, a score corresponding to the external damage information of the tire is distributed to each of the specified sites, and, on the basis of the sum of the scores distributed to each site, the risk is calculated for each site.

For example, for each tire, a score corresponding to the number of places of external damage of the tire is distributed uniformly to the respective airports that are the sites specified for that tire. Note that the score may be weighted in accordance with the type of the external damage of the tire.

Then, the risk that expresses the probability of incurring external damage is calculated by, for each airport, dividing the sum of the scores distributed to that airport by the number of airplanes that departed/arrived at that airport during a time period that includes the operation time period of the airplane of each tire.

The outputting section <NUM> displays the risks that are calculated for the respective sites, by the display portion <NUM>. For example, as illustrated in <FIG>, a graph illustrating, per airport, the risk that expresses the probability of incurring external damage is displayed by the display portion <NUM>. Here, at the time when a risk expressing the probability of incurring external damage exceeds a given threshold value, notification may be given to a predetermined party who is to be notified.

Further, the outputting section <NUM> may further output, per site, the place of the tire where there was external damage, the type of the external damage and/or the extent of the external damage. For example, at the time of calculating the risk, for each tire, the place of the tire where there was external damage, the type of the external damage and/or the extent of the external damage may be applied as external damage information of that tire to each of the specified sites, and results, in which the place of the tire where there was external damage, the type of external damage and/or the extent of the external damage that were applied are totaled, may be outputted per site. Due thereto, from the place of the tire where there was external damage, the type of the external damage and/or the extent of the external damage, the cause of having incurred external damage can be specified, and measures at the airport can be taken. For example, causes can be specified per category, such as riding-up on a light, riding over a nail, or the like. Further, if the place where there is external damage is the sidewall, it can be specified that there is a strong possibility that the external damage is due to a rut or a projection.

The operation of the risk calculating device <NUM> relating to the present embodiment is described next.

First, when the inputting portion <NUM> of the risk calculating device <NUM> receives, as input, external damage information per tire mounted to an airplane, and site information relating to sites where there is the possibility that the tire was externally damaged, the inputting portion <NUM> stores the external damage information per tire and the site information, which were inputted, in the database <NUM>. At this time, for each of the tire identification information, the company operating the airplane on which the tire was mounted, airports that are bases for airplanes operated by that company, airports at which there is the possibility that the tire was externally damaged, information relating to the external damage, and the results of retread inspection, are stored in the database <NUM> in association.

Further, <FIG> is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the risk calculating processing by the risk calculating device <NUM>. The risk calculating processing is carried out due to the CPU <NUM> reading-out the risk calculating program from the ROM <NUM> or the storage <NUM> and expanding and executing the program in the RAM <NUM>.

In step S100, as the data acquiring section <NUM>, the CPU <NUM> acquires, per tire, the external damage information of that tire and the site information from the database <NUM>.

In step S102, as the processing section <NUM>, the CPU <NUM> specifies, for each tire, each of the sites that is an airport where the airplane to which that tire was mounted departed/arrived, from the site information associated with the identification information for that tire.

In step S104, as the processing section <NUM>, the CPU <NUM> calculates the risk for each site that is an airport, on the basis of the results of specifying sites for each tire, and the external damage information associated with the identification information of each tire.

In step S106, as the outputting section <NUM>, the CPU <NUM> displays the risk, which was calculated for each site, by the display portion <NUM>, and ends the risk calculating processing.

As described above, the risk calculating device relating to the present embodiment acquires external damage information for each tire mounted to an airplane, and site information relating to sites at which there is the possibility that the tire was externally damaged, and calculates the risk of a tire being externally damaged at that site. Due thereto, the risk of a site where an airplane departs/arrives can be calculated from information that is obtained in inspecting tires that were mounted to airplanes. In particular, by using external damage information acquired in inspecting a tire at the time of a retread inspection, and operation history of the airplane that can be obtained offline, the risk of a tire being externally damaged at each airport at which the airplane departs/arrives can be calculated.

Further, the provision of information of the calculated risk to each airport can be combined with actions for reducing external damage to tires. Accordingly, the information can be utilized toward improving the asset values of tires.

Further, as a method of utilizing the risk of a tire being externally damaged, the results of measures with respect to objects that have fallen on runways, which measures are taken per airport for example, can be evaluated by comparing the risks of external damage of two different time periods. For example, by comparing the risks of external damage of before and after the introduction of fallen object radar that is installed at an airport, it is possible to evaluate the performance of the fallen object radar. Or, by comparing the risks of external damage of before and after activities for cleaning a runway, the effects of the activities can be evaluated.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible within a scope that does not depart from the gist of the invention.

For example, the above-described embodiment describes, as an example, a case of using history information of sites that are airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. History information, which is obtained per company, of sites that are airports where airplanes of that company have departed/arrived may be used. In this case, the site information that is acquired includes identification information of the company operating the airplane to which the tire is mounted, and, per company identification information, history information of sites that are airports where airplanes of that company have departed/arrived. Further, for each tire, the processing section <NUM> specifies respective sites, which are the airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived, on the basis of the history information of sites that are airports where airplanes of the company, which operates the airplane to which the tire was mounted, depart/arrive. On the basis of the results of specification of the sites per tire and the external damage information per tire, the processing section <NUM> calculates the risk for each site. In this example, even if the airplane to which the tire was mounted is unknown, if the company that operates the airplane to which the tire was mounted is known, information of airports that are the bases of the airplanes of that company can be obtained, and therefore, the risk of a tire incurring external damage can be calculated. Further, at the time of distributing scores that correspond to the external damage information of tires to each specified airport, the scores may be distributed uniformly to the airports that are the bases of the airplanes of that company, or the scores may be distributed in accordance with the proportions of the airports that the airplanes of that company use.

Further, the risk may be calculated per predetermined time period (e.g., per month, per year). In this case, for each predetermined time period, external damage information and site information corresponding to that predetermined time period are acquired for each tire from the database <NUM>, and the risk for that predetermined time period is calculated per site. Further, at the time of outputting, as illustrated in <FIG>, the results of risk calculation are outputted per predetermined time period for a designated site. <FIG> illustrates an example of outputting the results of risk calculation per month of a designated airport.

Further, risk may be calculated on the basis of the NG rate of the inspection results. For example, for each tire, the inspection result (OK or NG) of the tire is applied to each airport that is a specified site for that tire, and, for each airport, the NG rate is calculated from the respective tire inspection results that were applied to that airport, and the calculated NG rate is used as the risk that expresses the probability of incurring external damage.

Further, at the time of calculating risk, the value of the risk may be weighted in accordance with the position where the tire is installed. For example, because nails and the like are flung-up by the front wheels of the main tires, it is easy for the rear wheels of the main tires to be externally damaged. Namely, as compared with the nose tires, it is easy for the rear wheels of the main tires to be externally damaged. Due thereto, the scores of the external damage of the rear wheels of the main tires may be weighted more strongly as compared with those of the nose tires.

Further, at the time of calculating the risk, the value of the risk may be weighted in accordance with the ease of incurring external damage of the airframe, the tire size, or the tire type (durability).

Further, the range in which the risk is calculated and outputed may be limited. For example, a designation of a company that operates airplanes may be received, and the risk may be calculated and outputted on the basis of information of tires relating to the designated company. Further, a designation of airports may be received, and the respective risks of the designated airports may be calculated and outputted. Due thereto, a setting can be carried out as to whether or not information relating to a designated company is to be disclosed as data to the airports that are used.

Further, an example is described of a case in which the outputting section <NUM> displays, by the display portion <NUM> and per airport, a graph illustrating risk that expresses the probability of incurring external damage. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. Risks expressing probabilities of incurring external damage may be compared per geographical region, per airport, per company that operates the airplanes, or per type of airframe, and may be outputted together with the rankings thereof.

For example, as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, risks of incurring external damage may be outputted as a hazard map illustrated per geographical region. <FIG> illustrates an example in which bubbles, whose colors and sizes are made to differ in accordance with the risk, are displayed per geographical region. Further, <FIG> illustrates an example in which the selection of a bubble of a given geographical region is received, and a bubble corresponding to the risk is displayed per airport of that geographical region. Further, <FIG> illustrates an example in which the selection of a bubble of a given airport is received, and a bubble corresponding to the risk is displayed per company that operates airplanes of that airport. Further, <FIG> illustrates an example in which the selection of a bubble of a given company is received, and detailed information of the risk relating to airplanes that that company operates is displayed. Further, <FIG> illustrates an example in which designations of geographical regions, airports, companies that operate airplanes, and year/month, which are subjects of display, are received. <FIG> illustrates an example in which bubbles, whose sizes are varied in accordance with risk, are displayed per geographical region.

Further, any of various types of processors other than a CPU may execute the various processings that are executed due to a CPU reading-in software (a program) in the above-described respective embodiments. Examples of processors in this case include PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices) whose circuit structure can be changed after production such as GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) and the like, and dedicated electrical circuits that are processors having circuit structures that are designed for the sole purpose of executing specific processings such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) and the like, and the like. Further, the risk calculating processing may be executed by one of these various types of processors, or may be executed by a combination of two or more of the same type or different types of processors (e.g., plural FPGAs, or a combination of a CPU and an FPGA, or the like). Further, the hardware structures of these various types of processors are, more specifically, electrical circuits that combine circuit elements such as semiconductor elements and the like.

Further, the above-described respective embodiments describe aspects in which the risk calculating program is stored in advance (is installed) in the storage <NUM>, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. The program may be provided in a form of being stored on a non-transitory storage medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Memory), a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or the like. Further, the program may be in a form of being downloaded from an external device through a network.

The following notes are additionally disclosed in relation to the above-described embodiments.

Claim 1:
A risk calculating device (<NUM>) comprising:
a data acquiring section (<NUM>) acquiring external damage information per tire mounted to airplanes, and site information relating to sites at which there is possibility that the tires incurred external damage;
a processing section (<NUM>) that, based on the external damage information per tire and the site information, calculates risk, per site, of tires incurring external damage; and
an outputting section (<NUM>) outputting the risk that has been calculated per site, wherein:
the external damage information includes identification information of the tires,
the site information includes airframe information, in which the identification information of the tires and identification information of airplanes to which the tires were mounted are associated with one another, and, per identification information of the airplane, history information of sites that are airports where the airplane departed/arrived, and
per tire and based on the history information of sites that are airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived, the processing section (<NUM>) specifies respective sites that are airports where the airplane to which the tire was mounted departed/arrived, and calculates the risk per site based on results of specifying the sites per tire and the external damage information per tire, and wherein:
based on the results of specifying the sites, the processing section (<NUM>) distributes a score corresponding to the external damage information of the tires to each of the specified sites, and
the processing section (<NUM>) calculates the risk per site based on a total of the scores distributed to the site.