Patent ID: 8400624

Claim:
A method of determining alignment characteristics of a tire and wheel assembly mounted on a vehicle, said method comprising: projecting a light plane onto a tire and wheel assembly to form a reference illumination line on the tire of the tire and wheel assembly; receiving a reflected image of said reference illumination line from the tire with a photo electric device; determining a reference distance from said reference illumination line to a noncontact wheel alignment sensor including said photo electric device; projecting a plurality of light planes onto the tire and wheel assembly to form a plurality of generally parallel illumination lines on the tire of the tire and wheel assembly; receiving a reflected image of at least some of said generally parallel illumination lines with said photo electric device; identifying which said generally parallel illumination lines are imaged at said receiving a reflected image of at least some of said generally parallel illumination lines step using said reference distance; and determining the orientation of the tire and wheel assembly based on said reflected image of at least some of said generally parallel illumination lines.