PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15749035
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["280", "086750"]

Abstract:
The invention makes it easy to link wheel alignment inspections to improving stability when traveling and to suppressing uneven tire wear. The straight running state of a vehicle is verified (S 1 ), and the vehicle is placed on a tester in the straight running state (S 2 ). The wheel alignment of the vehicle in the straight running state is measured using the tester (S 3 ). The individual toe of each front wheel and each rear wheel is adjusted to eliminate differences between the left and right wheels (S 4 ). The wheel alignment, such as the included angle, is measured again, and the causes of any wheel alignment failures are narrowed down on the basis of the measurement results (S 5  to S 7 ). Wheel alignment failures impacting steering pull or uneven tire wear are evaluated on the basis of the results of the measurements in S 3  (S 8 ).

Claim (Index 1):
A method of inspecting wheel alignment, comprising:\n a first alignment measurement step of measuring wheel alignment with reference to positions of front wheels during straight running of a vehicle causing a thrust angle, wherein at least one of front wheel camber, front wheel caster, a front wheel included-angle, setback, and a turning angle when the front wheels are rotated to a predetermined state is measured as a specific measurement target; an adjustment step of adjusting the individual toes after the first alignment measurement step, wherein the individual toes are adjusted to eliminate a left-right difference in relation to the front wheels and rear wheels of the vehicle, when the specific measurement target includes the setback, whereas the individual toes are adjusted to eliminate the left-right difference in the individual toes at least in relation to the front wheels of the vehicle, when the specific measurement target does not include the setback; a second alignment measurement step of measuring again the wheel alignment, relative to the specific measurement target after the adjustment step; a first evaluation step of evaluating a defect of wheel alignment which influences at least one of wear on tires and steering pull in the vehicle before the adjustment step, based at least on the measurement result of the first alignment measurement step; and a second evaluation step of evaluating a cause of a defect in the wheel alignment, based at least on the measurement result of the second alignment measurement step.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 3.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.16456
- Patent Class: 280.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['11245836', '12404883', '15085490', '12671070', '10902138']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.795734080623282
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4845230944109866
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7646129820020525
- Mean Citation Score: 225.738576
- Max Citation Score: 233.95349
- Similarity Product: 200.3940281285

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test