This application relates generally to sensor systems and, more particularly, relates to systems and methods for management of smart wheel sensors that collect actionable sensor data from a rotatable component of a vehicle's wheel. In certain embodiments, a system includes a vehicle body; a rotatable component configured to rotate relative to the vehicle body; an energy harvesting component disposed along a circumference of the rotatable component, wherein the energy harvesting component is configured to generate electric power based on a force to the rotatable component; a sensor configured to produce sensor data by using the electric power while disposed on the rotatable component; and at least one processor disposed within the vehicle body, the at least one processor configured to perform an action within the vehicle body based on a parameter value meeting a threshold value, wherein the parameter value is based on the sensor data.

Tire or wheel for use on a vehicle, machine, equipment, toy or the like. The tire or wheel has an illuminable feature including at least one optical fiber.

Tire or wheel for use on a vehicle, machine, equipment, toy or the like. The tire or wheel has an illuminable feature including at least one optical fiber.

A method which includes obtaining a plurality of images of tires that differ from one another in either one of or both of a tire type and a tire condition, the obtained images being regarded as teacher images; converting the teacher images into a size of a predetermined number of pixels; learning by a convolutional neural network using data of the plurality of converted teacher images as learning images, and setting parameters of the convolutional neural network; obtaining a tire image of a recognition-target tire and converting the obtained tire image into a size identical to that of the teacher images; and inputting the converted tire image of the recognition-target tire to the convolutional neural network and determining either one of or both of the type and the condition of the recognition-target tire.

An abnormality monitoring system includes gas sensors provided in the cavity or the vicinity of a tire provided in a vehicle, a determination unit that determines the presence of an abnormality in the tire on the basis of the detection results of the gas sensors, and an output unit that outputs data based on the determination result of the determination unit. The gas sensors detect a volatile substance when abnormal heat build-up occurs in the tire. The volatile substance is a substance derived from an additive added when a tire is manufactured.

The invention concerns a tire damage detection method that includes a tire damage detection step comprising: providing an acquisition device (11), which is installed onboard a motor vehicle (2) equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires, and which is coupled to a vehicle bus (20) of the motor vehicle (2), and a processing device/system (12, 12A, 12B) storing a predefined tire damage model; acquiring, by the acquisition device (11) from the vehicle bus (20), a signal indicative of a speed of a wheel of the motor vehicle (2); outputting, by the acquisition device (11), quantities indicative of the wheel speed; receiving, by the processing device/system (12, 12A, 12B) from the acquisition device (11), the quantities indicative of the wheel speed; computing, by the processing device/system (12, 12A, 12B) based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed; and detecting, by the processing device/system (12, 12A, 12B), a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle (2) based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed. In particular, the tire damage detection method according to the present invention includes also a preliminary step that comprises: performing tests involving test tire impacts against/on different obstacles at different motor vehicle speeds; measuring/acquiring test-related wheel speeds during the performed tests; computing test-related normalized wheel speeds based on the test-related wheel speeds; and determining the predefined tire damage model to be used by the processing device/system (12, 12A, 12B) in the tire damage detection step on the basis of the test-related normalized wheel speeds corresponding to the test tire impacts and of associated test-related average wheel speeds.

The invention concerns a tire damage detection system (1,1A) that includes an acquisition device (11), a processing system (12,12A) and a notification device (13,13A). The acquisition device (11) is installed on board a motor vehicle (2) equipped with two or more wheels fitted with tires, is coupled to a vehicle bus (20) of the motor vehicle (2), and is configured to acquire, from the vehicle bus (20), a signal indicative of a speed of a wheel of the motor vehicle (2) and output quantities indicative of the wheel speed. The processing system (12,12A) is configured to store a predefined tire damage model and to receive, from the acquisition device (11), the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, and is programmed to compute, based on the quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed, and detect a potential damage to a tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle (2) based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed. The notification device (13,13A) is configured to, if a potential damage to the tire of the wheel of the motor vehicle (2) is detected by the processing system (12,12A), signal the detected potential damage to a user (3) associated with the motor vehicle (2). In particular, according to the present invention, the processing system (12) is a cloud computing system (12A) that is wirelessly and remotely connected to the acquisition device (11), while the notification device (13) is an electronic communication device (13A) associated with the user (3) and remotely connected to the cloud computing system (12A) via one or more wired and/or wireless networks.

A tire state management system (10) is provided with an image data acquisition unit (210) for acquiring 1st image data acquired by imaging the outer surface at a first timing and second image data acquired by imaging the outer surface at a second timing later than the first timing, a damage portion acquisition unit (220) for acquiring a damage included in the 1st image data and a damage included in the 2nd image data, a vehicle operation information acquisition unit (230) for acquiring operation information of a vehicle on which a tire is mounted, and a maintenance prediction unit (240) for estimating a progress speed based on the damage included in the 1st image data and the progress speed included in the 2nd image data and predicting a maintenance timing for the tire based on the progress speed and the operation information.

Provided is a tire including a pigment mixture that is capable of changing color with a change in temperature and/or light, wherein one or more of a tread part, a sidewall part, and a spoke part of the tire include a color-changing part including the pigment mixture, and the pigment mixture includes two or more selected from the group consisting of a temperature-sensitive pigment, a light-sensitive pigment, and a photoluminescent pigment.

A tire operation service system includes a tire information monitoring device to monitor information on a tire and detect position information and unique identifying information, a tire operation server including a user information database stored with user information corresponding to the identifying information and a shop information database stored with position information on each shop and connected to the tire information monitoring device via a communication network, and a shop terminal and a user terminal connected to the tire operation server via a communication network, wherein the tire operation server includes a user information extraction unit, a nearby shop extraction unit, a shop-with-handling-ability extraction unit, and a shop information transmission unit.