JP2009107484A - Tire information provision system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tire information provision system capable of easily and quantitatively recognizing the worn state of the tire without knowledge relative to the tire and an exclusive device for determining abrasion and ensuring safety of the tire by providing information of product deterioration by passed age to a user. <P>SOLUTION: In the tire 12 QR code 11(R) provided with product information such as product name and manufactured date and abrasion information regarding abrasion of the tire is buried. The QR code 11 appears on a surface of a tire tread part by wearing of the tire tread part. When the QR code appeared on the tire tread part is read by a cellular phone terminal 13 possessed by the user, in a management server 14, the abrasion information and the product information of the tire 12 are obtained, and the information is transmitted to the cellular phone terminal 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention reads a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark) that appears on the tire surface with wear with a camera attached to a mobile phone terminal, so that even a user who does not have expertise in tires can accurately The present invention relates to a tire information providing system that can easily recognize tire wear information and product information.

  In recent years, automobile bodies have become extremely safe due to dramatic improvements in electronic device technologies such as airbags, ABS (Antilock Brake System), and skid prevention devices (ESC: Electronic Stability Control). Yes. On the other hand, in the case of tires, it is the only important part where the automobile body and the road surface come in contact with each other, and even though it is a consumable part, general users can easily wear and deteriorate the product due to age. It is difficult to know quantitatively.

In order to know the detailed wear state, dedicated tools and specialized knowledge are required, which is a high threshold for general users.
In addition, although product deterioration such as curing due to age has occurred, it is difficult for the user to know the replacement date accompanying product deterioration recommended by the manufacturer to the extent that the user can know the manufacturing date stamped on the tire. .

As a conventional method for knowing the wear state of a tire, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for knowing the degree of wear based on the shape of a wear indicator. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of providing a plurality of color layers on the tire tread portion of a tire to know the wear state. Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a method in which a mark whose shape changes with wear is photographed with a camera attached to a door mirror to know the degree of wear. And as a method of judging product deterioration together with the wear state, Patent Document 4 discloses that the position information of the RFID tag embedded in the tire and the system that reads it know the wear state and tire deterioration due to secular change.
Patent Publication 2006-56508 JP-A-8-104113 Patent Publication 2004-224227 Patent Publication 2006-306120

However, in the case of the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is necessary for the user to recognize in advance the shape of the indicator and the degree of wear represented by the color, which requires some knowledge. In addition, this method cannot obtain information on product deterioration due to elapsed years.
Furthermore, in the case of the techniques described in Patent Documents 3 and 4, a dedicated reading device for wear detection is required, which causes a cost problem when used by general users. In addition, in the method of embedding the RFID tag in the tire body, it is necessary to increase the cost for manufacturing the tire.

  The present invention makes it possible to easily and quantitatively recognize the wear state of a tire without providing knowledge about the tire and a dedicated device for determining wear, and provides the user with information on product deterioration due to elapsed years. Thus, it is to provide a tire information providing system capable of ensuring the safety of the tire.

  In order to achieve the above object, a tire information providing system of the present invention includes a tire attached to a vehicle, a mobile terminal, and a management server, and the mobile terminal and the management server are connected to a communication network. Is a tire information providing system communicably connectable, the tire tread portion of the tire includes tire related information, and a two-dimensional code that appears on the surface of the tire tread portion according to wear is embedded, The portable terminal includes a reading unit that reads the two-dimensional code, and the management server receives the tire related information included in the two-dimensional code read by the portable terminal; A database processing unit for determining tire information of the tire based on tire-related information; and a tie determined by the database processing unit Characterized in that it comprises a response unit which transmits the information to the portable terminal.

The tire information providing system of the present invention has the following effects.
A tire user can easily and quickly know accurate wear information of a tire without specialized knowledge and a dedicated reading device, and can prevent an accident caused by the tire. In addition, it is possible to know information on aged deterioration from the tire manufacturing date, and it is possible to know the safety of the tire other than wear.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a tire information providing system to which the present invention is applied will be described.
In the present embodiment, a QR code (registered trademark) widely used as a two-dimensional code will be described as an example.
As shown in FIG. 1, the tire information providing system according to this embodiment includes a tire 12 attached to a vehicle, a mobile phone terminal 13 as a mobile terminal, and a management server 14 with QR codes 11 embedded in several places. . Both the mobile phone terminal 13 and the management server 14 are communicably connected to a communication network 15 such as the Internet. The vehicle includes an automobile, a motorcycle and the like.

The QR code 11 includes wear information about how much the tire 12 is worn and product information of the tire 12. The mobile phone terminal 13 is owned by the user. The mobile phone terminal 13 includes a reading unit (CCD camera or the like) that reads the QR code 11 (not shown).
The management server 14 includes a receiving unit 16, a DB (database) processing unit 17, a response unit 18, and a tire information DB 19.

The receiving unit 16 establishes a connection with the mobile phone terminal 13 via the communication network 15 and acquires wear information and product information as tire-related information included in the QR code 11 and transmitted to the management server 14. It has the function to do.
The DB processing unit 17 obtains corresponding information from the tire information DB 19 using the wear information and product information transmitted from the mobile phone terminal 13, and has a function of determining the tire condition and product information based on the information. .

The response unit 18 converts the tire information acquired from the tire information DB 19 and determined by the DB processing unit 17 into information that can be displayed on the mobile phone terminal 13, and converts the information to the mobile phone via the communication network 15. It has a function of transmitting to the terminal 13.
In the tire information DB 19, tire wear information related to the wear state of the tire 12 and product information of the tire 12 are registered.

  In this embodiment, a rubber block (hereinafter, also referred to as “two-dimensional code block”) on which the QR code 11 is printed in order to cause the single QR code 11 to appear on the tire surface depending on the tire wear state. Use. It is technically difficult to embed the QR code 11 including wear information in the tire tread portion 21 itself. Even if such a manufacturing method is possible, the manufacturing cost will increase.

  Further, since the QR code 11 includes product individual information that is not fixed, such as the date of manufacture and lot number, it is considered that it is more difficult to embed it directly in the tire tread portion 21. Therefore, in the manufacturing process of the tire tread portion 21, a hole for embedding the two-dimensional code block 20 is created, and the two-dimensional code block 20 having a height for each wear state is embedded in the hole, thereby reducing the cost. The tire 12 can be manufactured.

Next, an example of a tire structure having the QR code 11 will be described.
First, an example of the two-dimensional code block 20 embedded in the tire 12 will be described.
The QR code 11 printed on the surface of the two-dimensional code block 20 includes common information such as a product code, a manufacturing date, a size of the tire 12, and a management server URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Further, as shown in FIG. 2, different wear information in five stages (two-dimensional code blocks 20 a to 20 e) according to the wear state of the tire 12 is included.

Next, the tire 12 in which the two-dimensional code block 20 is embedded will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of holes 22 a to 22 c having a uniform depth for embedding the two-dimensional code block 20 are formed in the tire tread portion 21 of the tire 12. In FIG. 3, there are only three holes 22, but five are appropriate in this example. As shown in FIG. 4, when the tire tread portion 21 of the tire 12 is viewed in a cross-sectional view, the hole 22 is formed perpendicular to the tire tread portion 21 toward the center of the tire 12.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the new tire 12, the two-dimensional code block 20 having the QR code 11 representing the new state is only embedded in the hole 22 formed in the tire tread portion 21. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, in the worn tire 12, the two-dimensional code block 20 b having the QR code indicating the worn state is embedded in the hole 22 formed in the tire tread portion 21, and then the lid 23. Concealed by. The same applies to the two-dimensional code blocks 20c to 20e.

  In this example, a method of printing the QR code 11 on the surface of the two-dimensional code block 20a is described. However, the QR code 11 configured as “Kintaro Kaoru” is added to the two-dimensional code block 20 itself. It is also possible to incorporate it. In this case, the hole 22 formed in the tire 12 is only one place, and different two-dimensional code blocks 20a to 20e are inserted in layers for each worn state.

Next, the worn state of the two-dimensional code blocks 20a to 20e having the QR code 11 appearing on the surface of the tire 12, the lids 23a to 23d, and the tire tread portion 21 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 7, in the new tire 12, the QR code 11 appearing on the tire surface is only the QR code 11 printed on the two-dimensional code block 20a. The other QR code 11 is concealed inside the tire 12 by the lids 23a to 23d.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when the tire tread portion 21 is worn by about 45% due to running of the vehicle, the two-dimensional code blocks 20a and 20b are worn together with the tire tread portion 21, so that the QR code 11 printed on the surface is used. Disappears. The QR code 11 printed on the two-dimensional code block 20c appears on the surface of the tire 12 as the lid 23b disappears due to wear.

  The QR code 11 printed on the surfaces of the two-dimensional code blocks 20d and 20e does not appear on the surface of the tire 12 because the lid 23c and the lid 23b remain. As a result, only the QR code 11 of the two-dimensional code block 20c appears on the surface of the tire 12 when the tire 12 is worn 45%. Therefore, the user can always recognize and read only the single QR code 11 on the tire surface.

Next, information that the QR code 11 printed on the surface of the two-dimensional code block 20 has will be described.
The information that the QR code 11 has includes tire product information 24 and wear information 25 that indicates the degree of wear. As shown in FIG. 9, the tire product information 24 includes a server system URL, a manufacturer name, a product code, a manufacturing date, a manufacturing factory, a lot number, and a tire size 117. The server system URL is used to access the management server 14 having tire information.

For example, when the wear state 25 is expressed as 100 for a new state and 0 for a state where it is completely worn, the wear state is quantitatively expressed as 80, 60, 40, 20, 0 in stages from the least wear. Have the value represented by.
The user reads the information of the QR code 11 with the mobile phone terminal 13 owned by the user. Then, the mobile phone terminal 13 connects to the management server 14 via the communication network 15 and transmits product information 24 and wear information 25 to the management server 14.

Next, data registered in the tire information DB 19 of the management server 14 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 10, information for each tire product is registered in the tire information DB 19. In this embodiment, the product code is used as a key, and the safety performance evaluation corresponding to the product name, the service life recommended by the developer, and the wear state is held. Regarding the evaluation value of safety performance evaluation corresponding to the wear state, the state where the tire performance can be sufficiently exhibited is high, the case where the tire performance can be exhibited to some extent, the case where the tire performance cannot be sufficiently exhibited is low. NG is indicated when it cannot be exhibited at all.

  In this safety performance evaluation, individual evaluation reference values are provided for each property of the tire product, for example, for general driving, sports driving, and fuel consumption driving. In this example, only the product code is used as a key, but the compound or structure that constitutes the tire is changed due to a minor product change or the like, and the performance may be different even with the same product code. In such a case, it is necessary to perform more detailed product information management using the lot number. Although not described in detail, this system can also provide recall information and the like to the user.

Next, the flow of processing in the management server 14 when the tire information providing system of the present embodiment configured as described above is executed will be described.
First, the QR code 11 including the URL of the management server 14 appearing on the surface of the tire 12, the wear information, and the product information is displayed on the mobile phone terminal 13 owned by the user by a user who wants to know tire wear information and product information. Is read. Then, the mobile phone terminal 13 connects to the management server 14 via the communication network 15 based on the URL information of the QR code 11.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the receiving unit 16 of the management server 14 receives the connection request from the mobile phone terminal 13 and acquires the transmitted product information and wear information of the QR code 11 (step S1). Next, the DB processing unit 17 determines whether or not the transmitted information content is illegal (step S2). If it is determined that the transmitted information content is invalid, the processing is stopped. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no fraud in the transmitted information content, the DB processing unit 17 searches the tire information DB 19 with the transmitted product code, and acquires a matching record (step S3).

Next, the DB processing unit 17 calculates the elapsed years from the difference between the information related to the manufacturing date and the information related to the current date that has been transmitted, and compares this with the useful life (step S4). If the elapsed time exceeds the useful life, the DB processing unit 17 sets a danger message that warns the user of a performance drop due to product deterioration (step S5).
Next, the DB processing unit 17 acquires the safety performance evaluation value corresponding to the wear value that matches the transmitted wear information, and sets the wear state (step S6).

Next, the DB processing unit 17 determines whether or not the wear state has reached a dangerous area (step S7). When it is determined that the wear state has reached the danger zone, the DB processing unit 17 sets a danger message that warns of performance degradation due to wear (step S8). Next, the response unit 18 of the management server 14 converts the elapsed years, wear state, deterioration, and wear message into data in a format that can be displayed on the mobile phone terminal 13, and the data is transmitted via the communication network 15. It transmits to the mobile phone terminal 13 (step S9).
In this case, the warning target is only for the case where the service life is exceeded and the wearer is significantly worn. It is possible to provide.

If there is no problem with tire wear and deterioration over time, a tire information screen 26a is displayed on the user's mobile phone terminal 13, as shown in FIG. However, since tire performance depends on air pressure and usage environment, safety may not be judged only by wear and deterioration over time, and a message prompting periodic inspection is included.
On the other hand, when there is a problem in both the wear state and the service life, the tire information screen 26 b is displayed on the user's mobile phone terminal 13. In this case, an example in which a user is encouraged to actively check by including a URL for searching for a service store for checking with a warning message is included.

As described above, according to the tire information providing system of the present embodiment, there are the following effects.
-Tire users can easily and quickly know accurate wear information on tires without specialized knowledge and a dedicated reader, and can prevent accidents caused by tires.
-It is possible to know information on aging deterioration from the date of tire manufacture, and it is possible to know the safety of tires other than wear.

・ For tire users, it is possible to know the tire condition accurately when purchasing a used tire or a used car, and to confirm the safety of the used product.
In the tire manufacturer, it is only necessary to embed a two-dimensional code block printed with a plurality of patterns of two-dimensional codes different in wear state in the tire development cost, so that the manufacturing cost can be kept low.

-Tire manufacturers can provide replacement information according to tire wear and deterioration over time, and it is likely to lead to repeat sales.
-Tire manufacturers can provide detailed services such as providing recall information to users by registering users as users according to this system.

The embodiment described above may be modified as follows.
In the above embodiment, the QR code 11 includes the wear information and the product information as the tire related information. However, only one of the information may be included as the tire related information.
In the above embodiment, the mobile phone terminal 13 has been described as an example of the mobile terminal. However, for example, the mobile phone terminal 13 can be carried by a user and is a digital camera including a two-dimensional code reading unit. Also good.

FIG. Explanatory drawing of a two-dimensional code block. Tire for embedding two-dimensional code blocks. Tire tread part sectional drawing. The tire tread part sectional drawing in which the two-dimensional code block was embedded. The tire tread part sectional drawing in which the two-dimensional code block was embedded. Sectional drawing showing the positional relationship of a tire tread part and a two-dimensional code block. Sectional drawing of the tire tread part when a tire is worn. The information block diagram contained in QR Code. The data block diagram which tire information DB has. The flowchart of the process which a management server performs. Tire information screen displayed on mobile phone terminals.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... QR code as two-dimensional code, 12 ... Tire, 13 ... Mobile phone terminal as a mobile terminal, 14 ... Management server, 15 ... Communication network, 16 ... Receiving part, 17 ... Database processing part, 18 ... Response part, 21: Tire tread portion.

Claims (1)

A tire information providing system, comprising a tire attached to a vehicle, a mobile terminal, and a management server, wherein the mobile terminal and the management server are communicably connectable via a communication network,
The tire tread portion of the tire includes tire related information, and a two-dimensional code that appears on the surface of the tire tread portion according to wear is embedded,
The mobile terminal includes a reading unit that reads the two-dimensional code,
The management server
A receiving unit for receiving the tire related information included in the two-dimensional code read by the portable terminal;
A database processing unit for determining tire information of the tire based on the tire related information;
A tire information providing system comprising: a response unit that transmits tire information determined by the database processing unit to the portable terminal.

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