Method for detection and estimation of tire tread wear

A method for identifying tire damage within a visual display of tread depth information associated with a tire of a vehicle wheel assembly, comprising:

• acquiring tread depth measurement data from a plurality of points within a three-dimensional tire surface region including both a tire center region and at least one tire shoulder region adjacent to said tire center region;
• processing said acquired tread depth measurement data to generate a tire surface image which is representative of tire tread depth at said plurality of points within said three-dimensional tire surface region;
• evaluating at least a portion of said acquired tire tread depth measurement data to identify observed tread wear within said three-dimensional tire surface region;
• comparing said observed tread wear with expected tread wear to identify tread depth measurements within said acquired tread depth measurement data which deviate from said expected tread wear;
• and
• responsive to said identification, presenting within said generated tire surface image, at least one visual indication associated with said identified tread depth measurements which deviate from said expected tread wear;
• and
• presenting at least one annotation warning of possible tire damage associated with said at least one visual indication.

A method for presenting a visual display of tire tread depth information associated with a vehicle wheel assembly, comprising:

• acquiring tire tread depth measurement data from a plurality of points within a three-dimensional tire surface region including both a tire center region and at least one tire shoulder region adjacent to said tire center region;
• evaluating at least a portion of said acquired tire tread depth measurement data to identify a predominant tread wear pattern within said three-dimensional tire surface region;
• identifying tread depth measurements within said acquired tread depth measurement data which deviate from said predominant tread wear pattern;
• generating a two-dimensional tire surface region image from said acquired tire tread depth measurement data, said image representative of tire tread depths at said plurality of points within said tire surface region for display to an operator;
• responsive to an identification of at least one tread depth measurement which deviates from said predominant tire tread wear pattern,
• providing at least one distinct color within said two-dimensional tire surface region image to illustrate each of said identified points;
• and
• presenting at least one visual indication within said two-dimensional tire surface region image indicating possible tire damage associated with said identified points;
• displaying at least one annotation associated with said at least one visual indication.