US 2013/0159201 A1 · SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PLURALITY OF TIRES

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided for managing a plurality of tires from their procurement through their disposal. An embodiment may include a method for determining all the costs of a tire over its total service life including procurement costs, repair costs, retread costs and disposal costs. An embodiment may include managing an inventory by automatically replenishing the inventory by following a set of stored inventory management rules. An embodiment may include helping to ensure that an impermissible tire is not mounted on a vehicle. A stored set of tire mounting rules automatically check the tire being mounted against requirements for the tire set by the rules, the requirements set as to by vehicle type and wheel position.

Claims21

Dependent claims

1-39. (canceled)

A method in a distributed data processing system for determining a wear rate for each of a plurality of tires, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of individual tire records, wherein one each of the plurality of individual tire records is associated with one each of the plurality of tires;
storing a procurement notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being procured, the procurement notification comprising a tire size, a tire make, a tire series and a unique tire identifier, wherein the unique tire identifier provides a unit of identification for the tire;
storing a mount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record each time the tire is mounted on a vehicle, the mount notification comprising the unique tire identifier, a unique vehicle identifier that provides a unit identification for the vehicle and a mounting position on the vehicle;
storing a dismount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record each time the tire is dismounted from the vehicle, the dismount notification comprising the unique tire identifier and the unique vehicle identifier;
defining a service segment for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record as a period between mounting the tire and dismounting the tire from the vehicle;
storing tread depth information for the defined service segment for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record, wherein the tread depth information is selected from a mount tread depth, a dismount tread depth, a difference between the mount and the dismount tread depth or combinations thereof;
storing a vehicle service indicator selected from a tire mount reading, a tire dismount reading, a difference between the tire mount and tire dismount reading or combinations thereof for the defined service segment for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record, wherein the vehicle service indicator is based upon a reading from at least one of an odometer or an hour meter;
storing a retread notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being retreaded, the retread notification comprising the unique tire identifier and a description of a tire retread;
and
determining by the data processing system a wear ratio for each service segment stored in the associated individual tire record of the tire, wherein the wear ratio is the difference measured by the service indicators over each service segment divided by the difference between the mount and the dismount tread depths over each service segment;
and
determining by the data processing system a total wear rate of the tire, wherein the total wear rate comprises summing the wear ratios determined for each service segment.

9 more elements

A method in a distributed data processing system for determining a total service cost for each of a plurality of tires, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of individual tire records, wherein one each of the plurality of individual tire records is associated with one each of the plurality of tires;
storing a procurement notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being procured, the procurement notification comprising a tire size, a tire make, a tire series, a tire procurement cost and a unique tire identifier, wherein the unique tire identifier provides a unit of identification for the tire;
storing a mount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record each time the tire is mounted on a vehicle, the mount notification comprising the unique tire identifier, a unique vehicle identifier that provides a unit identification for the vehicle and a mounting position on the vehicle;
storing a dismount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record each time the tire is dismounted from the vehicle, the dismount notification comprising the unique tire identifier and the unique vehicle identifier;
defining a service segment for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record as a period between mounting the tire and dismounting the tire from the vehicle;
storing a vehicle service indicator selected from a tire mount reading, a tire dismount reading, a difference between the tire mount and tire dismount reading or combinations thereof for the defined service segment for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record, wherein the vehicle service indicator is based upon a reading from at least one of an odometer or an hour meter;
storing a retread notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being retreaded, the retread notification comprising the unique tire identifier, a cost of the retread operation and a description of a tire retread;
and
determining by the data processing system a total service cost of the tire, wherein the total service cost comprises a sum of the procurement cost and the retread cost stored in the associated individual tire record.

6 more elements

A method in a distributed data processing system for automatically procuring a replenishment tire, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of individual tire records, wherein one each of the plurality of individual tire records is associated with one each of the plurality of tires;
storing a procurement notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being procured, the procurement notification comprising a tire size, a tire make, a tire series and a unique tire identifier, wherein the unique tire identifier provides a unit of identification for the tire;
storing a mount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being mounted on a vehicle, the mount notification comprising the unique tire identifier, a unique vehicle identifier that provides a unit identification for the vehicle;
storing a dismount notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being dismounted from the vehicle, the dismount notification comprising the unique tire identifier and the unique vehicle identifier;
storing an inventory change notification for each of the tires in the associated individual tire record upon the tire being added to or taken from an available tire inventory;
storing a set of tire inventory management rules, wherein the set comprises instructions for automatically replenishing the available tire inventory if certain criteria are met;
determining whether the certain criteria are met;
determining from the set of tire inventory management rules whether an authorization is provided to automatically procure the replenishment tire if the certain criteria are met;
and
if the authorization is provided, automatically procuring the replenishment tire.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for managing a plurality of tires

Life of this patent

System and method for managing a plurality of tires

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21