Vehicle wheel alignment apparatus and method

A dynamically configurable vehicle wheel alignment system, comprising

• a plurality of vehicle wheel alignment heads configured to be mounted on vehicle wheels in predetermined orientation relative thereto,
• a system bus,
• communications means coupled between said plurality of alignment heads and said system bus,
• at least one system functional means,
• a functional means control module coupled between each one of said functional means and said system bus,
• a controller in each of said functional means control modules and said communications means, and
• main processor means coupled to said bus for providing system calculations and sequencing control and for downloading decision making and communications routines from said functional means controllers, whereby the system is configured in accordance with functional means control modules present.

In a vehicle wheel alignment system having alignment heads for obtaining wheel alignment data and configured for mounting on vehicle wheels, the improvement comprising

• a plurality of functional control modules,
• a controller in each of said functional control modules and in each of said alignment heads operating to control performance of a dedicated function for each module and to control parallel acquisition of alignment data in each head,
• means in each of said alignment heads for transmitting and receiving data,
• main processor means coupled to said controller in each alignment head and control module for directing serial transmission of data from said alignment heads during separate periods of time.

A method of aligning wheels on a vehicle utilizing an intelligent alignment measurement system having a plurality of wheel mounted alignment heads and a remote console including a main processor and a plurality of functional modules including a communications module, comprising the steps of

• initializing the system by downloading digitized decision making and communications instructions from the plurality of functional modules to the main processor, whereby the system is automatically configured in accordance with the specific functional modules present in the system,
• measuring wheel alignment parameters and head status signals at separate ones of the vehicle wheels,
• digitizing the parameter and status measurements to obtain digital alignment data,
• storing digitized data at separate ones of the vehicle wheels, and
• serially transmitting and receiving instructions and digitized data between the communications module and different ones of the alignment heads.

A method of aligning wheels on a vehicle utilizing an intelligent alignment system having a plurality of wheel mounted alignment heads and a remote console including a main processor and a plurality of digitally communicating functional modules including a communications module, comprising the steps of

• individually controlling each of the functional modules and alignment heads to perform a dedicated function,
• measuring wheel alignment and head status signals at separate ones of the vehicle wheels,
• digitizing the parameter and status measurements to obtain digital alignment data,
• storing the digitized data at separate ones of the vehicle alignment heads, and
• serially transmitting and receiving instructions and digitized data between the communications module and different ones of the alignment heads during separate periods of time.