Computer vision aided automated tire inspection system for in-motion inspection of vehicle tires

A method for automatically inspecting a tire of a moving vehicle, comprising:

• acquiring multiple images of a tire of a moving vehicle using at least one camera as the tire enters a field of view of the at least one camera;
• illuminating, using a light source, the tire of the vehicle in the field of view of the camera;
• synchronizing the illuminating of the tire and the acquiring multiple images of the tire;
• transmitting the multiple acquired images of the tire to a computer image processing component;
• receiving the multiple acquired images at the computer image processing component;
• analyzing the multiple images of the tire using a detection program to provide a tread depth of the tire and a rating of the tire used to determine when the tire should be replaced, the detection program being stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium of a computer system of the image processing component;
• providing an inspection analysis of the tire using the analysis of the multiple acquired images and the detection program;
• and
• transmitting the inspection analysis and the multiple acquired images for storage thereof.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program, a computer system including a processor for executing the steps of the computer program for automatically inspecting at least one tire of a moving vehicle, the program steps comprising:

• acquiring multiple images of at least one tire of a moving vehicle using at least one camera, as part of the vehicle enters a field of view of the at least one camera;
• illuminating, using a light source, the at least one tire of the vehicle when in the field of view of the camera;
• synchronizing imaging by the camera with illuminating the at least one tire;
• transmitting the multiple acquired images of the at least one tire to a computer image processing component;
• receiving the multiple acquired images at the computer image processing component;
• analyzing the multiple acquired images of the at least one tire using a detection program, the detection program being stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium of a computer system of the image processing component;
• analyzing the multiple acquired images to determine a tread depth of the at least one tire;
• providing an inspection analysis of the at least one tire using the analysis of the multiple acquired images and the tread depth, and providing a rating of the at least one tire to determine when the at least one tire should be replaced;
• and
• transmitting the inspection analysis and the multiple acquired images for storage thereof.