CN110014680A

CN110014680A - Device and method for tire marker and label tire

Info

Publication number: CN110014680A
Application number: CN201910124333.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿明·克劳斯; 海因茨·莱昂哈德·耶特尔; 阿明·赖斯; 帕特里克·科伊勒斯; 延斯·福斯特; 弗兰克·林德瑙
Original assignee: 4JET Technologies GmbH
Current assignee: 4JET Technologies GmbH
Priority date: 2019-02-18
Filing date: 2019-02-18
Publication date: 2019-07-16

Abstract

It for identification include the image procossing of the mating plate sensor using tyre type for identification and mark point with the system for marking each motor-driven tire.The height profile of the mating plate sensor measurement sidewall of tire for identification, and for selecting the mark point, and wherein the mating plate sensor and laser are mounted on rotating arm.Label laser is used in the type and size of tire and is identified by image procossing after marker motion through laser emission engraved markings on the specified point on the rubber of tire side.Further it is provided that for providing the device and method of the tire with 2d square matrix code.

Description

Apparatus and method for tire marking and marking tires

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to tire marking and marking tires. More particularly, embodiments relate to automatic tire marking using laser systems and/or light sheet sensors to enhance image processing.

Background

Automobile tires are safety-related products. For liability reasons, to track the production history of a tyre in the event of damage or claim, it is increasingly necessary to mark each tyre. The marking must be human readable even after prolonged use of the tire. The indicia consists of a series of alphanumeric symbols and must be engraved on a well visible point on the tire sidewall.

In the past, some tire manufacturers have used individual paper barcode labels on tires to control the tire manufacturing process. These labels are applied to the bead of each tyre in a first production step and the tyre is passed through the entire production chain until final completion. In this way, individual information for each tire is available, but not in a human readable manner, rather than on a durable label.

German utility patent nr 20310931.7 describes a laser system that attempts to solve this marking task. In this system, a conveyor belt transports the tire into a marking station until it stops below a horizontal rotating arm. The gripping arm centers the tire under the axis of rotation of the rotating arm. The camera and laser are mounted on the arm. The camera captures a sidewall of the tire and directs the laser to a marking point after comparing the sidewall captured by the camera with a picture stored in memory. This concept does enable the use of a very compact, inexpensive device for tire marking. Video-based image processing has revealed serious drawbacks. Video pictures rely on the contrast of colors (black/white). Raised symbols/letters on the tire sidewall are formed as part of the tire building process. The symbol appears black in black, albeit in the form of a raised figure. The human eye can only distinguish these blacks on black symbols because humans may not be able to intentionally see the change in gloss on the tire surface. Similar to the simple video system process used in the above systems, unlike human images which are as complex as processing power, such a distinction cannot be made. Thus, slight variations in the surface roughness of the tire or workstation illumination may lead to failure with existing systems.

EP 1065071 a2 discloses a polymeric article, in particular a tire having a visible surface, wherein a portion of said surface is corrugated such that the distance from corrugation ridge to corrugation ridge is characterized in that: 4, m and 40 μm, or at least a part of said surface in such a way that: so that the distance from the tip to the tip is between 5 and 60 μm.

US 2009/021819 a1 discloses an article having at least one visible surface, said surface at least partially comprising a pattern contrasting with the surface of said article, the pattern comprising a plurality of clusters distributed throughout said pattern, each cluster having an average cross-section of 0.003-0.06mm 2. The present invention also discloses a molding process for forming a high contrast pattern on a surface an article moldable in a mold, the method comprising: a plurality of cavities having an average cross-section of 0.003 to 0.06mm2 were fabricated at the pattern locations on the mold surface. The pattern gives the article a pile feel on it.

It is known to provide tyres with qr codes by pile technology

US 2012/0227879 a1 discloses a tire having a visible surface with a pattern contrasting with said surface, said pattern comprising over its entire surface a plurality of tufts distributed at a density of at least five tufts per mm2, or a plurality of blades, said plurality of tufts being substantially parallel to each other and arranged at a pitch of less than 0.5mm, each tuft having an average cross-section of 0.03mm to 0.5mm in diameter or each blade having an average width of 0.03mm to 0.5mm, characterized in that: the walls of the tufts or blades have, over at least one quarter of their area, an average roughness rz in the range 5 to 30 μm. The function of these clusters or leaves is to capture the incident light on the surface of the pattern, giving the desired black matte appearance of the pattern produced by light absorption. A method of manufacturing a mold for forming a visible impression of a tire comprising such a pattern during vulcanization is also disclosed.

It is known to provide tyres with qr codes by pile technology

US 2012/0227879 a1 discloses a tire having a visible surface with a pattern contrasting with the surface, the pattern comprising a cluster or clusters having a plurality of clusters distributed throughout its surface at a density of at least five clusters per square millimeter, the blades being substantially parallel to each other and the pitch of the blades being less than 0.5mm, each cluster having an average cross-section of 0.03mm to 0.5mm in diameter or each blade having an average width of 0.03mm to 0.5mm, characterized in that: the walls of the tufts or blades have, over at least one quarter of their area, an average roughness rz in the range 5 to 30 μm. The function of these clusters or leaves is to capture the incident light on the surface of the pattern, giving the desired black matte appearance of the pattern produced by light absorption. A method of manufacturing a mold for forming a visible impression of a tire comprising such a pattern during vulcanization is also disclosed.

DE 202005002355U 1 discloses a laser device for marking vehicle tires with laser light, wherein tires of different types are located on a conveyor belt and transported by the device without stopping and slipping. On the pivoting arm, a piece of light sensor is mounted under the pivoting of the arm, the relief structure of the tire sidewall is obtained as a height profile and compared to a reference profile. In this way, the type of tire and the marking location are determined.

WO 2005/000714 a1 discloses a system for marking tyres comprising a first (pre-centering) and bar code reader) station, a second (vision) station and a third (marking and verification)) station connected by a tyre transport mechanism. At the second station, the visual camera system will read the human-visible printed marks or characters that have been molded into the tire. The laser applicator or engraver is adjustably mounted on the third station by an adjustment mechanism that enables it to move in the x, y and z planes so that the laser beam can be properly positioned in the x and y directions for engraving additional data on the tire. Adjustment in the z direction will adjust the focal length of the laser beam. The data matrix may be used for subsequent engraving on the sidewall of the tire. In a different system, the tire passes through a lateral centering device. The laterally central tire is then moved into a first reading station by the centering device. The first reader station contains longitudinal centering logic and uses a camera and a laser for determining od, id, height, and sidewall profile of the tire. As the tire enters the first reading station and is moving, the tire is measured using photo eyes and logic to calculate od and then halved, this location on the tire then being the commanded stop position for centering the tire in the first reading station. Once stopped, the camera takes several pictures of the tire. First, a picture of the tire without additional light, then two different pictures are taken of two different visible laser lines projected through the tire sidewall to different locations, a control system determines the sidewall profile, all other dimensional and positional data on the tire, the control system also confirming that the tire is centered both laterally and longitudinally on the conveyor in the first reading station.

WO 2005/000714 a1 relates to a vehicle tyre and a system for applying data to the outer surface of the inner or outer sidewall of a tyre by laser engraving, avoiding or reducing the placement of engraved bars in the mould and allowing the application of data in the tyre after the tyre has been shaped, for example the tyre is required to be moulded according to the dots. The system has several stations, one of which detects the position of the tire and/or the bar code strip previously placed on the tire while the tire is in its green state for the existing dot data characters that have been molded, and uses that position to position the tire and/or laser so that subsequently applied data is properly positioned adjacent to the existing molded data. A system for tire marking includes a first station, a second station, and a third station. The first station includes a bar code reader for reading indicia, typically a bar code strip, attached to the tire. The location of the bar code can be used for subsequent laser engraving of information on the tire. In the second station, the visual camera system will read the human visible printed marks or characters that have been molded into the tire. The laser applicator or engraver is adjustably mounted on the third station by an adjustment mechanism that enables the laser applicator or engraver to move in the x, y, z plane so that the laser beam can be properly positioned in the xy direction. Adjustment in the z direction will adjust the focal length of the laser beam. The same laser applicator (week and year)) used to apply the last four characters of the desired dot code may be used to encode the 2-d symbols, e.g., a data matrix, which may include a serial number for the tire.

DE 202005002355U 1 discloses a device for individually marking vehicle tires with a laser, by means of which, in the case of tires of different types on a conveyor belt, transport takes place without stopping and without slipping off, wherein the determination of the position of the center point of the tire moving with the belt is started by means of a laser scanner. A pivot beam suspended on an x, y axis system is then positioned over the tire such that the vertical axis of rotation of the pivot beam moves through the system in synchronism with the center of the tire. An optical cutting sensor is mounted on the pivot beam, and the relief structure of the sidewall of the tire is recorded as a height profile by pivoting of the arm and compared to a reference profile. Thus, the tire type is identified and the marking points are defined. A marking laser is also positioned on the pivot beam and aligned with the marking point. After the mark has been excited by the laser, the optical cut sensor is pivoted on the mark in order to inspect the optical cut sensor.

DE 202005000640U 1 discloses a device for individually marking vehicle tires to detect the type of said tire and to determine said marking points, the relief structure of the tire sidewall being recorded as a height profile by means of a light-cutting sensor and compared with a reference profile of a tire of the corresponding type.

EP 1634117B 1 discloses a vehicle tyre marking system comprising a control unit, a first station, a first reading device provided at the first station for reading a reference position on the tyre and transmitting said position to the control unit; a second station, a laser applicator, disposed at said second station, for applying a mark to said tire at a specific point, characterized in that: the system includes a positioning mechanism having an orientation between the laser applicator and the tire as a function of a reference position on the tire, the first reading device having been read by the first reading device for applying the marking at the specific point by the laser applicator.

U.S. patent No.7,295,948B 2 discloses a laser system for marking tires. The laser system has tire information stored in a memory, the tire information having a height profile and a sidewall template. The laser system has a station with an image processing system having an optical slit sensor for measuring the height profile of the tire sidewall, wherein the image processing system is further configured to identify the type and size of the tire by comparing the tire information to the height profile stored in the memory.

Disclosure of Invention

First concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

Aspects and embodiments of the first concept may avoid the disadvantages experienced with systems using standard video systems using independent image capture techniques to evaluate tire specimens, but rather measure the height profile of raised symbols formed on the tire sidewall to evaluate their layout. By comparing the captured image profile with the reference profile, the type of tire and its rotational position can be identified independently of illumination and tire surface quality.

According to a feature of an embodiment, the system of the invention is used for marking individual vehicle tires by means of a laser for measuring the height profile of the tire sidewalls in an identification tire and for selecting marking points of the light sheet sensor.

According to another feature of an embodiment, the optical sheet sensor and the laser may be mounted together on a rotating arm.

According to a further feature of an embodiment, during operation, the system continuously transfers the tyre onto the conveyor belt without slipping the position of said tyre on said belt being identified by a sensor, said rotary arm being adjustable to said position and being movable in synchronism with said tyre.

According to yet another feature of an embodiment, the marking solution may be provided in a single station having the following process steps: positioning the tire, identifying the type of the tire and determining the rotating position of the tire; positioning laser; engraving and verifying.

According to yet another feature of an embodiment, the tire marking solution may be deployed as a multi-station system. In the case of more than one station, two rotating arms move with the belt, one for the first light sheet sensor and the other for laser engraving, each independently positioned in the center of two tires behind each other and suitable for identifying and marking both tires simultaneously. A second sheet sensor operates in conjunction with the laser engraving station to verify the indicia.

According to a further feature of an embodiment, during operation of the multi-station system, the tires are continuously transported through the system without slipping through the conveyor belt. At the first station, the laser scanner detects the center position of the tire on the belt. At the second station, the type of tire and its rotational orientation are determined by the imaging process enabled by the light sheet sensor, mounted on a horizontal rotating arm. At the third station, the tire indicia is laser engraved.

According to a further feature of an embodiment, the system has two independent rotating arms, station two, station three. Thus, two tires can be processed simultaneously. During operation, when the rotating arm associated with the third (marker 2) is marking the tire 1), the rotating arm associated with the second imaging) station can simultaneously analyze the sidewalls of the tire described below. A light sheet sensor-enabled image processing system co-located with the engraving laser at the marking station may verify the mark before completion.

Second concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

According to a first aspect of the second concept, there is provided a method of providing a rubber article having a digital code pattern, the rubber article comprising a cured polymeric material, the method comprising: a digital code pattern is generated in a cured polymer material of a rubber article, said digital code pattern comprising a first surface portion and a second surface portion having different optical reflectivity.

The first aspect is based on the idea of improving the properties of a rubber article by using a digital coding pattern to generate a coding pattern after curing of the polymer material of the rubber article. Thus, the provision of the digital code pattern may be separate from the manufacturing (curing), in particular with respect to location and time.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method is adapted for providing a functional embodiment as described in one or more aspects described herein and/or for providing a desired or resulting functionality according to one or more of said aspects or embodiments.

According to a second aspect of the second concept, there is provided a rubber article comprising a cured polymeric material forming a surface of the rubber article, the surface comprising: a first surface portion having a first optical reflectivity; the second surface portion has a second optical reflectance lower than the first optical reflectance; the first surface portion and the second surface portion form at least a portion of a digital code pattern, wherein the digital code pattern identifies the rubber article, particularly in a manufacturing lot of rubber articles.

According to embodiments of the second aspect, the rubber article is adapted to provide the functionality as described in one or more aspects or embodiments described herein and/or for providing the required functionality or providing said functionality according to one or more of said aspects or embodiments, in particular embodiments of the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the second concept, there is provided a rubber article marking apparatus: a radiation source for providing electromagnetic radiation; and a controller for controlling the radiation source to perform the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof.

According to embodiments of the third aspect, the rubber article marking device is adapted to provide the functionality as described in one or more aspects or embodiments described herein and/or for providing the required functionality or providing the functionality according to one or more of said aspects or embodiments, in particular embodiments of the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the second concept, there is provided a computer program product, in particular in the form of a computer program or a computer readable medium comprising a computer program, for controlling the operation of a rubber article marking apparatus, the computer program being configured for, when executed on a data processor apparatus, controlling the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof.

According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the computer program product is adapted for providing the functionality as described in one or more aspects or embodiments described herein and/or for providing the required functionality or providing the functionality according to one or more of said aspects or embodiments, in particular an embodiment of the first aspect.

According to a fifth aspect of the second concept, there is provided a method of identifying a rubber article according to the second aspect or an embodiment thereof, the method comprising: reading the digital code pattern from the polymer surface of the rubber article.

According to an embodiment of the fifth aspect, the method is adapted to provide the functionality as described in one or more aspects or embodiments described herein for providing the required functionality according to or resulting from one or more of said aspects or embodiments, in particular an embodiment of the first aspect.

According to a sixth aspect of the second concept, there is provided a computer program product, in particular in the form of a computer program or a computer readable medium comprising a computer program, for controlling the operation of the rubber item identification device, the computer program being configured for, when executed on a data processor device, controlling the method according to the fifth aspect or an embodiment thereof.

According to an embodiment of the fifth aspect, the method is adapted to provide the functionality as described in one or more aspects or embodiments as described herein for providing the required functionality according to or resulting from one or more of said aspects or embodiments, in particular an embodiment of the fifth aspect.

As used herein, reference to a computer program product is intended to be equivalent to reference to a computer program and/or a computer-readable medium containing a computer program for controlling a computer system to implement and/or coordinate the performance of any of the above methods.

The computer program may be implemented as computer readable instruction code, e.g. java, c + +, using any suitable programming language, and may be stored on a computer-readable medium (removable disk 2), volatile or non-volatile memory, embedded memory/processor, etc.). The instruction code is operable to program a computer or any other programmable device to perform the intended functions. The computer program may be available from a network, such as the world wide web, from which it may be downloaded.

The subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented separately by a computer program. However, the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented separately by one or more specific electronic circuits. Furthermore, the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented in hybrid form, i.e., a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

In the foregoing description and accompanying drawings, exemplary embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, a rubber article marking apparatus and a method thereof, will be described with reference to a rubber article. It should be noted that any combination of features relating to different aspects of the disclosed subject matter is also possible. In particular, some feature type embodiments have been described with reference to apparatus, while other features have been described or will be described with reference to method type embodiments. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one aspect also any combination of features relating to different aspects or embodiments is involved, for example, this application discloses a combination of features of an apparatus type embodiment and features of a method type embodiment.

The aspects and embodiments defined above and further aspects and embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein are apparent from the description to follow, with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Third concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

Conventional techniques for surface manipulation of rubber articles (e.g., tire 2) are suitable for creating large surface areas of controlled surfaces, but are not particularly suitable for providing rubber articles with digitally encoded patterns.

In view of the above, there is a need for an improved technique capable of providing a rubber article with a digital code pattern, while substantially avoiding or at least reducing one or more of the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention addresses this need in light of the aspects and embodiments disclosed herein with respect to the third concept. Advantageous embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein are described by way of further embodiments.

In accordance with an embodiment of the first aspect of the third concept, there is provided a method of marking a rubber article, the method comprising: creating a pattern of depressions in the rubber article by removing rubber material, the pattern of depressions defining a digital code pattern; the depression pattern includes a first depression portion and a second depression portion, the first and second depressions being recessed relative to an unaltered surface of the rubber article; the first and second recesses define a protrusion on a bottom of the recess; wherein a spacing between the first and second recesses is greater than 0.5mm, or wherein the first and second recesses are part of a recess surrounding the protrusion, and the protrusion has a base area greater than 0.2 square millimeters.

According to an embodiment of the first aspect, the method is adapted for providing the functionality of and/or for providing the required functionality according to one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular an embodiment of the third concept.

According to an embodiment of a second aspect of the third concept, there is provided a marking device for marking a rubber article, in particular a tire, the marking device comprising: tools, in particular lasers, for removing rubber material of rubber articles; control means for controlling the tool to perform the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof. Other tools (e.g., mechanical tools) are also contemplated.

According to an embodiment of the second aspect, the marking means is adapted to provide the functionality of one or more of the embodiments and/or for providing the required functionality according to one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular an embodiment of the third concept.

According to an embodiment of a third aspect of the third concept, there is provided a rubber article including: a pattern of depressions in the rubber article, the pattern of depressions defining a digital code pattern; the recess pattern includes a first recess and a second recess, the first and second recesses being recessed relative to an unaltered surface of the rubber article; the first and second recesses define a protrusion on a bottom of the recess; wherein the spacing between the first and second recesses is greater than 0.5mm, or if the protrusion is surrounded by a recess to which it is attached, the protrusion has an area greater than 0.2 square millimeters.

According to an embodiment of the third aspect, the rubber article is adapted to provide features resulting from one or more of said embodiments, in particular an embodiment of the third concept.

According to an embodiment of a fourth aspect of the third concept, there is provided a computer program product for controlling a marking device, the computer program product, executing on a data processor device, controlling the method according to any aspect or embodiment disclosed herein, in particular the third concept.

According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the computer program product is adapted for providing the functionality of one or more of the embodiments and/or for providing the required functionality according to one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular an embodiment of the third concept.

The aspect of the third concept is based on the idea that: the characteristics of the method or marking means for providing a rubber article with a digital code pattern can be improved by suitable dimensioning of the structural elements involved, in particular the recesses and the protrusions defining the digital code pattern. It has been found that according to embodiments of the present invention even large structural elements are suitable for relatively small code modules defining a digital code pattern.

It should be appreciated that, since aspects of the third concept relate to the removal of rubber material to create a pattern of depressions, aspects and embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter are well distinguished from methods of creating depressions or protrusions in a rubber article during the molding of the rubber article. Rather, aspects and embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein allow the rubber article to have a groove pattern (and thus a digital code pattern)) at any time after manufacture of the rubber article, particularly after molding and curing of the rubber article.

In the following, exemplary embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein are described, any number and any combination thereof may be implemented in the implementation of the aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the digital code pattern comprises an array of code modules, for example a rectangular array of code modules. However, other array types are also contemplated. According to an embodiment, the code module is a lowest level information element of the digital code graph. Further, according to an embodiment, the digital code pattern is wherein the digital code pattern is that the digital code pattern code module represents a digital camera 0 or a digital camera 1. For example, according to one embodiment, the digital code pattern is a so-called qr code, in particular a version 3qr code comprising 29 x29 individual code modules. It is noted that according to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a module for encoding a binary digital code pattern, wherein the recessed portion is compared to the recessed portion, and the recessed portion is compared to the recessed portion.

It should be understood that within the scope of the present application, the term "black" denotes a code module having a relatively low optical reflectivity, and therefore the term "white" denotes a code module having a higher optical reflectivity than the optical reflectivity of the black module. In particular, embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter are suitable for producing digital code patterns on black to black contrast, i.e. by reducing the optical reflectivity of the rubber article at locations corresponding to black code modules. According to an embodiment, the white code module is provided by an unaltered surface of the rubber article. However, the optical reflectance of the surface of the rubber article of the white code module may also be obtained by adding the white code module (e.g., by polishing).

According to one embodiment, the removal of the rubber material is performed by means of a beam of electromagnetic radiation, in particular a laser beam. Electromagnetic radiation provides a precise and powerful means for manipulating the surface of rubber articles. In particular, the laser beam may have sufficient power to perform methods in accordance with aspects and embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, and at low cost.

According to an embodiment, the rayleigh length of the radiation beam is greater than 1.5 mm. Additionally and/or alternatively, in accordance with an embodiment, the method includes adjusting the focal position in a direction of the radiation beam during generation of the digital code pattern. Both measures provide a large rayleigh length and adjust the focus position of the radiation beam the direction of the radiation beam allows to provide a curved surface with a high quality digital code pattern. The same is true if the radiation forms an angle different from 90 ° with the unaltered surface of the rubber article. Notably, a curved surface can be considered an angled surface (an angle of 90 degrees from the unaltered surface of the rubber article)).

According to one embodiment, the first opposing wall portions of the first recessed portion define a minimum width of the opening of the first recessed portion. The minimum width of the opening of the first recess is also referred to as the width of the first recess. In other words, according to an embodiment, the (first) recess comprises an opening and two (first) opposing wall portions, the first) opposing wall portions defining a minimum width (first) recess of the opening. According to another embodiment, the first opposing wall portions define a first intermediate plane between the first opposing wall portions.

Also, according to an embodiment, the second recess defines a minimum width of an opening of the second recess. The minimum width of the opening of the second recess is also referred to as the width of the second recess. According to another embodiment, the second opposing wall portions define a second intermediate plane therebetween.

According to one embodiment, the width of the first recess portion compared to the width of the second recess portion deviates by (I) a rayleigh length, and/or by more than 1.5 mm of the rayleigh length of the radiation beam, and/or (Ii) the digital code pattern is obtained from an adjustment of the focus position of the radiation beam in the production of the digital code pattern. This allows for the same or approximately equal width of the first recess and the second recess. The equal or approximately equal width of the recessed portions of the recessed pattern results in a high quality of the digital code pattern produced by the recessed pattern. According to one embodiment, approximately equal meaning that the widths of the second recess portions are different the invention discloses that the width of the first recess is smaller than the width of the first recess, which is smaller than the width of the first recess; the width of the first recess is less than the width of the first recess; the width of the first recess, in another embodiment, the second recess differs from the width of the first recess by less than 5%

According to one embodiment, the direction of the radiation beam during the generation of the recessed portion defines a mid-plane of the recessed portion. Thus, the center of the radiation beam lies in a first mid-plane, which, by movement of the radiation beam relative to the rubber article (if any), forms a respective recessed portion, spanning the mid-plane of the recessed portion.

Thus, according to an embodiment, the (first/second)) recess is formed in a mid-plane of the (first/second) recess. According to an embodiment (e.g. in the case of elongated recess portions)) the direction and/or position of the radiation beam is changed during the forming of the pattern of recesses. Furthermore, according to an embodiment, the average direction of the radiation beam may be about) reconstructed from the cutting line between the first and second intermediate planes.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the first median plane and the second median plane forms an angle with the unaltered surface portion which is different from 90 degrees. In other words, the first and second recess portions may be formed in unchanged surface portions of the curvature in unchanged surface portions forming an angle with the radiation beam different from 90 degrees.

According to one embodiment, for said width, the recessed portion is formed in a curved or angularly invariant surface portion satisfying the following formula:

d0 < sqrt (1+ (z1.5 mm) × (z1.5 mm));

wherein,

where d0 is the width of the first recess,

the first recess is a recess having a smallest width among the recesses of the recess pattern,

wherein d is the width of the second recess,

the sqrt is a function of the square root,

the z is a distance through a plane of the opening of the second recess and is perpendicular to the direction of the radiation beam, the plane passing through the opening of the first recess and being perpendicular to the direction of the radiation beam.

According to an embodiment, the second recessed portion is a recessed portion characterized in that: a maximum width between the concave portions of the concave portion pattern.

The direction of the radiation beam may be determined (e.g. reconstructed) according to any of the embodiments described herein, and may be the average direction of the radiation beam. Furthermore, it should be understood that the distance z may be defined in other (interchangeable) ways. For example, according to one embodiment, the distance z is approximated (defined)) the distance between the opening of the first recess and the first recess is in the direction of a middle line between the opposite surface portion of the first recess and the opposite surface portion of the first recess.

According to one embodiment, the direction of the radiation beam is the average direction of the radiation beam given by the direction of the line of intersection between the first and second intermediate planes.

According to one embodiment, if each of the first recess and/or the second recess is a circular recess (e.g., aperture 16)) whose walls collectively define a median line, material is selectively removed with the beam of radiation without moving beam direction and/or beam position. It is noted that the median line formed by the circular recesses defines a family of median planes of circular recesses, all the median lines being median lines, the median lines being the median lines, and the median lines being the median lines. Any member of this family can be used as the mid-plane of the circular depression.

According to an embodiment, the opening of the second recess portion opens the first recess in the direction of the first middle line; the width of the second concave portion and the width of the first concave portion are different from the width of the first concave portion by less than 10% (or 5%), the width of the first concave portion corresponds to the width of the first concave portion, and the width of the first concave portion corresponds to the width of the first concave portion.

According to another embodiment, the width of the first recessed portion and the second recessed portion is larger than 100 μm, in particular larger than 200 μm.

According to another embodiment, the recess pattern comprises a plurality of recesses being part of a single recess forming a grid of recesses; the digital code pattern includes an array of code modules; the groove grid forms an angle with one of the edges of the module, the angle being 20-70 °.

According to another embodiment, the digital code pattern includes a first code module and a second code module adjacent to the first code module; and at the location of the first code module, the recess pattern comprising a first type of recess portion and the first type of recess portion second code module, the recess pattern comprising a second type of recess portion, the second type of recess portion being different in shape and/or orientation from the first type of recess portion.

According to another embodiment, the digital code pattern comprises three adjacent code modules in a line, a first code module, a third code module and a second code module being arranged between the first code module and the third code module; and at the location of the first code module and the location of the third code module, the recess pattern comprises a first type of recess portion and a second type of recess portion, the recess pattern at the location of the second code module comprises a second type of recess portion, the second type of recess portion being different in shape and/or orientation from the first type of recess portion.

According to another embodiment, the first recess and the second recess portion have an aspect ratio of 0.2-2, wherein the aspect ratio is defined as the depth of the width of the recess portion over the width of the recess portion.

According to another embodiment, the unaltered surface portion is a curved surface portion.

According to another embodiment, the pattern of recesses is a resulting pattern of recesses the present invention discloses a method for selectively removing a rubber material having a beam of radiation, in particular a laser beam.

According to an embodiment, the 1/e2 beam width of the radiation beam is larger than 100 μm, in particular larger than 200 μm, for example 500 μm. The larger beam width helps to provide a suitable laser beam suitable for methods according to aspects and embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter.

According to another embodiment, the radiation beam is a laser beam of a carbon dioxide laser. Carbon dioxide lasers have the advantage of providing high laser power, which reduces the time required to produce a digital code pattern in a rubber article.

According to another embodiment, the recess pattern comprises a plurality of recesses (comprising a first recess portion and a second recess portion)) which do not overlap each other, wherein the plurality of recessed portions together define an elevated grid, and wherein the lifting grid comprises the protrusion and a further protrusion intersecting the protrusion. The elevated grid may provide a digital code pattern that provides relatively high wear resistance.

According to another embodiment, the recess pattern comprises a plurality of recesses being part of a single recess forming a grid of recesses. The recessed grid may provide an improved dirt accumulation behavior, in particular if the protrusions defined by the recessed grid have a certain movability, thus enabling the ability to release dust particles in the recessed portion.

Thus, in more general terms, the pattern of depressions may provide a grid, and in particular, the present invention also provides a notched grid and/or an elevated grid.

According to another embodiment, the recessed grid comprises two recessed lines crossing each other at an intersection of the recessed grid; the depth of the grid of grooves at the intersection points differs from the depth of the grid of grooves in an adjacent portion of one of the two intersecting recessed lines by less than 30%. Such reduced dishing at the intersection of the lines of dishing may be achieved by reducing the removal of rubber material at the intersection during the formation of the at least one line of dishing. For example, if two recessed lines are created with a laser beam, according to an embodiment, a first recessed line of the two recessed lines having a constant laser power level may be created the method comprising: the intersection of the two concave lines and the second concave line may be created while reducing or turning off the laser power level at or before the intersection. In order to obtain a shallow depth profile at the intersection point, the optimal distance before the intersection point at which the laser power level should be reduced may depend on the beam profile and the actual laser power.

According to another embodiment, the digital code pattern comprises an array (e.g. a rectangular array)), the grid of grooves forming an angle with one of the edges of the module, the angle being 20-70 degrees °

According to an embodiment, the digital code pattern comprises three adjacent code modules in a row, a first code module, between which a third code module and a second code module are arranged, the method further comprising producing a first type of recessed portion at the location of the first code module and a second type of recessed portion at the location of the second code module, the second type of recessed portion being different in shape and/or orientation from the first type of recessed portion. Such embodiments may provide improved wear resistance of the digital code pattern.

According to another embodiment, the digital code pattern comprises a first code module, a second code module and a third code module adjacent to the first code module in a line, the method further comprising: generating a first type of recessed portion at a location of the first code module and the location of the third code module, producing a second type of recessed portion at the location, the second type of recessed portion being different in shape and/or orientation from the first type of recessed portion. For example, in one embodiment, the second type of recessed portion may have a larger recessed area. In the case of binary digital codes, the first code module, the second code module and the third code module are all black modules, since the second code module and the third code module all comprise recessed portions. In this embodiment, the larger recess area of the second-type recess can improve the readability of the adjacent black module.

According to one embodiment, the method comprises: providing the rubber article, the rubber article comprising a thickened portion and an adjacent portion, the thickened portion having a thickness greater than a thickness of the adjacent portion; and generating the depression pattern only in the thickened portion. The thickened portion of the rubber article allows for deeper depressions, thereby resulting in a higher aspect ratio of the depressions. Here, the aspect ratio is defined as the ratio between the depth of the notch and the width of the notch. Higher aspect ratios may improve the readability of the digital code pattern. In this respect, it should be noted that the readability of the digital code pattern refers to the machine readability of the digital code pattern. According to an embodiment, the aspect ratio of the first recessed portion and/or the second recessed portion is between 0.2 and 2.

According to an embodiment, the first recess and the second recess define an opening in the unaltered surface surrounding the recess. The opening may have one of a u-shape, an o-shape, or an l-shape. According to one embodiment, the first recess portion is a portion of a recess having a spiral shape.

According to an embodiment, wherein the first and second recessed portions are part of the recess, the recess forms a base line extending at least partially around the protrusion.

According to another embodiment, the pattern of recesses defines a blade flanked by a first recessed portion and a second recessed portion. For example, the pattern of recesses may define at least two of said blades arranged parallel to each other.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises that the area on the upper part reproducing the recessed pattern of the recessed part has an irregular density and/or an irregular direction.

According to an embodiment, the protrusion is a first protrusion, the pattern of recesses comprises a third recess; and the first and third recesses define a second protrusion therebetween that is recessed relative to an unaltered surface of the rubber article. For example, according to embodiments, the first and third recessed portions may overlap to a depth level such that the first and third recessed portions may overlap with the first and third recessed portions and the second protrusion does not extend to a level of the unaltered surface of the rubber article but is recessed relative to the unaltered surface of the rubber article. These partially overlapping depressions (overlapping at a certain depth)) may be generated with a laser having a gaussian intensity distribution, for example by generating a first depression portion and generating, at a certain distance from the first depression, the third depression being selected, wherein the certain distance is selected such that the second protrusion remains.

According to another embodiment, the indentation pattern defines a specific type of module of the digital code pattern, e.g. a black (dark) module of the digital code pattern for a binary code pattern.

According to one embodiment, at least one lateral dimension of the first recess portion is larger than a dimension of the single black module. Note that the transverse dimension is a dimension in a direction parallel to the surface of the rubber article. Furthermore, according to one embodiment, at least one lateral dimension of the protrusion is larger than a dimension of a single black module.

As used herein, reference to a computer program product is intended to be equivalent to a reference to a program element and/or a computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a processor device to implement and/or coordinate the performance of the method.

Any suitable aspect or embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented separately by a computer program. However, the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented separately by one or more specific electronic circuits. Furthermore, the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented in a hybrid form, i.e., a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

Having described above and in the following, exemplary embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, a marking device, a rubber article, a computer program product will be described with reference to a method of marking a rubber article. It should be noted that any combination of features relating to different aspects of the disclosed subject matter is also possible. In particular, some feature type embodiments (relating to a marking device or a rubber article)) have been described with reference to apparatus whereas other features have been described with reference to method type embodiments (relating to a method or computer program product). However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to an aspect also any combination of features relating to different aspects or embodiments is referred to, e.g. combinations of features of an apparatus type embodiment and features of a method type embodiment are considered to be disclosed with this application. In this regard, it should be understood that any method features derivable from the respective explicitly disclosed apparatus features should be based on the respective functionality of the device features and should not be considered limited to the particular elements of the device disclosed in connection with the device features. Furthermore, it is to be understood that any device feature that can be derived based on the respective explicitly disclosed method feature is functionally described in the method, any suitable means disclosed herein or known in the art.

The aspects and embodiments defined above and further aspects and embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein are apparent from the description to follow, with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the invention is not limited thereto. The above definitions and comments are valid also in particular for the following detailed description and vice versa.

Fourth concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

In the following, exemplary embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter are described, any number and any combination thereof may be implemented in the practice of the herein disclosed subject matter.

In accordance with an embodiment of the first aspect of the fourth concept, there is provided a method of determining a position of a portion of a tire surface: determining a shape representation of the portion of the surface, the shape representation representing a shape of the portion of the surface; identifying a real geometric element in the shape representation, the real geometric element corresponding to a reference geometric element, the reference shaft corresponding to a tire axis if the tire is not deformed and/or positioned in a reference position (optionally, the reference geometric element is symmetric with respect to a reference axis), the reference shaft corresponding to a tire axis, the tire axis being a rotational axis of the tire if the tire is not deformed and/or positioned in the reference position); determining a position of the portion of the surface based on a deviation of the real geometric element and the reference geometric element.

In accordance with an embodiment of a second aspect of the fourth concept, a method of positioning relative to a portion of a surface of a tire and a laser beam path of a laser processing device is provided. According to another embodiment of the second aspect, there is provided a method of positioning relative to a portion of a surface of a tire and a laser beam path of a laser processing device, the method comprising: determining the position of the surface portion of the tyre, in particular according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof; positioning the laser beam path and the portion of the surface relative to each other according to the determined position of the portion of the surface; wherein the position of the laser beam path and the portion of the surface relative to each other particularly comprises at least one of: (I) adjusting a spatial position of the laser processing apparatus and a portion of the surface relative to each other; (Ii) adjusting the orientation of the laser beam path and the direction of the portion of the surface relative to each other; (Iii) adjusting a focal position of the laser beam path along the laser beam path direction.

According to another embodiment of the second aspect, there is provided a method of positioning a portion of a tire surface and a laser beam path of a laser processing device relative to each other:

determining a location of the portion of the surface of the tire; determining a position of the portion of the surface of the tire from the determined position of the portion of the surface, positioning the laser beam path and the portion of the surface relative to each other; wherein the position of the laser beam path and the portion of the surface relative to each other particularly comprises at least one of:

(i) adjusting a spatial position of the laser processing device and a portion of the surface relative to each other;

(ii) adjusting an orientation of the laser beam path and a portion of the surface relative to each other;

(iii) adjusting a position of a focal point of the laser beam path in a direction of the laser beam path;

the method further comprises the following steps: determining a shape representation of a treated portion of a tire surface, wherein the treated portion is treated with a laser beam generated by the laser treatment device and propagates along the laser beam path; and performing said positioning of said laser beam path and said portion of said tyre relative to each other according to a shape representation of said processed portion.

According to an embodiment of a third aspect of the fourth concept, there is provided a method of treating a surface treatment portion a tire having a laser beam of a laser treatment device: positioning the surface and a portion of the laser beam path according to the second aspect or an embodiment thereof; the treatment portion is then treated with a laser beam, which is generated by a laser treatment device and propagates along a laser beam path.

According to an embodiment of a fourth aspect of the fourth concept, there is provided a tire treating device. According to another embodiment of the fourth aspect, there is provided a tire treating apparatus: a sensor device for determining a shape representation of a portion of a tire surface; a data processor device configured for identifying a real geometric element in the shape representation, said real geometric element corresponding to a reference geometric element if the tire is not deformed and/or positioned in a reference position; (optionally, the reference geometric element is symmetrical with respect to a reference axis, the reference axis corresponding to a tire axis, the tire axis being a rotation axis of the tire if the tire is not deformed and/or is located in the reference position; the data processor device is configured to determine a position of the portion of the surface based on the position) a deviation of the real geometric element and the reference geometric element.

According to another embodiment of the fourth aspect, there is provided a tire treating apparatus: a sensor device for determining a shape representative of a treated portion of the tyre surface; a data processor device, a laser processing device; the actuator is actuatable by the data processor device and is configured to be positioned relative to the treatment portion and a laser beam path of the laser treatment device; the data processor device is configured for using the shape representation of the treatment portion to position the laser beam path and the treatment portion relative to each other.

According to an embodiment of a fifth aspect of the fourth concept, there is provided a tire. According to another embodiment of the fifth aspect, there is provided a tire: the pattern generated by processing the processed portion of the tyre, which is also referred to as tyre pattern, is in particular at least partially compensated for due to the processing of the processed portion in a processing direction different from the vertical direction perpendicular to the unprocessed portion.

According to another embodiment of the fifth aspect, there is provided a tire: a pattern produced in a processing portion of the tire by a laser beam propagating along a laser beam path, wherein the pattern produced in the processing portion is referred to as a tire pattern; a peripheral surface surrounding the tire pattern, wherein, during generation of the tire pattern, the laser beam path forms an angle of 90 degrees with the peripheral surface; wherein deformation of the tire pattern is prevented at least in part by processing the process portion and the laser beam according to a transfer pattern definition that defines a transfer pattern corresponding to a projection of a desired pattern in the process portion onto a virtual plane perpendicular to the laser beam path, as compared to a desired pattern; and wherein in particular the desired pattern is a rectangular data matrix defining a first matrix axis and a second matrix axis, wherein each code module of the data matrix has equal dimensions along the first matrix axis and the second matrix axis.

According to another embodiment of the fifth aspect, there is provided a tire comprising: a pattern, called a tire pattern, which is generated in a processing section of the tire; a peripheral surface surrounding the tire pattern; a tire pattern including a recessed portion defined by at least a first wall portion and a second wall portion opposite the first wall portion; the first wall portion forms an undercut relative to the surrounding surface; the first wall portion and the second wall portion defining therebetween the first wall portion and the second wall portion, the first wall portion and the second wall portion defining a bisecting plane between the first wall portion and the second wall portion, the bisecting plane being at an angle to the peripheral surface; wherein deformation of the tire pattern caused by the angular difference of 90 degrees is at least partially prevented in comparison to the desired pattern according to a transfer pattern definition, wherein the transfer pattern definition defines a transfer pattern corresponding to a projection of the desired pattern in the treatment section onto a virtual plane perpendicular to the bisecting plane and perpendicular to a further plane, wherein the further plane is perpendicular to the bisecting plane and comprises the tire axis.

According to an embodiment of a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising program elements configured for performing the method according to any one of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect or an embodiment thereof, when the program elements are executed on a data processor device

According to one embodiment, the tire axis is the axis of rotational symmetry of the general shape of the tire (the axis about which the tire is to rotate in use). According to one embodiment, the real geometric element corresponds to a reference geometric element if the tire is not deformed and is located in a reference position, and the reference axis corresponds to the tire axis if the tire is not deformed and is located in the reference position.

According to one embodiment, the term "real geometric element" denotes a geometric element identified in (measured) shape representation and thus a measured geometric element. In contrast, according to another embodiment, the reference geometric element is an ideal geometric element obtained by assuming an ideal tire without deformation and accurately positioning it in the reference position. According to one embodiment, the reference position is a predetermined position of the portions of the surface of the tyre with respect to each other as a reference for positioning the laser beam path, for example for a reference of the laser processing device. According to an embodiment, the reference position is a predetermined position of a coordinate system of the laser processing device and may be fixed relative to one or more actuators of the laser processing device. According to another embodiment, the laser treatment device comprises a program (or loadable program) that defines the position of the treatment portion relative to the reference position (or some other reference with respect to the laser treatment device), thereby allowing the laser treatment device to position the laser beam path and the tire (or laser beam path) and a portion of the tire surface) such that the laser beam propagating along the laser beam path performs a desired treatment of the treatment portion (e.g., creating a tire pattern in the treatment portion)).

According to another embodiment, a portion of the surface of the tire (a portion of the tire) is defined by a lateral portion of the tire. According to one embodiment, the lateral portion of the tire comprises at least a portion of the tire sidewall. According to another embodiment, said portion of said surface of said tyre) comprises at least a portion of the surface of a bead of the tyre.

The shape of the surface (contour 3)), the outer portion of the non-deformed tire is rotationally symmetric (except for the markings)) thus the lateral portion of the tire is a good basis for identifying the true geometric element and the reference geometric element according to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter. In particular, the beads of a non-deformed tire are rotationally symmetric and are generally not marked. Thus, the beads (or a portion thereof)) of a tire provide a suitable basis for determining the location of the tire surface in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In particular, for an unpressurized tyre, the tyre can exhibit deformation deformations compared to the ideal symmetrical shape of the tyre but still be identified, and is therefore well suited to determine the true geometric-shaped elements even when the tyre is deformed. Thus, according to one embodiment, at least a portion of the bead of the tire (e.g., the radially inner tire edge 16)) defines a solid geometric element.

This deformation may occur due to the effect of gravity if the tyre is located on a support only opposite to the support. Another possible cause of deformation may be a gripping device or a centering device, which may be provided for gripping and/or centering the tire. In any event, according to example methods and apparatus of the subject matter disclosed herein, regardless of the cause of the deformation, is configured to account for the deformation of the tire, the deformation being represented by a shape representation of the portion of the surface. On the other hand, it is noted that aspects and embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter are of course also applicable to non-deformed tires and allow for the determination of the location of the tire surface portion. Even if a portion of the surface does not reflect the entire deformation, said portion of the surface is still suitable for providing a precise laser machining of the tyre if said portion of the surface comprises or at least is close to the treatment portion. Otherwise, a shape representation of the treatment portion may be determined and used to determine a position of the treatment portion. According to one embodiment, the position of the treatment portion is determined from a shape representation of the portion of the tyre by a shape representation of the treatment portion similar to the treatment portion.

According to one embodiment, the tyre is also implicitly determined by determining the position of said portion of said surface (the position of the whole tyre)). The determined position of the tyre can be used particularly accurately for non-deformed tyres. However, even for a deformed tire, the so-determined position of the tire may be accurate, particularly if a portion of the tire surface comprises an opposite portion of the tire, thereby allowing the position of the tire axis to be accurately determined. On the other hand, determining the position of the tire implicitly determines the exact position of the surface portion of the tire, at least if the shape of the tire is known (e.g., as is the case for a non-deformed tire). Furthermore, it should be understood that a portion of the surface and the laser beam path are characterized by: a position of the processing portion and the laser beam path relative to each other. Likewise, the positioning of the portion of the surface and the laser beam path relative to each other means the positioning of the surface) the tire and the laser beam path. Only the accuracy of the positioning (i.e., positioning within small or large tolerances)) is affected by tire deformation, if any. Regardless, herein, according to an embodiment, the surface roughness of an embodiment of the present invention may be considered a reference to the tire carcass, in another embodiment, as a reference to a treatment portion. By using reasonable assumptions about the deformation, or by using suitable measures (e.g. suitable ranges for shape representation)), for determining the disclosure of the invention of said application, said terms are the term "parts" of said surface, and are used interchangeably where applicable. The term "accurate" is shorter to make it more accurate it should be understood that the required accuracy may depend on the actual application (desired mode), the laser device used, the available space and tolerances for locating the position of the desired pattern or treatment portion, etc.) according to embodiments of the present invention.

According to one embodiment, the shape representation is a height profile of a portion of the surface, wherein said height profile is determined in particular with respect to a plane perpendicular to said tyre axis. According to another embodiment, the shape representation is an image of a portion of the surface. However, any other suitable shape representation of portions of the surface may be used.

According to one embodiment, the shape representation is a height profile of the treatment portion, or an image of the treatment portion, wherein the height profile is determined in particular with respect to a plane perpendicular to the tire axis.

According to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, the position of the portion of the tire surface is determined based on a deviation of the real geometric element and the reference geometric element. For example, according to one embodiment, the radiation is the difference of the real geometric element and the reference geometric element.

According to an embodiment, determining the position of the portion of the surface (the portion of the surface) based on the deviation comprises filtering the deviation, in particular using a fourier transform, resulting in a filtered deviation; and determining a position of the portion of the surface based on the filtered deviation. For example, according to one embodiment, determining the position of the surface) includes transforming the deviation into real space), e.g., by fourier transform (ft) or fast fourier transform (fft), to provide a deviation spectrum in fourier space. According to one embodiment, the deviation is considered to comprise at least one harmonic, taking into account the deviation along the entire circumference, the deviation at the starting point and at the end point (corresponding to the same angular position) being the same. Thus, according to one embodiment, this deviation is transformed into fourier space (the spectrum may be filtered) as a function of angular position (e.g. with respect to tyre 2). According to one embodiment, the deviation comprises a fundamental component and higher harmonics. The basic component may determine a non-zero distance of the tire axis and the sensor shaft of the sensor device from a non-zero distance of the tire axis and the apparatus axis of the laser processing device, wherein the shape representation may correspond to a deformation of the measured tire and/or noise (noise in the determined shape representation and/or noise in the real geometric elements) which is determined to be higher.

According to one embodiment, the spectrum of the deviation is filtered in fourier space with a filter function, thereby providing a filtered spectrum in fourier space. According to one embodiment, the filter function is configured to cancel higher harmonics (e.g., harmonics above a predetermined frequency) in at least a portion of the fourier space of the filter. According to one embodiment, the tire is determined after filtering the deviation spectrum in fourier space. For example, according to an embodiment, the method comprises transforming the filtered spectrum back into real space, thereby determining the position of the portion of the surface. Generally, according to one embodiment, the filter function is configured such that the method provides a filtered deviation in the real space, wherein according to one embodiment the filtered deviation comprises a reduced noise compared to the original deviation of the real geometric element and the reference geometric element.

According to one embodiment, the shape representation (e.g. height profile 3)) of a portion of said surface of said tyre is determined with a piece of light sensor, said light sensor using a piece of light for illuminating said surface, generating a ray of light on the surface, and observing the generated ray of light transverse to the plane of said piece of light (off-axis 2)) and calculating the distance of said light source from said viewing angle (triangulation). Furthermore, the shape representation may be obtained from an image (e.g. a grayscale image) of the portion of the surface. According to another embodiment, a tactile sensor, a sensor configured to detect a shape of the portion of the surface when in contact with the surface) is used to determine the shape representation.

Once a shape representation is available (determined)), according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, the true geometric element is identified in the shape representation, e.g., by any suitable type of feature identification. In general, feature recognition in shape representation, for example in height profiles or in images of a portion of a surface, is known in the art and is therefore not described in detail here. However, it should be understood that high contrast (e.g., edges, etc.) real geometric elements) may be helpful in identifying the real geometric elements based on the nature of the shape representation. According to one embodiment, the real geometric elements identify a shape representation or a specific relative value or a specific absolute value (e.g. a height value in case of a height profile)) by a specific relative contrast or a specific absolute contrast.

According to an embodiment, the method (in particular according to the first, second or third aspect)) comprises coarsely positioning the tyre before determining the shape representation. For coarse positioning of the tire, any positioning technique known in the art (e.g., light barrier), light array, mechanical centering device (or mechanical positioning device), etc. may be used.

According to an embodiment, the tyre comprises a spatial position of said portion of said surface (e.g. a spatial position of the tyre axis and a position of the surface in a direction parallel to the tyre axis)) and/or an angular position (relative to said tyre axis) of said portion of said surface. According to one embodiment, the angular position of the tire is a rotation of the tire about a tire axis relative to the angular position of the tire. It is noted that, in this context, the term "relative to the tire axis" is meant to be interpreted in the sense that the tire axis forms some reference to the quantity (e.g., angular position) being described. However, according to embodiments, there is no need to identify or determine the tire axis to determine the described quantities, but rather to more easily understand the context of the quantities given. For example, with respect to the angular position described, the reference distance with respect to the tire axis is the angular position of the tire, which can be adjusted, for example, by rotating the tire about the tire axis. However, determining this angular position does not require determining the tire axis, but rather determining the angular position, is performed based only on the position of the portion of the surface and a predetermined pattern described below.

According to one embodiment, the method (in particular the first, second or third aspect) comprises identifying a predetermined pattern on the tyre; wherein determining the position of the portion of the surface comprises determining an angular position of the portion of the surface relative to the tire axis based on the angular position of the predetermined pattern. According to another embodiment, determining the angular position of the tyre comprises: the angular position of the tire is determined to be + -5 deg., specifically + -1 deg. or less.

According to an embodiment, the method (in particular the second or third aspect)) further comprises: determining a shape representation of a treated portion of the tire surface, wherein the treated portion is treated with a laser beam generated by the laser treatment device and propagates along the laser beam path; and performing said positioning of said laser beam path and said portion of said surface relative to each other in accordance with a shape representation of said processed portion.

According to one embodiment, the sensor device (e.g. a light sensor device or a patch of an image sensor device)) for determining a shape representation, wherein the laser beam forms the same angle with the treatment portion while the treatment portion is treating the treatment portion, preferably during determining the shape representation of the surface and/or the treatment portion (the part of the portion)), the part of the sensor device facing the surface (in a respective embodiment, the treatment portion). For example, the sensor device may be movable into and out of the laser beam path for determining the shape representation for laser processing of the portion to be processed.

According to one embodiment, a portion of the tire surface includes a treated portion. This has the following advantages: only a single shape representation has to be determined, wherein said shape representation represents the shape of said portion the surface of said tyre and said shape representation also represents the shape of said treated portion of said surface of said tyre. However, in another embodiment, the treatment portion is different from the portion of the treatment portion by the surface of the tire, a portion of the surface of the tire being different from the treatment portion, allowing optimization of the determination of the shape representation of the tire. According to another embodiment, determining the position of the portion of the surface the present invention discloses a means of shape representation, but other suitable methods known in the art are used. Note that the positioning relative to a portion of the tire surface and the laser beam path does not necessarily mean that the laser beam path ends in a portion of the surface. In contrast, according to an embodiment, a laser beam propagating along a laser beam path is used to treat a treatment portion, requiring the laser beam path to be in the treatment portion. However, the processing portion may be included in a portion of the surface (e.g., may be part of the surface portion, or may correspond to a portion of the surface)).

According to one embodiment, the orientation of the laser beam path and the direction of the portions are adjusted such that the surfaces of the tyre are treated with respect to each other such that the laser beam path forms an acute angle, i.e. an angle of less than 90 degrees with the treatment portion, and wherein, in particular, the acute angle is in the range between 30 ° to 85 ° or 40 ° to 80 °.

According to an embodiment, the laser treatment device is rotatable about a laser device axis. According to an embodiment, the laser treatment device is movable relative to or along the laser device axis

According to another embodiment, the coarse positioning of the tire includes aligning the laser device axis and the tire axis within a predetermined tolerance. The predetermined tolerance may include (I) a deviation of the orientation of the laser device axis and the tire axis from a parallel alignment of the laser device axis and the tire axis with plus/minus (+ 2)) 5 ° or less (e.g., + -2 ° or + -1 degree) and/or (Ii) aligning the position of the laser device axis and the tire axis (e.g., in a mid-plane of the tire)) a distance between the laser device axis and the tire axis is less than 10mm (e.g., less than 5mm or less than 2 mm). The mid-plane of the tire is perpendicular to the tire axis and extends through the center of gravity of the tire.

According to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, the position of the tire in the lateral direction (i.e. perpendicular to the tire axis) may be determined by a tolerance of less than ± 2mm or less than ± 0.7mm, the term "lateral" referring to the radial direction of the tire, e.g. as described with respect to the figures.

According to an embodiment, the method (particularly the third aspect) further comprises: receiving a tire pattern definition defining a desired pattern to be produced in the processing portion by processing the processing portion with the laser beam; generating a transfer pattern definition based on the tire pattern definition, wherein a transfer pattern defined by the transfer pattern definition corresponds to a projection of a desired pattern in the processing portion onto a virtual plane perpendicular to the laser beam path, the processing portion and the laser beam being processed according to the transfer pattern definition.

According to another embodiment, the desired pattern is a rectangular data matrix (in the form of a digitally encoded pattern), for example in the form of a qr code, defining a first matrix axis and a second matrix axis, wherein the code modules of the data matrix have equal dimensions along the first matrix axis and the second matrix axis.

According to another embodiment, the desired pattern is achieved by black and white contrast patterning. For example, according to an embodiment, the bright portions of the desired pattern are formed by the unmodified surface of the tire (having a black appearance)) and the dark portions of the desired pattern are formed by the patterned portions of the tire, wherein a surface structure is created in the surface of the tire that results in a reduced optical reflectivity, thus presenting a darker appearance (black appearance), the dark portions corresponding to the dark portions compared to the bright portions and the dark portions compared to the bright portions. According to an embodiment, in particular a rectangular data matrix or a digital coding pattern is formed in the processing section as described in published european patent application ep2905125 and european patent application no 14177901. According to an embodiment, the structure width is 20-20m (micrometers)) 1400 μm, preferably 400 μm-750 μm.

According to one embodiment, a tire processing device includes a laser processing device; and an actuator (e.g., at least one actuator)) is configured to be positioned relative to the determined location of the portion of the surface of the tire and the laser beam path of the laser treatment device relative to the portion of the surface, such as by positioning the entire tire relative to the laser beam path (i.e., thereby positioning the entire tire relative to the laser beam path, to name a few examples. In other words, according to an embodiment, a shape representation of a portion of the surface of the laser beam path and/or of a processed portion of the tire surface is finely positioned based on the shape representation of the laser beam path.

According to one embodiment, the laser beam path and the positioning of the tyre are characterized by: operate relative to each other such that during processing, a focal position of the laser beam path is on the processing portion, and a focal position of the laser beam path is on the processing portion, the focal position of the laser beam path being less than 2 times a rayleigh length of the laser beam along the direction of the laser beam path.

According to one embodiment, the data processor device is configured for positioning the data processor device a laser beam path and a processing section, a focal position of the laser beam path being located on the processing section, a direction along the laser beam path being less than 2 times a rayleigh length of the laser beam.

According to another embodiment, the tolerance in the direction along the laser beam path is less than 1.5 times (or, in other embodiments, 1 or 0.8 times) the rayleigh length of the laser beam. The smaller the tolerance, the better the quality of the resulting tire pattern. Adjustment of the focal position relative to the treatment portion in the direction of the laser beam path (i.e., in the direction in which the treatment portion is treated by the laser beam) (also referred to as treatment direction 2)) may be accompanied by other movements of the laser beam path (e.g., in the case of a laser device moving in a direction parallel to the tire axis). According to one embodiment, such further movements are at least partially compensated by further movements of the laser device (e.g. tilting movements), movements of the laser device optics, etc.) or a respectively adapted transfer pattern.

According to one embodiment, the data processor means is configured for moving the laser beam path and the treatment portion characterized by: during the treatment of the treatment portion with the laser beam, there is a constant velocity in at least one of the at least one direction. According to another embodiment, the order in which the individual elements of the tire pattern are processed is selected in a constant velocity motion, minimizing the distance of the focal positions of the laser beam paths from the processing section. Although not perfect (since, for example, the number of black data matrix modules) may be unevenly distributed over the data matrix code), such an approach provides for simple and efficient control of the laser device and associated actuator.

According to one embodiment, the (thin) wherein the positioning of the portion of the surface and the laser beam path relative to each other comprises one or more of: (I) (Ii) moving the laser beam path relative to a portion of the surface, (Ii) moving the portion of the surface relative to the laser beam path. According to one embodiment, moving the laser beam path may include at least one (Iii) adjusting a laser beam steering (e.g., mirror system), optical system, galvanometer scanner, or the like, (Iv) moving the laser processing device to adjust a focal position of the laser beam path. In this regard, it is noted that a laser beam path is considered to have its focal position (this particular position is referred to as the focal position) (V) may be understood as a movement of the laser beam path in the direction of the laser beam path (e.g., back and forth in the direction of the laser beam path). According to another embodiment, the positioning of the portion of the surface (e.g. the positioning of the tyre)) and the laser beam path relative to each other comprises moving a beam focus of the laser beam path along the laser beam path. According to one embodiment, the laser beam focus is positioned with a tolerance of less than 2 times the rayleigh length of the laser beam, and in another embodiment less than 1 times the rayleigh length of the laser beam.

According to one embodiment, the data processor device is configured for operating the laser processing device after the portion of the surface and the laser beam path are positioned relative to each other, wherein operation of the laser processing device includes operating the laser processing device to generate a laser beam, the laser beam propagating along the laser beam path for processing the processed portion of the tire surface.

According to one embodiment, the laser beam path is an average path. For example, the average path may correspond to an average of the laser beam paths during a scan in which the laser beam is moved over the treatment portion to treat the treatment portion with the laser beam (e.g., to produce a desired pattern in the treatment portion). According to a further embodiment, the laser beam path is a path of the laser beam at a point in time corresponding to the laser beam path, e.g. at the beginning of the treatment part and the laser beam. For example, the single path may be a laser beam path that is adjusted before the laser device is activated to emit a laser beam. In other words, according to one embodiment, the single path is the initial laser beam path at which processing of the processing portion begins.

According to another embodiment, the laser beam path and the positioning of the tyre are characterized in that: during the treatment of the treatment portion and the laser beam, the treatment portion is treated, e.g. continuously or intermittently, or only once during the treatment of the treatment portion. Thus, according to one embodiment, the laser beam path and the positioning of the tyre are characterized by: and processing the processing part in the process of processing the processing part and the laser beam. For example, in a continuous case, during the whole treatment of the treatment section, according to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject-matter, a laser beam path of the actual laser beam with respect to the tyre is performed. Note that of course the position of the tyre is determined (and the shape representation of the processing portion, if any) so that the use of the sensor device typically only occurs once before the processing of the processing portion commences. To this end, any representation of the shape of the tire surface (a portion of the tire surface) or a processed portion of the tire surface) or a quantity derived therefrom (e.g., the position of the tire 10))) may be stored in a suitable memory, such as a data processor device.

According to one embodiment, the laser beam path and the positioning of the tire relative to each other during processing of the part and the laser beam perform other operations by moving the laser beam path (e.g., at a constant speed). According to one embodiment, the positioning of the laser beam path and the tyre relative to each other is performed at a constant speed in at least one direction during the treatment of the portion and the laser beam. For example, positioning of the laser beam path and the tire is characterized by: the laser device is movable along an axis of motion, for example along the axis of the laser device (also referred to as the z-axis of the laser device). According to one embodiment, the focal position of the laser beam path moves the shaft (aligned with the axis of rotation of the tire according to another embodiment) along the laser device at a constant speed. For example, according to an embodiment, the laser beam path and the positioning of the tire are characterized by: in a direction along the axis of rotation of the tire. Note that according to an embodiment, moving the laser device along the movement axis (e.g., along the z-axis of the laser device), i.e., parallel to the tire axis), results in a movement of the focal position of the laser beam path relative to the tire along the laser beam path.

Treatment of a treatment section according to an embodiment of the invention discloses a tyre with a treatment section treated with a laser beam, in particular in a tyre comprising a pattern (in the treatment section)) also referred to as a tread pattern. According to an embodiment, the tire including the tire pattern is the tire according to the fifth aspect. In particular, according to one embodiment, the tyre pattern is produced in a treated portion of the tyre, for example by removing a portion of the rubber material forming the tyre surface. The removal of the rubber material may be performed by a laser beam propagating along a laser beam path. According to one embodiment, the tire pattern includes a recess (which may be one of a plurality of recesses). According to an embodiment, the recess is created by removing rubber material. According to one embodiment, the recess defines at least by a first wall portion and a second wall portion opposite the first wall portion, wherein the first wall portion forms an undercut with respect to the surrounding surface, and wherein the first wall portion and the second wall portion define a bisecting plane of an opening angle of the recess. According to one embodiment, the bisecting plane forms an angle with the surrounding surface, wherein said angle is different from 90 degrees (thus, said recess is inclined with respect to said surrounding surface). According to one embodiment, the angle of the 90 degree angle is at least partially prevented due to the definition according to the transfer pattern, compared to the desired pattern, wherein the transfer pattern definition defines a transfer pattern corresponding to a projection of the desired pattern in the treatment portion onto a virtual plane perpendicular to the bisecting plane and perpendicular to a further plane, wherein the further plane is perpendicular to the bisecting plane and comprises the tire axis.

According to another embodiment, the bisector (bisecting the first and second wall portions) lies in a plane further comprising the steepest gradient line of the second wall portion. According to one embodiment, the lines of the steepest gradient define a plane. For example, the plane may be mounted on the line of the steepest gradient. If the recess is created with a laser beam, the line of the steepest gradient will differ from a straight line due to the radial intensity distribution in the laser beam. For example, if the recess is a circular hole (e.g., created by a non-moving laser beam)), the bisector is the center line (or axis of symmetry) of the circular hole. If the recess is produced by a laser beam, the bisector corresponds to the laser beam path of the laser beam.

In view of generating a tire pattern with a laser beam, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein can also be considered to provide a tire comprising: a pattern, called tire pattern, generating a laser beam propagating along a laser beam path in a processed portion of said tire; a peripheral surface surrounding the tire pattern, wherein the laser beam path forms an angle of 90 degrees with the peripheral surface during generation of the tire pattern; wherein deformation of the tire pattern is prevented at least in part by processing the treatment portion and the laser beam according to a transfer pattern definition as compared to a desired pattern, wherein the transfer pattern definition defines a transfer pattern corresponding to a projection of a desired pattern in the treatment portion onto a virtual plane perpendicular to the laser beam path. According to an embodiment, the laser beam path is a line perpendicular to a bisecting plane and to another plane, wherein the other plane is perpendicular to the bisecting plane and includes the tire axis.

According to one embodiment, the angle between the planes (or in another embodiment, the bisector 3)) is bisected and the surrounding surface corresponds to the process direction generated by the recess. According to one embodiment, the bisecting plane half is an opening angle of the notch. According to another embodiment, the opening angle is used to define a bisecting plane. I.e. according to one embodiment, the bisecting plane is defined by a plane half (bisecting) the opening angle of the groove.

According to one embodiment, the desired pattern is a rectangular data matrix defining (as principal axes) a first matrix axis and a second matrix axis, wherein each code module of the data matrix has equal dimensions along the first matrix axis and the second matrix axis. According to one embodiment, the tire pattern is similar to having no (or only a small) desired pattern) in said embodiment, the tire pattern is a rectangular data matrix defining a first matrix axis and a second matrix axis, wherein each code module of the data matrix has equal dimensions along the first matrix axis and the second matrix axis. Note that with respect to the tire pattern, the term "barcode module" does not require that the tire pattern have a distinct boundary for each code module. More precisely, a tire pattern is understood as a digital code pattern which can be interpreted as a pattern which, due to its pattern characteristics, conforms to the compliance of the code module definition (for example qr code). For example, according to an embodiment, a qr code combination module where the circumferential surface of the tire is provided with a single hole having a circular boundary with the circumferential surface of the tire (having a circular boundary)) is still recognized as a dark module by a qr code reader. This is particularly true for the light code modules of qr codes, which have an average optical reflectivity that is still significantly lower than their optical reflectivity, allowing the qr code reader to distinguish between dark and light code modules with sufficient readability of the qr code.

According to an embodiment, along a first matrix axis, the data matrix has a first length and a first number of code modules, the data matrix has a second length and a second number of code modules. According to another embodiment, performing the tire pattern such that a first ratio of the first length is divided discloses a difference of the first number of code modules and a second ratio of the second length, the second number of code modules divided by the second number of length being less than 5%. In this regard, it is noted that the consideration of this ratio is based on the assumption that the code modules of the desired pattern are squares (of the same size) along the two major axes.

According to one embodiment, the tire pattern is a data matrix comprising two sets of parallel opposing sides less than 5% in length. For example, according to an embodiment, the tyre pattern is a data matrix comprising two parallel opposite sides, the local prevention of the data matrix deforming the tyre pattern such that the lengths of the two parallel opposite sides are different from 5% of each other. According to one embodiment, the difference in length of the two parallel opposing sides (if present) is caused by keystone distortion. The parallel opposite sides are not of the same length without any deformation. However, even for small distortions, zero distortion is difficult to achieve and readability of the data matrix. According to a further embodiment, the length of the two parallel opposite sides is different from the length of the two parallel opposite sides by 2% (or even less than 1%). According to a further embodiment, the two parallel opposite sides extend parallel to the first wall portion and the second wall portion.

Although some embodiments of the tire relate to features of the generation of a tire pattern, it should be understood that the features of the generation of the tire pattern result in individual features of the tire that are discernable from the tire. In this regard, the resulting tire characteristics may flatten out from the tire itself without verification methods.

As used herein, references to a computer program product are intended to be equivalent to references to computer program elements and/or computer-readable media containing computer program elements for controlling a computer system to implement and/or coordinate the performance of any of the above-described methods.

The computer program may be implemented as computer readable instruction code, e.g. java, c + +, c #, using any suitable programming language, and may be stored on a computer readable medium (removable disk 2), volatile or non-volatile memory, embedded memory/processor, etc.). The instruction code is operable to program a computer or any other programmable device to perform the intended functions. The computer program may be available from a network, such as the world wide web, from which it may be downloaded.

Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented by computer program elements, respectively. However, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented separately by one or more specific electronic circuits. Furthermore, embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein may also be implemented in hybrid form, i.e., a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

According to further embodiments of the first aspect, the method is adapted to provide one or more functions one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing one or more desired functions of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular embodiments of the second, third, fourth and fifth and sixth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the second aspect, the method is adapted to provide one or more functions one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing one or more desired functions of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, third, fourth and fifth and sixth aspects disclosed herein.

According to further embodiments of the third aspect, the method is adapted to provide one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing one or more desired functions of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular embodiments of the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the fourth aspect, the tyre handling device is adapted to provide one or more functions one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing the functions required by one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, second, third, fifth and sixth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the fifth aspect, the tyre is adapted to provide features produced by one or more components a plurality of the disclosed embodiments and/or for providing one or more desired features of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, second, third, fourth and sixth aspect disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the sixth aspect, a program computer program product, in particular a program element for providing the features and/or for providing the functionality of one or more of the disclosed embodiments and/or for providing one or more desired features and/or functionalities of the disclosed embodiments, in particular of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth aspect disclosed herein.

Having described and hereinafter the exemplary embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein will be described with reference to methods of determining the location of a portion of a tire surface, a method of positioning relative to a portion of a tire surface and a laser beam path, a method of treating a tire surface treatment portion, a tire processing apparatus, a tire, and a computer program product. It should be noted that any combination of features relating to different aspects of the disclosed subject matter is also possible. In particular, some feature type embodiments have been described with reference to apparatus, while other features have been described or will be described with reference to method type embodiments. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one aspect also any combination of features relating to different aspects or embodiments is referred to, for example, this application discloses a combination of features of an apparatus type embodiment and features of a method type embodiment. In this regard, it should be understood that any method features derivable from the respective explicitly disclosed apparatus features are to be based on the respective functionality of the device features and should not be considered limited to the exemplary device specific elements disclosed in connection with the device features. In the same way, from the respective explicitly disclosed method features, any device is able to carry out the respective functions of the method features characterized in that: this device feature is implicitly disclosed in this application and should not be considered limited to the exemplary device specific elements explicitly disclosed in this application.

Fifth concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

It is known that tires generally provide a plurality of information in the form of marks on the surface of the tire. The indicia provide optical contrast, e.g., light/dark contrast or color contrast. However, in many cases, such information provided on the tire is difficult to read from the tire, not just an automated system. Reading such tire information has proven difficult and error-prone. Therefore, considerable effort is required to obtain such information during the processing of the tires, in various processes of the tires, on dispensers and motor vehicle manufacturers from the tire manufacturers to the consumers who install or replace the tires and ultimately use them.

In view of the above, there is a need for an improved technique that is capable of providing efficient use of information provided by a tire, while substantially avoiding or at least reducing one or more of the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention satisfies this need in accordance with aspects of the fifth concept. Advantageous embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter are described by embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, in particular embodiments of the fifth concept.

According to a first aspect of the fifth concept, a method of providing a tire having different representations of a piece of information is provided. According to one embodiment, the method comprises: synchronizing the first representation and the second representation of the information block such that the first representation and the second representation represent the same information block.

According to a second aspect of the herein disclosed subject matter, a tire is provided. According to one embodiment, a tire includes a first representation of a piece of information; and a second representation of the (same) information.

According to a third aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, a tire marking device is provided. According to an embodiment, the tire marking device is configured for performing the method according to any aspect or embodiment disclosed herein, in particular the fifth concept.

According to a fourth aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, a controller for a tire marking device is provided. According to an embodiment, the controller is configured to perform a method according to one aspect or embodiment disclosed herein, in particular the fifth concept.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a computer program product is provided. According to an embodiment, the computer program product comprises instructions configured for, when executed on a processor device, performing the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof.

In the following, further exemplary embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter are described, any number and any combination thereof may be implemented in the implementation of the aspects of the herein disclosed subject matter, in particular the fifth concept.

According to an embodiment of the first aspect of the herein disclosed subject matter, there is provided a method of providing a tire having different representations of a piece of information: synchronizing a first representation of the information block and a second representation of the information block such that the first representation and the second representation represent the same information block.

Here, according to one embodiment, the term "synchronization" has the following meaning: two representations of the same information block are synchronized, the content of at least one of the representations being adapted to the other representation such that they comprise and are able to provide the same information block. In other words, according to one embodiment, the term synchronization means synchronizes in the content.

According to one embodiment, the tyre already comprises the second representation and the first representation is synchronized with the second representation: reading the information block from the second representation; encoding the piece of information read from the second representation, thereby generating the first representation; transmitting the first representation to the tire.

According to one embodiment, the second representation read from the tire is a human-readable table example of said piece of information, such as a sequence of at least one human-readable item. The human-readable item may be, for example, a character, a number, or a picture element (e.g., a logo)).

According to another embodiment, synchronizing the first representation with the second representation comprises: : receiving the information block; generating the first representation from the received information block; generating a second representation from the received information block; transferring the first representation and the second representation to the tire.

According to one embodiment, transferring the second representation to the tire comprises generating the second representation in the surface of the tire, for example, by laser processing the surface of the tire. According to another embodiment, transferring the first representation to the tire comprises generating the first representation in a surface of the tire, for example, by laser processing the tire surface. According to a further embodiment, the laser treatment of the tyre surface is performed according to one or more embodiments disclosed in european patent application no 14154445. 2-1706 (attorney docket j.1103) is published as ep2905125, european patent application no 14177901. 7-1811 (attorney docket j.1104) is published as ep2977934, european patent application no 15168748. 0-1706 (attorney referred to j1125), european patent application no 15186739. 7-1706 (attorney ref.j.1128). The entire contents of these european patent applications are incorporated herein by reference.

According to one embodiment, transmitting a representation (e.g., a first representation or a second representation)) of the tire includes generating the characterization in the surface of the tire by processing the tire, such as by mechanical engraving or other tool, or by applying paint or by otherwise selectively changing the color of the tire surface.

According to one embodiment, the first representation is at least a portion of an optically readable digital code pattern; and according to another embodiment, transferring the first representation to the tire comprises generating the optically readable digital code pattern in a surface of the tire. According to one embodiment, the optically readable digital code pattern is a qr code or a dmc (data based) code) which can be read by a conventional reader device, e.g. for industrial or even smart phones.

According to another embodiment, generating a digital code pattern in the surface of the tire includes generating the digital code pattern by laser processing the tire surface.

According to another embodiment, the tire comprises an electronic memory; and transferring the first representation to the tire comprises storing the first representation in the electronic memory. According to one embodiment, storing the first representation in electronic memory comprises transferring the first representation to the electronic memory by wireless communication means, the electronic memory, e.g. bluetooth, near field communication (nfc)), or the like, may be any suitable memory device for storing electronic data, e.g. an electronic memory of a radio frequency identification (rfid) device.

According to another embodiment, the second representation is at least one of: a non-numeric representation of information; an optically readable representation of the information; a machine-readable representation of the piece of information; data stored in the electronic storage element; data stored in the electronic memory element; data stored in the electronic memory element; data stored in the electronic memory element. The electronic storage element may be any suitable storage device for storing electronic data, such as an electronic memory of a radio frequency identification (rfid) device. According to one embodiment, the communication with the electronic storage element is performed by a wireless communication method, such as bluetooth, near field communication (nfc), or the like.

According to one embodiment, said information block is at least a part of the dot code (department of transportation code)), e.g. the entire dot code, a part of the dot code, in particular a part of the dot code providing one week of tyre manufacture (dot-weekly code). According to a further embodiment, the information block is one or more of: load index, speed index, oem specific flag indicating a particular noise or ride level capability, approval or registration code, such as code ece.

According to one embodiment, the first representation is a digital representation of the information block and the second representation is a further representation of the information block.

According to a further embodiment, the first representation is different from the second representation.

According to an embodiment of a second aspect of the herein disclosed subject matter, there is provided a tire comprising a first representation of a piece of information; and a second representation of the information block.

According to one embodiment, the first representation is at least a part of an optically readable digital code pattern produced after vulcanization of the tyre, in particular by laser treatment of the tyre.

According to another embodiment, the second representation is an optically readable representation produced after vulcanization of the tyre, in particular by laser treatment of the tyre.

According to one embodiment, the first representation is an optically readable digital code pattern generated at least partially on the surface of said tyre.

According to one embodiment, the first representation and/or the second representation is a laser marking of the tyre.

According to one embodiment, at least one (i.e. only one or two)) optically readable representation, wherein the first representation and the second representation are optically readable representations of the information.

According to another embodiment, one of the first representation and the second representation is that the other of said first representation and said second representation is a molded indicia. For example, according to one embodiment, the first representation is a laser mark and the second representation is a molded mark. According to one embodiment, the molded marking is produced during molding (curing), for example, by a surface structure provided in the tire, the inner surface of the mold being cured (solidified). According to one embodiment, the surface structure is provided by an insert located in the mould. According to an embodiment, the laser mark is a laser beam generated by a method configured and positioned to selectively remove material (rubber material 3)) to produce the laser mark.

According to one embodiment, each of the first representation and the second representation is a laser mark.

According to one embodiment, the first representation is comprised in a memory device comprised in the tyre, e.g. in a memory device of an rfid-tag, which rfid-tag may e.g. be located on the surface of the tyre or within the tyre and may e.g. be completely surrounded by the rubber material of the tyre.

According to another embodiment, the first representation is contained in a storage device included in the tyre (as described above) and the second representation is a laser mark.

In general, it should be noted that, according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, any piece of information provided by a tire (e.g., in the tire or in the tire)) is read by a reader device in the form of a particular representation (e.g., a first or second representation), and the same piece of information is written in a different representation (e.g., a second or first representation) as an optically readable mark, such as a laser mark.

According to another embodiment, the information block provided by the tyre is one or more of the following: load index, speed index, oem specific markers, markers indicating special noise or running flat capability, approval or registration codes, such as ece codes.

According to one embodiment, said information block is at least a part of the dot code of the tyre, in particular a part of the dot code providing a week of the tyre.

According to embodiments of the third aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, there is provided a tyre marking apparatus configured to perform the method according to the first aspect or embodiments thereof.

According to one embodiment, a tire marking device includes an input for receiving an informational item; an encoder for encoding the received information fragment to thereby provide a first representation of the information fragment; and a writer device for transmitting said first representation of said piece of information to said tire. According to one embodiment, the input to the tire marking device is an input to a controller of the tire marking device.

According to one embodiment, the tire marking device may include a reader device for reading the second representation of the piece of information from the tire and providing, in response to the information. According to one embodiment, the reader device is a piece of light sensor, e.g. as de20200 no. 355u 1. According to a further embodiment, the reader device is a camera. According to another embodiment, the information block reader device thus obtained is provided to an input of the tyre marking device.

According to another embodiment, the tire marking device includes an information block received by a further encoder for encoding, thereby providing a second representation of the information block.

According to another embodiment, the tyre marking device may comprise, for example, european patent application no. 161235. 3 (proxy ref j.1142)).

According to an embodiment of a fourth aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, there is provided a controller of a tyre marking apparatus, the controller being configured to perform the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof.

According to one embodiment, the controller is communicatively coupled to other entities of the tire marking device, such as at least one of the input, the reader device, and the writer device. According to one embodiment, the controller is configured to control the one or more entities of the tire marking device, the encoder and the further encoder.

According to another embodiment, the controller comprises processor means configured for executing a program element, which when executed on a processor device provides the functionality of the controller as described herein. According to one embodiment, the controller has a network interface and is capable of forming a network node of a communication network, such as a local area network (lan). According to an embodiment, the controller is a control device.

According to an embodiment of a fifth aspect of the present invention, a computer program product is provided, which comprises a program element configured for, when executed on a processor device, performing the method according to the first aspect or an embodiment thereof.

The computer program may be implemented as computer readable instruction code, such as java, c + +, c #, using any suitable programming language, and may be stored on a computer readable medium (removable disk 2), volatile or non-volatile memory, embedded memory/processor, etc.). The instruction code is operable to program a computer or any other programmable device to perform the intended functions. The computer program may be available from a network, such as the world wide web, from which it may be downloaded.

According to further embodiments of the first aspect, the method is adapted to provide one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing one or more desired functions of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular embodiments of the second, third, fourth and fifth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the second aspect, the tyre is adapted to provide one or more of the herein disclosed embodiments with a function and/or for providing a function or feature resulting from one or more of the herein disclosed embodiments, in particular embodiments of the first, third, fourth and fifth aspects disclosed herein.

According to further embodiments of the third aspect, the tyre marking device is adapted to provide one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing the required functionality of one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, second, fourth and fifth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the fourth aspect, the controller is adapted to provide one or more functions one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing the functions required by one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, second, third and fifth aspects disclosed herein.

According to a further embodiment of the fifth aspect, the computer program product is adapted to provide one or more of the above disclosed embodiments) and/or for providing the required functionality of one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the embodiments of the first, second, third and fourth aspects disclosed herein.

At least some aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are based on the idea of providing a tire with information to address the problem of providing different types of information at different stages of tire manufacture. In particular, if a piece of information is to be provided redundantly on a tyre, in particular if different representations of the same piece of information are to be provided on the tyre, the problem may arise that the piece of information is not readily available at different stages of tyre manufacture. Several aspects and embodiments disclosed herein may provide solutions to these general problems, and may also provide other advantages disclosed herein.

Having described and illustrated the above, exemplary embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, a tire marking device, a controller for a tire marking device, and a computer program product will be described with reference to a method. It should be noted that any combination of features relating to different aspects of the disclosed subject matter is also possible. In particular, some features, tire marking devices or controllers of tire marking devices, have been or will be described with reference to apparatus-type embodiments (directed to tires 12) while other features have been described with reference to method-type embodiments (directed to a method or computer program product). However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one aspect also any combination of features relating to different aspects or embodiments is referred to, e.g. combinations of features of an apparatus type embodiment and features of a method type embodiment are considered to be disclosed with this application. In this regard, it should be understood that any method features derivable from the respective explicitly disclosed apparatus features should be based on the respective functionality of the device features and should not be considered limited to the particular elements of the device disclosed in connection with the device features. Furthermore, it is to be understood that any device feature that can be derived based on the respective explicitly disclosed method feature is functionally described in the method, any suitable means disclosed herein or known in the art.

The illustration in the drawings is schematically. Note that in different figures, similar or identical elements have the same reference signs or reference signs that are different from the corresponding reference signs in the first digit only. Thus, to avoid unnecessary repetition, the description of similar or identical features will not be repeated in the description of the figures that follow. It should be understood, however, that the foregoing drawings are also valid for subsequent figures unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Sixth concept of the subject matter disclosed herein

There is a need for a technique that allows the creation of a tire in which the indicia is reliably readable, e.g., machine readable.

According to a first aspect of a sixth concept, a device, in particular a device for providing a tire with an indicia is provided.

According to an embodiment of the first aspect: a recording device adapted to generate a representation of at least part of a sidewall of the tire (e.g., during the positioning step);

the control means is arranged to determine a final marker position for said marker on said tyre using said representation and a predetermined first criterion.

According to a second aspect of the sixth concept, a pair of tires is disclosed.

According to an embodiment of the second aspect, said pair of tyres consists of a first tyre and a second tyre, corresponding to the manufacturer, tyre type, tyre size and dot type code, with respect to the relative position of the respective information pair manufacturer, without distinguishing between tyre type, tyre size, dot type code;

(i) the first tire has first indicia and the second tire has second indicia, wherein the relative position of the first indicia of the first tire and the relative position of the second indicia of the second tire are determined from the relative positions of the first indicia of the first tire and the second indicia of the second tire relative to corresponding information of the manufacturer, the tire type, the tire size, the dot type code.

The marking of the second tyre is above 5mm, in particular above 50 mm; or (Ii) at least one of the two tires has two markings, in particular a two-dimensional matrix code, with at least partially identical information content (2d matrix code ═ two-dimensional matrix code), for example qr code or data base code (dmc)).

According to a third aspect of the sixth concept, there is provided a tire.

According to an embodiment of the third aspect, the tire has two markings, in particular two 2d matrix codes, the information content of which is at least partially identical.

According to a fourth aspect of the sixth concept, a positioning method for determining a (final) position of a mark for a tire).

According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the process presents:

creating a representation of at least a portion of a sidewall of a tire;

the marker position is determined using the representation and a predetermined first criterion.

According to a fifth aspect of the sixth concept, there is provided a computer program product, particularly in the form of a program element or a computer-readable medium, comprising the program element.

According to an embodiment of the fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided which, when being executed on a processor device, carries out the method of the fourth aspect or an embodiment thereof.

Some aspects and embodiments of the objects disclosed herein are particularly a sixth concept, based on the idea that if the marking of the avoidance marking is characterized (hereinafter also referred to as third property), the information marked on the tire is more reliable, e.g. the color features or surface structure of the tire). For example, the third characteristic (e.g., the balance point) may be at a location that varies from tire to tire. This makes it difficult to avoid overlapping with other features. One balance point of the tire, for example, marks the angular position where the tire is lightest (or less, heaviest). By positioning the valve in the region of the balancing point, the weight required to balance the tyre can be reduced.

According to an embodiment of the apparatus aspect, the apparatus is adapted to provide the functionality of one or more embodiments disclosed herein and/or to provide the functionality required by one or more embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the sixth concept.

According to an embodiment of the tyre aspect, the pair of tyres is adapted to provide the functionality of and/or provide the functionality of one or more embodiments disclosed herein, for example they are responsible for one or more embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the sixth concept.

The tire may be designed according to the design of any aspect disclosed herein, in particular for providing the functionality of one or more embodiments disclosed herein and/or for providing the functionality required by one or more embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the sixth concept.

According to an embodiment of the method aspect, the method is designed to provide the functionality of and/or provide the functionality required by one or more embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the sixth concept.

According to an embodiment of the computer program aspect, the computer program product is adapted to provide one or more of the functionalities disclosed herein and/or to provide the functionalities required by one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein, in particular the sixth concept.

Drawings

FIG. 1 (Prior Art) illustrates a side view of a laser-based tire marking system.

FIG. 2 (Prior Art) illustrates a top view of the laser-based tire marking system shown in FIG. 1.

Fig. 3 (prior art) shows a close-up side view of the laser-based tire marking system shown in fig. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of a laser-based tire marking system in accordance with features of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of a laser-based tire marking system according to additional features of the present invention.

Fig. 6 illustrates a method of providing a rubber article having a digital code pattern in a cured polymeric material of the rubber article, according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 7 shows a cross-sectional view portion of a first surface portion and a second surface portion in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 shows an intensity pattern on the second surface portion according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 shows an intensity pattern on the second surface portion according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates another process for generating a digital code pattern in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a rubber article marking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates another rubber article marking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 13 illustrates an apparatus for identifying a rubber article, and illustrates a method for identifying a rubber article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a marking device for marking rubber articles according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 15 illustrates the rubber article of fig. 14 in more detail, and after performing a method according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 16 illustrates a portion of a rubber article including a portion of a pattern of depressions according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 17 illustrates a portion of a rubber article including a portion of a pattern of depressions according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 18 illustrates a portion of a rubber article including a portion of a pattern of depressions in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 19 illustrates a portion of a rubber article including a portion of a pattern of depressions according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 20 shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of a rubber article according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 21 shows a tire processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 22 shows a front view of a portion of the tire processing apparatus as viewed from line ii-ii in fig. 21.

FIG. 23 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a shape representation 200 of a surface of a tire according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 24 schematically shows a geometric element according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 25 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a shape representation according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 26 shows the geometric elements identified in the shape representation of fig. 25, assuming that the tire and thus the shape representation comprise two projections which are rotationally symmetric and which extend on two opposite portions of the tire.

Fig. 27 illustrates a shape representation according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 28 illustrates geometric elements according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 29 shows an exemplary spatial arrangement of the real geometric elements of fig. 23 and the reference geometric elements of fig. 24.

Fig. 30 shows the amplitude of the deviation in the circumferential direction at the angular position.

Fig. 31 shows the spectrum of the deviation in fourier space, i.e. the corresponding amplitudes on the harmonic level.

Fig. 32 shows the tire processing device of fig. 21 with the sensor device in a non-operational position.

Fig. 33 illustrates an example of a desired pattern according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 34 illustrates the generation of a transfer pattern/transfer pattern definition according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 illustrates a portion of a tire according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 illustrates a tire marking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 37 illustrates another tire marking device according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 38 shows a tire according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 39 schematically illustrates an apparatus according to an embodiment of the herein disclosed subject matter.

Fig. 40 illustrates a tire according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

FIG. 41 shows the tire of FIG. 40 with the marks created in the final marked points.

Fig. 42 illustrates a pair of tires according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 43 illustrates a tire according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Detailed Description

The illustration in the drawings is schematically. Note that in different figures, similar or identical elements have the same reference signs or reference signs that are different from the corresponding reference signs only within the first digit or the additional character. Thus, to avoid unnecessary repetition, the description of similar or identical features is not repeated in the description of the figures that follow. It should be understood, however, that the foregoing drawings are also valid for subsequent figures unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Referring to fig. 3, which is labeled prior art, some success in automating laser tire marking has been attempted. According to the teaching of the german patent application nr2031091.7, the tyre 4 is transported by the conveyor belt 1 to the laser station 13, and when the tyre reaches the station 13, as shown in fig. 2, the activation of the stop 2 stops the conveyor belt 1, the bead roller 3 is integrated in the belt 1, and the roller 3 moves the movement of the tyre 4 on the belt 1 with minimum friction. The pair of pneumatic gripping arms 5 is used to centre the tyre mechanically to a given centre point, independent of the size and the original position on the belt 1.

The pivot arm is located above the center tire. The rotation axis of the rotating arm is collinear with the axis of symmetry of the tyre. The barcode reader 7 is mounted on the rotary arm 6, and by swinging the rotary arm 6 around one rotation, the barcode reader 7 reads a paper label stuck to a tire bead.

When the rotary arm 6 is swung back and forth, the camera system 8 is activated. Which photographs the sidewall of the tire and compares it to images stored in a controller/computer (not shown) via pattern recognition software. The information from the camera system 8 allows to select a fitting picture from a library stored in the computer. In order to focus the camera 8 on the sidewall, the vertical distance between the camera 8 and the tire must be adjusted according to the width of the tire. Information on the width of the tire can be obtained from the control computer by means of the identified bar code. The camera 8 may also be mounted on a rotating arm 6 for varying the vertical distance, the camera 8 and/or the rotating arm 6 being mounted on a motor driven linear track 9 (moving the z-axis of the camera 8)).

According to the prior art, the pattern recognition program looks for a feature template on the sidewall and allows positioning the continuous wave c02 marking laser 10 over the registered marking points relative to information from the template stored in memory. In this way, the mark is always found at the same point of all the tires. If the image processing is successful, the laser 10 effects the engraving, the beam is focused on the tire surface and deflected by a galvanometer-scanner controlled by a computer, and the numbers and letters can be engraved in the rubber of the tire within a few seconds. The fumes and dust produced by the laser engraving are evacuated through the nozzle 12, after the engraving is completed, the camera 8 is used again to compare the picture thereof, and the picture thereof is compared with a corresponding stored/generated computer. Finally, the tyre 4 is moved out of the laser station by means of a conveyor belt. The system computer/controller will generate a non-ok signal if the bar code or sidewall is incorrect.

Video pictures rely on the contrast of colors (black/white). The symbols on the tire sidewall are molded into the sidewall as part of the tire building process. Despite the raised figures, the symbols appear black on a black color. The human eye is able to distinguish these blacks on the black map because it does not intentionally see the change in gloss on the tire surface. Those simple video systems disclosed in the prior art are not able to distinguish between changes in gloss on the tire surface, which is why prior art solutions are contrary to the problem that will now be disclosed.

Slight variations in tire surface roughness or workstation illumination lead to failures in existing tire marking systems that use basic image processing. Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein address this shortcoming by using image processing techniques that do not rely on color contrast rather than measuring the height distribution of raised symbols on the sidewalls. The optical sheet sensor technology in the image processing process can easily compare the comparison of the height profile of the symbol on the tire surface with the reference profile store in memory. The type of tire and its rotational position can also be identified independently of lighting and surface quality.

Referring to fig. 4, features of the subject matter disclosed herein are illustrated. The tyre 4 is conveyed to the laser station by means of a conveyor belt, which stops when the tyre 4 reaches the laser station 15. The grip arm 5 centers the tire at a fixed position regardless of its size. The horizontal rotating arm is located above the tyre with its vertical rotation axis collinear with the axis of symmetry of the tyre.

Mounted on the rotating arm is an image processing system comprising an optical sheet sensor. The image processing system 17 detects the height profile of the raised symbols on the sidewall 24 and compares the detected text/symbol height distribution with the corresponding reference profile stored in a computer library (not shown) by swinging one revolution over the tire. By matching the contours, the correct marker points are identified. The laser 18 performs the engraving and may also be mounted on the rotating arm 16.

After the engraving process is completed, the measured profile of the new mark is compared with the corresponding computer stored/generated mark by the (second) said image processing system 17. Finally, by moving the tyre 4 out of the laser station 15 by means of the conveyor belt, the computer/controller will generate a fail signal, if the sidewall cannot be identified, the marking is incorrect.

In this system, similar to the prior art, the tire is centered by the conveyor belt supply 1 with the gripping arm 5 in a fixed position, however, the horizontal rotating arm 16 optical sheet sensor with the image processing system 17 and marking laser 18 integrated optical sheet sensor overcomes the imaging problems encountered with the prior art systems because it can measure the height profile of the raised black on the black symbol on the sidewall. This allows to sort the tyres 4, to select marking points on the sidewalls 24, and to verify the lighting at the work station 15 and the marking of the tyres independent of the surface roughness, the system described operating extremely reliably and being further differentiated by its low price and small footprint.

One disadvantage of the single station system is its sequential mode of operation. This means that the following steps are processed after the other: conveying the tire; scanning the sidewall under the rotating arm; selecting the marking point; laser engraving; the mark is verified. The resulting cycle time is about 15 seconds, which means that four tires can be processed in one minute, corresponding to about 6000 tires per day. Modern tire plants produce as many as 60,000 tires per day. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the cycle time of the marking system as much as possible.

A system according to an embodiment will now be described which can overcome the single station system shown in fig. 4 and the cycle time problem shown in fig. 5, showing a schematic diagram of a multi-station system according to another feature of the subject matter disclosed herein. The tyre 4 is continuously transported by the system, which does not slip off by the conveyor belt 1 at the first station 31 of the system, which first station 31 is provided with a laser scanner 21, which detects the central position of the tyre 4 on the belt 1; at the second station 32, there is a horizontal rotating arm 22, on which horizontal rotating arm 22 a first optical sheet sensor enabled image processing system 23 is mounted.

During processing, at a second station 32, the rotation axis of the rotating arm 22 is collinear with the axis of symmetry of the tyre 4, the unit suspending the rotating arm is connected to x, the y-track system 26 adjusts the y-system 26 above the tyre 4 according to the information of the scanner 21, x, synchronizes the tyre with the conveyor belt by making at least one revolution of the rotating arm 22, the optical sheet sensor enables the image processing system 23 to measure the height profile of the raised symbols on the tyre sidewall 24, and then analyzes the height profile data to find the marking points on the tyre.

At the third station, the marking laser 36 engraves a mark on the tire sidewall. The laser 36 may also be mounted on a second rotary arm 27, the axis of rotation of this rotary arm 27 also having to be collinear with the centre of the tyre. The unit is thus suspended on a further x, y track system 28, the position of the rotary arm 27 being the same as the position of the rotary arm 27, a laser 36 marking a spot on the tyre 4 according to the evaluation provided by the second station 32, the laser 36 being a continuous wave c02 marking laser. The engraving of the laser 36 can be done after engraving using a computer controlled galvanometer scanner 29, the marks being evaluated by a second light sheet sensor enabled image processing system 35 mountable on the rotary arm 27.

The system has two independent rotating arms. Thus, two tires can be processed simultaneously. The laser 36 mounted on the rotary arm 27 is the tire 1 and the rotary arm 22 can simultaneously analyze the sidewall of the tire as described below. Both processes take about 3 seconds and the transit time of the tire between stations is also about 3 seconds. Thus, the cycle time of the system is about 3 seconds, which may correspond to approximately 30,000 tires that may be processed per day using a multi-station system.

The laser station is preferably shielded by protective walls and has an automatic door to limit any stray radiation or odorous fumes and vapors. This housing is not described here and is only schematically shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 6 illustrates a method of providing a rubber article 1100 having a digital code pattern 1102 in a cured polymer material of the rubber article 1100, in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the rubber optical device 1100 is a tire, only a portion of which is shown in FIG. 6, according to an embodiment, the method includes creating a digitally encoded pattern 1102 in a cured polymeric material 1104 of the rubber article 1100, the digitally encoded pattern 1102 including a first surface portion 1106 and a second surface portion 1108 having a different optical reflectivity (hereinafter also referred to as "reflectivity"). As a result of the creation of the digital code pattern in the cured polymer material, the digital code pattern is a permanent pattern (as opposed to an adhesive label). According to one embodiment, the digital code pattern 1102 is an optically readable digital code pattern. Generally, according to one embodiment, the digital code pattern 1102 includes a plurality of first surface portions 1106 and a plurality of second surface portions 1108, as shown in FIG. 6. according to one embodiment, the digital code pattern 1102 is a binary code pattern including two different reflectivities. However, it should be understood that the digital code pattern may also be implemented with more than two different reflectivities, for example three, four or more different reflectivities. According to one embodiment, the digital code pattern 1102 is a bar code such as a linear (one-dimensional) bar code or a matrix (two-dimensional) bar code (e.g., qr code). However, other digital encoding modes are possible.

According to an embodiment, the term "optical reflectivity" includes reflectivity of at least one of visible light, ultraviolet radiation.

According to one embodiment, the digital code pattern 1102 identifies the rubber article 1100, particularly within a manufacturing lot of rubber articles. According to other embodiments, different identification may be provided by the digital code pattern 1102, such as identification within tires having the same dot code and/or tires manufactured in a particular curing mold (e.g., in tires having the same dot code and/or tires))), which individually identifies each rubber product, e.g., in a batch, according to another embodiment, in monthly production or in yearly production, etc. According to another embodiment, the digital code pattern identifies the rubber article. Belonging to a subset of the batch (e.g., a curing batch). For example, according to an embodiment, the digital code pattern identifies the rubber article as belonging to a subset of a batch, wherein the subset has been provided with a particular attribute (such as an emergency running characteristic of the tire), automatically repairing the tire at a suitable inner layer in the tire).

The identification of the rubber article by the digital code pattern 1102 is accomplished by any process that individually generates the digital code pattern 1102 in each individual rubber article 1100.

According to an embodiment, generating the digital code pattern 1102 comprises reducing the surface area of the first surface portion (e.g. by planarization) and/or increasing the surface area of the second surface portion (e.g. by artificial roughening, e.g. by creating a surface structure).

According to an embodiment, generating the digital code pattern comprises irradiating the first surface portion and/or the second surface portion with electromagnetic radiation 1110, such as a laser beam as shown in fig. 6, using mechanical techniques to generate the digital code pattern in the cured polymer material 1104.

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross-sectional view portion of a first surface portion 1106 and a second surface portion 1108 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

According to one embodiment, generating the digital code pattern 1102 comprises generating surface structures 1112 in the second surface portion 110 according to an embodiment, according to another embodiment, the surface structures 1112 increase the surface area of the second surface portion 1104, the surface structures 1112 providing a second optical reflectivity which is lower than the first optical reflectivity of the first surface portion 110, generating the surface structures 1112 comprises selectively removing a portion of the cured polymer material 1104, the removed portion of the cured polymer material 1104, indicated in fig. 7 by a dashed line, according to an embodiment, selectively removing the portion of the cured polymer with electromagnetic radiation. According to another embodiment, the electromagnetic radiation is laser radiation, such as pulsed laser radiation. The pulsed laser radiation may have a pulse length of less than 200 nanoseconds, for example less than 100ns or less than 20 ns. However, it should be understood that the laser power and pulse length may be adjusted to specific applications, particularly with respect to a rubber article.

According to an embodiment, the surface structure 1112 comprises a plurality of protrusions 1114, as shown in fig. 7, according to an embodiment the first surface portion 1106 is substantially flat, in case no surface structure is present, as shown in fig. 7, it should be noted that any real material, and thus the cured polymer material 1104, has a certain surface roughness ra. However, the surface structure described herein has a larger size (at least 2 according to the examples)), and the average surface roughness ra of the rubber article is larger than the average surface roughness ra of the rubber article. According to one embodiment, the average surface roughness ra of the cured polymeric material is below 4 microns (ra < 4 μm). According to another embodiment, the average surface roughness ra of the cured polymeric material is lower than 1 μm (ra < 1 μm), or less than 0.5 μm (ra < 0.5 μm). According to embodiments, the roughening of the surface that does not produce the surface structures 1112 and the cured polymer material that forms the surface structures has a surface roughness ra that is equal to or even lower than the surface roughness ra of the polymer material 1104 that was cured before the surface structures were produced.

According to one embodiment, the surface structure forming cured polymeric material has an average roughness ra of 4 μm or less (ra < 4 μm)), such as 1 μm (ra < 1 μm), or less than 0.5 μm (ra < 0.5 μm).

According to an embodiment, the surface structure 1112 includes a plurality of protrusions 1114, as shown in fig. 7, the protrusions 1114 may be created by selectively removing the cured polymer material 1104 proximate to areas of the cured polymer where the protrusions are to be created.

According to one embodiment, the method of generating a digital code pattern comprises generating an intensity pattern of varying intensity of electromagnetic radiation (spatially) on said second surface portion, performing selective removal of said cured polymer in high intensity areas of said intensity pattern.

Fig. 8 illustrates an intensity pattern 1116 on second surface portion 1108 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Intensity pattern 1116 results in selective removal of cured polymer material in areas of high illumination intensity, thereby producing surface structures 1112 in accordance with embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the intensity pattern 1116 shown in fig. 8 is a beam of electromagnetic radiation generated by movement in the sense that it follows a path over the second surface portion 1104, said intensity pattern may be a cumulative intensity pattern showing the intensity accumulated while forming said surface structure 1112, the path of the electromagnetic radiation beam corresponding to the desired intensity pattern 111616.

According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern 1116 is generated by any other suitable means, such as through a reticle, which when illuminated by electromagnetic radiation, according to an embodiment, generates a projection of the intensity pattern 1116 on the second surface portion 1104, the reticle being illuminated by the electromagnetic radiation, and selectively allowing the electromagnetic radiation to pass onto the area of the second surface portion 1108 where the cured polymeric material 1104 is to be removed. Furthermore, the optical cover blocks the area of the second surface portion 1108 through which electromagnetic radiation passes, and the cured polymer material should not be removed in this second surface portion 1108.

According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern is generated by using higher order modes of a laser providing the electromagnetic radiation.

According to one embodiment, the intensity pattern 1116 is produced by interference. For example, in one embodiment, a diffraction grating is located in a radiation path of electromagnetic radiation, resulting in diffraction of the incident beam of electromagnetic radiation, wherein the diffracted beam produces an intensity pattern 1116 on the second surface portion. Depending on the grating, the intensity pattern may be a line pattern, as shown in fig. 8, or may be a dot pattern.

According to an embodiment, intensity pattern 1116 includes a first set of parallel lines 1118 and a second set of parallel lines 1120, where lines 1118 of the first set intersect at least one line 1120 of the second set. The first and second sets of lines may define an angle of 90 degrees therebetween, as shown in fig. 8, or, in another embodiment, may define an angle different than 90 degrees therebetween. According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern comprises three or more sets of parallel lines (not shown in the figure) 8 positioned at angles relative to each other, for example for generating an intensity pattern with hexagonal portions. According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern comprises a set of parallel lines. Selective removal of the cured polymeric material 1104 along lines 1118, 1120 produces a plurality of protrusions, some of which are schematically represented at 1114 in fig. 8, the protrusions 1114 being produced by selectively removing the cured polymeric material 1104 from the areas where the protrusions were produced.

According to an embodiment, the intensity pattern is generated by moving the beam of electromagnetic radiation only once along the path. According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern (e.g., the intensity pattern shown in the figure) 8) is generated by moving the beam of electromagnetic radiation two or more times along the path. According to another embodiment, the contour of the second surface portion is traced at least once, for example 3 times. When pulsed pulses are used, the pulse overlap of subsequent pulses may be in the range of 50% to 90%, such as 70-80%, for example 76%. An exemplary 1/e2 beam diameter of the radiation beam may be between 130 and 180 microns, for example 150 microns. According to one embodiment, the distance between parallel lines may be less than 1/e2 beam diameter, and may be 70-150 μm, for example, 100 microns for a 150 μm1/e2 beam diameter. In connection with a gaussian beam profile, this may result in rounded protrusion 11143 having a surface structure with a maximum depth of 70 μm-500 μm, for example 100 μm. Exemplary laser parameters (ytterbium pulse fiber laser, center emission wavelength about 1064nm) average power 20 watts, repetition rate 20 kilohertz (khz), pulse duration 100 nanoseconds.

According to another embodiment, the surface structure 1112 comprises a plurality of holes. Rather than creating a protrusion, which includes selectively removing solidified polymeric material along one or more lines, a hole is formed by removing solidified polymeric material at a point. Thus, in one embodiment, the plurality of apertures is produced by an intensity pattern having one or more individual spots.

Fig. 9 shows a (spatial) intensity pattern 1122 on the second surface portion 1108, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The intensity pattern 1122 results in selective removal of the cured polymer material in areas of high illumination intensity, thereby producing surface structures 1112 in accordance with embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter.

According to one embodiment, intensity pattern 1122 includes a plurality of dots, some of which are characterized at 1124 in FIG. 9: the dots 1124 create apertures 1126 by selectively removing the cured polymer material 1104 in the area of the dots 1124.

According to other embodiments, other intensity patterns may be used to create the surface structure in the second surface portion. Furthermore, for the purpose of provision, it is also possible to produce other surface structures in the second surface portion having a second reflectivity which is lower than the first reflectivity of the first surface portion.

According to one embodiment, according to another embodiment, the entire intensity pattern on the second surface portions, all second surface portions of the digital code pattern, are generated at the same time (simultaneous exposure mode), for example, by using a suitable reticle. According to another embodiment, the intensity pattern on the second surface portion is generated over a certain period of time (scanning mode), for example by moving a beam of electromagnetic radiation over the second surface portion.

As noted above, any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be combined.

In particular, with respect to the subject matter disclosed herein, it should be mentioned that typically (space 2)) intensity patterns or the generation of intensity patterns may be configured to include features of two or more embodiments disclosed herein. For example, according to an embodiment, generating an intensity pattern the invention discloses moving a beam of electromagnetic radiation along a path on said second surface portion, wherein the beam of electromagnetic radiation itself has a structured intensity distribution resulting from interference or higher order modes of the laser beam. This may result in an intensity pattern on the second surface that includes spatial intensity variations over different length scales.

In general, the intensity pattern may include spatial intensity variations over different length scales. According to one embodiment, this may also be generated by a corresponding movement of the beam of electromagnetic radiation, advantageously by combining different embodiments of the intensity pattern, for example by moving the beam of electromagnetic radiation with a structured intensity distribution over the second surface, as described above. Thus, in a more general embodiment, the surface structure comprises two or more sub-structures of different length scale. According to an embodiment, this may provide a low reflectivity and a good cleaning behavior of the second surface portion.

It will be appreciated that a combination of the above embodiments may be used to produce an intensity pattern having lines (e.g., substructures having lines and/or dots) over a longer length scale or, in another embodiment, a longer length scale may be used to produce an intensity pattern thereon having dots (e.g., substructures having lines and/or dots)).

According to one embodiment, the ratio r is defined as

r＝dx，

Wherein,

d is the beam width of 1/e2 of the electromagnetic radiation;

x is the distance between the smallest structural elements of the surface structure,

greater than 0.5(r > 0.5)

Here, as is usual, the 1/e2 beamwidth is such, defined as the distance between two points on the beam, where its intensity is 0.135 times the 1/e2 of the maximum intensity of the beam profile. It is advantageous to maintain said beam width within said defined range, in particular in said scanning mode, an intensity pattern on said second surface portion being generated by moving a beam of electromagnetic radiation on said second surface portion in order to generate said surface structure.

According to an embodiment, the rayleigh length of the electromagnetic radiation is larger than 1.5 mm, such as larger than 2mm or larger than 4 mm. A large rayleigh length, which provides a large depth of focus, is advantageous for creating digital code patterns on curved surfaces, such as on tires.

According to an embodiment providing the first surface portion 1106, a cured polymer material 1104 having a predetermined surface roughness ra is manufactured at least in the area comprising the first surface portion 1106; and maintaining a predetermined surface roughness ra in the first surface portion 1106 while creating the surface structures 1112 in the second surface portion 1106, the first surface portion 1106 may remain unchanged in the generation of the digital coding pattern 1102 according to an embodiment.

Furthermore, in another embodiment, the reflectivity of the first surface portion 1106 may be adjusted, optionally by providing surface structures 1112 in the second surface portion 1108. According to an embodiment, generating the digital code pattern 1102 comprises flattening the first surface portions 1106, the flattened first surface portions 1106 providing a first optical reflectivity higher than a second optical reflectivity of the second surface portions 11048 according to an embodiment, providing the first surface portions 1106 comprises reducing the surface roughness ra in the first surface portions 1106 of the cured polymer material 1104.

FIG. 10 illustrates another process for generating a digital code pattern 1102 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment, the area where the digital code pattern 1102 is to be created is completely provided with surface structures 1112 as described herein, i.e. 10 in the area of the first surface portion 1106 shown in dashed lines in the figure) and in the area of the second surface portion 110b, the first surface portion 1106 may be created by planarizing the surface structures 1112 in the area of the first surface portion 1106, e.g. by exposing the area of the first surface portion 1106 to electromagnetic radiation 1110 according to an embodiment, in the area of the second surface portion 1108, maintaining the surface structures 1112 such that the second surface portion 1108 has a lower optical reflectivity than the first surface portion 1106.

The rubber article marking device includes a holder 1151 for housing a rubber article, the rubber article marking device 1150 includes a radiation source 1152 for providing electromagnetic radiation and a controller 1154 for controlling the radiation source 1152. a method of providing a rubber article having a digital code pattern 1102 according to one or more embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein.

In a rubber article marking apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present invention, at least one actuator (e.g., a scanning unit not shown in fig. 1) 11 is used to move a beam of electromagnetic radiation 1110 relative to a rubber article 1100 in a holder 1151, thereby generating a digital code pattern 1102 on the rubber article 1100, said actuator being controlled by said controller 115, according to another embodiment, controller 1154 is configured to control the operation of the radiation source, e.g., for switching the beam of electromagnetic radiation 1110 on and off.

According to an embodiment, the controller 1154 comprises a data processor device 1155 for executing a computer program for controlling the method according to one or more embodiments disclosed herein when executed on the data processor device 1155. According to one embodiment, the controller 1154, which is included in a software update or firmware update of the computer program, enables existing tools to be updated to provide functionality according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, controller 1154 is configured to exchange signals 1153 with (e.g., provide control signals) at least one entity to be controlled by controller 115, which may include, for example, radiation source 1152, a conveyor device (not shown in fig. 11), or the like.

According to one embodiment, a method of providing a rubber product with a digital code pattern includes adjusting the focal position of an illumination source 1152, which generates electromagnetic radiation 1110 in the process of generating said digital coding pattern 110, the light source 1152 may comprise a focal position adjustment means 115 for adjusting the focal position during code pattern generation, which is advantageous, for example, if the digital code pattern is generated on a curved surface of a cured polymer material. It is further advantageous if the radiation source is configured for moving the beam of electromagnetic radiation 1110 over the cured polymer material by rotating the beam of electromagnetic radiation, resulting in a beam of electromagnetic radiation impinging on the cured polymer material. According to another embodiment, the adjustment of the focus position may be performed according to a predetermined control sequence, which may be adapted to a specific rubber product and which may be stored in the memory 1156 of the controller 115, a sensor 1158 for determining the position of the rubber product 1100, e.g. relative to the focusing lens, is provided. According to one embodiment, the sensor comprises a distance sensor for determining a position or rubber article 1100, and the controller 1154 is adapted to adjust a focal position of the radiation source 1152 in response to the position of the rubber article 1100, such as by moving one or more lenses of the focusing lens (e.g., the focusing lens), according to another embodiment, by expanding a beam impinging on the focusing lens of the radiation source 1152, to name a few.

Adjustment of the focal position may be performed to move the focal position onto the surface of rubber article 1100.

Fig. 12 illustrates a portion of another rubber article marking device 250 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

The rubber article marking apparatus 250 comprises a radiation source 1152, the radiation source 1152 having a beam splitter 1163 for splitting a primary radiation beam 1164 into two secondary beams, a first secondary beam 1165 and a second secondary beam 1166, the radiation source 1152 comprising a suitable source 1167, such as a laser, for providing the primary radiation beam 1164, as shown in fig. 12, according to an embodiment the radiation source 1152 comprising phase adjusting means 1168 for changing the phase of the first secondary beam 1165 relative to the phase of the second secondary beam 1166 and providing the phase shifted first secondary beam 11704, the phase adjusting means 1168 comprising mirrors 1172, 1174, 1176, at least some of which (e.g. two mirrors 1172, 1174) so as to provide the phase adjusting means 1168 with the capability of changing the phase shift.

The radiation source 1152 further comprises two scanning units 1178, 1180 configured with a first scanning unit 1178 for projecting a phase-shifted first secondary beam 1170 onto the rubber article 1100 in a first point 1182, a second scanning unit 1180 for projecting said second secondary beam 1166 onto said rubber article 1100 in a second point 1184 overlapping said first point 118 according to an embodiment of said two beams 1166, the projections 1170 onto the article 1100 overlapping in time and space so as to generate an interference pattern in the overlap of the two points 1182, 118 according to an embodiment, the phase adjusting means 1168 may be integrated into the respective scanning units 1178 as described herein, the interference pattern may be used for selectively removing cured polymer material from the rubber article 1100 so as to generate a digital code pattern. According to one embodiment, the controller 1154 is configured for operating the scanning units 1178, 1180 to provide a desired intensity pattern on the second surface portion, 1184 on the second surface portion, by moving the overlap point 1182. According to another embodiment, where the radiation source 1152 is configured to illuminate the entire (e.g., second) surface portion, the controller 1154 may be configured to move the overlap points 1182, 1184 from one (second) surface portion 1108 to the other (second) surface portion 1108) surface portion 11048, noting that the two overlapping beams 1166, 1170 together form "electromagnetic radiation 1110", referred to as "electromagnetic radiation 1110" in other embodiments.

According to one embodiment, the rubber article marking device may include a reticle (not shown) 12) that determines the size of the respective surface portion (first surface portion or second surface portion) to which electromagnetic radiation is to be applied. This is advantageous in embodiments of intensity patterns, such as interference patterns), which are provided simultaneously over the entire area of the second surface portion, or in embodiments in which the first surface portion is flattened by electromagnetic radiation. In this case, the reticle provides a clearly defined edge of the respective surface portion. According to one embodiment, the reticle is configured to provide the respective surface portions with a variable area, for example by a movable member which laterally defines a passage which in turn defines the respective surface portion. Thus, in some digital code patterns, the size of the respective surface portions is variable, for example in qr codes, where the size of the first and second surface portions depends on the amount of information encoded with the qr code.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a device 1160 for identifying a rubber article 1100 (e.g., in the form of a tire) according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the device 1160 is configured to read, for example, a digital code pattern 1102 from a polymer 1104 surface of a rubber article 1100, the device 1160 may comprise a camera configured to acquire a picture of the digital code pattern 110, the device 1160 comprises a controller 1162, the controller 1162 is configured to decode the digital code pattern 1102, and is provided in response to a digital representation of information stored in a digital code pattern 110, which may be a graphical representation of identifying information (e.g., a serial number), which allows device 1160 to identify rubber article 1100 and, thus, allow device 1160 to provide specific information on rubber article 1100, device 1160 accesses the database stored therein, the database is stored in the digital code pattern and identification information represented by specific information on the rubber product. This allows the device 1160 to retrieve specific information on the rubber article from a database upon extraction (decoding) to obtain the identification information from the obtained digital code pattern.

The device 1160 may be a stationary device, such as in a tire manufacturing facility, or may be, for example, a portable device, such as a smart phone, that allows a user of the rubber article, such as a tire, to retrieve information on the rubber article in a familiar and enjoyable manner.

In any application where identification tracking of tires is useful or even mandatory, it is advantageous to identify rubber articles such as tires. The generation of the digital code pattern in the cured polymer enables the provision of a rubber article having the digital code pattern without the need for adhesive labels or the like, regardless of the manufacture of the rubber article.

Further, while some embodiments relate to tires and the like, it should be understood that each of these references is deemed to implicitly disclose a corresponding reference to the general term "rubber article" and vice versa. Further, other terms referring to specific terms (e.g., laser 2) are considered to implicitly disclose the corresponding general term with the specified functionality.

According to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, any suitable entities (e.g. assemblies 100), units and devices), such as controllers, are provided at least partly in the form of respective computer programs enabling a processor device to provide the functionality of the respective entities as disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, any suitable entity disclosed herein may be provided in hardware. According to other hybrid embodiments, some entities may be provided in software, while other entities are provided in hardware.

It should be noted that any entities (e.g., components, units and devices), such as controllers, radiation sources, scanning units, phase shifting units, etc., disclosed herein are not limited to dedicated entities as described in some embodiments. Rather, the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in a variety of ways and with a variety of granularities at the device level, where applicable, with the specified functionality still being provided at the software module level.

Further, it should be noted that, according to embodiments, separate entities (portion 4), portions, surfaces, components, units, structures or devices) may be provided for each of the functionalities disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, an entity (portion, part, surface, component, unit, structure or device)) is configured to provide two or more functions as disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, two or more entities (e.g., portion 4), portions, surfaces, components, units, structures or devices) are configured to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the controller comprises a processor device comprising at least one processor for executing at least one computer program corresponding to a respective software module.

FIG. 14 shows a marking device 2100 for marking a rubber article 2102, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

The marking apparatus 2100 includes a tool 2104 in the form of a laser. Tool 2104 is adapted (e.g., provides sufficient electrical power) to remove rubber material of rubber article 210, which according to one embodiment is a vehicle tire. The tool 2104 includes a laser source 2106 for generating a primary laser beam 2108 and an optical system 2110, the optical system 2110 receiving the primary laser beam 2108 and outputting in response to the secondary laser beam 2112112, the marking apparatus 2100 comprises a control device 2114 for controlling the tool 2104, in particular for controlling the laser source 2106 and the optical system 2110 for performing a method according to aspects and embodiments of the present invention. According to one embodiment, the control device 2114 is a processor device including one or more micro-processors for executing instructions of a computer program product according to an embodiment of the invention.

According to an embodiment, the marking device 2100 further includes a retainer 2116 for retaining the rubber article 2102 in a defined position relative to the tool 210.

According to one embodiment, retainers 2116 are also controlled by control 2104, and may include, according to one embodiment, a conveyor for moving rubber article 2102.

The control of the control means 2104 is according to an embodiment performed on the basis of control signals as shown at 2118 in fig. 14, the control means 2104 being according to an embodiment communicatively coupled to the respective means, i.e. in said embodiment the laser source 2106, the optical system 2110 and the holder 2116.

According to one embodiment, the secondary laser beam 2112 has a rayleigh length greater than 1.5 millimeters. According to an embodiment, the rayleigh length is larger than 3mm or even larger than 5mm, the optical system 2110 is adapted to adjust the focal position 2120 of the secondary laser beam 2112 in the focal position 2120 of the secondary laser beam 2112) to generate a laser beam in the process of generating a digital code pattern. In this case, embodiments of the present invention having a small rayleigh length can be implemented on the curved rubber article 2102.

According to one embodiment, laser source 2106 is a carbon dioxide laser having a 1/e2 beam width greater than 200 μm), such as a 1/e2 beam width of about 400 μm.

Fig. 15 illustrates the rubber article 2102 of fig. 14 in more detail, and after performing a method in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, rubber article 2102 includes a pattern of depressions 2122 in the rubber article. The depression pattern 2122 defines a digital code pattern, for example, a binary digital code pattern such as a qr code. In particular, according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, the digital code pattern is a version 3qr code.

According to an embodiment, the recess pattern 2122 includes a first recess portion 2124 and a second recess portion 2126 that are recessed relative to an unaltered surface 2128 of the rubber article 210, the unaltered surface 2128 being an unaltered surface portion (and interchangeably referred to as unaltered surface portion)) in the vicinity of the recess pattern 212, the first recess 2124 and the second recess 2126 defining a protrusion 2113 therebetween, the protrusion 2113 protruding above a bottom 2132 of the first recess and a bottom 2134 of the second recess. According to an embodiment, the spacing 2136 between the first and second recesses 2124, 2126 is greater than 0.5mm, such as greater than 0.6 or even greater than 0.7 mm.

It should be understood that the pattern of recesses 2122 includes a plurality of recesses another one of which is shown at 2138 in fig. 15.

According to one embodiment, the rubber article includes a thickened portion 2140 and an adjacent portion 2142, the thickened portion having a thickness 2144 that is greater than a thickness 2146 of the adjacent portion. Thicknesses 2144, 2146 are defined in a direction perpendicular to the unaltered surface 2128 of the rubber article 2102.

Thickened portions 2140 allow for a high aspect ratio of the recessed portion, defined as the ratio between the depth of the recess and the width of the recess. In particular, according to embodiments, the aspect ratio of the recess 2138 is defined as the depth 2139 of the recess to the opening 2143 of the recess 2138. it is noted that the opening 2143 of the recess 2138 is defined by an edge of the invariant surface 2128 formed with the recess 2138.

Note that fig. 16 to 19 show only the main features of the illustrated depression pattern. In particular, the dimensions of the recessed portions are compared to the dimensions of the code module or other recessed portions of a recessed pattern may differ from the particular embodiment shown. It will be appreciated that the actual pattern of recesses defines a particular digital code pattern, depending on what the digital code pattern represents. However, a plurality of adjacent code modules including recessed portions 2124, 2126 (such code modules 126 are also referred to herein as black code modules) define a particular shape of recesses 2152, 2154, which are features of various embodiments.

With respect to fig. 16 to 18, it is noted that the recesses and recess portions indicated by solid black lines are schematic, and are mainly used for the purpose of describing the shapes of the recesses and recesses. The width of the solid black line does not necessarily correspond to the width of the corresponding recess. In particular, according to an embodiment, the width of the recessed portion is between 10% and 90% (or, in another embodiment, between 30% and 60% of the transverse dimension 2156 of the coding module.

Fig. 16 illustrates a portion of a rubber article 2102 that includes a portion of a pattern of depressions 2222 in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

A plurality of recesses may be identified in the recess pattern 2222 shown in fig. 16, and only exemplary recessed portions are discussed below for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein. Furthermore, there may be at least one set of interconnected recessed portions, where each set of interconnected recessed portions has a shape, for example, an o-shape, as shown by the first recess 2152 or a u-shape, as shown by the second recess 2154 in fig. 16, noting that the term "interconnected recess" refers to a single recess that includes interconnected recesses.

According to an embodiment, the recess pattern 2222 includes a first recess portion 2124 and a second recess 2126 between the first recess and the second recess) further, fig. 16 illustrates an edge of the code module 2150 of the digital code pattern. These edges are indicated by dashed lines 214, and it is noted that edge 2148 is not physically transferred to the rubber article. In contrast, edge 2148 is a logical edge 16 considered by a reader device (not shown in the figure) is based on the entire digital code pattern defined by the recess pattern. For example, in qr code version 3, several features are defined that allow the reader device to determine the version and physical dimensions of the qr code, thereby defining (logical 2)) an edge 2148 is shown in the context of this application to facilitate understanding of the digital code pattern defined by the recess pattern 2222, according to one embodiment of the invention, only the recesses 2124, 2126 (and recesses 2152, 2154) are produced in the rubber article (rather than the edge 2148).

According to an embodiment, the first and second recess portions 2124, 2126 are part of a recess (recess 2152 in the figure) 16) the groove pattern 2222 further includes a third recess 2127, the third recess 2127 and the first recess 2124 together defining a protrusion 2230 therebetween. According to one embodiment, the protrusions 2230 have the form of blades and may have a longest dimension, 2127, (depending on the digital code pattern to be implemented) in a direction parallel to at least one of the recesses.

According to an embodiment, the protrusions 2130 have a base area greater than 0.2 mm. In this regard, it is noted that the base area is defined in a typical manner, i.e., the area defined by the recess 2152 lies in the deepest plane spanned by the bottoms of the recesses 215, and further that the term "depth" refers to the direction perpendicular to the unaltered surface 2128 of the rubber article and from the surface 2128 to the rubber article.

According to one embodiment, the digital code pattern is shown in fig. 16, being a version 3qr code that includes 29 x29 code modules 21508, thus for a version 3qr code size of 15 x 15 square millimeters (mm2) a single module 2150 has a lateral dimension 2156 of 517 μm (μm), and thus has an area of 517 μm 2. According to other embodiments, the size of the qr code may be, for example, 16 × 16mm or 13 × 13 mm. The size of this qr code is suitable for use on rubber articles in the form of tires. Other sizes are possible depending on the size available on the rubber article.

According to an embodiment, the protrusion 2130 has a base area larger than the area of a single code module of the digital code pattern, as shown in fig. 16, the protrusion 2130 may include a further recessed portion 2158, and the further recessed portion 2158 may be located at the center of the protrusion 2130, as shown in fig. 16, which may improve the readability of the digital code pattern.

According to exemplary embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, the building instructions for generating the depression pattern include starting from one predefined start code module 2124 of the digital code pattern (e.g., the code module in the upper left corner of the digital code pattern) in an adjacent black code module 2126 with the arc of each black code module preferably extending from one edge 2148 of the code module 2152 to the adjacent edge 2148 of the same code module 21508, the depression portions being oriented in a manner of up to four black adjacent code modules, the depression portions forming as many common notches 2152 as possible, as shown in fig. 16, the start code modules may be selected so that they are part of a 2x2 group of adjacent black modules.

Fig. 17 illustrates a portion of a rubber article 2102 that includes a portion of a dimple pattern 2322 in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to an embodiment, each black code module includes a horizontal depressed portion in the form of a horizontal line, for example, as shown at 2160 in fig. 17, a connection recess in the form of a vertical line is created between vertically adjacent black modules, for example, as shown at 2162 in fig. 17, the connection recess connects (i.e., forms a common recess) the horizontal depressed portions of the vertically adjacent black modules, for example, as shown in fig. 17.

According to one embodiment, the horizontal recess portions 2160 extend between the edges 2148 of the code modules (i.e. they have a longitudinal dimension equal to the transverse dimension 2156 of the code modules) 2148 such that the horizontal recess portions 2160 of adjacent black modules form a common recess. According to an embodiment, four adjacent black modules (i.e. 2x2 sub-patterns of a numeric code pattern) form a protrusion 2130 between their horizontal and vertical recesses 2160, 2162, as shown in fig. 17, two black code modules separated by a white code module form a blade-like protrusion 2230 between two respective horizontal depressions 2160, it being understood that the opposite depressions 2160, 2162 are first and second depression portions 2124, 2126 in the sense of the subject matter disclosed herein. In fig. 17, some of the well portions 2160, 2162 are illustratively labeled as respective reference numbers 2124, 2126.

According to one embodiment, at least some of the recessed portions 2160, a portion of the pattern of grooves 2322 is part of a single (co) groove, forming a groove grid 2164.

Fig. 18 illustrates a portion of a rubber article 2102 comprising a portion of a dimple pattern 2422 in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the code modules 2150 of the pattern of depressions 2422 form an array, e.g., a rectangular array, as shown in fig. 18, the pattern of depressions 2422 comprises at least one depression portion 2166 of the first type. According to an embodiment, the pattern of depressions 2422 comprises at least one depression part 2168 of the second type, according to an embodiment, the shape of the first type of depression 2166 is rectilinear, for example diagonal from the upper left corner to the lower right corner of the respective coding module 21504, unlike the first type of depression 216, according to another embodiment, the shape of the second type of depression 2168 is rectilinear, for example diagonal from the lower left corner to the upper right corner of the respective coding module 21504, said first type of depression 2166 and said second type of depression 2168 being different from each other in the direction of said depression.

According to an embodiment, the first type of recess portions 2166 and 226 and the second type of recess portions 2168 are used adjacent to the black module in an alternating manner. For example, if three black code modules are a line, the second encoding module is disposed between the first encoding module and the third encoding module, the first type recess portion 2166 is generated at the location of the first encoding module and the third encoding module, and the second type recess portion 2168 is generated at the location of the second encoding module.

According to an embodiment, the notch portion 2166 is in the form of a straight line forming an angle 2172 on one of the edges 2148 of its coding module, wherein said angle is 20 ° -70 °, such as 40 ° -50 °, such as 45 °.

According to one embodiment, adjacent recess portions form a single common recess, 2172 (which may extend over two or more code modules) in the shape of a notched line 2170. According to an embodiment, the recess pattern 2422 comprises two recess lines 2170, 2172 crossing each other, thereby forming a grid of recesses 2164, the grid of recesses 2164 forming an angle (e.g. angle 2172), as shown in fig. 18) to one of the edges 2148 of said code module 21508, according to an embodiment one of the edges 2148 of said code module 21508, the depth of the grid of recesses at the crossing point is below 40% (or 2), according to other embodiments less than 30%, less than 20% or even less than 10%) divided from the depth of said grid of recesses (e.g. between two crossing points)).

As already described with respect to fig. 17, the opposing well portions 2168, 2170 are first and second well portions 2124, 2126 in the sense of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Fig. 19 illustrates a portion of a rubber article 2102 comprising a portion of a pattern of depressions 2522, in accordance with an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

A black code module of a groove pattern 2522, a single recessed portion 2176, which may have a hole shape, such as an irregular hole, as shown in fig. 19, where hshure in solid black lines in fig. 19 indicates that the entire hhs area is not overlapping with each other recessed recess 2176 of the rubber article 210 relative to the unaltered surface 2128 of fig. 19 and collectively defines a raised grid 2178)2176 extending between the recesses, opposing recesses 2176 defining protrusions 2130 therebetween. Accordingly, a2 × 2 sub pattern defining a digital code pattern the present invention discloses that a recess pattern 2522 defines first and second protrusions 2130 and 2130, the second protrusions 2130 intersecting the first protrusions 2130, as shown in fig. 19.

According to one embodiment, the first opposing wall portion 2180 of the first recessed portion 2124 defines a minimum width the opening of the first recess, also referred to as the width of the first recess. According to an embodiment, the first concave portion 2124 is a concave portion having a smallest width among concave portions of the concave portion pattern. The first opposing wall sections 2180 define a first intermediate plane 2182 therebetween.

According to another embodiment, the second opposing wall portions 2186 of the second recess 2126 define a minimum width 2145 of the opening 2147 of the second recess 2126, which is also referred to as the width of the second recess 212, the second recess 2126 being the recess with the largest width between the recesses of the recess pattern. The second opposing wall portions 2186 define a second intermediate plane 2188 therebetween. According to an embodiment, the (first or second) opposing wall portions are planar surfaces equally spaced from the opposing wall portions.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the first intermediate plane 2182 and the second intermediate plane 2188 forms an angle 2184 different from 90 degrees with the unaltered surface portion 212c, the pattern of recesses such that the first recesses and the second recesses are formed by selectively removing the rubber material with a radiation beam, such as a laser beam, according to one embodiment. According to an embodiment, a beam direction of the radiation beam positioned during forming of the second recess portion is in the intermediate plane, the direction and/or position of the radiation beam being changed during forming of the pattern of recesses. According to an embodiment, the deviation of the width 2141 of the first recesses 2124 is such that the adjustment of the position of the focus from the radiation beam during generation of the digital coding pattern results in second recess portions 2126, as shown in fig. 20, the width 2141 of the first recesses 2124 being substantially equal to the width 2145 of the second recesses 2126.

The deviation of the width 2145 of the first recess 2124 compared to the width 2141 of the first recess 2124 (by) without adjustment of the focus position (not shown in the figure) 20). According to one embodiment, at least in this case, the rayleigh length is greater than 1.5 millimeters, resulting in only a modest difference between the width 2141 of the first recess 2124 and the width 2145 of the second recess 2126.

According to one embodiment, the following formula holds:

d (z)/d0 < sqrt (1+ (z1.5 mm) × (z1.5 mm)) (i)

Wherein,

wherein d0 is the width 2141 of the first recess 2124,

the first depression portion 2124 is a depression portion having a smallest width among depression portions of the depression pattern; for example, according to an embodiment of the invention, the first recess has a recess generated by the radiation beam focused on the unaltered surface,

where d is the width 2145 of the second recess 2126,

the sqrt is a function of the square root,

z is a distance 2190 of the plane 2194 through the opening 2147 of the second recessed portion 2126 and perpendicular to the direction of the radiation beam (e.g., perpendicular to the second intermediate plane 228)2188) through the opening of the first recessed portion 2124 and perpendicular to the direction of the radiation beam (e.g., perpendicular to the first intermediate plane 2182)).

According to one embodiment the width of the opening is defined by the boundaries of the opening, i.e. in a plane defined by the unaltered surfaces surrounding the opening, as shown in fig. 20, according to another embodiment the width of the opening is defined in a direction perpendicular to the middle plane of the opening (not shown in fig. 20). The above formula is only strictly valid for the latter definition of the width of the opening, which corresponds to the width of the opening in the beam direction of the radiation beam. However, for a small deviation of the angle 2184 of the first recess from the angle 2184 of the second recess, it is considered effective that the width dimensions of the 1 st recess and the 2 nd recess are the same as the width dimension of the 2 nd recess of the 1 st recess (I) or may be an angle 2184 different from 90 degrees, in comparison with the width dimensions of the 1 st recess in fig. 20 of the first recess and the second recess.

Although some embodiments refer to black or white code modules and the like, it should be understood that each of these references is to be considered as implicitly disclosing only corresponding references to different types of modules. In particular, a black code module is a code module that includes a portion of a recessed pattern (e.g., a recessed portion) in the sense of the subject matter disclosed herein. Also, relative terms (vertical, horizontal, etc.)) refer to particular positions or orientations without limiting the disclosed subject matter to the exemplary embodiments described and illustrated in the figures, but are used to facilitate understanding of some embodiments. Furthermore, while some embodiments refer to a recessed portion, it should be understood that, according to embodiments, the recessed portion may be part of a common recess that also includes a second recessed portion or even more recessed portions. According to another embodiment, the recessed portion may be a recessed portion, according to one embodiment, the recess may comprise only a single recessed portion.

According to an embodiment, any suitable entities (e.g. components, units and devices)) disclosed herein are provided at least partly in the form of respective computer programs enabling a processor arrangement to provide the functionality of the respective entities disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, any suitable entity disclosed herein may be provided in hardware. According to other hybrid embodiments, some entities may be provided in software, while other entities are provided in hardware.

Fig. 21 shows a tire processing apparatus 3100 according to an embodiment of the invention.

According to an embodiment, the tire processing device 3100 includes a sensor device 3102 for determining a shape representation of a component 3146 of a surface 3104 of a tire 3106, a portion 3146 of the surface 3104 being defined by a sidewall 3144 and a flange 3124 of the tire. According to an embodiment, sensor device 3102 includes a light source (not shown) 21 for providing light sensed by off-axis sensor 3116 that produces light on tire 3106 sensed by off-axis sensor 3116, sensor device 3102 (also referred to as light sheet sensor 3102)) being a method capable of sensing the shape of the tire illumination surface. By rotating the sensor device 3102 about the sensor axis 3117, a desired portion 3146 of the surface 3104 may be scanned by the sensor device 3102 and a shape representation of the portion 3146 of the surface 3104 may be determined. According to one embodiment, the shape representation may be, for example, a digital representation of a shape (e.g., a spatial shape), and according to one embodiment, the shape representation is a height profile of the component 3146 of the surface 3104, e.g., a profile of the height of the component 3146 of the surface 3104 relative to a plane perpendicular to the tire axis 3120, e.g., a medial plane 3122 of the tire 3106, which extends through the center of gravity of the tire 3106.

According to another embodiment, the tire processing device 3100 comprises a laser processing device 3128 according to embodiments, the laser processing device 3128 comprising a laser device axis 3118 about which the laser processing device is rotatable and along which the laser processing device is movable 3118.

According to one embodiment, the tyre 3106 is located on a support 3108, e.g. a conveyor, which is provided for carrying and coarsely positioning the tyre 3106 in the transport direction 3110, e.g. with respect to the coarse positioning of the tyre 3106 with respect to the sensor axis 3117, according to which the tyre is located on the support 3108 with one of its side walls facing the support 3108, as shown in fig. 2, according to which a light barrier or light array 3129 (i.e. a set of light barriers defining a light array plane)) is used for determining (coarsely)) the position of the tyre 3106 in the transport direction 31101, the light array 3129 having the advantage of detecting the position of the tyre 3106 in two dimensions of the transport direction 3110. This may improve the accuracy of determining the rough location of the tire 3106, providing a further optical array 3131 for determining the (rough) height of the tire parallel to the tire axis 3120.

According to an embodiment, the sensor shaft 3117 is identical to the laser device axis 3118, i.e. the laser processing device 3128 and the sensor device 3102 are rotated around the same axis 3117, 3118, as shown in fig. 2, according to an embodiment during operation thereof (determining the shape representation)), the sensor device 3102 is located in a laser beam path 3130 of the laser processing device 3128, as shown in fig. 2, during operation thereof the sensor device 3102 according to an embodiment is under the same angle to the surface 310a for operation of the laser processing device (wherein the laser beam propagates along the laser beam path) 3146 of the surface 3104, for example for pivoting the sensor device 3102 into a non-operational position 3132) the sensor device 3102 is movable out of said laser beam path 3130, for example by pivoting the sensor device 3102 into the non-operational position 3132, the sensor device 3102 being shown in dashed lines in fig. 21.

According to an embodiment, tire processing device 3100 includes a shape representation of a geometric element (e.g., an edge in the shape representation corresponding to a flange 3124 of a tire) 3106 of a data processor device 3112 configured for identification. The geometric elements identified in the shape representation are referred to herein as true geometric elements (as they correspond to the actual shape of the elements of the actual tire). According to one embodiment, the data processor device 3112 comprises a memory 3126 for storing a representation of a shape of the part 3146 of the surface 3104 of the tire. According to another embodiment, the data processor arrangement 3112 comprises at least one processor 3127 for executing computer program elements defining at least one method according to the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the data processor device 3112 is communicatively connected with the laser processing device 3128 and the sensor device 3102, as indicated by line 3134 in fig. 21.

According to one embodiment, the data processor device 3112 is configured for determining the position of the component 3146 based on a deviation of the real geometric element from a reference geometric element, the surface 3104 of the tire 3106. According to one embodiment, the reference geometric element corresponds to a real geometric element, the non-deformed tyre being in a reference position.

According to one embodiment, the data processor device 3112 stores 3126) therein (e.g., in a memory) the reference geometric element (e.g., electronic data defining a location of the reference geometric element) the reference geometric element (e.g., relative to a reference location)).

Fig. 22 shows a front view of a portion of the tire processing device 3100 as seen from line ii-ii in fig. 21.

When the tire reaches its destination position (rough position)) in the conveying direction 3110, the clamping (or centering) element 3136 according to an embodiment moves towards the tire 3108 on the support 3108, the clamping element 3136 providing a rough positioning of the tire 3106 transverse to the conveying direction 3110 (e.g., by mechanically moving the tire 3106 on the support 3108). Furthermore, if a sufficient number of clamping elements 3136 are provided, as shown in fig. 22, they may further assist in the coarse positioning of the tire 3106 in the conveying direction 3110.

According to one embodiment, the tire includes a predetermined pattern 3138, such as a particular character, symbol or number (number 4 in fig. 22). According to another embodiment, the sensor device 3102 (not shown) 22 of fig. 21) for identifying a predetermined pattern 3138 on the tire 3106, according to another embodiment the data processor device 3112 (not shown) 22 is configured to determine, with respect to the tire axis 3118, the position of the portion 3146 of the surface 3104 of the tire 3106, including the angular position of the portion 3146, in particular, based on the predetermined pattern 3138, if the predetermined pattern 3138 is provided only once on the surface 3104 of the tire visible to the sensor device 3102, the predetermined pattern 3138 allows the angular position of the component 3146 of the surface 3104 to be determined over a 360 degree range.

According to one embodiment, the surface 3104 of the tire 3106 includes a treatment 3140, wherein the pattern 3142 (also referred to herein as the tire pattern 3142)), such as the digital code pattern shown in fig. 22, is provided 32) by a laser treatment device 3128 (see fig. 21 and 9) the laser treatment of the treatment 3140, and the portion 3146 (according to embodiments) of the tire surface 3104 includes the sidewall 3144 and the flange 31443124) includes the treatment 3140, and thus, in this case, the representation of the shape of the component 3146 of the surface 3104 and the representation of the shape of the treatment 3140 are obtained in a single operation of the sensor device 3102.

According to an embodiment, the reference geometric element is symmetrical with respect to the reference axis (its non-deformed tyre for the reference position, which extends perpendicular to the drawing plane of fig. 22, not shown, in correspondence of the tyre axis 3120), in particular rotationally symmetrical with respect to the reference axis. Under suitable conditions (e.g. if the shape representation comprises the whole (360 degrees)), the real geometric element may be used to define the center of the tire if the deformation of the tire is taken into account. In this case, determining the position of the surface of the part the tire is or includes determining the position of the center of the tire. According to one embodiment, the center of the tire substantially defines the position of the tire, for example, if the tire lies on a well-defined plane (e.g., support 3108).

According to one embodiment, the real geometric element is a line element (one-dimensional element)), such as a circle or a portion of a circle that may correspond to a tire edge.

Fig. 23 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a shape representation 3200 of a surface of a tire according to an embodiment of the invention. According to one embodiment, the shape representation 3200 is a height profile. According to one embodiment, shape representation 3200 includes a radially inner portion 3224 and a radially outer portion 3244 of the height profile of the tire surface. According to one embodiment, the radially inner portion 3224 corresponds to a flanged tire and the radially outer portion 3244 corresponds to a sidewall of the tire. Torque 3202 is symmetric 23 with respect to a tire axis (not shown in the figures) if the tire is not deformed and symmetric with respect to a reference axis when the tire is undeformed and in a reference position. Thus, according to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, the kink 3202 forms a true geometric element.

Fig. 24 schematically illustrates a plan view of a reference geometric element 3204, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Reference geometric element 3204 is associated 3302 with the true geometric element (kink) and for an undeformed tire, reference geometric element 3204 corresponds to kink 3202 of shape representation 3200 of fig. 23, reference geometric element 3204 being a full circle, as shown in fig. 24, according to an embodiment.

According to an embodiment, the data processing device 3112 (not shown in the figures) 24) may comprise a set of parameter values for the type of tyre to be processed, which specify the reference geometric elements. Thus, in the specific example of fig. 23 and 24, identifying a real geometric element (kink) 3202) the shape representation 3200 may be aided by the set of parameter values indicating that the data processing device is in a non-deformed state, the specific type of tire in the specific type of the tire processing device comprising the kink 320.

According to one embodiment, the shape representation is determined for the entire circumference (i.e., 360 °) of the tire. According to another embodiment, said real geometric elements extend over the entire circumference of said tyre (and are therefore circumferentially closed).

According to a further embodiment, the reference geometric element is a feature (e.g. a circle) of a single segment (e.g. a 60 degree segment or a 100 degree segment). According to another embodiment, the reference geometric element comprises two or more segments of a feature, such as a circle. In this regard, it is noted that it is generally specified herein that the reference geometric element (or true geometric element)) is symmetrical with respect to the axis (reference axis)) does not necessarily require that the reference geometric element (or true geometric element) extends over the entire circumference around the axis. Briefly, considering a circle segment extending over 360 degrees in the sense of the subject matter disclosed herein, in the case of less than 360 degrees, is characterized by: which is rotationally symmetrical with respect to the center of the circle or an axis extending through the center and perpendicular to the plane of the circle.

For example, according to an embodiment, only a portion of the shape representation 3200 of fig. 23 (e.g. a portion of the shape representation corresponding to the at least one segment)) is shown for identifying real geometric elements, resulting in real geometric elements corresponding to at least one segment of a circle. According to another embodiment, the shape representation is determined only for one or more sections of the tire (e.g., by scanning only one or more segments of the tire to determine the shape representation). Determining a shape representation for only at least one segment of the tire (rather than the entire circumference of the tire)) saves scan time, memory and computational requirements. According to one embodiment, the reference geometric element extends beyond the shape representation in the circumferential direction by a segment extending, according to another embodiment, by a segment extending beyond the real geometric element.

Fig. 25 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a shape representation 3300 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the shape representation 3300 of fig. 25 is a height profile of the respective component 3146 of the tire. According to one embodiment, the shape representation 3300 includes at least one protrusion 3302, the protrusion 3302 extending over a segment (or, in another embodiment, the entire circumference) that is rotationally symmetric with respect to the tire axis. According to one embodiment, the at least one protrusion 3302 is identified as a true geometric element.

Fig. 26 shows a reference geometric element 3304 corresponding to the protrusion 3302 identified in the shape representation 3300 of fig. 25, assuming that the tire and the shape representation 3300 include two protrusions 3302, which protrusions 3302 are rotationally symmetric and extend on two opposite portions of the tire. Thus, the reference geometric element 3304 comprises two segments 3306 associated with the respective real geometric element (protrusion 3302). It should be noted that one segment 3306 may be sufficient to determine the location of the portion of the tire whose shape represents. However, two or more segments 3306 spaced apart in the circumferential direction may provide greater accuracy for determining the location of the portion of the surface and/or the treatment portion and/or the location of the center of the circle, particularly if the real geometric element 3302 is noisy (i.e., determined with a low signal-to-noise ratio), i.e., the data points of the real geometric element 3302 do not lie on a circle.

If the reference geometric element 3204, 3304 is a full circle or at least a segment of a circle, the circular formula (x-x0) 2+2 ═ r2) may be fitted (e.g., by a least squares method) to the associated real geometric element 3202, 3302, providing the coordinates (x0, y0) of the center of the circle corresponding to the tire center. According to one embodiment, the tire axis 3120 extends through the center circle of the model perpendicular to the plane defined by the support 3108 (see fig. 21). Notably, if so, the same minimum two-multiplication reference geometric element may be applied to be a full circle in the figure (see geometric element 3204)24) or, if the reference geometric element includes one or more different segments (e.g., two 60 degree segments)), such as the reference geometric element 3304 shown in fig. 26.

Although the calculation of the position of the tire with the least squares method is simple to determine, and by using the circular equations described above, according to another embodiment, the geometric elements used to determine the tire position may be more complex (e.g., may be two-dimensional and/or may include the shape of the component 3146 of the tire surface 3104)) and may include more complex and more accurate determination of the position of the tire surface position, for example, by using the mapping and/or filtering techniques described below. For the purpose of identifying rotationally symmetric geometric elements in shape representation pattern recognition techniques known in the art, no further details are provided in this respect for this reason.

According to one embodiment, the reference geometric element is a two-dimensional element, the ring has a certain width in the radial direction, the ring is rotationally symmetric with respect to the reference axis, or a section of the ring. For example, according to an embodiment, a ring/ring segment may correspond to a portion of a tire in which a graphic element (e.g., text) is provided with a pattern or symbol on the tire. The graphical elements may be provided in any suitable form, such as protrusions, indentations or contrasting colors. It will be appreciated that the shape representation (e.g. height profile or figure)) must be adapted to the properties of the graphical element in order to allow the graphical element to be identified in the shape representation.

Figure 27 illustrates a shape representation 3400 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the shape representation 3400 is such that the image of the tire shows a graphical element in the form of a text 3402, the text 3402 being arranged in a rotationally symmetric ring segment, as shown in fig. 27, the envelope of the text 3402 defining the rotationally symmetric ring segment being characterized by: is about the tire axis and can be used as a true geometric element in the sense of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the envelope (e.g., text 2)3402) for a graphical element is found in the shape representation by matching (e.g., fitting) circle segments of the graphical element. According to one embodiment, the envelope of the graphical element 3402 in the shape representation is identified as a real geometric element. According to another embodiment, the graphical element 3402 itself is identified as a real geometric element in the shape representation.

According to another embodiment, the shape representation 3400 includes an inner boundary 3406 (defining an inner diameter of the tire)) and/or an outer boundary 3408 (defining an outer diameter of the tire). According to one embodiment, the inner boundary 3406 and/or the outer boundary 3408 may be fully or partially identified as true geometric elements in the sensing of the subject matter disclosed herein.

Figure 28 illustrates a reference geometric element 3404 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the reference geometric element 3404 is rotated by symmetry 28 about a reference axis (shown as 3220 in the figure) and associated 3402) with the envelope (text 2) of the graphical element, which represents an embodiment of the real geometric element in 3400 according to the shape identified as fig. 27.

Fig. 29 to 31 schematically illustrate a method of determining a position of a portion of a tyre according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 29 shows an exemplary spatial arrangement of the real geometric elements 3202 of fig. 23 and the reference geometric elements 3204 of fig. 24 according to an embodiment, the reference geometric elements 3204 being symmetric with respect to a reference axis 3220 (the reference axis defining at least the spatial component of the reference position) delimiting a reference position 3221 of the tire, wherein the reference position may define an angular component of the reference position according to an embodiment. The real geometric elements 3202 identified in the shape representation 3200 of fig. 23 are further illustrated in fig. 29.

If the tire is not deformed and is in the reference position (shown at 3221 in the figure) 29), the true geometry 3202 will correspond (should be the same) as the reference geometry 3204 and the tire axis 3120 corresponds to the reference axis (represented by 3220 in fig. 29). However, typically, the tire and the actual geometric element 3202 are moved from the reference position 3220 to the true position 3523 by the vector x, and therefore, the tire axis 3120 is moved from the reference axis 3220 by the vector x, as shown in fig. 29, there is a deviation 3280 in position between the true geometric element 3202 and the reference geometric element 3204, wherein the deviation 3280 varies in the circumferential direction 3482 (i.e., according to the angular position of the deviation as actually determined). According to one embodiment, vector x comprises an angular displacement of tire axis 3120 from reference axis 3220.

Fig. 30 shows the amplitude d of the deviation 3280 in the circumferential direction at the angular position w, because the starting point (which may be arbitrarily chosen, e.g. angle 0 degrees) ends (corresponding to the starting point +360 °)), there is one real geometric element along the entire circumference of the tire over the entire circumference of the tire, the deviation 3280 is in the nature of harmonic vibrations, as shown in fig. 30, the deviation 3280 (which implements the method according to an embodiment of the invention) is provided due to noise in the processing chain) the deviation 3280 typically contains some noise. After appropriate filtering (e.g., by using some type of fourier transform), as described below with respect to figure 31), the noise may be removed or at least reduced, providing a filtered deviation 3281 as shown in figure 30.

Fig. 31 shows a spectrum 3285 of the deviation 3280 in fourier space, i.e. the corresponding amplitude a on the magnitude order of the harmonic f. Frequency spectrum 3285 can be a discrete frequency spectrum as shown in fig. 31 or a continuous frequency spectrum (not shown). According to one embodiment, spectrum 3285 includes a fundamental component 3286 and higher harmonics 3288, which may occur, for example, due to deformation of the tire (resulting in a corresponding change in the position of surface component 3146) and/or due to noise that may occur during determination of the shape representation, identification of true geometric elements, etc., by applying a suitable filter function, which eliminates higher harmonics, such as low pass filter functions, which eliminate second order or higher harmonics, from spectrum 3285. According to another embodiment, the filter function eliminates harmonics of the third order or higher. The filtered spectrum can thus be reconverted to real space (shown in figure) 30) to provide a smooth, filtered bias, as shown at 3281 in figure 30.

The location of the tire surface can then be determined from the filtered deviation 3281 using the filtered deviation 3281. For example, the filtered deviation may be used to determine a vector x shown in fig. 29 that corresponds to the displacement of the tire relative to a reference position, particularly in the absence (or with little) deformation of the tire.

According to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, deformation of the tire results in further deviation of the position between the real geometric element 3202 and the reference geometric element 320, for a deformed tire a single vector x may not be sufficient to describe the deviation of the real geometric element 3202 from the reference geometric element 320, one such complication is to consider multiple small segments (or multiple small segments)), and determine multiple vectors describing the deviation (displacement) of each segment (or portion) from a set of real geometric elements 3202 of the associated segment of the reference geometric element 320, the set of vectors subsequently describing the deviation of the real geometric element 3202 and the reference geometric element 3204 from each other. Within the range, the set of vectors defines the position of the real geometric element 3202 and, therefore, the position of the part 3146 of the surface. In this sense, it is clear that the larger real geometric elements 3202 provide a more precise location of the component 3146 of the surface. In particular, if the surface portion 3146 includes the treatment portion (or, if a shape representation of the treatment portion is determined)), the position of the treatment portion may be accurately determined, e.g., similar to the method for determining the position of the surface portion described above.

Fig. 32 shows the tire processing device 31003102 of fig. 21 with a sensor device in a non-operative position 3132, allowing a laser beam to propagate along the laser beam path 3130 to reach the tire 3106, some details of the tire processing device 3100 being omitted for ease of illustration, as compared to fig. 21 in fig. 22.

According to one embodiment, the position of the component 3146 of the surface 3104, in particular the lateral position and/or the angular position of said portion of said surface), and optionally the data processor device 3112 uses the representation of the shape of said component 3146 and/or the representation of the shape of said treatment portion 3140 to position said laser beam path 3130 (see fig. 3)21) the portion 3146 of the surface 3104 of said tire 3106 relative to each other, for example by rotating the laser treatment device 3128 about the laser device axis 3118, thereby angularly positioning the tire 3106 and the laser beam path 3130 relative to each other. To this end, the tire processing device 3100 comprises a first actuator 3148 which is correspondingly activatable by the data processor device 3112 to rotate the laser processing device 3128 about the laser device axis 3118, in an embodiment the angular position of the laser beam path 3130 relative to the tire 3106 is adjusted by the first actuator 3148 under the control of the data processor device 3112 and on the basis of the position of the component 3146 of the surface 3104.

According to another embodiment, the tire handling device 3100 comprises a second actuator 3150 for positioning the laser beam path 3130 characterized by: the focal position of component 3146 relative to surface 3104 (e.g., according to the lateral position of tire 3106). According to one embodiment, the second actuator 3150 is part of the laser treatment device 3128, as shown in fig. 32, the second actuator 3150 operates the optical system of the laser treatment device to change the focal position of the laser beam path 3130 along the laser beam path 3130, e.g., to position the focal point of the laser beam path on the surface of the tire in the treatment portion 3140 based on the shape representation of the treatment portion 3140 and/or the shape representation of the component 3146 of the surface 3104.

The first and second actuators 3148, 3150 may be used for proper operation of the tire handling device 3100, and further actuators may be provided to further improve the positioning of the laser beam path 3130 and the tire 3108 relative to each other. Thus, according to embodiments, such improved positioning may result in improved accuracy of the laser treatment of the tire 3106, and the additional actuator may also be provided for spatially positioning the laser beam path 3130 and the tire 3106 relative to one another, e.g., changing the spatial position of the laser device axis 3118, e.g., moving the orientation of the laser device axis 3118) in the medial plane 3122 (i.e., lateral) to change the orientation of the laser device axis 3118 relative to the tire axis 3120; the laser processing device pivots 32) about a pivot axis (e.g., perpendicular to the drawing plane of the figure) perpendicular to the laser device axis 3118) to vary the distance between the laser device axis 3118 of the laser processing device 3128 and the beam output 3152, the beam output 3152 determining the start of the laser beam path 3130; et cetera according to one embodiment, a further actuator and first actuator 3148 are provided by the actuator arrangement, noting that by varying the distance between the laser device axis 3118 and the beam output 3152, the angle 3157 formed by the laser beam path 3130 with the treatment portion 3140 may be varied while maintaining the end of the laser beam path 3130 on the tire surface 3104. The communicative coupling, 3154, data processor device 3112 of actuators 3148, 3150 is shown at 3134 in fig. 32, it being understood that communicative coupling 3134 may be implemented in any suitable manner, e.g., wired or wireless, so long as the communicative coupling allows operation of tire processing device 3100 and the various components in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

According to one embodiment, the laser beam path 3130 forms an angle 3157 with the processing portion 3140 that is an acute angle of less than 80 degrees, as shown in fig. 32, and the angle 157 is 90 degrees or at least close to 90 degrees, such as between 88 and 90 degrees. According to one embodiment, the laser beam path remains parallel to the tire axis 3120.

According to one embodiment, the location of the component 3146 of the surface 3104 (e.g., in an embodiment) the location of the tire center), according to another embodiment, when adjusting the angular position of the laser beam path 31300, the position of the focal point of the laser beam path 3130 (particularly the location of the processing portion 3140) is adjusted by the data processor device 3112 by taking into account the shape representation of the processing portion 3140, and optionally the location of the component 3146 of the surface 3104. According to one embodiment, the shape of treatment portion 3140 is represented as treatment portion 3140, which describes height variations on treatment portion 3140 according to one embodiment, the height profile of treatment portion 3140 providing relative height information. According to another embodiment, the height profile of the treatment portion provides absolute height information with respect to the midplane 3122, at the surface of the support, or with respect to a fixed spatial position of the actuator device 3154, or with respect to a reference position 3221 (see fig. 29)).

The positioning of component 3146 of surface 3104 is described above, according to one embodiment; in this case, the laser beam paths 3130 are performed once with respect to each other on the processing portions 3140, the described laser beam path 3130 may be an initial laser beam path where the processing of the processing portion begins, or may be a central laser beam path that ends at the center of the processing portion, in some examples only. In another embodiment, the above-described positioning of the tire 3106 and the laser beam path 3130 relative to each other is performed several times of the treatment portion 3140 in the course of treating the treatment portion 3140 of the laser beam from the laser treatment device 3128.

According to one embodiment, the treatment portion 3140 is performed with laser beam treatment to create a pattern (tire pattern 3)) in the treatment portion that corresponds to a desired pattern. Fig. 33 illustrates an example of a desired pattern 3156 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the desired pattern 3156 is an optically readable digital code, 3160, having a plurality of code modules 3158, which have different optical reflectivities and are therefore optically distinguishable. In particular, according to an embodiment, the desired pattern is a rectangular data matrix second matrix axis 3162 defining first matrix axes 3161 and a, each code module of the data matrix having equal dimensions along first matrix axis 3161 and second matrix axis 3162, as shown in figure 33, according to one embodiment, the desired pattern has two different types of code modules, light modules 3158 and dark modules 3160, the light modules 3158 corresponding to the unaltered surface of the tire 3106, and the dark module 3160 is configured (patterned)) by processing the laser beam of the laser processing device 312, moving the laser beam on the processing portion 3114 using a dedicated portion of the optical system of the laser processing device 3128 to produce the dark module 3160, e.g., a galvanometer scanner), and/or by appropriately controlling actuators (or actuator devices)) 3148, 3150, 3154, for adjusting the tire 3106 and laser beam path 3130.

As already described with respect to fig. 32, according to one embodiment, the laser beam path 3130 forms an angle 3157 with the processing portion 3140 in order to produce the desired pattern 3156 in the processing portion 3140 (and in particular to maintain an equal size of the code module along the first and second substrate axes 3161, 3161) 3162 according to an embodiment, a transfer pattern definition is generated based on a tire pattern definition, which defines the desired pattern 3156, defined by the transfer pattern definition, corresponding to a projection of the desired pattern 3156 in the processing portion 3140 onto a virtual plane 3166 perpendicular to the laser beam path. In fig. 34, the line 3168 is parallel to the direction of the laser beam path and indicates the direction of the laser beam path, and in fig. 34, it is assumed that the desired pattern 3156 is in the plane of the processing portion 3140. note that in fig. 34, the desired pattern 3156 and the transfer pattern 3164 are drawn at a thickness to facilitate describing the light-dark module 3158, however, it should be understood that the transfer pattern 3164 and the desired pattern 3156 in fig. 34 extend perpendicular to the drawing plane. It is noted that, generally, the processing portion 3140 is not flat, and in this case, curvature (shape representation)), the processing portion 3140 may be used to generate the transfer pattern 3164.

Fig. 35 shows a portion of a tire 3106 according to an embodiment of the invention. The tire 3106 comprising a pattern 3142 (also referred to as tire pattern 3142)) is generated by the laser beam of the laser processing device 3128 of fig. 32, the tire 3106 comprising a surface 3172 surrounding the tire pattern 3142, during the generation of said tire pattern 3142 said laser beam path 3130 forming an angle 33 of 90 degrees with said surrounding surface 3172 compared to the desired pattern 3156) the deformation (142) of the tire pattern is at least partially prevented by processing said treatment portion by a laser beam, e.g. according to an embodiment according to a transfer pattern definition described in relation to fig. 34, generating and processing the treatment portion 3140, the treatment portion 3140 being processed according to a transfer pattern definition, wherein said transfer pattern definition defines a transfer pattern 3164 corresponding to the projection of the desired pattern 3156 in said treatment portion 3140 onto a virtual plane perpendicular to said laser beam path 3130 according to a transfer pattern definition (140) processed according to suitable embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein 3166 (see fig. 34)).

In using the laser beam to process the processing portion 3140, the laser beam path forms an angle of 90 degrees with the surrounding surface 3172, the pattern 3142 includes a plurality of inclined grooves 3173, 3174, and in one embodiment, the plurality of inclined grooves 3173, 3174 have two wall portions, a first wall portion 3175 and a second wall portion 3176 (opposite to the first wall portion 3174) 3175) characterized by: . According to an embodiment, the first wall portion 3175 and the second wall portion 3176 define a middle line 3133 (e.g. a housing of the recess 3174) 3173 therebetween, the middle line 3133 being equally spaced from the wall portion 3175, 3176, according to an embodiment, in a plane perpendicular to the middle line 3133, the first wall portion 3175 forming a notch (denoted 3177) for the notch 3174) with respect to the surrounding surface 3172, the middle line 3133 corresponding to a center of the laser beam (not shown in fig. 35). Thus, the midline also corresponds to the treatment direction, i.e., the direction in which the polymeric material of the tire 3106 is treated with the laser beam. Thus, the middle line 3133 forms an angle 3178 with the surrounding surface 3172 that is different from 90 degrees.

While midline 3133 is well defined as a recess (recess 36)3173 for rotational symmetry) elongate groove 3174 generally defines a bisecting plane 3179 (as is the case with notch 3174). In the cross-sectional view shown in fig. 35, the bisecting plane 3179 appears as a straight line. However, a bisecting plane 3179 extends perpendicular to the plane of the drawing of fig. 35, the bisecting plane 3179 forming an angle 3181 with respect to the surrounding surface 3171 according to an embodiment, the bisecting plane being mounted on the two opposing wall portions 3175, 3176 by a well-known fitting algorithm.

With respect to fig. 33, it is noted that, according to an embodiment, each dark module 3160 includes at least one recess, such as a rotationally symmetric recess 3173 and/or an elongated recess 3174, the rotationally symmetric recess 3173 may result from the generation of the recess 3174 by a spatially motionless laser beam, the elongated recess 3174 may result from the laser beam being spatially moved during the generation of the recess 3174, according to an embodiment, the laser beam path 3130 is a line perpendicular to the bisecting plane 3179 and to another plane. According to this embodiment, the other plane is perpendicular to the bisecting plane 3179 and includes the tire axis (not shown in fig. 35). In fig. 35, the further plane is a drawing plane and is therefore not shown in fig. 35.

With respect to the subject matter disclosed herein, it should be mentioned that a tire processing device in general, and a data processor device thereof in particular, may be configured to implement any of the methods disclosed herein.

Further, it should be noted that, according to embodiments, a separate entity (e.g., software module 126), may provide a hardware module or a hybrid module for each of the functions disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, an entity (e.g., software module 126), a hardware module, or a hybrid module (a combined software/hardware module)) configured to provide two or more functions as disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, two or more entities (e.g., portion 4), portions, surfaces, components, units, structures or devices) are configured to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

According to an embodiment, any suitable entities (e.g. components, units and devices)) are provided at least partly in the form of respective computer programs that cause at least one processor (e.g. data processor means 12)) to provide the functionality of the respective entities as disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, any suitable entity disclosed herein may be provided in hardware. According to other hybrid embodiments, some entities may be provided in software, while other entities are provided in hardware.

It should be noted that any entities (e.g., components, units and devices)) disclosed herein are not limited to the specific entities described in some embodiments. Rather, the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented and used in various ways with various granularity at the device level or at the software module level while still providing the specified functionality.

Fig. 36 shows a tire marking apparatus 4100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to one embodiment, the tire marking device 4100 is configured for synchronizing a first representation of the information block, a second representation of the information block such that the first representation and the second representation represent the same information block.

To this end, the tyre marking apparatus comprises an encoder 4102 having an input 4104 for receiving said information block 4106, said information block 4106 being provided to said input 4104 in any suitable form, such as an electrical signal 4107, for example an analog electrical signal or a digital electrical signal. In this case, shown in fig. 36 is a rectangular box on an electrical signal 4107, the electrical signal 4107 carrying a piece of information 4106.

According to one embodiment, the encoder 4102 is configured for receiving and providing, in response to a first representation 4108 of an information block according to an embodiment, the first representation 4108 being a qr code or any other 2d digital matrix code, including (i.e.,) according to one embodiment, the encoder 4102 is communicatively coupled, such as by exchanging an electrical signal 4110 in fig. 36, associated with the writer device 4112 of the tire marking device 4100 to provide a piece of the first representation 4108 of the information 4106 to the writer device 412, the communicative coupling may be established by an electrical signal (e.g., an electrical signal transmitted by a wire or wirelessly), optically, etc., to further exchange or provide the electrical signal, as disclosed herein, generally referred to as communicative coupling, and may generally be replaced by any other device that is communicatively coupled.

According to one embodiment, the writer device 4112 is a laser device for laser marking of a tire 4114.

According to one embodiment, the writer device is configured for transmitting 4108 a first representation of the information block, e.g. a qr code, to a tyre 4114, e.g. by a laser beam, shown at 4116 in fig. 36), the laser device being controlled to deliver the desired pattern (e.g. the first representation) to the tyre as known in the art (e.g. in the patent application cited herein) and therefore not described in detail in this application.

According to one embodiment, the tire marking device 4100 may comprise a reader device 4118 (e.g., a patch of a light sensor, camera, etc.) for reading the second representation 4120 of the information 4106 from the tire 4114 and providing, in response thereto, the information 4106, e.g., in the form of an electrical signal 410 according to another embodiment, whereby the information block 4106 obtained by the reader device 4118 is provided to an input 4104 of the tire marking device, more particularly to the input 4104 of the encoder 410 as described in relation to fig. 36.

According to one embodiment, the reader device 4118 may include optical character recognition (ocr) capabilities, such as ocr entities. According to another embodiment, the reader device 4118 may comprise a picture comparison capability, such as a picture comparison entity. According to one embodiment, the picture comparison includes comparing a picture 4118 taken by the reader device with a reference image, such as a contrast comparison, a deep neural network, etc., and the reader device may generate a probability for a particular piece of information (e.g., dot cycle code). According to another embodiment, determining the information block 4106 from two or more possible information blocks comprises selecting a piece of information 4106 from the two or more possible information blocks by taking into account boundary conditions. For example, in the case of dot week code, the boundary condition may be that the piece of information is the previous week or a subsequent week after the previous week. Thus, having a boundary condition (e.g., information may be one of two optional dot-cycle codes) helps determine the information block and/or increases the likelihood of correctness of the determined information block.

According to an embodiment, the tire marking device 4100 comprises a positioning device 4121 such that the tire 4114 and the writer device 4112 are positioned relative to each other. The positioning device 4121 may be of a known type. For example, the positioning device 4121 may comprise a transportation device, such as a conveyor, for transporting the tire 4114 into a marking position 4122, in which marking position 4122 the tire 4114 may be processed by the writer device 4112 to transfer the first representation 4108 of the segment of information 4106 to the tire 4114, the positioning device 4121 (e.g., the transportation device 4121) and/or an actuator for positioning relative to a portion of the tire surface and the laser beam path of the laser device (laser processing device)) as in european patent application no. 1613235, respectively. 3 (attorney docket j.1142) or european patent application No.18, 739. 7-1706 (attorney docket j.1128), the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

The encoder 4102 may be part of the controller 4123 of the tire marking apparatus. According to one embodiment, the controller 4123 controls one or more entities of the tire marking device 4100, such as the reader device 4118, the writer device 4112, the positioning device 4121, the encoder 4102, and the like.

Fig. 37 illustrates another tire marking device 4200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment, the second representation 4120 of the information block, according to an embodiment, is provided by said tyre marking apparatus to said tyre 4114, the tyre marking apparatus 4200 comprising an encoder 4102, and further comprising a further encoder 4124 according to an embodiment, the encoder 4124 being configured for receiving the information block 4106 at its input 4104 and, in response to providing a response to the first representation 4108 of the information 4106 at its output 4127. According to another embodiment, a further encoder 4124 is arranged for receiving a piece of information 4106 at an input 4126 and providing, in response thereto, a second representation 4120 at an output 4129 thereof. For example, according to one embodiment, a second representation 4120 may be provided the present invention discloses that a further encoder 4124 is provided in the form of a respective electrical number 4128.

As described with respect to fig. 36, according to an embodiment, the encoder 4102 is communicatively coupled with a writer device 4112, the writer device 4112 being configured to transmit the received first representation 4120 to a tire 4114, for example by a laser beam 4116.

According to another embodiment, the further encoder 4124 is communicatively coupled with a writer device 4112, the writer device 4112 being configured to transmit the received second representation 4120 to the tire 4114, for example by means of a laser beam 4116.

According to one embodiment, particularly when a single writer device 4112 is provided, the first representation 4108 of the information 4106 and subsequently the piece of information 4106 is transmitted to the tire 4114, i.e., after another, the piece of information 4106 is transmitted to the tire 4114. After transmitting one of the first and second representations, according to another embodiment, the repositioning of the writer device 4112 and the tire 4114 relative to each other may be effected by the controller 4123, e.g., the first and second representations 4108, 4106 of a further writer device (not shown in fig. 4) 37 may be simultaneously transmitted to the tire 4114 if the writer device 4112 is configured accordingly.

According to an embodiment, tire marking device 4200 includes a controller 4123 for controlling the operation of tire marking device 4200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to one embodiment, the controller 4123 comprises a processor device 4130 configured to execute one or more program modules, e.g., program elements according to an embodiment of the invention. According to one embodiment, one or more entities of the tyre marking device are implemented in software, for example in the form of respective program entities. For example, the encoder 4102 and further encoder 4124 may be provided in the form of respective program entities 4130 executing on a processor device, thereby providing the functionality of the further encoder 4124 and one or more embodiments of the encoder 4102 described herein.

According to one embodiment, the input 4104 of the encoder 4102 (and optionally the input 4126 of the further encoder 4102) 4124) is referred to as an input of the controller 412, and according to another embodiment, the output 4127 of the encoder 4102 (and optionally the output 4129 of the further encoder 4124 is referred to as an output of the controller 4123.

Fig. 38 shows a tire 4114 according to an embodiment of the invention.

According to one embodiment, the tire 4114 includes a first representation 4108 of a piece of information and a second representation 4120 of a piece of information. Thus, the tire redundantly provides the information patch. One skilled in the art will recognize upon studying the present application that providing the first representation 4108 and the second representation 4120 in a synchronized manner, i.e. said first representation and said second representation are different representations of the same information block, provides for an efficient use of one piece of information provided by the tire.

According to an embodiment, the first representation is the first representation and the second representation is a further representation of the information block. According to a further embodiment, the first representation is different from the second representation.

According to one embodiment, the information block is a dot code or a portion of a dot code, for example, a portion of a dot code identifying the week of manufacture of tire 4114.

For example, according to the legal provisions of the present invention, the dot code consists of four symbol groups:

1, the first two symbols, the plant code identifying the tire manufacturer's factory (pp in 4120 of FIG. 38)

2 lower two symbols identifying the size of the tire of FIG. 38)

3 thereafter following an optional manufacturer-specific code, type code (tttt)4120 of FIG. 38)

The last four digits of 4 define the manufacturing age of the tire. The first two digits, week code (w)38) in the figure), defining the calendar week, wherein the first calendar week is the week the first calendar falls into. The third and fourth bits (4120 of fig. 38), if any, define the year of manufacture.

For example, dot codes according to embodiments, particularly a portion of the dot code that identifies the week of manufacture, are molded into the tire during manufacture. Thus, the tire is actually provided to the tire for a period of time in the dot code at about the time of change of the impression for identifying the week of manufacture, the tire having difficulty determining at least one piece of information (i.e., the dot week code in one example) in a later stage of the tire having the first representation (e.g., the digital representation), at least in mass production. Even in this case, the subject matter disclosed herein provides suitable solutions, for example, by reading a second representation of the dot weekly code molded into the tire and using the dot weekly code read from the tire to generate (encode 2)) a first representation of the third party's code, the third party representing the first representation of the third party's code, the third party.

It should be understood that instead of a dot-day code, the entire dot code or any other information is provided on the tire and can be read from the tire and used to generate a first representation of the same information, and this first representation is transferred to the tire by laser engraving.

According to another aspect provided herein, and according to various embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, any information that can be provided on a tire in a human readable form, according to one embodiment, is provided on the tire in the human readable form (second representation) and the second representation and the first representation on the tire are engraved by laser, in a digital form (first representation), to provide synchronized first representation and second representation of the respective pieces of information on the tire.

Fig. 39 schematically illustrates a device 5100 according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the device 5100 has a transporter 5102 upon which a tire 5104 may be positioned. According to one embodiment, the rough positioning of the tyre by the conveyor 5102 is optionally not represented by 39 by a known centering device (not shown in fig. 1) on the transfer apparatus 510, a transfer apparatus and a centering apparatus are described in european patent application No. 16, 235, 5 (attorney docket ref) of the present applicant. j. )1142) and published european patent application ep3147114 (attorney docket j) 1128). In particular, the contents of these two applications, the apparatus and methods for transporting and positioning the tires described in these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

According to an embodiment, the device 5100 has a first receiving means 5106, e.g., a photo-cutting sensor, representing 5116, e.g., a height profile, formed by at least a portion of the sidewall 5110 of the tire 510 by a laser beam, represented at 5108, the device 5100 having a control means 5112 including a processor means 5114 designed to execute a program element to implement embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein.

In fig. 39, the representation 5116 is schematically represented by information elements which are transferred from the first logging device 5106 to the controlling device 5112 via a data transfer connection 5118, the device 5100 comprising a second logging apparatus 5120 for creating a second representation 5122, which is schematically represented in fig. 39 by information elements which are transferred from the second logging device 5120 to the controlling device 5112 via a data transfer connection 5118.

According to one embodiment, the second recording device 5120 is a separate entity, different from the first receiving device 5106, according to another embodiment, the first receiving device 5106 and the second recording device 5120 are formed of a single entity, according to one embodiment, having a single sensor. The second receiving device 5120 has a detection area 5124 according to one embodiment, and an illumination device (not shown in fig. 1) is provided on the first receiving device 5106 and/or the second receiving device 5120 for illuminating the tire 5104 (e.g., a dome light, a circular shape, a planar light for uniform illumination of the tire).

According to one embodiment, the device 5100 further includes a marking device 5126, such as a laser device, designed to produce a mark on the sidewall 5110 of the tire 5104 by a tool, such as a laser beam 5126, the marking device 5126 being connected to the control device 5112 by a data transfer connection 5118, the device 5100 further including a positioning device 5130 for positioning the marking device 5126 and the tire 5104 relative to each other. According to one embodiment, the positioning means is arranged to position the laser beam 5128 onto the final mark point 5148 in response to a control signal from the control means 5112, thereby generating a mark in the final mark point 5148 according to one embodiment, the positioning means 5130 being connected to the control means 5112 via a data transmission connection 5118.

In general, the data transfer connection 5118 may be unidirectional or bidirectional, depending on the requirements and actual implementation of the device 51005.

Fig. 40 shows a tire 5104 according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein. In addition, the present invention provides for a more detailed explanation of the apparatus and method according to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter on the tire 5104 in fig. 40.

According to one embodiment, a first potential marker 5142 and a second potential marker 5144 are defined on the tire 5104, with the potential markers 5142, 5144 being schematically represented in fig. 40 by two dashed lines. According to one embodiment, the potential marker points may have a degree which corresponds to the outer boundary line of the marker to be arranged in the relevant potential marker point. According to another embodiment, the potential marking points may be point-shaped, wherein according to another embodiment the actual size of the marking, which is provided on the potential marking points, may be taken into account.

According to one embodiment, the tire has a predetermined first characteristic 5143, e.g., the beginning of the word "zero". According to another embodiment, the tire has a predetermined second feature 5145, according to one embodiment, at one end of the dot code 5147 in the circumferential direction 5149, the first potential marker point 5142 is defined by a first criterion, e.g., a first position indication relative to the first feature 5143, which may according to one embodiment define (a) an angular position starting from the predetermined first feature 5143, rotated by an angle 5150 relative to the clockwise direction; (B) radial distance 5152 extends from the axis of rotation 5154 of tire 510.

According to another embodiment, the second potential marker point is defined by a second criterion, e.g., a second position indication relative to the second feature 5145, which may be defined according to an embodiment similar to the first position indication by a rotation angle (e.g., clockwise)) starting from the predetermined second feature 5145 and starting from the rotation axis 5154 at a radial distance.

According to one embodiment, at least one second potential marker 5144 of the first and second potential markers 5142 and 5142 of potentials is defined as the final marker based on the selection criteria. According to one embodiment, the selection criteria is the absence of third feature 5146, e.g., the absence of a balance point. In other words, according to one embodiment, the potential marker point is selected as the final marker point without the third feature. In the example shown in fig. 40, this is the second potential marker 5144 according to one embodiment, and the second potential marker 5144 is selected as the final marker 5148.

Fig. 41 shows the tire 5104 from fig. 40 and a mark 51556 created in determining a marker point 5148, a third feature 5146, such as a balance point, is free of the mark 5156 such that the mark 5156 can be reliably read, particularly machine readable, in accordance with embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein.

It should be understood that the method used to create the marker 5156 in the tire 5104 may not be able to directly see the definition of two or more potential marker points 5142, 5144. Furthermore, multiple possibilities for defining potential marker points 5142, 5144 are possible for a particular tire type. For example, the predetermined first feature may be defined differently, e.g. the position of the letter t in the word "0", which also requires a changed first criterion in order to define (the same)) the first marked point being determined by the predetermined first feature and the first criterion.

However, in the case of a tire produced by a device according to embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, the method, features, if two or more tires are considered, can be seen indirectly as implemented in the device or method. This aspect of the subject matter disclosed herein is described below with reference to fig. 42 and 43.

Fig. 42 illustrates a pair of tires 5160 according to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, the pair of tires 5160 has two tires 5104, a first tire 5104-1 and a second tire 5104-2, each of the tires 5104 having the same set of securing features, relative positions with respect to each other (and optionally with respect to their configuration (e.g., shape, size)), each of the tires 5104 being identical. According to one embodiment, the fixed features include one or more symbol sets (according to currently applicable legal provisions) of dot code 5162 according to one embodiment, dot code 5162 (147) includes the following four symbol sets:

1 first two symbols, dot plant code, identifies the manufacturer's factory, in fig. 42, the tire has been produced (page 5162)).

The next two symbols 2 identify the size of the tire in fig. 42 (s 5162)).

This is followed by an optional manufacturer specific code, type code (tttt in 5162 in fig. 4)).

4 last four points define the date of manufacture of the tyre. The first two points, a week code (ww 5162 in fig. 5) 42), defining the calendar week, wherein the first calendar week is the week of 1 month 1 year. The third and, if present, fourth point in the figure (yy in 5162) defines the year in which the tire is produced.

According to another embodiment, the set of fixed features discloses one or more of the following features: manufacturer statement 5164 (e.g., manufacturer identification 5164)), tire size indication 5166, load index 5168, and speed index 5170.

In accordance with another embodiment, the first tire 5104-1 has first indicia 5156. the second tire 5104-2 has second indicia 5156-2, according to one embodiment, the second tire 5104-2 has a second marker 5156-2, with two 2d matrix codes having the same sequence of light and dark modules (light and dark areas of the 2d matrix code)), as shown in fig. 2, the first marker 5156-1 has a first relative position 5172-1, 5164, 5166, 5168, 5170, for example, the first relative position 5172-1 is between the year of production (yy), as shown in figure 2, according to another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the second marker 5156-2 has a second relative position 5172-2, 5164, 5166, 5168, 5170 with respect to the set of fixed features 5162, the second relative position 5172-2 being between the word "0" of the dot code 5162 and the vendor specification 5164.

According to one embodiment, the first relative position 5172-1 is different from the second relative position 5172-2, e.g., in the first tire 5104-1, the third feature 5146 is disposed in the first potential marker point 5142 and in the second tire 5104-2, the first potential marker point 5142 is not the third feature 5146 according to one embodiment, the first marker 5156-1 of the first tire is thus disposed in the second potential marker point 5144, dh is in the first relative position 5172-1 and the second marker 5156-2 of the second tire is disposed in the first marker point 5142, preferably according to one embodiment, in the present embodiment, in the second relative position 5172-2100.

It should be understood that by using embodiments of the articles disclosed herein, including a plurality of tire pairs in a production lot (lot 2)), a plurality of tire pairs may occur between the plurality of tire pairs where the third feature 5146 is a balance point, and the third feature 5146 is generally disposed at another point on each tire. Thus, the third feature 5146 exists at some probability of one of the potential marker points 5142, 5144, or overlaps with those marker points.

Fig. 43 shows a tire 204 according to an embodiment of the subject matter disclosed herein.

According to one embodiment, the tyre 204 has two markings, in particular two 2d matrix codes 5156, 5157, the 2d matrix code 5156 having a first information content and the further 2d matrix code 5157 having a second information content. According to one embodiment, the first information content is at least partially identical to the second information content. For example, according to one embodiment, the first information content may be identical to the second information content. According to another embodiment, the first 2d matrix code and the second 2d matrix code may have the same level of error correction (according to another embodiment), and the level of error correction may be different, e.g. on the same first and second information content).

According to one embodiment, the 2d matrix code overlapping 5146 with the third feature 5146 may result in the fact that the 2d matrix code 5156 can no longer be read. However, since a further 2d matrix code 5157 is still available (and does not overlap with the third feature)), at least said redundant parts of said first and second information content may be read from said further 2d matrix code 5157.

It should be noted that the recording apparatus or the control apparatus, as described in some embodiments, is not limited to a dedicated entity. Rather, the subject matter disclosed herein can be implemented in numerous ways, while still providing the specific functionality disclosed.

It is noted that each of the entities (devices, elements, features and method steps)) disclosed herein is not limited to a specific entity described in some embodiments. Rather, the objects described herein may be used in various ways at the device level at different granularities, at the method level, or at the software level, while still providing the indicated functionality. Furthermore, it should be noted that according to embodiments, separate entities may be provided for each function disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, an entity may be configured to provide two or more functionalities as described herein. According to yet another embodiment, two or more entities may be configured in order to provide the functionality described herein.

It should also be noted that while an exemplary tire and exemplary apparatus illustrate a particular combination of several embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein in the figures, any other combination of embodiments is also possible and is considered disclosed herein.

Advantageous combinations of embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter can be summarized as follows:

a final marking point for a marking on the tire is defined using the representation of the sidewall of the tire and a predetermined first criterion. The first criterion may be an indication of position relative to a predetermined first feature in the representation. The indicia may be a 2d matrix code. According to one embodiment, two or more potential marker points are fixed on the tire and the at least one potential marker point is fixed on two sets or groups on the tire, the plurality of potential marker points being defined as the final marker point according to a selection criterion. According to another embodiment, the mark is produced at the final marking point, for example by laser machining (e.g. laser engraving) of the tyre. According to one embodiment, tires having the same fixed features are different in the location of the marks. The position of the marker is for example (inter alia)) based on said first criterion, second criterion and/or said selection criterion. According to one embodiment, the indicia is a 2d matrix code, such as a qr code or a data matrix code. According to one embodiment, at least a portion of the contents of the indicia are redundantly generated in the tire, such as in two 2d matrix codes on the same sidewall of a single tire.

It should be noted that any entity (e.g., any component, element, unit or device)) disclosed herein is not limited to a dedicated entity described in some embodiments. Rather, the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented and used in various ways with various granularity at the device level or the software module level while still providing the specified functionality. Further, it should be noted that according to embodiments, separate entities (e.g., assembly 100) elements, units, devices, hardware modules, software modules, hybrid modules (combined software/hardware modules)) may be provided for each of the functionalities disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, an entity (e.g., component 100), a unit, an apparatus, a software module, a hardware module, or a hybrid module) is configured to provide two or more functionalities as disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, two or more entities are configured to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

According to an embodiment, the control means comprise at least one processor means for executing at least one computer program or program element corresponding to a respective software module.

Further, while some embodiments refer to a dot-day code or the like, it should be understood that each of these references is to be considered as implicitly disclosing a corresponding reference to the general term "dot code" or even human-readable information. Moreover, other terms relating to particular standards or particular technologies are considered to implicitly disclose the corresponding general term with the specified functionality.

Furthermore, it should be noted that while an exemplary tire marking device or tire is shown in the drawings to include a particular combination of several embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein, any other combination of the described embodiments is also possible and contemplated as being disclosed in the present application, and thus the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein.

It should be noted that the term "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, but does not exclude a plurality. Thus, according to one embodiment, the term "comprising" is included for including inter-alea. According to another embodiment, the term "comprising" includes: . Elements described in association with different embodiments may also be combined. It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims. It should also be noted that the reference signs in the description and the references to the description of the figures should not be construed as limiting the scope of the description. Rather, the drawings illustrate only exemplary implementations of the described embodiments.

Further, it should be noted that the examples in the figures include specific combinations of several embodiments of the herein disclosed subject matter, any other combination of embodiments is also possible and considered to be disclosed in the present application.

Claims

1. A tire marking system is provided which is capable of marking a tire,

tire information stored in a memory, the tire information including a height profile and a sidewall template;

a first station on a conveyor belt, the first station including a laser scanner for identifying a center location of a fire on the conveyor belt;

a second station on the conveyor belt after the first station, the second station comprising a first image processing system adapted with a light sheet sensor to measure the height profile of the tire sidewall, the image processing further adapted to identify the type and size of the tire the present invention discloses a comparison with the tire information and the height profile contained in the memory; and

a third station along the conveyor belt after the second station, said third station comprising a marking laser adapted to engrave a mark on a specific point in the rubber said first image processing system identifying said type and size of said tyre and laser radiation after said marking point is identified by said first image processing system.

2. A rubber article comprising: a cured polymeric material forming a surface of the rubber article, the surface comprising:

the first surface portion has a first optical reflectivity;

the second surface portion (108) has a second optical reflectivity lower than the first optical reflectivity;

the first surface portion and the second surface portion form at least a part (102) of a digital code pattern;

wherein the digital code pattern (102) identifies the rubber article, particularly in a manufacturing lot of rubber articles.

3. A rubber product is made of a rubber material,

a pattern of depressions in the rubber article, the pattern of depressions defining a digital code pattern;

the recess pattern comprises a first recess and a second recess, the first and second recesses being recessed relative to an unaltered surface of the rubber article;

a first recess and a second recess defined therebetween, a protrusion protruding on a bottom of each recess;

wherein a spacing between the first recess and the second recess is greater than 0.5mm,

if the protrusion is surrounded by a connected recess, the protrusion has an area larger than 0.2 square millimeters.

4. A tyre (106) comprising:

generating a pattern (142) called a tire pattern in a tire processing unit (140);

a peripheral surface (172) surrounding the tire pattern);

the tire pattern (142) includes a recess (174), the recess (174) being defined by at least a first wall portion (175) and a second wall portion opposite the first wall portion;

the first wall portion forming an undercut (177) relative to the surrounding surface; and

the first wall portion and the second wall portion define a bisecting plane (179) that forms an angle (181) with respect to the surrounding surface (172);

wherein a distortion (142) of the tire pattern is at least partially prevented by processing the treatment portion compared to a desired pattern (156) by preventing a difference (140) of the angle from 90 degrees from being defined according to a transfer pattern, wherein the transfer pattern (164), the transfer pattern defining a projection onto a virtual plane (166) corresponding to the desired pattern (156) in the treatment portion that is perpendicular to the bisecting plane and perpendicular to another plane, wherein the other plane is perpendicular to the bisecting plane and includes the tire axis.

5. A tire (114),

a first representation (108) of a piece of information (106); and

a second representation (120) of the information block);

in particular, the first representation (108) is at least a portion (114) of an optically readable digital code pattern produced after vulcanization of the tyre, in particular by laser treatment (114) of the tyre.

6. The invention discloses a tire equipping device with marks,

a receiving device designed to form a representation of at least a portion of a sidewall of a tire;

a control device is provided to determine a final marking point for said marking on said tyre using said representation and a predetermined first criterion.

7. A pair of tires consisting of a first tire and a second tire, which are provided with respect to a manufacturer, a tire type, a type code, which is different from a relative position of corresponding information from the manufacturer, a tire type, a tire size, and a zero-type code; wherein,

(i) the first tyre having a first marking, the second tyre having a second marking, and a tyre type associated with corresponding information of said manufacturer, the relative position between the relative positions of the first marking of the first tyre and the second marking of the second tyre being greater than 5mm, but in particular deviating from each other by more than 50 mm;

(ii) at least one of the at least two tires has two markings, in particular two 2d matrix codes, the information content of which is at least partially identical.