The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 10, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2001
Hiroaki Kawasaki, Kobe, JP;
Yukio Nakao, Kobe, JP;
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., Hyogo-ken, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for determining a condition of road surface comprising: rotational speed detecting means for periodically detecting rotational speeds of four tires of a vehicle; first computing means for computing a slip ratio from measurement values of the rotational speed detecting means; second computing means for obtaining a relational formula between the slip ratio and either the acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle; and friction coefficient judging means for judging a coefficient of friction occurring between a road and a tire on the basis of a slope of the relational formula obtained by the second computing means. The road friction coefficient can be judged with high accuracy in a short time using only the wheel rotational speed information of four wheels, whereby the performance and safety of a vehicle can be increased.