초록 ▼

An apparatus and method for tracking the location of one or more assets, comprising an integrated system that identifies an asset, determines the time the asset is acquired by a conveying vehicle, determines the position, elevation and orientation of the asset at the moment it is acquired, determine

An apparatus and method for tracking the location of one or more assets, comprising an integrated system that identifies an asset, determines the time the asset is acquired by a conveying vehicle, determines the position, elevation and orientation of the asset at the moment it is acquired, determines the time the asset is deposited by the conveying vehicle, and determines the position, elevation and orientation of the asset at the time the asset is deposited, each position, elevation and orientation being relative to a reference plane. Mobile subsystems, each on a conveying vehicle, identify the location and orientation of that conveying vehicle using an optical position sensor unit viewing an array of optical position markers, determine the identity of the asset from a label, confirm acquisition of the asset, determine the elevation of the asset relative to the reference plane and communicate the tracking information to a fixed-base subsystem.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An apparatus for tracking the location and rotational orientation of one or more assets, comprising an integrated system that identifies an asset, determines a time the asset is acquired by a conveying vehicle, determines the position and rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle, determine

1. An apparatus for tracking the location and rotational orientation of one or more assets, comprising an integrated system that identifies an asset, determines a time the asset is acquired by a conveying vehicle, determines the position and rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle, determines the position, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset at the moment it is acquired, determines a time the asset is deposited by the conveying vehicle, determines the position and rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle at the time the asset is deposited, and determines the position, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset at the time the asset is deposited, each position, elevation and rotational orientation being relative to a reference plane, the integrated system comprising: a) a fixed-base subsystem comprising: 1) a host computer having a computational unit, a data storage unit, a wireless local area network interface, a communications network interface and an operator interface;2) a base station wireless local area network communication unit, connected to the computer, for communicating with one or more mobile communication units;b) one or more mobile subsystems, each mounted onboard a conveying vehicle, each comprising: 1) a mobile computer device having a computational unit, a data storage unit, a network interface for communicating with a plurality of onboard devices, and a wireless local area network interface; and2) a plurality of onboard devices comprising: i) an optical position sensor unit to determine the location in two dimensions and the rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle in a coordinate system on the reference plane;ii) an optical asset identification sensor device having a predetermined field of view mounted on a lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle for optically recognizing one or more labels within the field of view on one or more assets and identifying each label having an optically machine readable symbol, calculating a location of each label within the field of view, determining a size of each label and decoding each machine readable symbol to identify an asset to be transported;iii) an optical asset detection device that optically measures the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported and indicates the presence or absence of an asset on the lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle;iv) a lift height detection device for determining an elevation of the lifting mechanism on the conveying vehicle relative to the reference plane;v) a wireless local area network communication unit for communicating with the base station communication unit; andvi) a driver interface for displaying asset move instructions, identification and location of the one or more assets associated with the recognized one or more labels to a driver, and for receiving data from the driver, so that the fixed-base subsystem communicates with the mobile subsystem on the conveying vehicle to optically track that conveying vehicle to an origin location of the asset to be transported, as the conveying vehicle approaches the one or more assets, one or more labels are recognized and decoded until the asset to be transported is optically detected and identified by the mobile subsystem on the conveying vehicle, the identification and location of the asset to be transported is displayed to the driver, the asset to be transported is acquired by the conveying vehicle, the optical load detection device optically confirms the presence of the asset to be transported on the conveying vehicle and optically measures the asset's onboard position relative to the vehicle, the lift height detection device determines the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the origin location, the mobile communication unit communicates to the fixed-base subsystem the identity of the asset to be transported, a time of acquisition, and a location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the origin location, the conveying vehicle is optically tracked to deliver the asset to be transported to a destination location, the optical position sensor unit determines the location and the rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle as the asset to be transported is deposited, the lift height detection device determines the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the destination location, the optical load detection device optically measures the asset's position relative to the vehicle, confirms the absence of the asset to be transported from the conveying vehicle and the mobile communication unit communicates to the fixed-base subsystem the identity of the asset to be transported, the time of delivery, and the location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the destination location. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the host computer of the fixed-base subsystem operates under the control of instructions stored in the data storage unit to perform the functions of: a) receiving data from the wireless local area network interface and computing each conveying vehicle's instantaneous location and orientation based on data received;b) storing and managing short term and long term records of conveying vehicle tracking data, including instantaneous location, directional heading, velocity, presence or absence of an asset load, identification of the asset, distance of the asset from the conveying vehicle and elevation of the lifting mechanism;c) creating a graphical display on the fixed-base subsystem operator interface device of the instantaneous location and load condition of each and every vehicle within the facility;d) receiving commands from the fixed-base subsystem operator interface; ande) communicating data to and from external computer units, such as inventory control systems, warehouse management systems, safety systems, via a communications network. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the base station wireless local area network communication unit and the mobile local area network communication unit operate in accordance with IEEE standard 802.11b or 802.11g to receive data from each mobile wireless local area network communication unit of each mobile subsystem on each conveying vehicle and the base station wireless local area network communication unit. 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more mobile subsystems each further comprise a mobile onboard computer unit having a computational unit, a data storage unit, a local area network interface and a driver interface, the computer unit operating under control of instructions stored in the data storage unit to receive, analyze, and store data from the optical position sensor unit, the optical load identification device, the optical load detection device, and the lift height detection device, to display data on the driver interface, to receive instructions from the driver interface and to communicate with the host computer of the fixed-base subsystem through the network interface and the wireless local area network communication unit. 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the optical position sensor unit of the mobile subsystem on the conveying vehicle comprises an upward-facing optical image acquisition unit for viewing one or more of a plurality of unique position markers having identifying indicia and positional reference indicia thereupon, the markers being arranged at predetermined positional locations within a coordinate space so that at least one position marker is within view, the image acquisition unit acquires an image of one or more position markers and the optical position sensor unit analyzes the image to determine the location in two dimensions and the rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle relative to the coordinate system. 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the optical load identification device for detecting and identifying an asset comprises a generally horizontal optical label reader sensor on the lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle facing toward one or more assets that acquires an image of one or more labels on the one or more assets, each label having a machine readable symbol comprising a bar coded symbol thereon, decodes asset identification information of each bar coded symbol, determines the location and pixel size of each label within the image, thereby also optically determining the position of each asset relative to the conveying vehicle, and sends the asset identification and location information to the mobile computer for graphical display on the driver interface. 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the lift height detection device comprises an optical sensor mounted on the conveying vehicle and an optical target mounted on the lifting mechanism to generate a signal corresponding to the elevation of the lifting mechanism above the reference plane. 8. A method of directing the transport of and tracking the location and rotational orientation of one or more assets relative to a reference plane, utilizing a system comprising a fixed-base subsystem having an operator interface and one or more mobile subsystems, each mobile subsystem on a conveying vehicle, each mobile subsystem having an optical position sensor unit, a mobile communication unit, and a driver interface, each conveying vehicle having a lifting mechanism, a lift height detection device, an optical asset identification device having a predetermined field of view mounted on the lifting mechanism and an optical load detection device mounted on the lifting mechanism, the fixed-base subsystem having a host computer with a data storage unit, the method comprising: a) identifying the location and rotational orientation of each conveying vehicle using the optical position sensor unit;b) communicating the location and orientation of each conveying vehicle to the fixed-base subsystem and displaying the location and orientation on the operator interface;c) selecting a conveying vehicle and communicating with the mobile subsystem on the selected conveying vehicle to direct and track the selected conveying vehicle to an origin location of an asset to be transported;d) optically recognizing and identifying one or more labels within the field of view on one or more assets and identifying each label having an optically machine readable symbol, optically determining the position of the one or more labels relative to the optical asset identification device and displaying the identification and the position of each label relative to the optical asset identification device on the driver interface of the mobile subsystem of the selected conveying vehicle;e) as the driver of the conveying vehicle approaches the one or more assets, repeating step d) until only the label identifying the asset to be transported is displayed on the driver interface;f) acquiring the asset to be transported, optically measuring the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported to determine the position of the asset to be transported relative to the selected conveying vehicle and confirming the presence of the asset to be transported on the lifting mechanism, displaying this status to a driver on the driver interface;g) directing the selected conveying vehicle to deliver the asset to be transported to a destination location by transmitting instructions to the mobile subsystem for display on the driver interface and tracking the selected conveying vehicle;h) depositing the asset to be transported at the destination location, determining the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the destination location, and optically measuring the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported and confirming the absence of the asset to be transported from the lifting mechanism and displaying this status to the driver on the driver interface;i) communicating asset data to the fixed-base subsystem, the asset data comprising the identity, location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the destination location; andj) storing the asset data in the data storage unit for subsequent use. 9. A method of tracking the location and rotational orientation of one or more assets having one or more labels thereon relative to a reference plane, utilizing a system comprising a fixed-base subsystem and one or more mobile subsystems, each mobile subsystem on a conveying vehicle, each mobile subsystem having an optical position sensor unit, a mobile communication unit, and a driver interface, each conveying vehicle having a lifting mechanism, a lift height detection device and an optical asset identification device having a predetermined field of view mounted on the lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle, an asset detection device mounted on the lifting mechanism and a fixed-base subsystem having a host computer with a data storage unit, the method comprising: a) identifying the location and rotational orientation of each conveying vehicle using the optical position sensor unit;b) communicating the location and rotational orientation of each conveying vehicle to the fixed-base subsystem;c) upon receipt of an asset delivery request, selecting a conveying vehicle and communicating with the mobile subsystem on the selected conveying vehicle to track the selected conveying vehicle to an origin location of an asset to be transported;d) optically detecting and identifying one or more labels on one or more assets and optically determining the position of the one or more labels relative to the optical asset identification device and displaying the identification and the position of the one or more labels relative to the optical asset identification device on the driver interface of the mobile subsystem of the selected conveying vehicle;e) acquiring the asset to be transported, optically measuring the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported to determine the position of the asset to be transported relative to the selected conveying vehicle, optically confirming the presence of the asset on the lifting mechanism, displaying this status to a driver on the driver interface;f) the mobile communication unit communicating to the fixed-base subsystem the identity of the asset to be transported, the time of acquisition, and the location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the origin location;g) tracking the selected conveying vehicle to a destination location;h) depositing the asset to be transported at the destination location, determining the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the destination location, and optically measuring the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported, confirming the absence of the asset to be transported from the lifting mechanism and displaying this status to the driver on the driver interface;i) communicating asset data to the fixed-base subsystem, the asset data comprising the identity, location, elevation, rotational orientation and deposition time of the asset to be transported at the destination; andj) storing the asset data in the data storage unit for subsequent use. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the asset delivery request originates from a driver input to the mobile subsystem on a conveying vehicle. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the asset delivery request originates from the host computer.