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An apparatus, method and sensor apparatus for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment is disclosed. The loading equipment has an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support. The apparatus includes a

An apparatus, method and sensor apparatus for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment is disclosed. The loading equipment has an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support. The apparatus includes an orientation sensor disposed on the support and being operable to produce an orientation signal representing an orientation of the support. The apparatus also includes a displacement sensor operable to produce a displacement signal representing a displacement of the operating implement relative to the support. The apparatus further includes a processor circuit operably configured to receive the orientation signal and the displacement signal, use a kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute a spatial positioning of the loading equipment, and produce an output signal representing the spatial positioning.

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1. An apparatus for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment, the loading equipment having an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support, the apparatus comprising: an orientation sensor disposed on

1. An apparatus for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment, the loading equipment having an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support, the apparatus comprising: an orientation sensor disposed on the support and being operable to produce an orientation signal representing an orientation of the support; anda displacement sensor operable to produce a displacement signal representing a displacement of the operating implement relative to the support;a processor circuit operably configured to: receive said orientation signal and said displacement signal;use a kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute a spatial positioning of the loading equipment; andproduce an output signal representing said spatial positioning. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said orientation sensor and said displacement sensor are operable to produce updated orientation and displacement signals during movement of the operating implement and wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to receive the updated signals and produce an output signal representing a dynamically updated spatial positioning of the loading equipment. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displacement sensor is disposed on the support. 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said orientation and said displacement sensors are each disposed within a sensor housing mounted on the support. 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displacement sensor is disposed on the operating implement. 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said orientation signal comprises information indicating at least: a cardinal heading of the support; anda pitch angle of the support. 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said orientation signal further comprises a roll angle of the support. 8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: an interface in communication with said processor circuit and being operably configured to receive coordinates defining a location of the loading equipment with respect to an earth coordinate system; andwherein said processor circuit is operably configured to use the coordinates and the computed spatial positioning to compute a location of the operating implement with respect to the earth coordinate system. 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the loading equipment comprises a mining shovel and wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to correlate the computed location of the operating implement with map data representing a yield expected from ore at the location of the operating implement to provide a yield estimate for the ore loaded in the operating implement. 10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said interface is operably configured to receive GPS coordinates defining said location of the loading equipment. 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said orientation sensor comprises a plurality of sensor elements coupled to a microprocessor circuit, said microprocessor circuit being operably configured to produce said orientation signal in response to receiving signals from said plurality of sensor elements. 12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displacement sensor comprises a laser rangefinder sensor, said laser rangefinder sensor being operable to direct a laser beam at a target located proximate the operating implement to determine said displacement of the operating implement relative to the support. 13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to produce said output signal by producing a display signal operable to cause a representation of the loading equipment to be displayed on a display for communicating said spatial positioning to an operator of the loading equipment. 14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to produce said display signal by producing a display signal operable to cause display of at least one of: an elevational representation of the loading equipment indicating said spatial positioning of the loading implement with respect to the loading equipment; anda plan representation of the loading equipment indicating a heading of the operating implement. 15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a transmitter operably configured to transmit said output signal to a remote location to facilitate remote monitoring of loading equipment operations. 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said transmitter comprises a wireless transmitter. 17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the loading equipment comprises a mining shovel having a boom extending outwardly from a frame, and wherein: said support is pivotably coupled to said boom;the operating implement comprises dipper handle having first and second ends, the first end being coupled to a dipper for loading ore from a mine face, the second end being received in said support and being coupled to a drive operable to cause linear reciprocating motion of the dipper handle and dipper with respect to the support; andwherein said displacement sensor is operably configured to receive a displacement signal representing a generally linear displacement between said support and said dipper. 18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising a sensor, disposed on said frame and wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to: receive a signal representing a pitch angle of the frame and a roll angle of the frame; anduse said pitch and roll angles of the frame to compute an orientation of the frame prior to computing said spatial positioning of the loading equipment. 19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to generate a kinematic model of the mining shovel wherein: a coupling between a crawler platform and said frame is modeled as a first revolute joint;a coupling between said frame and said boom is modeled as a second revolute joint;a coupling between said boom and said support is modeled as a third revolute joint; anda coupling between said dipper handle and said support is modeled as a prismatic joint. 20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the dipper is pivotably coupled to the first end of the dipper handle and comprises an adaptor for coupling to a hoist cable, the hoist cable extending over a point sheave disposed at a distal end of the boom, the hoist cable being operable to move the dipper about the first end of the dipper handle and to move the dipper and dipper handle about the support during loading operations, and wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to: compute an orientation and position of the adaptor based on a dipper tip and point sheave locations;compute a length of the hoist cable between the adaptor and the point sheave;compute a rotation of a sheave wheel based on the hoist cable displacement; andproduce said output signal by producing an output signal representing an orientation and position of said hoist cable and adaptor. 21. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said spatial positioning signal is encoded with values representing said orientation and displacement, and wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to: extract said values; anddetermine compliance of said values with a set of validity criteria prior to using said kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute said spatial positioning of the operating implement. 22. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said processor circuit is operably configured to compute at least one of: a cyclic activity parameter associated with operation of the loading equipment; anda maximum swing angle and frequency associated with a side to side swing of a rotating platform of the loading equipment. 23. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said output signal representing said spatial positioning is further provided to an image processing system, said image processing system being operably configured to capture and process images of the operating implement to determine at least one of: a condition of the operating implement; anda condition of a payload loaded by said operating implement. 24. A method for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment, the loading equipment having an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support, the method comprising: receiving spatial positioning signals including: an orientation signal from an orientation sensor disposed on the support, said orientation signal representing an orientation of the support; anda displacement signal from a displacement sensor, said displacement signal representing a displacement of the operating implement relative to the support;in response to receiving said spatial positioning signals: using a kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute a spatial positioning of the loading equipment; andproducing an output signal representing said spatial positioning. 25. The method of claim 24 wherein said orientation sensor and said displacement sensor are operable to produce updated orientation and displacement signals during movement of the operating implement and wherein receiving said spatial positioning signals comprises receiving the updated signals and wherein producing said output signal comprises producing an output signal representing a dynamically updated spatial positioning of the loading equipment. 26. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said spatial positioning signals comprises receiving a displacement signal from a displacement sensor disposed on the support. 27. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving the orientation signal and receiving the displacement signal comprises receiving orientation and displacement signals from respective orientation and displacement sensors each disposed in a sensor housing mounted on the support. 28. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said spatial positioning signals comprises receiving a displacement signal from a displacement sensor disposed on the operating implement. 29. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said orientation signal comprises receiving a signal including information indicating at least: a cardinal heading of the support; anda pitch angle of the support. 30. The method of claim 29 wherein receiving said orientation signal comprises receiving a signal including information indicating a roll angle of the support. 31. The method of claim 24 further comprising: receiving coordinates defining a location of the loading equipment with respect to an earth coordinate system; andusing the coordinates and the computed spatial positioning to compute a location of the operating implement with respect to the earth coordinate system. 32. The method of claim 31 wherein the loading equipment comprises a mining shovel and further comprising correlating the computed location of the operating implement with map data representing a yield expected from ore at the location of the operating implement to provide a yield estimate for the ore loaded in the operating implement. 33. The method of claim 31 wherein receiving said coordinates comprises receiving GPS coordinates defining said location of the loading equipment. 34. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said orientation signal from said orientation sensor comprises receiving a signal from a sensor comprising a plurality of sensor elements coupled to a microprocessor, said microprocessor being operably configured to produce said orientation signal in response to receiving signals from said plurality of sensor elements. 35. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said displacement signal from said displacement sensor comprises receiving a signal from a laser rangefinder sensor, said laser rangefinder sensor being operable to direct a laser beam at a target located proximate the operating implement to determine said displacement of the operating implement relative to the support. 36. The method of claim 24 wherein producing said output signal comprises producing a display signal operable to cause a representation of the loading equipment to be displayed on a display, said representation being operable to communicate said spatial positioning to an operator of the loading equipment. 37. The method of claim 36 wherein producing said display signal comprises producing a display signal operable to cause display of at least one of: an elevational representation of the loading equipment indicating said spatial positioning of the loading implement with respect to the loading equipment; anda plan representation of the loading equipment indicating a heading of the operating implement. 38. The method of claim 24 further comprising transmitting said output signal to a remote location to facilitate remote monitoring of loading equipment operations. 39. The method of claim 38 wherein transmitting said output signal comprises wirelessly transmitting said output signal to said remote location. 40. The method of claim 24 wherein the loading equipment comprises a mining shovel having a boom extending outwardly from a frame, and wherein: said support is pivotably coupled to said boom;the operating implement comprises a dipper handle having first and second ends, the first end being coupled to a dipper for loading ore from a mine face, the second end being received in said support and being coupled to a drive operable to cause linear reciprocating motion of the dipper handle and dipper with respect to the support; andwherein receiving said displacement signal comprises receiving a signal representing a generally linear displacement between said support and said dipper. 41. The method of claim 40 further comprising: receiving a signal representing a pitch angle of the frame and a roll angle of the frame; andusing said pitch and roll angles of the frame to compute an orientation of the frame prior to computing said spatial positioning of the loading equipment. 42. The method of claim 41 wherein using said kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute said spatial positioning of the operating implement comprises generating a kinematic model of the mining shovel wherein: a coupling between a crawler platform and said frame is modeled as a first revolute joint;a coupling between said frame and said boom is modeled as a second revolute joint;a coupling between said boom and said support is modeled as a third revolute joint; anda coupling between said dipper handle and said support is modeled as a prismatic joint. 43. The method of claim 42 wherein the dipper is pivotably coupled to the first end of the dipper handle and comprises an adaptor for coupling to a hoist cable, the hoist cable extending over a point sheave disposed at a distal end of the boom, the hoist cable being operable to move the dipper about the first end of the dipper handle and to move the dipper and dipper handle about the support during loading operations, and further comprising: computing an orientation and position of the adaptor based on a dipper tip and point sheave locations;computing a length of the hoist cable between the adaptor and the point sheave;computing a rotation of a sheave wheel based on the hoist cable displacement; andwherein producing said output signal comprises producing an output signal representing an orientation and position of said hoist cable and adaptor. 44. The method of claim 24 wherein receiving said spatial positioning signals further comprises receiving a spatial positioning signal encoded with values representing said orientation and displacement, and further comprising: extracting said values; anddetermining compliance of said values with a set of validity criteria prior to using said kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute said spatial positioning of the operating implement. 45. The method of claim 24 further comprising computing at least one of: a cyclic activity parameter associated with operation of the loading equipment; anda maximum swing angle and frequency associated with a side to side swing of a rotating platform of the loading equipment. 46. The method of claim 24 further comprising providing said output signal representing said spatial positioning to an image processing system, said image processing system being operably configured to capture and process images of the operating implement to determine at least one of: a condition of the operating implement; anda condition of a payload loaded by said operating implement. 47. A sensor apparatus for producing spatial positioning signals for determining a spatial positioning of loading equipment, the loading equipment having an operating implement for loading a payload, the operating implement being coupled to a support for movement relative to the support, the sensor apparatus comprising: a housing operably configured to be mounted on the support;an orientation sensor and a displacement sensor disposed within the housing and being operably configured to produce spatial positioning signals including: an orientation signal representing an orientation of the support; anda displacement signal representing a displacement of the operating implement relative to the support. 48. The apparatus of claim 47 further comprising a processor circuit operably configured to: receive said spatial positioning signals;use a kinematic model of the loading equipment to compute a spatial positioning of the operating implement with respect to the loading equipment; andproduce an output signal representing said spatial positioning of the operating implement. 49. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein said support is disposed in a location that is exposed to an environment surrounding the loading equipment and further comprising a connector port operably configured to receive a cable for conveying said spatial positioning signals to a processor circuit located in an enclosed location on the loading equipment.