Electronic badge as a talking marker

• US 10,255,769 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Sick, Sebastian, Buchmann, Juergen, Simon, Andreas, Manci, Lewis H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pope, Daryl C
• Application Number:
  US15/631,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20170372563A1
• Time in Patent Office: 655 Days
• Field of Search: 3404255, 3404261, 340438
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3629 Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech text to speech systems per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/10 using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A process uses electronic badges to convey a condition associated with an environment to an industrial vehicle. The process comprises identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment and associating the identified condition with a badge ID. The process also comprises programming an electronic badge based upon the identified condition and positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles. Still further, the process comprises receiving, by a processor on an industrial vehicle, information from the electronic badge including at least one of the associated badge ID and the identified condition. The information is received via a badge communicator that communicates with electronic badges that are within a predetermined range of the industrial vehicle via a first wireless communication link. The process also determines the condition from the information from the electronic badge, and controls the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process of relaying a condition associated with an environment, the computer-implemented process comprising:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment;

associating the identified condition with a badge identification (ID);

programming an electronic badge based upon the identified condition;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles;

receiving, by a processor on an industrial vehicle, information from the electronic badge including at least one of the associated badge ID and the identified condition, wherein the information is received via a badge communicator that communicates with electronic badges that are within a predetermined range of the industrial vehicle via a first wireless communication link;

determining, by the processor, the condition from the information from the electronic badge; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition.

2. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition, comprises;

conveying an output to a vehicle operator of the industrial vehicle in response to the condition information received from the electronic badge to redirect a travel path of the industrial vehicle.

3. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises conveying an output to a vehicle operator of the industrial vehicle in response to the condition information received from the electronic badge to adjust select at least one of;

a travel speed of the industrial vehicle; and

a travel direction of the industrial vehicle.

4. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises automatically controlling the industrial vehicle in response to the condition information received from the electronic badge to alter select at least one of;

a travel speed of the industrial vehicle; and

a travel direction of the industrial vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises;

storing a badge identifier of the electronic badge on a server; and

storing an identifier of the condition with the electronic badge identifier on the server;

receiving, by a processor on an industrial vehicle, information from the electronic badge further comprises receiving the electronic badge identifier from the electronic badge, wherein;

the computer-implemented process further comprises sending the electronic badge identifier to the server via an information linking device on the industrial vehicle, wherein the information linking device communicates with the server over a second wireless communication link that is different from the first wireless communication link; and

determining, by the processor, the condition further comprises receiving the identifier of the condition from the server in response to the server receiving the electronic badge identifier from the industrial vehicle.

6. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises programming the electronic badge to transmit an identifier of the condition in addition to transmitting the badge ID;

receiving, by a processor on an industrial vehicle, information from the electronic badge further comprises receiving the identifier of the condition from the electronic badge; and

determining, by the processor, the condition from the information from the electronic badge further comprises determining the condition based on the received identifier of the condition.

7. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises associating the identified condition with the electronic badge, wherein the electronic badge is agnostic to a location of the condition relative to the limited defined environment.

8. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of the industrial vehicle using an environmental based location tracking device that identifies an absolute position of the industrial vehicle within the limited, defined environment over a third wireless communication link;

wherein determining, by the processor, the condition from the electronic badge further includes verifying the condition based on the location of the industrial vehicle within the limited defined environment determined by the absolute position of the industrial vehicle determined by the environmental based location tracking device.

9. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, further comprising extending the range of a mapped environment by:

positioning the electronic badge outside a limited environment capable of being tracked via an environmental based location tracking system;

wherein;

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises programming the electronic badge to transmit an absolute position of the electronic badge as the information from the electronic badge; and

determining, by the processor, the condition from the information from the electronic badge further comprises extending the limited defined environment by;

determining a relative position of the electronic badge to the industrial vehicle; and

determining a location of the industrial vehicle in the extended limited defined environment based on the absolute position of the electronic badge and the relative position of the electronic badge to the industrial vehicle.

10. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, further comprising:

positioning the electronic badge outside of an environment detectable by an environmental based location tracking device;

storing an absolute position of the electronic badge on a server;

determining a relative position of the electronic badge to the industrial vehicle;

sending the electronic badge ID to the server;

receiving the absolute position of the electronic badge from the server; and

determining a location of the industrial vehicle in the extended limited defined environment based on the absolute position of the electronic badge and the relative position of the electronic badge to the industrial vehicle.

11. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying an end-of-aisle geo-zone;

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises associating a condition as a speed restriction geo-zone;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles comprises mounting the electronic badge in the work environment at a position proximate to an end of an aisle associated with the end-of-aisle geo-zone; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises adjusting, by the processor, a set point of the industrial vehicle limiting a maximum speed of the industrial vehicle while the industrial vehicle is in the speed restriction geo-zone.

12. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying an end-of-aisle geo-zone;

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises associating a condition as a horn geo-zone;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles comprises mounting the electronic badge at a position proximate to the end of the corresponding aisle in the work environment; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises;

evaluating, by the processor, whether the vehicle operator sounded a horn of the industrial vehicle while in the horn geo-zone; and

communicating, if the processor determined that the vehicle operator did not sound the horn, a message indicating a failure to sound the horn to select at least one of;

a remote server computer and the vehicle operator.

13. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying a bonded area of the work area;

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises associating a condition as a permission required geo-zone;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles comprises mounting the electronic badge at a position identifying a boundary of a bonded area in the work environment; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises;

evaluating, by the processor, that the industrial vehicle has or is about to enter the bonded area;

evaluating at least one credential of the vehicle operator to determine whether the vehicle operator has authorization to enter the bonded area; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take an evasive maneuver to avoid the bonded area if the vehicle operator is not authorized to enter the bonded area.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein:

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take an evasive maneuver to avoid the bonded area if the vehicle operator is authorized to enter the bonded area comprises at least one of;

stopping the industrial vehicle and disabling the industrial vehicle.

15. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying that the electronic badge is linked to an other industrial vehicle;

associating the identified condition with a badge ID comprises identifying that an evaluation is necessary before performing an overtaking maneuver with regard to the other industrial vehicle; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises executing by the processor, an overtaking maneuver algorithm that verifies whether the other industrial vehicle may be overtaken.

16. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying an end of an aisle;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles comprises positioning the electronic badge at the end of a corresponding aisle;

determining, by the processor, the condition from the information from the electronic badge comprises using the badge ID to identify a position of the industrial vehicle; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises communicating the position of the industrial vehicle based upon the electronic badge ID to a server in order to receive back instructions from the server informing the industrial vehicle of the location of a next destination for the industrial vehicle.

17. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying an end of an aisle;

positioning the electronic badge within a work area of industrial vehicles comprises positioning the electronic badge at the end of a corresponding aisle;

determining, by the processor, the condition from the information from the electronic badge comprises using the badge ID to identify a position of the industrial vehicle; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises communicating the position of the industrial vehicle based upon the electronic badge ID to a server in order to receive back an indication from the server as to whether the industrial vehicle is in a correct aisle in order to perform a predetermined operation.

18. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

identifying a condition in a limited, defined environment comprises identifying a temporary exclude zone; and

controlling, by the processor, the industrial vehicle to take a predetermined action based upon the determined condition comprises extracting by the processor, a time range associated with the condition, comparing a measure of current time with the time range, and executing by the processor, instructions to avoid the exclude zone if the current time is within the time range programmed to be associated with the electronic badge.