Systems, methods, devices, and computer readable medium for real and near-real time sensor data capture and analysis

• US 10,545,486 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2015
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Masitek Instruments Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Masitek Instruments Incorporated
• Inventors: Byron, Jeremy, Clinch, Tracy
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choi, Michael W
• Application Number:
  US14/689,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20150301521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 700108
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31455 Monitor process status
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32033 Send article design, needed material, packaging and shipping info to manufacturer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an integrated sensor system for monitoring, capturing, processing and analyzing data for delicate and fragile articles in real or near-real time movement within production, packaging and distribution systems. The system comprises a sensor platform that contains multiple on-board sensors detecting numerous force, environmental and movement variables; a handheld data receiver application in communication with said sensor module for issuing commands and processing captured data; and a web server application that is configured to receive information from one or more handheld data receiver applications and perform operations.

Claims

1. An integrated sensor system for production, packaging and distribution systems, comprising:

at least one sensor platform having multiple on-board sensors configured to capture sensor data in real or near real-time to detect force, environmental and movement variables for an article within production, packaging and distribution systems, said sensors including a location sensor configured to identify a location in which said at least one sensor platform is being used;

at least one handheld data receiver in communication with the sensor platform via a first communication protocol, said at least one handheld data receiver application configured to issue commands and process captured sensor data in real or near real-time for immediate reporting and feedback on the platform;

one or more backend interface points configured to communicate with said at least one handheld data receiver application via a second communication protocol different from said first communication protocol, said one or more backend interface points including an authentication interface point and a remote diagnostics interface point;

a backend processor for monitoring, capturing, processing and analyzing sensor data in real or near-real time, said backend processor configured to communicate with said one or more backend interface points via a third communication protocol including a decoupled link; and

a web server application that is configured to receive data from the handheld data receiver via said backend processor, said web server application configured to perform operations comprising sensor data review, sensor administration and configuration, handheld data receiver application administration and configuration, system administration and data reporting and analytics, and provide an interface for a user to interact with stored data, execute reports and issue administrative commands to the at least one sensor platform;

wherein said authentication interface point is configured to verify the location in which said at least one sensor platform is being used, and to disallow use of said at least one sensor platform with the said web server application when said authentication interface point determines that said location at which said at least one sensor platform is being used is not permitted,

wherein the sensor data is captured during a contact force event to the article, wherein at least one of the data receiver and the web server is configured to calculate at least one additional parameter not directly measured by the sensors based on the captured sensor data,

wherein the backend processor is configured to detect that a first sensor has malfunctioned, and to transmit a notification to the at least one handheld device that the first sensor has malfunctioned; and

wherein the backend processor is configured to, responsive to receiving a command to disable the first sensor of the on-board sensors of the at least one sensor platform, disable the first sensor of the on-board sensors of the at least one sensor platform.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the force, environmental and movement variables comprise at least one of acceleration in three axes measured at three different vertical positions on the sensor unit, force applied to the top of the article, sidewall pressure, temperature, rotation, ambient light, humidity, and position.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more sensor platforms provide wireless communication using a wireless communication protocol and allow the handheld data receiver application to start data acquisition and receive real-time sensor data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more sensor platforms have settings stored in configuration files that provide unique device identification, security, and operational attributes for authentication and communication with a handheld data receiver application wherein the authentication of account credentials allows said receiver to communicate with the sensor platform to send one or more commands.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform is mounted and housed in a replica of the article in the approximate configuration and weight of the article and capturing real or near-real time movement, force and environmental data in the manner that would be experienced by the article in the production, packaging and distribution systems.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform transmits data on the estimation of tracking and current location positioning of said sensor platform.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of an acceleration sensor and a vibration sensor is utilized at a sampling rate to capture the entire acceleration waveform to measure the acceleration profile and determine velocity changes based on the acceleration profile.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein data is collected using a plurality of sensor configurations to record acceleration, impact which is closely associated with the acceleration values, internal and external pressures, internal and external temperature, rotation, ambient light, humidity and location data during the state of real time movement for a delicate and fragile article within a production, packaging and distribution activity.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform has a triaxial accelerometer, or a set of single-axis or dual-axis accelerometers configured in a triaxial configuration, having multiple on-board sensors detecting multiple force, environmental or movement variables including acceleration in all 3 axes measured at three different vertical positions on the sensor platform, force applied to the top of the article, sidewall pressure, rotation, temperature, ambient light, and humidity.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein values are collected via a wireless communication protocol, with each sensor'"'"'s raw data being transmitted and captured and processed by a handheld data receiver application.

11. The system of claim 1 where the at least one additional parameter comprises a set of microsecond-level acceleration values transformed to produce velocity values.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform is mounted to provide acceleration and force measurement data within a desired range of statistical volatility.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform is capable of being calibrated to a desired statistical confidence level.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform captures the number of impacts or other force, environmental and movement events.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more handheld data receiver applications authenticates and communicates with a sensor module using a wireless communication protocol to allow the handheld application to provide one or more commands to the sensor module.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor platform processes and converts sensor data in real time from digital signals or values to a corresponding impact, force or environmental value.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the handheld data receiver application provides real time reporting on the sensor platform as data is being captured and provides a dynamic display of captured and/or processed data.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the handheld data receiver application allows a user to mark and record the occurrence of a force event that occurs as said sensor platform is in a state of real time force, environmental or movement data capture during a production, packing, or distribution process and to correlate the event to a physical point of reference within such process.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the handheld data receiver application transfers data to the web server application for further data analytics and data extraction.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the web server application that is configured to receive information from one or more handheld data receiver applications and perform operations comprising sensor data review, sensor administration and configuration, system administration, handheld data receiver application administration and configuration, and data reporting and analytics.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a subsystem to track and report hardware and software exceptions that exceed expected operational and force event thresholds within the sensor platform.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a management subsystem to view status information on all sensor units, execute reports, issue commands to the sensor units or retrieve data from the sensor memory for maintenance and data management purposes, receive notification of hardware or software errors, provide software updates and upgrades to handheld data receiver application and provide wireless configuration administration to the handheld data receiver application to allow data communication with the sensor platform.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises an authentication and licensing subsystem to manage and control the usage of the sensor platform in accordance with the terms and condition associated with a client including, but not limited to, time-based licensing, location based licensing, facility based licensing and plant based licensing.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a client subsystem to view and produce current and historical reports on sensor modules for data analytics for quality assurance statistical process control and problem root cause analysis.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a client subsystem with a reporting module to view individual sensor data by data field, by vector sum of xyz fields per triaxial location, by velocity curve, by license information, and by tracked and recorded sensor module exceptions.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a client subsystem that determines the current status of licensing terms and conditions and provides a payment gateway integration to allow client payment for term expiry, modifications, and a change in license model.

27. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application further comprises a data warehouse for performing analytics.

28. The system of claim 20 wherein the web server application is further configured to perform machine learning.

29. The system of claim 1 wherein the backend processor or web server application or sensor platform or handheld application derives value information by a converted, correlated, interpreted and fused form of the sensor data which may be different than the form or units in which the information is measured in the sensor platform.