POSITION DETECTING SYSTEM AND CABLE UNIT

• US 20100328039A1
• Filed: 06/04/2010
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Noda, Keisuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,344,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/765 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/876 Combination of several spaced transponders or reflectors of known location for determining the position of a receiver G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

A position detecting system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a moving machine capable of moving along a predetermined path, plural storage media configured to store position information and arranged in parallel along the path, and a reading unit provided on the moving machine side and configured to read the position information of the storage media arranged in a reading range corresponding to the reading unit.

Claims

1. A position detecting system comprising:

a moving machine capable of moving along a predetermined path;

plural storage media configured to store position information and arranged in parallel along the path; and

a reading unit provided on the moving machine side and configured to read the position information of the storage media arranged in a reading range corresponding to the reading unit.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein

array information corresponding to positions of the plural storage media is stored in the storage media as the position information,

the system includes, as the reading unit, a first reading unit and a second reading unit having a reading range wider than that of the first reading unit, and

the system changes the reading range according to moving speed of the moving machine to read the position information of the storage media with the first reading unit when the moving speed of the moving machine is in a low-speed state and read the position information of the storage media with the second reading unit when the moving speed of the moving machine is in a high-speed state.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit configured to change the reading range according to moving speed of the moving machine.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein the system controls the moving speed of the moving machine according to a distance from a stop position of the moving machine.

5. The system according to claim 2, wherein the system excludes, in the reading by the second reading unit, a part of the plural storage media arranged in the reading range from reading targets.

6. The system according to claim 2, wherein

high-speed flags are set in a part of the storage media arranged at equal intervals among the plural storage media, and

the second reading unit reads, in the reading, only the storage media set with the high-speed flags among the plural storage media arranged in the reading range.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a cable antenna arranged along the path and configured to perform radio communication with the moving machine, wherein

the plural storage media are detachably attached to the cable antenna in parallel along the path.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a cable unit including:

a leaky coaxial cable arranged along the moving path and configured to function as an information transmission path and an antenna for performing radio communication; and

the plural storage media arranged in parallel along a longitudinal direction of the leaky coaxial cable and configured to store position information, wherein

the reading unit reads position information of the storage media provided in the cable unit.

9. A cable unit comprising:

a leaky coaxial cable configured to function as an information transmission path and an antenna for performing radio communication; and

plural storage media provided in parallel along a longitudinal direction of the leaky coaxial cable and configured to store position information.

10. The cable unit according to claim 9, wherein a first outer skin member forming an outer circumferential surface of a fixing wire for fixing the leaky coaxial cable to a supporting line arranged along a predetermined path, a second outer skin member forming an outer circumferential surface of the leaky coaxial cable, and a housing forming a housing section for holding the storage media are integrally formed by resin molding.