POSITIONING SYSTEM

• US 20110128163A1
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: David S. Gilleland, Michael Layton Gregory, Pieter Erasmus, Rob Satchwell Tennant
• Original Assignee: David S. Gilleland, Michael Layton Gregory, Pieter Erasmus, Rob Satchwell Tennant
• Inventors: Gregory, Michael Layton, Tennant, Rob Satchwell, Erasmus, Pieter, Gilleland, David S.
• Application Number:
  US12/889,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20110128163A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/988
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/24 using electronic identifiers containing a code not memorised by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group

Abstract

A positioning system determines location information based on reading one or more of a set of machine readable markers positioned about a facility, for example using a proximity reader. A memory stores an association between each machine readable marker and location information so that the system can determine location information without needing triangulation or GPS.

Claims

1. A system for determining the location of a vehicle in a facility comprising a memory storing an association between each of a plurality of unique identifiers and each of a plurality of location identifiers and a proximity reader operable to read an identifier to enable a location to be determined based on the stored association.

2. A system for determining the location of a vehicle in a facility, comprising a system according to claim 1 and:

a plurality of uniquely identifiable machine readable identifiers positioned about the facility; and

a vehicle carrying the proximity reader for reading a unique identifier from one of the plurality of machine readable identifiers in a reading range of the reader; and

a processor, in communication with the reader wherein the processor is arranged to determine a location of the vehicle based on the stored association.

3. A system according to claim 2 wherein the vehicle comprises logic for comparing an identifier with the stored association to determine a location of the vehicle based on the stored association.

4. A positioning system according to claim 2 wherein the machine readable identifiers are positioned with a separation of at least five times the reading range of the reader.

5. A materials handling vehicle for use with a system according to claim 1, the vehicle comprising a proximity reader for reading a machine readable identifier and comparison logic arranged to compare an identifier with a stored association to determine location information.

6. A system according to claim 2 wherein the proximity reader is a near field RF communicator.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein the machine readable identifiers comprise passive RFID tags.

8. A system according to claim 2 wherein the proximity reader is a barcode reader and the machine readable identifiers comprise two dimensional barcodes.

9. A system according to claim 2 in which the memory is carried on the vehicle and in which the vehicle comprises a long range communication interface coupled to enable data received over the communication interface to be written to the memory.

10. A system according to claim 1 configured to provide a location monitoring system for a vehicle for use with a plurality of uniquely identified radio frequency transponders wherein the proximity reader is operable to receive a unique identifier from each of the plurality of radio frequency transponders the system comprising a controller arranged to compare an identifier read from one of the plurality of transponders with the stored associations to determine a location.

11. A system according to claim 10 in which the proximity reader is carried on a vehicle and the radio frequency transponders are positioned at known locations throughout a facility.

12. A system according to claim 10 in which the radio frequency transponders are carried on vehicles and the proximity readers are positioned at known locations throughout a facility.

13. A system according to claim 1 in which a stored association comprises an association between a group of identifiers and a location.

14. A system according to claim 13 wherein the group of identifiers are associated with a location which comprises a zone of a facility.

15. A system according to claim 14 in which the facility comprises a materials handing facility and the zone is one of:

a particular aisle between storage units;

an area of a zone adjacent a particular storage unit;

a waiting zone;

an unloading zone; and

a delivery zone.

16. A system according to claim 14 in which the memory stores an association between the zone and at least one operator message.

17. A system according to claim 14 in which the memory stores an association between the zone and at least one vehicle command and in which the system comprises a control means operable to control at least one component of a vehicle based on the vehicle command.

19. A calibration method for a positioning system according to claim 1, the method comprising positioning machine readable identifiers throughout a facility and storing an association between each identifier and position information in a computer readable storage medium.

20. The calibration method of claim 19 comprising storing an association between a group of identifiers and a location in a computer readable storage medium.

18. A facility comprising a plurality of machine readable markers each marker associated with a location;

and one or more materials handling vehicles comprising a proximity reader for reading the machine readable markers; and

comparison logic for comparing information read from the markers with a stored association to determine a location of the vehicle in the facility.