OBJECT TRACKING METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20150219748A1
• Filed: 02/06/2014
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Hyatt, Anthony, Witty, Stephen, Henry, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,547,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for tracking at least one object configured to be transported by at least one vehicle may include at least one computer system. The at least one computer system may be configured to determine at least one location of the at least one vehicle and determine at least one location of the at least one object. The at least one computer system may be further configured to determine at least one location of at least one geofence adjacent the at least one vehicle based on the at least one location of the at least one vehicle. Also, the at least one computer system may be configured to determine whether the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence to determine whether a load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object.

Claims

1. A system for tracking at least one object configured to be transported by at least one vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one computer system configured to;

determine at least one location of the at least one vehicle;

determine at least one location of the at least one object;

determine at least one location of at least one geofence adjacent the at least one vehicle based on the at least one location of the at least one vehicle; and

determine whether the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence to determine whether a load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to update the at least one location of the at least one geofence periodically.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to determine a weight of the load of the at least one vehicle and determine whether the load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object based on the determined weight.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising at least one weight determining device provided on the at least one vehicle, the at least one weight determining device being configured to determine the weight of the load of the at least one vehicle.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to determine that the load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object when the determined weight is above a threshold.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one computer system is configured to receive input from a user to define the threshold.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of tags including at least one object tag for attaching to the at least one object and at least one vehicle tag for attaching to the at least one vehicle; and

at least one reader configured to receive signals from the plurality of tags and communicate information to the at least one computer system based on the received signals,

wherein the computer system is further configured to determine the at least one location of the at least one vehicle and the at least one location of the at least one object based on the information received from the at least one reader.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one object tag is in the form of at least one label configured to be applied to the at least one object.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one vehicle includes a first vehicle, and the at least one vehicle tag includes a plurality of vehicle tags located on the first vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one computer system determines a center point based on the signals received from the plurality of vehicle tags and determines a location of the first vehicle based on the center point.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to communicate the at least one location of the at least one vehicle and the at least one location of the at least one object to the at least one vehicle.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one display device provided in the at least one vehicle and configured to communicate with the at least one computer system, the at least one display device being configured to display whether the at least one object is loaded on and unloaded from the at least one vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein, after the at least one computer system determines that the load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object, the at least one display device is configured to display a destination of at least one loaded object.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one display device is configured to display a map indicating the locations of the at least one object, the at least one vehicle, and the at least one geofence.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one display device is configured to display a loading and unloading history for the at least one vehicle.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one display device is configured to display information indicating where the at least one object was loaded from or unloaded to.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to determine a direction of the at least one vehicle and determine the at least one location of the at least one geofence based on the determined direction of the at least one vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

at least one direction determining device configured to determine the direction of the at least one vehicle and communicate the determined direction to the at least one computer system;

wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to determine the direction of the at least one vehicle based on the determined direction received from the at least one direction determining device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the direction determining device includes a digital compass.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to determine an area of the at least one geofence, the area having a size of a pallet in front of the at least one vehicle.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to adjust an area of the at least one geofence automatically.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to:

determine a weight of the load of the at least one vehicle; and

increase the area of the at least one geofence when the at least one computer system determines that no object is located within the at least one geofence and that the weight of the load of the at least one vehicle exceeds a threshold.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one computer system is further configured to increase the area of the at least one geofence incrementally until the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle includes at least one of a forklift, a cart, a trailer, or a motor vehicle.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one object includes a shipment or package.

26. A method for tracking at least one shipment using at least one computer system, the method comprising:

determining, using the at least one computer system, at least one location of at least one forklift;

determining, using the at least one computer system, at least one location of the at least one shipment;

determining, using the at least one computer system, at least one location of at least one geofence in front of the forklift based on the at least one location of the at least one forklift; and

determining, using the at least one computer system, whether the at least one shipment is located within the at least one geofence to determine whether a load of the at least one forklift includes the at least one shipment.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

placing at least one shipment tag on the at least one shipment; and

receiving at least one signal from the at least one shipment tag to determine the at least one location of the at least one shipment.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the at least one shipment tag is applied as at least one label on the at least one shipment.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising determining a weight of the load of the at least one forklift and determining whether the load of the at least one forklift includes the at least one shipment based on the determined weight.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising determining a direction of the at least one forklift and determining the at least one location of the at least one geofence based on the determined direction of the at least one forklift.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising displaying to an operator of the forklift whether the at least one shipment is loaded on and unloaded from the at least one forklift.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising, after determining that the load of the at least one forklift includes the at least one shipment, displaying to an operator of the forklift information about the at least one loaded shipment.

33. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method for tracking at least one object configured to be transported by at least one vehicle, the method comprising:

determining at least one location of the at least one vehicle;

determining at least one location of the at least one object;

determining at least one location of at least one geofence adjacent the at least one vehicle based on the at least one location of the at least one vehicle; and

determining whether a load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object based on whether the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence.

34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a weight of the load of the at least one vehicle; and

determining that the load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object when the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence and when the determined weight is above a threshold.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises

placing at least one object tag on the at least one object;

placing at least one vehicle tag on the at least one vehicle;

receiving at least one signal from the at least one object tag and the at least one vehicle tag to determine the at least one locations of the at least one object and the at least one vehicle.