INDUSTRIAL VEHICLE FOR IDENTIFYING MALFUNCTIONING SEQUENCED TAG AND TAG LAYOUT FOR USE THEREWITH
First Claim
1. An industrial vehicle comprising industrial vehicle hardware, a tag reader, a reader module, a user interface, and a vehicle controller wherein:
- the industrial vehicle hardware comprises storage and retrieval hardware and a vehicle drive mechanism;
the tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout;
the individual tags of the tag layout comprise a plurality of sequenced tags;
the plurality of sequenced tags are sequenced along an aisle path in accordance with a sequence list that is accessible to the reader module;
the reader modulecompares a succession of identified sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list,generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags,correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, andcorrelates vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data derived from the identified tag in the tag layout, or both; and
the vehicle controller controls operational functions of the industrial vehicle hardware in response to (i) the correlation of vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, (ii) the correlation of vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data, or both, (iii) user input at the user interface of the industrial vehicle, or (ii) combinations thereof.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, tag reader, reader module, user interface, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and reader module cooperate to identify individual sequenced tags along an aisle path of a tag layout in accordance with a sequence list accessible to the reader module. The reader module compares a succession of sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list and generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags. The reader module then correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An industrial vehicle comprising industrial vehicle hardware, a tag reader, a reader module, a user interface, and a vehicle controller wherein:
-
the industrial vehicle hardware comprises storage and retrieval hardware and a vehicle drive mechanism; the tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout; the individual tags of the tag layout comprise a plurality of sequenced tags; the plurality of sequenced tags are sequenced along an aisle path in accordance with a sequence list that is accessible to the reader module; the reader module compares a succession of identified sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list, generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags, correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, and correlates vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data derived from the identified tag in the tag layout, or both; and the vehicle controller controls operational functions of the industrial vehicle hardware in response to (i) the correlation of vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, (ii) the correlation of vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data, or both, (iii) user input at the user interface of the industrial vehicle, or (ii) combinations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. The industrial vehicle as claimed in claim 14 wherein:
-
in response to the missing tag signal, the vehicle controller transitions the vehicle drive mechanism to neutral; and the generation of the missing tag signal ceases when the vehicle drive mechanism is transitioned from neutral in response to user input at the user interface of the industrial vehicle.
-
-
15. An industrial vehicle comprising industrial vehicle hardware, a tag reader, a reader module, a user interface, and a vehicle controller wherein:
-
the industrial vehicle hardware comprises storage and retrieval hardware, a vehicle drive mechanism, and a travel distance sensor; the tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout; the individual tags of the tag layout comprise a plurality of sequenced tags; the plurality of sequenced tags are sequenced along an aisle path in accordance with a sequence list that is accessible to the reader module; the reader module comprises a reader memory coupled to a reader processor; each individual tag of the tag layout corresponds to a memory location in the reader memory; the memory locations in the reader memory are stored in a known order corresponding to the sequence of the sequenced tags; the travel distance sensor measures a tag distance from an identified sequence tag; the reader module advances or retards the reader memory one memory location to a new memory location from the memory location corresponding to the identified sequence tag when an error distance measurement threshold is exceeded by the tag distance measurement, and correlates vehicle functionality corresponding to the new memory location with a current location of the industrial vehicle; the advancement or retardation from the memory location corresponding to the identified sequence tag is dependent on a travel direction of the industrial vehicle along the aisle path; and the vehicle controller controls operational functions of the industrial vehicle hardware in response to (i) the correlation of vehicle functionality with the new memory location, (ii) the correlation of vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data, or both, (iii) user input at the user interface of the industrial vehicle, or (ii) combinations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
-
-
18. An industrial vehicle comprising storage and retrieval hardware, a tag reader, a reader module, and a vehicle controller, wherein:
-
the storage and retrieval hardware is configured to store and retrieve items from selected storage elements positioned along an aisle path; the tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags along the aisle path; the individual tags of the tag layout comprise a plurality of sequenced tags; the plurality of sequenced tags are sequenced along an aisle path in accordance with a sequence list that is accessible to the reader module; the tag reader and the reader module further cooperate to generate a travel direction signal from a succession of identified sequence tags; the reader module compares a succession of identified sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list, derives a travel direction of the industrial vehicle along respective aisle paths from the succession of identified sequenced tags, and generates a travel direction signal indicative of the industrial vehicle along respective aisle paths; and the vehicle controller controls operational functions of the storage and retrieval hardware partially as a function of the travel direction signal.
-
-
19. A system comprising a remote computer and an industrial vehicle, wherein:
-
the industrial vehicle comprises industrial vehicle hardware, a user interface, a tag reader, a reader module, and a vehicle controller; the industrial vehicle hardware comprises storage and retrieval hardware and a vehicle drive mechanism; the tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout; the individual tags of the tag layout comprise a plurality of sequenced tags; the plurality of sequenced tags are sequenced along an aisle path in accordance with a sequence list that is accessible to the reader module; the reader module compares a succession of identified sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list, generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags, correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, and correlates vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data derived from the identified tag in the tag layout, or both; the remote computer comprises a computer memory; the remote computer is communicatively coupled to the vehicle controller; the vehicle controller sends malfunction information to the remote computer when the missing tag signal is generated; and the vehicle controller controls operational functions of the industrial vehicle hardware in response to (i) the correlation of vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated, (ii) the correlation of vehicle functionality with an identified tag in the tag layout, tag-dependent positional data, or both, (iii) user input at the user interface of the industrial vehicle, or (ii) combinations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification