POWER TOOL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20160364687A1
• Filed: 06/15/2016
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation (Techtronic Industries Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation (Techtronic Industries Company Limited)
• Inventors: Matson, Stephen, Coulis, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 10,339,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25F 5/00 Details or components of portable power-driven tools not particularly related to the operations performed and not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

A mobile device and method for determining power tool attendance. The mobile device and method are able to generate a list of power tools that are missing based on being outside of communication range with the mobile device. For example, the mobile device includes a short-range transceiver, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and the short-range transceiver. The processor is configured to receive a list of a first plurality of power tools and receive, via a user interface, a selection to detect nearby tools. The processor is also configured to receive, via the short-range transceiver, identification signals from a second plurality of power tools and determine that a subset of the first plurality of power tools is missing based on the identification signals. The processor is further configured to generate an indication that the subset of the first plurality of power tools is missing.

Claims

1. A method of adding power tool devices to an inventory list, the method comprising:

receiving, via a user interface, a request to add a nearby power tool device to the inventory list;

receiving, via a short-range transceiver, identification signals from a plurality of power tool devices;

displaying, via the user interface, identification information of the plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a power tool device from the plurality of power tool devices; and

adding, using a processor, the power tool device to the inventory list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, using the processor, that the plurality of power tool devices is not in the inventory list, wherein displaying the identification information of the plurality of power tool devices is based on determining that the plurality of power tool devices is not in the inventory list.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, via the short-range transceiver, a broadcast message in response to receiving the request to add a nearby power tool device to the inventory list;

wherein receiving the identification signals from the plurality of power tool devices occurs in response to the broadcast message.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the inventory list on a remote server, wherein the inventory list is updated using the processor via a network interface.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting, to the remote server via the network interface, at least one selected from a group consisting of new user-defined tool modes, power tool usage information, new identification information, and power tool device status for the power tool device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the power tool device, via the short-range transceiver, at least one selected from a group consisting of:

power tool status, power tool operation statistics, power tool identification, stored power tool usage information, power tool maintenance data, battery pack identification, battery pack stored voltage, battery pack charge characteristics, and battery pack discharge characteristics.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the user interface, a second request to add a second nearby power tool device of a connected manufacturer;

transmitting, via a network transceiver, a query to a remote server;

receiving, from the remote server via the network interface, identification information of a second plurality of power tool devices based on the query;

displaying, via the user interface, the second plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the user interface, a second selection of a second power tool device from the second plurality of power tool devices; and

adding, using the processor, the second power tool device to the inventory list.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the user interface, a third request to add a third power tool device of a non-connected manufacturer;

receiving, via the user interface, information of the third power tool device; and

adding, using the processor, the third power tool device to the inventory list.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the remote server via the network interface, the inventory list including a third plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the user interface, a third selection to detect nearby power tool devices;

receiving, via the short-range transceiver, identification signals from a fourth plurality of power tool devices;

determining, using the processor, that a second subset of the third plurality of power tool devices is missing based on the identification signals; and

generating, using the processor, an indication that the second subset of the third plurality of power tool devices is missing.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating, using the processor, an indication that the fourth plurality of power tool devices are nearby.

11. A method of analyzing metrics of a power tool, the method comprising:

receiving, via a short-range transceiver, identification signals from a plurality of power tool devices;

displaying, via a user interface, identification information of the plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a power tool device to be analyzed from the plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the short-range transceiver, metrics information regarding the power tool device in response to the selection of the power tool device to be analyzed; and

displaying, via the user interface, the metrics information of the power tool device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein metrics information includes at least one selected from a group consisting of:

an internal battery percentage, cycles since last service, total cycles, and total full pressure cycles.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting, via the short-range transceiver, a broadcast message in response to receiving a request to scan for nearby power tool devices, wherein receiving the identification information of the plurality of power tool devices occurs in response to the broadcast message.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the power tool device is a hydraulic crimper.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the metrics information includes a total number of cycles and a total number of full pressure cycles.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, from a remote server via a network interface, an inventory list including a second plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via the user interface, a second selection to detect nearby power tool devices;

receiving, via the short-range transceiver, identification signals from a third plurality of power tool devices;

determining, using the processor, that a subset of the second plurality of power tool devices is missing based on the identification signals; and

generating, using the processor, an indication that the subset of the second plurality of power tool devices is missing.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating, using the processor, an indication that the third plurality of power tool devices are nearby.

18. A method for determining power tool attendance, the method comprising:

receiving a list of a first plurality of power tool devices;

receiving, via a user interface, a selection to detect nearby power tool devices;

receiving, via the short-range transceiver, identification signals from a second plurality of power tool devices;

determining, using a processor, that a subset of the first plurality of power tool devices is missing based on the identification signals; and

generating, using the processor, an indication that the subset of the first plurality of power tool devices is missing.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining, using the processor, that a second subset of the first plurality of power tool devices is not configured to communicate with the processor; and

generating, using the processor, an indication that the second subset of the first plurality of power tool devices is not configured to communicate with the processor.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating, using the processor, an indication that the second plurality of power tool devices are nearby.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the list of the first plurality of power tool devices includes receiving the list of the first plurality of power tool devices from a user input via the user interface.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the list of the first plurality of power tool devices includes receiving the list of the first plurality of power tool devices from a server via a network interface.