INDIRECT ELECTRONIC BADGE TRACKING

• US 20170372184A1
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Published: 12/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Manci, Lewis H., Buchmann, Juergen, Simon, Andreas, Sick, Sebastian
• Granted Patent: US 10,380,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/147 using electro-magnetic technology, e.g. tags or radar
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/021 specially adapted to land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0282 generated in a local control room
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0725 the arrangement being a circuit for emulating a plurality of record carriers, e.g. a single RFID tag capable of representing itself to a reader as a cloud of RFID tags
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/38 with central registration

Abstract

Electronic badges are indirectly tracked by detecting, by a badge communicator on a select industrial vehicle of a fleet of industrial vehicles, the presence of an electronic badge and performing a badge logging transaction in response to detecting the electronic badge. The badge logging transaction includes receiving, by the badge communicator, a badge identifier transmitted by the detected electronic badge. The badge logging transaction also includes determining, by the badge communicator, an offset measurement of the electronic badge relative to the select industrial vehicle, electronically determining a vehicle location of the select industrial vehicle, and identifying a badge location based upon the determined vehicle location and the measured offset. The badge logging transaction can also include generating a time stamp, and wirelessly communicating a badge locator message to a remote server, the badge locator message including the badge identifier, the badge location, and the timestamp.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process of indirectly tracking electronic badges comprising:

detecting, by a badge communicator on a select industrial vehicle of a fleet of industrial vehicles, the presence of an electronic badge; and

performing a badge logging transaction in response to detecting the electronic badge by;

receiving, by the badge communicator, a badge identifier transmitted by the detected electronic badge;

determining, by the badge communicator, an offset measurement of the electronic badge relative to the select industrial vehicle;

electronically determining a vehicle location of the select industrial vehicle;

identifying a badge location based upon the determined vehicle location and the offset measurement;

generating a time stamp; and

wirelessly communicating a badge locator message to a remote server, the badge locator message including the badge identifier, the badge location, and the timestamp.

2. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

electronically determining a vehicle location of the select industrial vehicle comprises obtaining, by an environmental-based location tracking device on the select industrial vehicle, an absolute location of the industrial vehicle within a limited, defined environment; and

wirelessly communicating a badge locator message to a remote server further comprises communicating the vehicle location, and a vehicle identification as part of the badge locator message.

3. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

electronically determining a vehicle location of the select industrial vehicle comprises obtaining, by an environmental-based location tracking device on the select industrial vehicle, an absolute location of the select industrial vehicle within a limited, defined environment;

identifying a badge location comprises computing an absolute location of the electronic badge based upon the absolute location of the select industrial vehicle and the offset measurement; and

wirelessly communicating a badge locator message to a remote server further comprises communicating the computed absolute location of the electronic badge as the badge location.

4. The computer-implemented process of claim 1, wherein:

electronically determining a vehicle location of the select industrial vehicle comprises obtaining, by an environmental-based location tracking device on the select industrial vehicle, an absolute location of the industrial vehicle within a limited, defined environment; and

identifying a badge location based upon the determined vehicle location and the offset measurement comprises identifying badge location as a function of the absolute location of the industrial vehicle, a distance offset, and an angle offset.

5. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 further comprising:

collecting and storing badge locator messages at the remote server; and

creating by the server, a mapping of a path of a select badge identifier by;

extracting from collected and stored badge locator messages, instances of badge locator messages corresponding to the select badge identifier;

extracting from each extracted badge locator message, a corresponding badge location;

transforming each badge location to a corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier on a map; and

displaying, via a graphical user interface, the map and the corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier.

6. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein creating by the server, a mapping of a path of a select badge identifier further comprises:

loading a map of a defined environment, the map having features that characterize a physical layout of the defined environment;

loading a profile that identifies movement characteristics of the electronic badge; and

computing paths between adjacent chronological time stamps based upon the loaded profile, the map, and the features of the defined environment.

7. The computer-implemented process of claim 6, wherein:

loading a map of a defined environment, the map having features that characterize a physical layout of the defined environment, further comprises;

loading a map that has defined aisles that indicate where the electronic badge is allowed to navigate, and restricted areas where the electronic badge cannot navigate through, so that the predicted path must satisfy constraints of the map and the loaded profile.

8. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein displaying, via a graphical user interface, the map and the corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier comprises displaying, via a graphical user interface, the corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier over a predetermined time window to show movement of the select badge identifier.

9. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein displaying, via a graphical user interface, the map and the corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier comprises displaying a visual indicator of the select badge identifier at multiple positions on the map and at each position, identifying an associated time stamp and the industrial vehicle that identified the badge location.

10. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, wherein displaying, via a graphical user interface, the map and the corresponding mapped position of the select badge identifier comprises displaying a visual representation of a mapped portion of a defined environment, and predicted movement of multiple electronic badges overlaid onto the map.

11. The computer-implemented process of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying a predetermined event;

comparing, by the server, a master list of all electronic badges within the collected and stored badge locator messages;

identifying, by the server, a most recent identified position of each electronic badge; and

generating a report of each electronic badge that is not accounted for in the collected badge locator messages.

12. A system for indirectly tracking electronic badges, comprising:

an information linking device on an industrial vehicle, wherein the information linking device wirelessly communicates with a server over a first wireless communication link;

an environmental-based location tracking device on the industrial vehicle, wherein the tracking device identifies an absolute position of the industrial vehicle within a limited, defined environment over a second wireless communication link; and

a badge communicator on the industrial vehicle, wherein the badge communicator communicates with electronic badges that are in proximity of the industrial vehicle on a third communication link different from the first communication link and the second communication link, the badge communicator having a controller configured to;

detect the presence of an electronic badge;

receive a badge identifier transmitted by the detected electronic badge; and

determine an offset measurement of the electronic badge;

wherein;

the badge communicator communicates the badge identifier and offset measurement to the information linking device;

the environmental-based location tracking device communicates the absolute position of the industrial vehicle to the information linking device; and

the information linking device wirelessly communicates a badge locator message to the remote server, the badge locator message including the badge identifier, the offset measurement, and a timestamp.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the environmental-based location tracking device is agnostic to the offset measurement of the electronic badge; and

the badge communicator is agnostic to absolute position of the industrial vehicle detected by the environmental-based location tracking device.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the badge communicator communicates with the information linking device over a vehicle network bus of the vehicle; and

the environmental-based location tracking device communicates with the information linking device over the vehicle network bus of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the badge communicator includes at least three antennae; and

the badge communicator computes the offset measurement of the electronic badge using time of flight calculations.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the badge communicator includes at least three antennae; and

the badge communicator computes the offset measurement of the electronic badge using phase calculations.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the badge communicator includes at least three antennae; and

each antenna communicates with the badge communicator across a network.