Navigation system for unmanned vehicles
First Claim
1. A system for effecting transport over a surface among a plurality of terminals, comprisingat least one transport vehicle movable over the surface;
- barrier means for dividing the surface into a plurality of contiguous elemental zones, with respective pairs of the contiguous zones being separated by respective boundaries, and for sensing the passage of said vehicle across a boundary between two contiguous zones;
light signal generator means for emitting light signals identifying each said zone which said vehicle is permitted to enter and identifying the location of each of the plurality of terminals;
circuit means connected between said barrier means and said light signal generator means and responsive to passage of said vehicle across a respective boundary for controlling the light signals identifying those contiguous zones which are separated by that respective boundary;
first photoelectric receiver means carried by said vehicle for sensing light signals produced by said light signal generator means and producing electrical signals representative of the light signals; and
vehicle movement control means carried by said vehicle and connected to receive the electrical signals from said photoelectric receiver means for controlling the movement of said vehicle in dependence on the light signals.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for effecting transport over a surface among a plurality of terminals, including at least one transport vehicle movable over the surface, light barriers dividing the surface into a plurality of contiguous elemental zones and sensing the passage of a vehicle across a boundary between two contiguous zones, light signal generators for emitting light signals identifying each zone occupied by a vehicle and identifying the location of each terminal, logic circuitry connected between the barriers and said light signal generators for controlling the light signals identifying each zone in response to passage of a vehicle across a boundary, a photoelectric receiver carried by the vehicle for sensing light signals produced by the light signal generators and producing electrical signals representative of the light signals, and a vehicle movement control circuit carried by the vehicle and connected to receive the electrical signals from the photoelectric receiver for controlling the movement of the vehicle in dependence on the light signals.
96 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A system for effecting transport over a surface among a plurality of terminals, comprising
at least one transport vehicle movable over the surface; -
barrier means for dividing the surface into a plurality of contiguous elemental zones, with respective pairs of the contiguous zones being separated by respective boundaries, and for sensing the passage of said vehicle across a boundary between two contiguous zones;
light signal generator means for emitting light signals identifying each said zone which said vehicle is permitted to enter and identifying the location of each of the plurality of terminals;circuit means connected between said barrier means and said light signal generator means and responsive to passage of said vehicle across a respective boundary for controlling the light signals identifying those contiguous zones which are separated by that respective boundary; first photoelectric receiver means carried by said vehicle for sensing light signals produced by said light signal generator means and producing electrical signals representative of the light signals; and vehicle movement control means carried by said vehicle and connected to receive the electrical signals from said photoelectric receiver means for controlling the movement of said vehicle in dependence on the light signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification