Market-based control system for controlling object motion with smart matter

• US 6,119,052 A
• Filed: 03/02/1998
• Issued: 09/12/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Berlin, Andrew A., Huberman, Bernardo A., Hogg, Tad H., Guenther, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): Gordon, Paul P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, RAMESH B
• Application Number:
  US09/033,221
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 700/2, 700/90, 700/91, 700/92, 700/112, 700/113, 700/114, 700/115, 700/116, 700/117, 700/213, 700/214, 700/215, 700/219, 700/228-230, 705/22, 705/23, 705/37, 271/194, 271/195, 271/196, 271/197, 271/225-227
• US Class Current: 700/228
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2220/02 indicating an entity which is controlled, adjusted or changed by a control process, i.e. output
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2406/11 producing fluidised bed
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2406/41 Valves
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2515/20 Volume; Volume flow
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2515/34 Pressure, e.g. fluid pressure
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2557/24 Calculating methods; Mathematic models
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 5/228 by air-blast devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A market based controller controls the motion of an object on a transport assembly. The transport assembly is formed using sensors and actuators that are proximately coupled in physical space. To efficiently allocate a fixed amount of air pressure directed to the actuators, the market controller maps each market agent to points in space on the transport assembly, as well as, points in time relative to a system clock. Using information gathered from the sensor units, each market agent determines whether to bid on the fixed amount of air pressure each bid interval. Using the bids submitted by the market agents, a market equilibrium price and quantity are computed by a market auctioneer. The air pressure purchased by each market agent is then distributed to the actuators mapped thereto.

Claims

1. A transport assembly for moving an object, comprising:

a system resource;

actuator units for moving the object on the transport assembly with said system resource;

sensor units for providing positional information of the object on the transport assembly; and

a control system for controlling motion of the object on the transport by allocating quantities of said system resource to selected ones of said actuator units;

said control system further comprising;

market agents for computing bids for said actuator units to purchase quantities of said system resource;

an actuator distributor for specifying available quantities of said system resource for consumption by said actuator units; and

a market auctioneer, coupled to said market agents and said actuator distributor, for receiving the bids computed by said market agents and the available quantities of said system resource specified by said actuator distributor;

said market auctioneer computing an allocation of said system resource that satisfies an aggregation of the bids.

2. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said control system further comprises a predictor unit for predicting, with the positional information provided by said sensor units, locations of the object on the transport assembly at different points in time.

3. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said control system maps said market agents to regions of the transport assembly having sensor and actuator units.

4. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said control system dynamically maps said market agents to points in time relative to a system time.

5. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said actuator distributor specifies a quantity and a price at which said system resource is available.

6. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said actuator distributor specifies a range of quantities and prices at which said system resource is available.

7. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said control system further comprises a predictor unit coupled said market agents for extrapolating a location of the object at time (t+1) from a known position at time (t).

8. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein each bid computed by said market agents is represented with a demand curve.

9. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein bids of each market agent are weighted to adjust control of localized regions of the transport assembly.

10. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said system resource is an air pressure source.

11. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said actuator units are air valves.

12. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said sensor units are optical sensors.

13. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said market auctioneer computes an equilibrium allocation of said system resources that satisfies an aggregation of the bids.

14. The transport assembly according to claim 1, wherein said system resource is a replenishing resource.

15. A method for controlling motion of an object with a transport assembly having embedded sensor units and actuator units, comprising the steps of:

specifying, with an actuator distributor, prices at which quantities of a system resource are available for consumption by the actuator units;

allocating market agents to compute bids to purchase certain quantities of the system resource; and

computing, with a market auctioneer, an allocation of the system resource that satisfies an aggregation of the bids.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of predicting, with positional information provided by the sensor units, locations of the object on the transport assembly at different instances in time.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of mapping the market agents to points in time relative to a system time.

18. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of mapping the market agents to points in space relative to the transport assembly.

19. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of independently weighing bids of each market agent to adjust control of localized regions of the transport assembly.

20. A control system for controlling an object having a position on a transport assembly;

the transport assembly having arranged therein arrays of coupled sensor units and actuator units;

the sensor units providing positional information of the object on the transport assembly;

the actuator units consuming quantities of a system resource, said control system comprising;

an actuator distributor for specifying the quantities of the system resource available for consumption by the actuator units;

said actuator distributor determining a price at which the quantities of the system resource are available;

market agents for computing bids to purchase quantities of the system resource with respect to a position mapping and a time mapping;

the position mapping associating the market agents with a region of the transport assembly having selected ones of the sensor units and the actuator units;

the time mapping associating the market agents with a point in time relative to a system time of the transport assembly; and

a market auctioneer, coupled to said market agents and said actuator distributor, for receiving the bids computed by said market agents and the available quantities and prices of the system resource specified by said actuator distributor;

said market auctioneer computing an allocation of the system resource that satisfies the bids.