Systems, methods, and mobile client devices for supervising industrial vehicles

• US 9,898,010 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2016
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Chandrasekar, Kashyap, Waltz, Lucas B., Wong, Lisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Goldman, Richard A
• Application Number:
  US15/349,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20170060138A1
• Time in Patent Office: 466 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 701 1, 701118, 701 292, 701 293, 701 50
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0289 with means for avoiding collisions between vehicles vehicle fittings for automatically controlling speed including means for detecting potential obstacles B60K31/0008; avoiding obstacles by action on the steering system B62D; radar, sonar, lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

The embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for presenting information from a management server on a mobile client device to facilitate the management of industrial vehicles. Embodiments of the system can include a plurality of industrial vehicles communicatively coupled to the management server, and a mobile client device communicatively coupled to the management server. The mobile client device can include a display, a wireless communication circuit, and one or more client processors. Encoded objects, vehicular objects, or combinations thereof can be presented upon the display of the mobile client device to present information from the management server.

Claims

1. A system comprising a management server, a plurality of industrial vehicles, and a mobile client device, wherein:

the management server comprises one or more server processors;

each of the industrial vehicles comprises one or more vehicular processors, and is communicatively coupled to the management server;

the mobile client device comprises a display, a wireless communication circuit, and one or more client processors, and is communicatively coupled to the management server;

the one or more vehicular processors of each of the industrial vehicles execute vehicle functions to;

(i) determine a localized position with respect to an inventory transit surface of an industrial facility;

(ii) detect an operational characteristic;

(iii) transmit vehicular data indicative of the localized position and the operational characteristic to the management server; and

(iv) navigate along the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility to change respective positions of the industrial vehicles;

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to;

(i) determine based upon the vehicular data that an impact has occurred involving one of the industrial vehicles; and

(ii) derive an impact descriptor indicative of the impact from the vehicular data;

the wireless communication circuit of the mobile client device receives the impact descriptor; and

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device execute client functions to;

(i) display a topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the topographical warehouse object comprises a geometric representation indicative of the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility;

(ii) display a vehicular object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the vehicular object is positioned with respect to the topographical warehouse object to indicate an impact position of the one of the industrial vehicles corresponding to the localized position of the one of the industrial vehicles at an occurrence of the impact; and

(iii) display an impact path object contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles from a pre-impact position to the impact position, from the impact position to a post-impact position, or from the pre-impact position to the post-impact position.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to;

(i) generate an alarm descriptor indicative of an alarm indicative of the impact;

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions;

(i) receive a notification of the alarm; and

(ii) display a conditional encoded object configured to provide impact information contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device upon receipt of the notification of the alarm.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the conditional encoded object comprises an annotation control configured to be utilized to receive user input comprising one or more queries for the management server for impact information from a user of the mobile client device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the impact path object is presented as one or statically or as an animation;

the one or more client processors execute the client functions to provide one or more controls for manipulation of the animation; and

the conditional encoded object comprises the one or more controls.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the one or more vehicular processors of the one of the industrial vehicles execute vehicle functions to disable the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after the impact has occurred; and

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device execute client functions to;

(i) present the conditional encoded object comprising an acknowledgement control via the display of the mobile client device; and

(ii) receive input indicative of a desire to acknowledge the impact with the acknowledgement control; and

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to reactivate the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after the input is received with the acknowledgement control.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the display of the topographical warehouse object, the vehicular object, and the impact path object is near enough to real-time to permit corrective action to be taken quickly enough to mitigate the negative impact of latency caused by a communication of changing positions of the plurality of industrial vehicles to the mobile client device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions to:

transform the impact descriptor into the impact path object, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles in a manner that is representative of the motion of the one of the industrial vehicles with respect to the topographical warehouse object.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions to:

display an encoded object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the encoded object occupies an area of the topographical warehouse object that corresponds to a region of the inventory transit surface, and wherein the encoded object is indicative of one or more levels of congestion of the region of the inventory transit surface.

9. A mobile client device comprising a display, a wireless communication circuit, and one or more client processors, wherein:

the mobile client device is communicatively coupled to a management server;

the management server comprises one or more server processors;

the management server is communicatively coupled to a plurality of industrial vehicles;

each of the industrial vehicles comprises one or more vehicular processors;

the one or more vehicular processors of each of the industrial vehicles execute vehicle functions to;

(i) determine a localized position with respect to an inventory transit surface of an industrial facility;

(ii) detect an operational characteristic;

(iii) transmit vehicular data indicative of the localized position and the operational characteristic to the management server; and

(iv) navigate along the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility to change respective positions of the industrial vehicles;

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to;

(i) determine based upon the vehicular data that an impact has occurred involving one of the industrial vehicles; and

(ii) derive an impact descriptor indicative of the impact from the vehicular data;

the wireless communication circuit of the mobile client device receives the impact descriptor; and

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device execute client functions to;

(i) display a topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the topographical warehouse object comprises a geometric representation indicative of the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility;

(ii) display a vehicular object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the vehicular object is positioned with respect to the topographical warehouse object to indicate an impact position of the one of the industrial vehicles corresponding to the localized position of the one of the industrial vehicles at an occurrence of the impact; and

(iii) display an impact path object contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles from a pre-impact position to the impact position, from the impact position to a post-impact position, or from the pre-impact position to the post-impact position.

10. The mobile client device of claim 9, wherein:

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to;

(i) generate an alarm descriptor indicative of an alarm indicative of the impact;

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions;

(i) receive a notification of the alarm; and

(ii) display a conditional encoded object configured to provide impact information contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device upon receipt of the notification of the alarm.

11. The mobile client device of claim 10, wherein the conditional encoded object comprises an annotation control configured to be utilized to receive user input comprising one or more queries for the management server for impact information from a user of the mobile client device.

12. The mobile client device of claim 10, wherein:

the impact path object is presented as one or statically or as an animation;

the one or more client processors execute the client functions to provide one or more controls for manipulation of the animation; and

the conditional encoded object comprises the one or more controls.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the one or more vehicular processors of the one of the industrial vehicles execute vehicle functions to disable the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after the impact has occurred; and

the one or more client processors of the mobile client device execute client functions to;

(i) present the conditional encoded object comprising an acknowledgement control via the display of the mobile client device; and

(ii) receive input indicative of a desire to acknowledge the impact with the acknowledgement control; and

the one or more server processors of the management server execute server functions to reactivate the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after the input is received with the acknowledgement control.

14. The mobile client device of claim 9, wherein the display of the topographical warehouse object, the vehicular object, and the impact path object is near enough to real-time to permit corrective action to be taken quickly enough to mitigate the negative impact of latency caused by a communication of changing positions of the plurality of industrial vehicles to the mobile client device.

15. The mobile client device of claim 9, wherein the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions to:

transform the impact descriptor into the impact path object, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles in a manner that is representative of the motion of the one of the industrial vehicles with respect to the topographical warehouse object.

16. The mobile client device of claim 9, wherein the one or more client processors of the mobile client device further execute client functions to:

display an encoded object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the encoded object occupies an area of the topographical warehouse object that corresponds to a region of the inventory transit surface, and wherein the encoded object is indicative of one or more levels of congestion of the region of the inventory transit surface.

17. A method comprising:

disposing each of a plurality of industrial vehicles upon an inventory transit surface of an industrial facility, wherein each of the plurality of industrial vehicles are in communication with a management server and the management server is in communication with a mobile client device, and wherein the mobile client device comprises a display, a wireless communication circuit, and one or more client processors;

determining a localized position of each of the industrial vehicles with respect to the industrial facility;

detecting an operational characteristic of each of the industrial vehicles;

determining based upon the localized position and the operational characteristic of each of the industrial vehicles that an impact has occurred involving one of the industrial vehicles;

navigating each of the industrial vehicles upon the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility to change respective positions of the industrial vehicles;

receiving, automatically with the wireless communication circuit of the mobile client device, an impact descriptor indicative of the impact of the one of the industrial vehicles;

displaying a topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the topographical warehouse object comprises a geometric representation indicative of the inventory transit surface of the industrial facility;

displaying a vehicular object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the vehicular object is positioned with respect to the topographical warehouse object to indicate an impact position of the one of the industrial vehicles corresponding to the localized position of the one of the industrial vehicles at an occurrence of the impact; and

displaying an impact path object contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles from a pre-impact position to the impact position, from the impact position to a post-impact position, or from the pre-impact position to the post-impact position.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating an alarm descriptor indicative of an alarm indicative of the impact;

receiving a notification of the alarm; and

displaying a conditional encoded object configured to provide impact information contemporaneously with and superimposed on the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device upon receipt of the notification of the alarm.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the conditional encoded object comprises an annotation control configured to be utilized to receive user input comprising one or more queries for the management server for impact information from a user of the mobile client device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the impact path object is presented as one or statically or as an animation; and

displaying the conditional encoded object comprising display one or more controls for manipulation of the animation.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

disabling the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after determining the impact has occurred;

presenting, automatically with the one or more client processors of the mobile client device, the conditional encoded object comprising an acknowledgement control via the display of the mobile client device;

receiving input indicative of a desire to acknowledge the impact with the acknowledgement control; and

reactivating the one of the industrial vehicles involved in the impact after the input is received with the acknowledgement control.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transforming the impact descriptor into the impact path object, wherein the impact path object is indicative of movement of the one of the industrial vehicles in a manner that is representative of the motion of the one of the industrial vehicles with respect to the topographical warehouse object.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying an encoded object contemporaneously with the topographical warehouse object via the display of the mobile client device, wherein the encoded object occupies an area of the topographical warehouse object that corresponds to a region of the inventory transit surface, and wherein the encoded object is indicative of one or more levels of congestion of the region of the inventory transit surface.