Construction equipment discovery on a network

• US 7,363,137 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2005
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lincoln Global Incorporated (Lincoln Electric Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Brant, Dmitry, Cole, Stephen R, Hillen, Edward D
• Primary Examiner(s): To; Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US11/050,172
• Publication Number:
  US 20060173619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 701/213, 701/50, 701/207, 701/221, 340/539.13, 340/995.1, 340/988, 445/456.1, 56/102.A
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/39 the satellite radio beacon positioning system transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methodologies that facilitate a search for construction equipment(s) (e.g., a welding terminal) via a locator component that searches a networked area as defined by a plurality of reference points. Upon locating a network address of the construction unit, a physical location of such unit on the network, or the reference points, can also be determined via employing technologies such as a Global Positioning System (GPS), angle and Time Difference of a Signal'"'"'s Arrival (TDOA), probabilistic analysis of strength of a wireless signal with respect to the reference points and the like. Also, a composition of welding equipments employed on the construction site can be determined and/or configured.

Claims

1. A system that determines location of equipment on a construction site comprising:

a locator component as part of a central host unit to search a network and locate an address of a welding equipment on the network, the network defined by a plurality of reference points;

a mapping component that maps the network address to a physical location of the welding equipment, the welding equipment further comprising a welding component, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) client component facilitating transfer of information associated with the welding component between the welding component and at least one other device and a wireless communication component facilitating wireless communication between the WAP client component and the at least one other device;

an input component to allow a user to build a desired cell configuration based on connections between a plurality of detected machines; and

a display component to display a cell layout to the user.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a GPS system as part of the plurality of reference points or construction equipment.

3. The system of claim 1, the physical location determined by at least one of a Time Difference of Signal Arrival (TDOA) and probabilistic analysis of a wireless signal.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising an artificial intelligence unit that facilitates determination of a physical location for a construction unit in relation to the reference points.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a portable wireless communication unit operably connected to the central host unit, to receive data regarding state of the construction equipment.

6. The system of claim 5, the data regarding the state of the construction equipment comprises at least one of a physical location, maintenance requirement, and operation status of the construction equipment.

7. The system of claim 1, the transfer of information occurs via at least one of a Wireless Mark-up Language (WML) document and a Wireless Mark-up Language script (WML script) document.

8. The system of claim 1, a WAP gateway component communicates with the central host unit via at least one of a wide area network, a local area network, the Internet and a personal area network.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a browsing component.

10. The system of claim 1, the transferred information being at least one of diagnostic information and error logs.

11. The system of claim 4, the artificial intelligence unit employs a support vector machine classifier.

12. The system of claim 1, the welding equipment is portable further comprising a rack system, a welding device with a power supply and a communication component.

13. The system of claim 12, the reference points supply information regarding the presence of the portable construction equipment.

14. The system of claim 1, the network is an IP network with a logical tree structure comprising at least a master device and an associated slave device.

15. The system of claim 1, the reference points are in communication with additional sub reference points to further delineate a triangular layout for higher resolution.

16. The system of claim 1, the central host unit comprises a measurement component that receives, as an input, a signal strength derived from wireless signal associated with the welding equipment.

17. A system that determines location of welding equipment on a construction site comprising:

means for searching a networked area as defined by a plurality of reference points to determine network address of the welding equipment, the means for searching is part of a central host unit;

means for mapping the physical location of the welding equipment on the network to its network address;

means for transferring information associated with the equipment to at least one communication device by employing wireless application protocol (WAP), wherein the means for transferring is comprised within the welding equipment; and

means for facilitating wireless communication between the means for information transfer and the at least one communication device;

means to allow a user to build a desired cell configuration based on connections between a plurality of detected machines; and

means for displaying a cell layout to the user.

18. The system of claim 17, the wireless communication means determines a priority level associated with the information generated by the WAP means.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising artificial intelligence means for deriving an inference relating to the position of the equipment relative to location of the central host unit.