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Apparatus and method for asset tracking

  • US 8,565,913 B2
  • Filed: 01/26/2009
  • Issued: 10/22/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for tracking the location and rotational orientation of one or more assets, comprising an integrated system that identifies an asset, determines a time the asset is acquired by a conveying vehicle, determines the position and rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle, determines the position, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset at the moment it is acquired, determines a time the asset is deposited by the conveying vehicle, determines the position and rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle at the time the asset is deposited, and determines the position, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset at the time the asset is deposited, each position, elevation and rotational orientation being relative to a reference plane, the integrated system comprising:

  • a) a fixed-base subsystem comprising;

    1) a host computer having a computational unit, a data storage unit, a wireless local area network interface, a communications network interface and an operator interface;

    2) a base station wireless local area network communication unit, connected to the computer, for communicating with one or more mobile communication units;

    b) one or more mobile subsystems, each mounted onboard a conveying vehicle, each comprising;

    1) a mobile computer device having a computational unit, a data storage unit, a network interface for communicating with a plurality of onboard devices, and a wireless local area network interface; and

    2) a plurality of onboard devices comprising;

    i) an optical position sensor unit to determine the location in two dimensions and the rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle in a coordinate system on the reference plane;

    ii) an optical asset identification sensor device having a predetermined field of view mounted on a lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle for optically recognizing one or more labels within the field of view on one or more assets and identifying each label having an optically machine readable symbol, calculating a location of each label within the field of view, determining a size of each label and decoding each machine readable symbol to identify an asset to be transported;

    iii) an optical asset detection device that optically measures the distance from the lifting mechanism to the asset to be transported and indicates the presence or absence of an asset on the lifting mechanism of the conveying vehicle;

    iv) a lift height detection device for determining an elevation of the lifting mechanism on the conveying vehicle relative to the reference plane;

    v) a wireless local area network communication unit for communicating with the base station communication unit; and

    vi) a driver interface for displaying asset move instructions, identification and location of the one or more assets associated with the recognized one or more labels to a driver, and for receiving data from the driver, so that the fixed-base subsystem communicates with the mobile subsystem on the conveying vehicle to optically track that conveying vehicle to an origin location of the asset to be transported, as the conveying vehicle approaches the one or more assets, one or more labels are recognized and decoded until the asset to be transported is optically detected and identified by the mobile subsystem on the conveying vehicle, the identification and location of the asset to be transported is displayed to the driver, the asset to be transported is acquired by the conveying vehicle, the optical load detection device optically confirms the presence of the asset to be transported on the conveying vehicle and optically measures the asset'"'"'s onboard position relative to the vehicle, the lift height detection device determines the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the origin location, the mobile communication unit communicates to the fixed-base subsystem the identity of the asset to be transported, a time of acquisition, and a location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the origin location, the conveying vehicle is optically tracked to deliver the asset to be transported to a destination location, the optical position sensor unit determines the location and the rotational orientation of the conveying vehicle as the asset to be transported is deposited, the lift height detection device determines the elevation of the asset to be transported relative to the reference plane at the destination location, the optical load detection device optically measures the asset'"'"'s position relative to the vehicle, confirms the absence of the asset to be transported from the conveying vehicle and the mobile communication unit communicates to the fixed-base subsystem the identity of the asset to be transported, the time of delivery, and the location, elevation and rotational orientation of the asset to be transported at the destination location.

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