Industrial vehicle positioning system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016189366-A1
Application number	US-201514982563-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 29, 2015
Priority date	Dec 31, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An industrial vehicle positioning system and method are presented. The system includes a first imaging subsystem for acquiring a first indicia image and a second imaging subsystem for acquiring a second indicia image. An image analysis subsystem is configured for analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation, and for analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation. A processor is configured for determining the location of the industrial vehicle based upon the first location designation and the second location designation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An industrial vehicle positioning system, comprising:
a first imaging subsystem for acquiring a first indicia image; a second imaging subsystem for acquiring a second indicia image; an image-analysis subsystem in communication with the first imaging subsystem and the second imaging subsystem, the image-analysis subsystem configured for (i) receiving the first indicia image from the first imaging subsystem, (ii) receiving the second indicia image from the second imaging subsystem, (iii) analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation, and (iv) analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation; and a processor in communication with the image-analysis subsystem, the processor configured for (i) receiving the first location designation and the second location designation from the image-analysis subsystem, and (ii) determining the location of the industrial vehicle based upon the first location designation and the second location designation.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the image-analysis subsystem is a barcode-reading subsystem.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises reading a barcode in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises reading a barcode in the second indicia image.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the image-analysis subsystem is an optical-character-recognition subsystem.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises recognizing a character in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises recognizing a character in the second indicia image.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the industrial vehicle comprises correlating the first location designation and the second location designation to a location-matrix.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first imaging subsystem comprises a digital video camera and the second imaging subsystem comprises a digital video camera.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first imaging subsystem comprises a digital still camera and the second imaging subsystem comprises a digital still camera.

9 . A system, comprising:
an industrial vehicle; a first imaging subsystem positioned on the industrial vehicle, the first imaging subsystem configured for acquiring a first indicia image of a first indicia located in front of the industrial vehicle; a second imaging subsystem positioned on the industrial vehicle, the second imaging subsystem configured for acquiring a second indicia image of a second indicia located behind the industrial vehicle; an image-analysis subsystem in communication with the first imaging subsystem and the second imaging subsystem, the image-analysis subsystem configured for (i) receiving the first indicia image from the first imaging subsystem, (ii) receiving the second indicia image from the second imaging subsystem, (iii) analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation, and (iv) analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation; and a processor in communication with the image-analysis subsystem, the processor configured for (i) receiving the first location designation and the second location designation from the image-analysis subsystem, and (ii) determining the location of the industrial vehicle based upon the first location designation and the second location designation.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the image-analysis subsystem is a barcode-reading subsystem.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises reading a barcode in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises reading a barcode in the second indicia image.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the image-analysis subsystem is an optical-character-recognition subsystem.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises recognizing a character in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises recognizing a character in the second indicia image.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein determining the location of the industrial vehicle comprises correlating the first location designation and the second location designation to a location-matrix.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the industrial vehicle is a forklift.

16 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the first imaging subsystem comprises a digital video camera and the second imaging subsystem comprises a digital video camera.

17 . A method of determining the location of an industrial vehicle being operated in a facility, comprising:
acquiring a first indicia image, wherein the first indicia image depicts a first indicia positioned at a first location in the facility; acquiring a second indicia image, wherein the second indicia image depicts a second indicia positioned at a second location in the facility; using a processor, analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation associated with the first location in the facility; using the processor, analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation associated with the second location in the facility; using the processor, determining the location of the industrial vehicle based upon the first location designation and the second positioning indicator.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises reading a barcode in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises reading a barcode in the second indicia image.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein:
analyzing the first indicia image to acquire a first location designation comprises recognizing a character in the first indicia image; and analyzing the second indicia image to acquire a second location designation comprises recognizing a character in the second indicia image.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the location of the industrial vehicle comprises correlating the first location designation and the second location designation to a location-matrix.

Assignees

• Hand Held Prod Inc

Inventors

• Chamberlin James
• Swamy Manjunatha Aswathanarayana
• Issac Praveen

Classifications

• H04N23/00

  Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof · CPC title

• G01S17/46 Primary

  Indirect determination of position data · CPC title

• G06K9/344

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K7/1413

  1D bar codes · CPC title

• G06K7/10722

  Photodetector array or CCD scanning · CPC title