Use of electronic badges in aisle passing maneuvers

#The present disclosure relates to electronic systems that collect information related to the operation and movement of electronic badges in industrial applications, and in particular to the utilization of industrial vehicle communication with electronic badges to make decisions with regard to industrial vehicle passing maneuvers.

#Wireless strategies are deployed by business operations, including distributors, retail stores, manufacturers, etc., to improve the efficiency and accuracy of business operations. Wireless strategies may also be deployed by such business operations to avoid the insidious effects of constantly increasing labor and logistics costs.

#For instance, in a typical warehouse implementation, a forklift truck is equipped with a communications device that links a corresponding forklift truck operator to a management system executing on an associated computer enterprise via a wireless transceiver. Essentially, the communications device is used as an interface to the management system to direct the tasks of the forklift truck operator, e.g., by instructing the forklift truck operator where and/or how to pick, pack, put away, move, stage, process or otherwise manipulate items within a facility.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for operating industrial vehicles, according to aspects of the disclosure;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system of electronics on an industrial vehicle such as a forklift truck, which includes an information linking device, an environmental-based location tracking device, and a badge communicator, according to aspects of the present disclosure;

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating various technologies of communication in an environment in which industrial vehicles operate, according to aspects of the present disclosure;

#According to various aspects of the present disclosure, systems and computer-implemented processes provide communication between electronic badges operating in a constrained environment such as a warehouse, and badge communicators on industrial vehicles also operating in the constrained environment. The disclosure herein improves the technologies of industrial vehicles, machine-to-machine communication, and wireless electronic proximity detection. In particular, various aspects of the present disclosure address the technical problem of proximity detection by providing a technical solution that comprises augmenting localized short-range wireless communication with environmental-based location information, industrial vehicle operational information, domain-level information, combinations thereof, etc., as set out in greater detail herein.

#The technical solutions herein bring about several technical effects, including automated electronic badge tracking, improved machine-to-machine communication, and improved environmental and situational awareness between industrial vehicles and electronic badges. Moreover, the above technologies are improved by enabling industrial vehicles to work together, collectively and indirectly tracking electronic badges over time where movement of the electronic badges make tracking thereof impractical with other technologies.

#The disclosure herein also improves the technologies of industrial vehicles and machine-to-machine communication by fusing together multiple independent sensor/data processing technologies to enable industrial vehicles to dynamically detect, locate and make decisions based upon the local presence of electronic badges in close proximity to (e.g., within 15-20 meters of) an industrial vehicle. In practice, the proximity of the detection range will be dependent on a number of factors, such as the technology used in tracking the badges (UWB (ultra-wide band), Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), Bluetooth, etc.), power of the transmitter, etc. As such, the range of 15-20 meters is by way of illustration only. Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc., a Delaware corporation, located at 5209 Lake Washington Boulevard, Suite 350, Kirkland, Wash. 98033.