System and method for tracking a moving element in a conveyor system
AssigneeATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc.
InventorsAlbert John KLEINIKKINK, John Leo DITNER, Graham Richard KNAP
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for tracking position and identification of a moving element on a conveyor system having a track, the system including: a machine readable medium provided to one of the moving element or the track, wherein the machine readable medium is configured with at least two channels with a predetermined phase difference therebetween; a sensor provided to the other of the moving element or the track, wherein the sensor is configured to read the at least two channels; and a controller configured to receive data from the sensor and determine a position and/or identification of the moving element on the track based on the phase difference.
Claims16
A system for tracking position of a moving element on a conveyor system having a track, the system comprising:
- a machine readable medium provided to one of the moving element or the track, wherein the machine readable medium is configured with at least two channels with a predetermined phase difference therebetween;
- a sensor provided to the other of the moving element or the track, wherein the sensor is configured to read the at least two channels;
- and
- a controller configured to receive data from the sensor and determine a position of the moving element on the track based on the phase difference.
A method for tracking a moving element on a track of a conveyor comprising:
- reading first data from a first channel of a machine readable medium;
- reading second data from a second channel of a machine readable medium, wherein the second channel has a phase difference from the first channel;
- and
- determining a position of the moving element on the track based on the first data and the second data.
A method for tracking a moving element on a track of a conveyor comprising:
- reading an identifier of the moving element from a first portion of a machine readable medium;
- and
- reading a position of the moving element on the track from a second portion of the machine readable medium.
A system for providing identification for a moving element on a conveyor system having a track, the system comprising:
- a machine readable medium provided to one of the moving element or the track, wherein the machine readable medium is configured with a phase difference;
- a sensor provided to the other of the moving element or the track, wherein the sensor is configured to read the machine readable medium;
- and
- a controller configured to receive data from the sensor and determine an identifier of the moving element based on the phase difference.
A machine readable medium for a moving element in a conveyor system, the machine readable medium comprising at least one channel, the channel comprising:
- an identification tracking portion for identifying the moving element;
- and
- a position feedback portion for determining the position of the moving element in the conveyor system.
A position and identification tracking system comprising:
- a machine readable medium configured with at least two channels with a predetermined phase difference therebetween;
- and
- a sensor configured to read the at least two channels;
- wherein a position and an identification is determined based on the phase difference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.