System and method for determining and controlling status and location of an object
Techniques are described with regard to determining and controlling a location and status of assets directly and/or indirectly. The techniques may be used to track and control the respective locations and status of any number of objects. Applications include but are not limited to tracking dry and refrigerated trailers and their status in a supply-chain yard; tracking pallets and boxes and their status in a warehouse; tracking items in a retail environment; tracking finished goods and work in progress in and around a manufacturing plant; tracking vehicles in a parking lot; tracking cargo and equipment at an airport; tracking equipment in a lay down yard; etc. In all cases the laborious and error prone data gathering is replaced with automated data collection methods reducing cost, increasing accuracy, and increasing efficiency.
1. An asset inventorying method, comprising:
moving a mobile vehicle along a trajectory in a facility, the mobile vehicle having at least one sensor;
as the mobile vehicle moves along the trajectory, using the sensor to collect information relating to one or more assets in the facility that come into proximity with the mobile vehicle, the collected information defining a time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with each asset that is in proximity to the mobile vehicle;
transmitting the information collected by the sensor to a processor; and
the processor creating a current mapping of the identity and location of the one or more assets in the facility using information relating to the trajectory and the collected information including the defined one or more shapes, the time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with each asset defining an identity of the associated asset and a current status of the associated asset.
2. An asset inventorying system, comprising:
a mobile vehicle capable of moving along a trajectory in a facility;
at least one sensor coupled to the mobile vehicle, the sensor capable of collecting information relating to one or more assets that come into proximity with the mobile vehicle as the mobile vehicle moves along the trajectory, wherein the collected information defines a time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with each asset in proximity to the mobile vehicle;
the mobile vehicle having a transmitter capable of transmitting information collected by the sensor from the mobile vehicle to a processor; and
the processor being capable of creating a current mapping of the identity and location of the one or more assets in the facility using information relating to the trajectory and the collected information including the defined one or more shapes, the processor being capable of using the time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with each asset to define an identity of the associated asset and a current status for the associated asset.
3. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein the processor uses the time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with the associated asset and a previously collected time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with the associated asset to determine whether the current status of the associated asset has changed from a previous status associated with the associated asset.
4. The asset inventorying system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is capable of using the time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with the associated asset and a previously collected time-evolved, overlapping set of one or more shapes associated with the associated asset to determine whether the current status of the associated asset has changed from a previous status associated with the associated asset.
5. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein the current mapping includes 3D coordinate point information about the location of the one or more assets in the facility.
6. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a future action concerning one of the one or more assets based on the current mapping.
7. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a future action concerning the mobile vehicle based on the current mapping.
8. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a camera.
9. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein each asset has an indicium associated therewith, and wherein the information collected by the sensor includes information relating to the indicium.
10. The asset inventorying method of claim 9 , wherein the indicium comprises a bar code or a QR code.
11. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein the current status comprises dimensions of the associated asset.
12. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , wherein the current status comprises a condition of the associated asset.
13. The asset inventorying method of claim 1 , further comprising determining from current mapping whether the collected information includes information obtained from a certain part of the facility, and changing to trajectory of the mobile vehicle to move towards the certain part of the facility if the current mapping does not include information obtained from the certain part of the facility.
14. The asset inventorying system of claim 2 , wherein the sensor comprises a camera.
15. The asset inventorying system of claim 2 , wherein each asset has an indicium associated therewith, and wherein the information collected by the sensor includes information relating to the indicium.
16. The asset inventorying system of claim 15 , wherein the indicium comprises a bar code or a QR code.
17. The asset inventorying system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is capable of determining from current mapping whether the collected information includes information obtained from a certain part of the facility, and changing to trajectory of the mobile vehicle to move towards the certain part of the facility if the current mapping does not include information obtained from the certain part of the facility.