Patents by Inventor Daniel D. Walton

Daniel D. Walton has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230367332
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial facility is provided comprising a tag layout and at least one ingress/egress zone. The tag layout comprises at least one double row of tags. The ingress/egress zone is located outside of an area of the vehicle travel plane occupied by the aisle path and is bounded in its entirety by the double row of tags, by two or more double rows of tags, by a combination of one or more double rows of tags and one more selected facility boundaries, or by combinations thereof. The double row of tags is arranged in an n × m matrix that is configured for successive detection of the inner and outer rows of tags that is dependent on the point-of-origin of a sensor transit path across the double row of tags. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Patent number: 11797785
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 11726496
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial facility is provided comprising a tag layout and at least one ingress/egress zone. The tag layout comprises at least one double row of tags. The ingress/egress zone is located outside of an area of the vehicle travel plane occupied by the aisle path and is bounded in its entirety by the double row of tags, by two or more double rows of tags, by a combination of one or more double rows of tags and one more selected facility boundaries, or by combinations thereof. The double row of tags is arranged in an n×m matrix that is configured for successive detection of the inner and outer rows of tags that is dependent on the point-of-origin of a sensor transit path across the double row of tags. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20220164553
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2022
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 11288463
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Publication number: 20200218266
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial facility is provided comprising a tag layout and at least one ingress/egress zone. The tag layout comprises at least one double row of tags. The ingress/egress zone is located outside of an area of the vehicle travel plane occupied by the aisle path and is bounded in its entirety by the double row of tags, by two or more double rows of tags, by a combination of one or more double rows of tags and one more selected facility boundaries, or by combinations thereof. The double row of tags is arranged in an n×m matrix that is configured for successive detection of the inner and outer rows of tags that is dependent on the point-of-origin of a sensor transit path across the double row of tags. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20200082133
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 10515237
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 10146229
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, tag reader, reader module, user interface, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and reader module cooperate to identify individual sequenced tags along an aisle path of a tag layout in accordance with a sequence list accessible to the reader module. The reader module compares a succession of sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list and generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags. The reader module then correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20180143638
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, tag reader, reader module, user interface, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and reader module cooperate to identify individual sequenced tags along an aisle path of a tag layout in accordance with a sequence list accessible to the reader module. The reader module compares a succession of sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list and generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags. The reader module then correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: May 24, 2018
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20180039799
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Publication date: February 8, 2018
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 9818003
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Patent number: 9811088
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, a user interface, tag reader, reader module, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout comprising a plurality of zone identification tags and a plurality of zone tags. Each zone identification tag occupies a position in the tag layout that corresponds to a unique set of zone tags. Each unique set of zone tags comprises a plurality of zone tags. The reader module discriminates between the plurality of zone identification tags and the plurality of zone tags identified in the tag layout, correlates an identified zone identification tag with a unique set of zone tags, and correlates vehicle functionality with an identified zone tag within the unique set of zone tags, tag-dependent positional data derived from the identified zone tag, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Patent number: 9658622
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, tag reader, reader module, user interface, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and reader module cooperate to identify individual sequenced tags along an aisle path of a tag layout in accordance with a sequence list accessible to the reader module. The reader module compares a succession of sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list and generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags. The reader module then correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20160327952
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial facility is provided comprising a tag layout and at least one ingress/egress zone. The tag layout comprises at least one double row of tags. The ingress/egress zone is located outside of an area of the vehicle travel plane occupied by the aisle path and is bounded in its entirety by the double row of tags, by two or more double rows of tags, by a combination of one or more double rows of tags and one more selected facility boundaries, or by combinations thereof. The double row of tags is arranged in an n×m matrix that is configured for successive detection of the inner and outer rows of tags that is dependent on the point-of-origin of a sensor transit path across the double row of tags. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20160327955
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, a user interface, tag reader, reader module, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and the reader module cooperate to identify individual tags of a tag layout comprising a plurality of zone identification tags and a plurality of zone tags. Each zone identification tag occupies a position in the tag layout that corresponds to a unique set of zone tags. Each unique set of zone tags comprises a plurality of zone tags. The reader module discriminates between the plurality of zone identification tags and the plurality of zone tags identified in the tag layout, correlates an identified zone identification tag with a unique set of zone tags, and correlates vehicle functionality with an identified zone tag within the unique set of zone tags, tag-dependent positional data derived from the identified zone tag, or both.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman
  • Publication number: 20160328582
    Abstract: An industrial vehicle comprising a tag reader, a reader module, and a diagnostic tag, wherein the diagnostic tag is coupled to the industrial truck within a read range of the tag reader. The reader module and the tag reader cooperate to identify the diagnostic tag and individual tags of a tag layout and the reader module discriminates between the individual tags of the tag layout and the diagnostic tag and the individual tags of the tag layout, correlates an identified individual tag of the tag layout with tag data, correlates an identified diagnostic tag with operation of the tag reader, and generates a missing tag signal if the diagnostic tag is not identified or the operation of the tag reader is not within specified operating parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Cole Steinbrunner, Thomas L. Mallak, Donald T. Meiring, Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman, James Michael Grannan
  • Publication number: 20160327951
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an industrial vehicle is provided comprising industrial vehicle hardware, tag reader, reader module, user interface, and vehicle controller. The tag reader and reader module cooperate to identify individual sequenced tags along an aisle path of a tag layout in accordance with a sequence list accessible to the reader module. The reader module compares a succession of sequenced tags with at least a portion of the accessible sequence list to determine if the succession of sequenced tags is in sequence along the aisle path in accordance with the sequence list and generates a missing tag signal for a malfunctioning sequenced tag when the comparison of the succession of sequenced tags with the sequence list indicates a sequence irregularity in the plurality of sequenced tags. The reader module then correlates vehicle functionality with the malfunctioning sequenced tag when a missing tag signal is generated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel D. Walton, Nicholas J. Sherman