U.S. patent application number 11/696006 was filed with the patent office on 2008-05-22 for garment processing personnel safety apparatus.
Invention is credited to Jeffrey L. Aldridge.
Application Number | 20080115541 11/696006 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39415582 |
Filed Date | 2008-05-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080115541 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Aldridge; Jeffrey L. |
May 22, 2008 |
Garment Processing Personnel Safety Apparatus
Abstract
Commercial material processing machines such as garment
laundering often entail conveyors and large containers (e.g., dryer
drum, washer) that pose safety hazards to workers who work in
proximity to the equipment, even safety procedures if followed
would preclude the worker from inadvertently entering the machine.
Having an interrogator antenna within the machine and a transmitter
attached to the worker, such as a Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) tag provides a means for sensing when a worker is in a
hazardous position. When sensed, safety circuitry shuts off
actuators to prevent further conveying of material into the machine
and movement of the large container (e.g., drum).
Inventors: |
Aldridge; Jeffrey L.;
(Lebanon, OH) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FROST BROWN TODD, LLC
2200 PNC CENTER, 201 E. FIFTH STREET
CINCINNATI
OH
45202
US
|
Family ID: |
39415582 |
Appl. No.: |
11/696006 |
Filed: |
April 3, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60866942 |
Nov 22, 2006 |
|
|
|
60894706 |
Mar 14, 2007 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
68/212 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D06F 39/00 20130101;
D06F 58/50 20200201; D06F 95/00 20130101; D06F 33/00 20130101; D06F
58/30 20200201; D06F 93/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
68/212 |
International
Class: |
D06F 39/00 20060101
D06F039/00 |
Claims
1. A device for performing a fabric processing treatment,
comprising: a container sized to receive a quantity of fabric
through an opening, wherein the opening and container are
sufficiently large to receive a substantial portion of a person who
may inadvertently enter the opening; an actuator coupled to the
container operably configured to perform a fabric processing
treatment on fabric encompassed by the container; a transmitter
attached to a worker in proximity to the device who is subject to
inadvertent entry to the container; a reader antenna positioned
with respect to the container to sense the transmitter entering the
container; and safety control circuitry responsive to the reader
antenna sensing the transmitter to deactivate the actuator.
2. The device of claim 1, further comprising an alarm, the safety
control circuitry further responsive to the reader antenna sensing
the transmitter to activate the alarm.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the transmitter further comprises
a radio frequency identification tag.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the device further comprises a
commercial garment washer.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the device further comprises a
commercial garment dryer.
6. The device of claim 1, further comprising a conveyor aligned
with the opening to move fabric into the container, the safety
control circuitry further responsive to the reader antenna sensing
the transmitter to deactivate the conveyor.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application hereby claims the benefit of the
nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 10/974,399, entitled
"Garment Processing System and Method Thereof" to Jeffrey Aldridge,
filed 27 Oct. 2004, and the two provisional patent application Ser.
Nos. 60/866,942 and 60/894,706 filed respectively on filed 22 Nov.
2006 and 14 Mar. 2007, both to Jeffrey Aldridge and both entitled
"Means For Limiting Access to Identifying Data", the disclosures of
which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0002] The present application is related to two co-pending and
commonly-owned nonprovisional patent applications filed on even
date herewith entitled "RFID Private Protocol Apparatus" and
"Garment Processing Personnel Safety Apparatus", both to Jeffrey L.
Aldridge, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The present invention relates, in general, to devices that
enhance the productivity and safety associated with large volume
garment processing (e.g., sorting, washing, drying,
repair/replacement, storage and delivery), and more particularly to
such improvements that prevent or mitigate injury to personnel who
incorrectly operate such equipment having large openings and
internal volume.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Commercial and industrial laundering facilities have become
increasingly sophisticated in order to meet customer demand
efficiently and economically. These facilities are generally
large-scale operations and are capable of laundering and organizing
thousands of garments per day. Although numerous equipment and
procedural safeguards exist, it is desirable to add additional
automated safety features.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0005] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of
the invention, and, together with the general description of the
invention given above, and the detailed description of the
embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the
present invention.
[0006] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a generally-known
example of a process for laundering, drying and sorting garments
based upon a pre-sort buffer.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an example of a
process for laundering, drying and sorting garments incorporating a
multi-destination storage capability in lieu of a required pre-sort
buffer.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an example of the
process of FIG. 2 further incorporating a garment tracking
system.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a rear view in elevation of a Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) Reader Station with a rear cover removed for
the garment tracking system of FIG. 3.
[0010] FIG. 5 is an isotropic view of the RFID Reader Station of
FIG. 5 with a magnetic flux diagram depicted for one ferrite
horseshoe element.
[0011] FIG. 6 is a front view of an illustrative pass-through
garment dryer advantageously incorporating a drum RFID Reader
Antenna for the processes for laundering, drying and sorting
garments of FIG. 1, 2 or 3.
[0012] FIG. 7 is a side view of the pass-through garment dryer of
FIG. 6 with an exemplary laundry conveyor system being misused.
[0013] FIG. 8 is a diagram of an RFID tag and reader incorporating
a two stage privacy algorithm.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] Referring now to the figures, FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a
generally-known process for laundering, drying, and sorting
garments. Garments 12, which are typically soiled, are delivered to
the laundering facility by delivery vehicles 10, typically delivery
trucks. Each delivery of soiled garments 12 corresponds to a
specific route. The soiled garments 12 are unloaded from the
vehicle and may undergo a pre-wash sort 20 where the garments 12
may be separated by the type of garment 12 (e.g. garage wear, lab
wear, etc.), by color (e.g. light, dark, etc.) and the like. Each
garment 12 may include a permanent or temporary unique identifier
22, such as an alphanumeric code, which may be unique to each
garment or a class of garments. The identifier may be manually
readable by workers or may be encoded in a machine readable format,
such as a bar code, radio frequency (RF) chip, and the like. While
the following embodiment is described in the context of machine
readable identifiers, it is understood that it may be easily
modified to accommodate manually readable identifiers.
[0015] After the pre-wash sort 20, the garments 12 are transferred
to washing machines 30, where they are washed. For the purposes of
this description, "wash", "washing" and "washed" may mean
traditional laundering, dry cleaning, and the like and "washing
machine" may refer to an apparatus for washing. After washing 30,
the garments 12 are transferred to dryers 40 where they are dried.
Alternatively, the garments 12 may be dried as they pass through a
steam tunnel 60. Once dried, the garments 12 are transferred to an
inspection station 50. At the inspection station 50, a worker may
inspect the garments for damage such as rips, tears, missing
buttons and such. After inspection, each garment 12 is configured
for processing and placed on a conveyor 51. Garments 12 may be
configured for processing by being hung on hangers, folded or the
like. The garments 12 may be delivered as configured for processing
or may be subsequently configured for delivery by being hung on
hangers, folded or the like. In one embodiment, a garment 12 is
configured for processing by being hung from a clothes hanger 52
where the hanger 52 is attached to a carrier 54 that interfaces
with the conveyor 51. The carrier 54 may have an identifier (not
shown) thereon. The identifier may be manually readable by workers
or may be encoded in a machine readable format, such as a bar code,
radio frequency (RF) chip, and the like. While the embodiment is
described in the context of machine readable identifiers, it is
understood that it may be easily modified to accommodate manually
readable identifiers. A worker may then scan the garment's machine
readable identifier. Once placed on the conveyor 51, the garment's
machine readable identifier 22 and carrier's machine readable
identifier may be automatically associated in the sorter's computer
(not shown). Once on the conveyor 51, each garment 12 is conveyed
to a repair station 70, the steaming station 60, or pressing
station (not shown). Alternatively, the garments 12 may be steamed
or pressed any time after washing, or not at all, and do not
necessarily have to be steamed or pressed prior to sorting. While
the garments 12 are being conveyed, the carrier 51 may be read at
various points along the conveyor. Alternatively, it may be
unnecessary to use carriers 54. Instead, a machine readable
identifier in the garment 12 may be read during conveying.
[0016] The garments 12 not needing repair are steamed 60 to reduce
wrinkles and conveyed to and collected in a pre-sort buffer 80. For
the purposes of this description, a "buffer" is a temporary
accumulation of garments as part of serialized operations. For
example, a buffer may hold garments 12 pending a predetermined
subsequent operation. In such case, a buffer is coupled to a
designated operation. Typically, a buffer would hold garments on
the order of magnitude of hours. For instance, a buffer may hold
garments 12 for less than eight working hours where "working hours"
means the hours of operation of a laundering facility and does not
include breaks such as overnight, when the facility is closed, or
machine downtime for such things as repair, maintenance and the
like. Furthermore, "pre-sort buffer" will refer to a type of buffer
where garments are presorted based on route and temporarily
accumulated as an immediate preceding step to a sorting
operation.
[0017] The pre-sort buffer 80 consists of several rails 82, where
each route is temporarily assigned to one or more rails. Based on
reading the machine readable identifiers, each garment is conveyed
to a pre-sort buffer rail 82 corresponding to its route. Once all,
or a substantial majority, of the garments 12 for a route are
collected on a rail 82, the garments 12 may be directly conveyed to
a sorter 90 where they are sorted by delivery sequence within the
route. For instance, the sequence may be the order of deliveries to
customers, by employees within a customer, by type of clothing, or
any other order deemed desirable. Sorting may be performed manually
by one or more workers or by sorting machines 90. Once sorted, the
garments 12 are automatically and immediately conveyed to storage
100 where they are stored until they are scheduled to be loaded for
delivery 120. For the purposes of this description, "storage" will
refer to longer term holding, often, but not necessarily,
encompassing a magnitude of days. Storage 100 is often where
garments are kept prior to loading on a truck 10, but may also
include a temporary holding area for garments to be removed from
the route prior to their delivery to a stockroom (not shown).
Storage may also have no predetermined subsequent process step. For
instance, one or more garments in storage could be routed to a
variety of different locations or processes (e.g., repair, loading,
removal, sorting, resorting, etc.).
[0018] The garments 12 conveyed to the repair station 70 are
repaired. Once a garment 12 is repaired, it may be placed onto the
conveyor 51 and conveyed to the steaming station 60, to the
pre-sort buffer 80 and sorted 90 and stored 100 with other garments
12 of the route. However, if the route has already been sorted, the
repaired garment 12 may be placed onto the conveyor 51, conveyed to
the steaming station 60, to the pre-sort buffer 80, sorted 90, and
a worker will then have to manually place the garment 12 in its
proper place within storage 100 (e.g. with the garments 12 for the
same customer, with the garments 12 for the same employee of the
customer, etc.).
[0019] Also, from time to time, it may be necessary to add new
garments 12 to the route (e.g. for a new employee of a customer,
etc.), add stragglers, or remove garments 12 from the route (e.g.
for an employee who no longer works with a customer, etc.) 110. For
the purposes of this disclosure, "stragglers" will refer one or
more garments 12 associated with a route that are separated from
the remainder of the route. For example, a straggler may be a
garment that is inadvertently left on or near the delivery vehicle
10, dropped on its way to a washing machine 30 or a drying machine
40, delayed in another process, separated from its hanger 52,
separated from the conveyor 51, etc. For a new garment 12 or
straggler, the garment 12 may be placed onto the conveyor 51 and
conveyed to the steaming station 60, to the pre-sort buffer 80 and
sorted 90 and stored 100 with other garments 12 of the route.
However, if the route has already been sorted, a worker will have
to manually place the garment 12 in its proper place within the
route within storage 100.
[0020] Referring now to FIG. 2, another embodiment of a process for
laundering, drying and sorting garments is shown. Garments 12 are
delivered to the laundering facility by delivery vehicles 200,
typically delivery trucks. Each delivery of soiled garments
corresponds to a specific route. The soiled garments are unloaded
from the vehicle and may undergo a pre-wash sort 210 where the
garments may be separated by the type of garment 12 (e.g. garage
wear, lab wear, etc.), by color (e.g. light, dark, etc.) and the
like. Each garment 12 may include a permanent or temporary unique
identifier 22, such as an alphanumeric code, which may be unique to
each garment or a class of garments. The identifier 22 may be
manually readable by workers or may be encoded in a machine
readable format, such as a bar code, radio frequency (RF) chip, and
the like. While the following embodiment is described in the
context of machine readable identifiers, it is understood that it
may be easily modified to accommodate manually readable
identifiers.
[0021] After the pre-wash sort 210, the garments 12 are transferred
to washing machines 220, where they are washed. After washing 220,
the garments are transferred to dryers 230 where they are dried.
Alternatively, the garments may be dried as they pass through a
steam tunnel 250. Once dried, the garments are transferred to an
inspection station 240. At the inspection station 240, a worker
inspects the garments for damage such as rips, tears, missing
buttons and such. After inspection, each garment 12 is configured
for processing and placed on a conveyor. In one embodiment, a
garment 12 is hung from a clothes hanger 52 where the hanger 52 is
attached to a carrier 54 that interfaces with the conveyor. The
carrier 54 may have an identifier thereon (not shown). The
identifier may be manually readable by workers or may be encoded in
a machine readable format, such as a bar code, radio frequency (RF)
chip, and the like. While the embodiment is described in the
context of machine readable identifiers, it is understood that it
may be easily modified to accommodate manually readable
identifiers. A worker will then scan the garment's machine readable
identifier 22. Once placed on the conveyor 51, the garment's
machine readable identifier and carrier's machine readable
identifier may be automatically associated in the sorter's
computer. While the garments 12 are being conveyed, the carrier 54
may be read at various points along the conveyor 51. Alternatively,
it may be unnecessary to use carriers 54. Instead, a machine
readable identifier 22 in the garment 12 may be read during
conveying.
[0022] Once on the conveyor 51, each garment is conveyed to a
repair station 260, to a steaming station 250 (or pressing station
(not shown)), or to storage 270. The garments may be steamed 250 to
reduce wrinkles prior to being conveyed to storage 270, or the
garments may be conveyed directly to storage 270 and steamed 250 at
a later time. The garments 12 are grouped together in storage 270
based on route, but may be out of sequence. Based on reading the
machine readable identifiers 22, each garment 12 is conveyed to a
storage rail corresponding to its route. The garments 12 may remain
in storage 270 until it is determined that they may be sorted. This
determination may be based on proximity to delivery date, the
sorter being idle and the like. In one embodiment, the garments may
be stored for at least 8 working hours prior to sorting. In another
embodiment, the garments 12 may be sorted less than 36 clock hours
from when they are scheduled to be loaded for delivery; where
"clock hour" means one of the 24 equal parts of a day. From storage
270, the garments 12 may be conveyed to a sorter 280 where they are
sorted by delivery sequence within the route. For instance, the
sequence may be the order of deliveries to customers, by employees
within a customer, by type of clothing, or any other order deemed
desirable. Sorting may be performed manually by one or more workers
or by sorting machines. Once sorted, the garments 12 may be
conveyed to a staging area (not shown) prior to loading for
delivery 290, may be loaded for delivery 290, or may be conveyed
back into storage 270 and loaded for delivery 290 at a later
time.
[0023] Also, garments 12 may be conveyed to the repair station 260
from the inspection station 240, from storage 270 or from the
steaming station 250. The garments conveyed to the repair station
260 are repaired. Once a garment 12 is repaired, it may be placed
onto the conveyor 51, conveyed to the steaming station 250, or
conveyed to storage 270 and stored with other garments 12 from the
same route. If the route has previously been sorted, the garment 12
may be conveyed to the end of the rail for the route and the route
may be re-sorted by the sorter 280 to include the repaired garment
12 in its proper position within the route. Once re-sorted, the
garments 12 may be conveyed to a staging area (not shown) prior to
loading for delivery 290, loaded for delivery 290, or conveyed back
into storage 270 and loaded for delivery 290 at a later time. Also,
from time to time, it may be necessary to add new garments 12 to
the route (e.g. for a new employee of a customer, etc.), add
stragglers, or remove garments from the route (e.g. for an employee
who no longer works with a customer, etc.). For a new garment 12 or
straggler, the garment 12 may be placed onto the conveyor 51,
conveyed to the steaming station 250, conveyed to storage 270 and
stored with other garments 12 from the same route. If the route has
previously been sorted 280, the garment 12 may be conveyed to the
end of the rail for the route and the route may be re-sorted by the
sorter 280 to include the new garment, or straggler, in its proper
position within the route. Once re-sorted, the garments may be
loaded for delivery 290, or may be conveyed back into storage 270
and loaded for delivery at a later time. For garments that are to
be removed from the route, they may be conveyed from storage 270 to
the stockroom (not shown).
[0024] RFID AUTOMATED GARMENT PROCESSING. In FIG. 3, a process for
laundering, drying and sorting garments is depicted that is similar
if not identical to the process depicted and described above for
FIG. 2, but with illustrative placement of sensing passive RFID
tags 22. As mentioned above, placing RFID tags 22 on garments 12
enhances identifying and tracking garments 12 as processed through
a garment processing plant. Although one or more stationary RFID
reader antennas (interrogator) 310 are depicted at various
locations, it should be appreciated that handheld, steerable
antennas with direction gain, or additional stationary antennas may
be incorporated as desired or warranted. Typically, the stations
310 are configured such that an RFID tag 22 passes through or
travels past the reception area for the station 310. For example, a
first station 310 is placed alongside an overhead rail 312
conveying a plurality of sling bags 314, each containing in turn a
plurality of garments 12. Thus, the RFID tags 22 may be oriented in
various directions (for instance, attached to a clean garment
hanging on a hanger which is being conveyed on a conveyor, or
attached to a soiled garment in a sling bag being conveyed on an
overhead rail system). Illustrating other locations for RFID
detection, another station 310 is placed alongside a hanger
conveyor 316 between the steam tunnel 250 and storage 270 and a
third station 310 is placed between storage 270 and delivery
290.
[0025] The RFID tag 22 is coupled electrically to the reader via
electromagnetic induction (like the output coil of a transformer is
coupled inductively to the input coil), both for providing power to
the garment tag (i.e., the garment tag is passive, meaning it uses
the power it receives from the reader signal to operate), and for
communicating data between the garment tag and the reader (and
optionally also from the reader to the garment tag).
[0026] To get sufficient inductive coupling between the reader
antenna and the garment tag antenna for successful communication
between the reader and the garment tag, a certain minimum amount of
magnetic flux generated by the reader antenna has to pass through
the antenna coil of the garment tag 12. If the garment tag is
parallel or nearly parallel to the lines of magnetic flux at the
point in space where the garment tag is located, sufficient
inductive coupling will not be achieved.
[0027] One typical approach to incorporating an RFID antenna into a
garment 12 is to embed a tag antenna (not shown) within a
protective coating or within a fluid impermeable pouch (not shown).
This prevents contamination or physical damage to the very fine
copper wire or lithographically applied conductive traces on
printed circuit board of the garment tag coil. To get sufficient
coupling, the plane of the garment tag coil (although the garment
tag coil wouldn't necessarily have to be planar) has to be
penetrated by a certain concentration of magnetic flux lines at an
angle sufficiently perpendicular to the plane of the garment tag
coil.
[0028] In some applications, it is advantageous to use materials of
high magnetic permeability (for example, magnetically-soft
ferrites) to direct, steer, or shape the magnetic flux generated by
the reader antenna 310 in such a way that as the garment tag 22
passes through the field of the reader antenna, it will, at some
point along its path through space, encounter at least one place
where the local intensity and direction of the lines of magnetic
flux generated by the reader will be sufficient to allow successful
communication with the reader. Previous attempts to create this
condition necessary for successful communication have relied on one
or more of the following: (a) physically varying the orientation of
the garment tag antenna relative to the reader antenna 310 (by
moving either the garment tag or the reader, or both) as it passes
through the reader field; (b) using various shapes, configurations,
and combinations of active and passive reader coils and other
antenna elements (e.g., closed- or open-loop reflectors) that are
electrically conductive; (c) electrically or electronically
switching the reader signal between various antenna configurations
or orientations; (d) passing the garment tag through or beside
multiple readers with different antenna configurations or
orientations.
[0029] However, generally-known approaches fail to address shaping
the detection magnetic field by use of materials of high magnetic
permeability specifically for the purpose of directing or shaping
the magnetic field generated by the reader antenna coil or coils to
overcome tag orientation problems, although similar magnetic
materials have been used for the purpose of shielding RFID reader
fields from adjacent regions of space or from electrically
conductive structures or devices.
[0030] In FIGS. 4-5, an illustrative reader antenna 310 includes a
generally vertically aligned serpentine conductor (e.g., copper
pipe) 400 formed of alternating left and right rounded right angle
bends 412. For each bend 412, a respective shallow ferrite
horseshoe 414 is placed with its opening 416 toward a front surface
418 of a rectangular cabinet 420 that transversely faces the path
of the sling bags 314. An inner arm 422 or each horseshoe 414 is
vertically aligned with the other inner arms 422, residing inside
of the laterally pointing apex formed by each bend 412. The outer
arm 424 of each horseshoe 414 is positioned vertically lower than
the inner arm 422 of the same horseshoe 414 and on the other side
of the bend 412. Each horseshoe 414 alternates, approximately
perpendicularly aligned with vertically adjacent horse shoes 414
and parallel to each horseshoe 414 above and below respectively the
two that are adjacent. With particular reference to FIG. 5, each
horseshoe 414 forms a canted magnetic flux field 428 such that any
RFID tag 22 passing by the front 418 of the reader antenna 310
passes through flux fields 428 of multiple orientations ensuring a
successful read.
[0031] The use of these magnetic materials for the purpose of
overcoming tag orientation problems also provides the additional
benefits of: (a) making the reader antenna 310 more efficient by
concentrating more of the energy of the generated magnetic field in
the desired "read zone" of the reader antenna, and also by
providing a lower reluctance path for the magnetic flux to travel
through the non-read-zone regions of space; (b) reducing stray
magnetic fields outside the read zone of the antenna which could
cause undesired effects such as electromagnetic interference or
health concerns; (c) creating a more compact read zone with well
defined boundaries (important in some applications, for instance
where one desires to know from the garment tag reads the order or
spacing of tags that are conveyed sequentially into the read zone,
or where one wishes to write information specifically to tags in
the read zone without also writing it to nearby tags just outside
the read zone).
[0032] GARMENT ZIPPER SORT. With enhanced automated tracking of
individual garments 12, further enhancements are enabled with this
ability to individually identify garments. The invention generally
relates to garment processing in automated garment processing
facilities. After garments are laundered, they are hung on hangers,
each garment is given a unique serial number, and the garments are
transported about the facility along conveyor rails. As garments
are processed in an automated facility, they generally end up being
out of order. The conveyor rails can branch, garments can be
selectively routed along the various branches, and garments can be
accumulated along rails.
[0033] A random sequence of garments are accumulated in the initial
buffer, which could entail a pre-sort buffer, a hanger conveyor, or
a storage unit. As the garments 12 enter the initial buffer, they
are scanned to determine their serial numbers. Once the conveyor
buffer is completely populated (which could include 1000 or more
garments), a computer system determines the correct sequence for
the garments. Using a sorting algorithm (discussed in more detail
below), the computer then calculates which garments 12 should be
placed in which sorting buffers. The initial buffer is released and
each garment 12 is conveyed to its respective sorting buffer. Once
the sorting buffers are populated, one at a time a garment is
released, in sequential order, from its sorting buffer until all
the garments have been sequenced.
[0034] An example of the sorting algorithm is illustrated in
Tables. As shown in Table I, a random sequence of ten garments are
populated in an initial buffer. As shown in Table II, the first
garment (#3) is conveyed to the first sorting buffer. As shown in
Table III, the second garment (#7) is conveyed to the second
sorting buffer. As shown in Table IV, the third garment (#4) is
conveyed to the first sorting buffer. The process continues until
the initial buffer is emptied. Table V shows the garments placed in
the sorting buffers. Once the sorting buffers are populated, one at
a time a garment is released in sequential order. As shown in Table
VI, garments 0-3 have been sequenced. Table VII shows the
sequencing process completed.
[0035] As described above, the sorting and sequencing is
accomplished in a single batch run, but it is also contemplated
that the sorting procedure could be accomplished in two or more
iterations. With an iterative process, the garments leaving the
sorting buffers would only be partially sequenced and would be
conveyed back to the pre-sorting buffer to complete the
sequencing.
[0036] Optionally, the rail downstream from the presort buffer
could branch to enable bi-directional population of the sorting
buffers. In other words, rather than populating the sorting buffers
only from the top, the buffers could also be populated from the
bottom. Thus, the number of sorting buffers could be reduced. Table
VII illustrates an example of how the sorting buffers could be
populated.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE I accumulate garments in pre-sort buffer
##STR00001##
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE II begin sorting garments ##STR00002##
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE III continue sorting ##STR00003##
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE IV continue sorting ##STR00004##
TABLE-US-00005 TABLE V sorting completed ##STR00005##
TABLE-US-00006 TABLE VI sequencing garments ##STR00006##
TABLE-US-00007 TABLE VII garments sequenced from 0 9
##STR00007##
TABLE-US-00008 TABLE VII optional bi-directional population of
sorting buffers ##STR00008##
[0037] RFID-BASED PERSONNEL SAFETY SYSTEM. In FIGS. 6-7, a person
500 entering, falling into, or being pulled into an industrial
washer or dryer 502 can be seriously injured or killed. Because of
how quickly the person 500 may fall or be pulled in, or just due to
physical distances, the person 500 may not be able to actuate an
emergency stop switch to deactivate the equipment. Generally known
approaches have limitations, such as a fixed-location emergency
stop switch. A person 500 may not have time or be able to
physically reach an emergency stop button, cord, or crash-bar
mounted on the equipment. Another example is a mobile emergency
stop switch. An emergency stop switch may be worn by the person
that communicates to the equipment via radio frequency signals.
However, even though it is physically located on the person, the
person 500 may still be unable to actuate it for any of several
reasons, including the speed of events, or the person being
subjected to violent motion, or being injured or incapacitated.
Also, depending on where the receiving antenna is located, the
radio frequency signals may be blocked by the metal enclosure of
the equipment.
[0038] Advantageously, a badge or device 504 that may be worn or
carried on the person 500 of someone working around dangerous
equipment (e.g., industrial washers or dryers, document shredding
machines) 502 that, when detected by the equipment 502 as being in
a danger zone, would inhibit operation of the equipment 502 or
would otherwise render it safe (e.g., stop motion and heat on a
dryer), and optionally also set off an alarm 506. This device 504
may use radio frequency signals, either actively emitting them or
using them passively (e.g., like an Electronic Article
Surveillance, Surface Acoustic Wave, or Radio Frequency
Identification tag) to make its presence known to the
equipment.
[0039] In one possible implementation, an RFID (Radio Frequency
IDentification) reader antenna 508 would be mounted on a
non-rotating surface (for instance, on the inside of a dryer door)
510 such that the reader can detect RFID tags located anywhere
within the interior of the dryer drum 512 and/or in close proximity
to an opening 514 of the drum. On detecting the presence of an RFID
tag which is normally worn by or carried on a person, the RFID
reader antenna 508 would send a signal to the dryer 502 to cease
all operations that may be hazardous to a person (i.e., in the case
of a dryer 502, to stop the drum rotation and turn off the heat).
The signal may also cause other adjacent equipment (e.g., a loading
or unloading device 516) to be stopped or otherwise put into a safe
state. The alarm 506 may also be activated to alert others to the
person's possible need for assistance.
[0040] RFID PRIVATE PROTOCOL. With RFID, barcodes, or any other
means intended to identify objects, animals, people, etc., there
exist many problems with the potential for use of the identifying
data by unauthorized entities (people, corporations, governments
agencies, etc.), or for unauthorized purposes. For instance, these
problems include compromising of the privacy of persons who can be
associated with the identifying data, compromising of the security
of data (such as social security or credit card numbers) that could
be used to access financial or other confidential information, and
compromising of data that could be used to track various activities
of a person, corporation, or other entity.
[0041] A means is needed for the representation of the identifying
data (code) to be changed, either each time it is read or based on
time or other events, such that only those (authorized) readers
with the proper non-public knowledge will be able to decipher from
the changing representation a persistent, unchanging code that can
be used to identify the object, animal, person, etc. The advantages
of being able to uniquely identify garments 12 during laundering,
sorting and delivering are thus retained while preserving the
anonymity of wearers of a particular garment 12.
[0042] A two-step transformation on the persistent identifying code
creates a changing representation that can be displayed,
transmitted, or otherwise made available to a reader. First, a
triggering event (time, a counter, an external signal, etc.) causes
a random or pseudo-random or otherwise changing code to be
generated or otherwise obtained. This code is then applied to the
persistent identifying code in a way such that authorized readers
will be able to extract or deduce from the resulting intermediate
code, the original persistent identifying code. For instance, the
random or pseudo-random or otherwise changing code could be simply
appended or pre-pended to the persistent code, or interspersed (as
individual digits in binary or any other specific base or
combination of bases) among the persistent code at known locations,
or multiplied by a constant code that is numerically larger than
the persistent code and arithmetically added to the persistent
code. Other means of application are also possible.
[0043] The second step of the transformation is to encrypt the
intermediate code using any encryption means that will make it
difficult or impossible for any reader or observer of the resulting
representation to extract or deduce the original persistent
identifying code without first decrypting the representation to
recover the intermediate code in its unencrypted form. Only
authorized readers will have access to the non-public key or keys
required to perform this decryption, thus protecting the persistent
identifying code from disclosure with strength at least equal to
that of the encryption means used. Further protection may be
afforded by the fact that certain additional information about how
the random or pseudo-random or otherwise changing code was applied
to the original persistent identifying code to create the
intermediate code may be necessary in order to extract or deduce
the original persistent identifying code from the intermediate
code.
[0044] Security can be enhanced by recursively performing both the
first and second steps of the transformation (in alternating
fashion) multiple times, using different random or pseudo-random or
otherwise changing codes and/or different means of applying said
codes, and different encryption keys and/or different encryption
algorithms. Alternately, the first step could be performed once and
then selectively omitted between various multiple applications of
the second step, using different random or pseudo-random or
otherwise changing codes and/or different means of applying said
codes, and different encryption keys and/or different encryption
algorithms. Using asymmetric encryption algorithms (which use
separate keys for encryption and decryption) provides the added
security benefit that the non-public key or keys required to
perform the decryption do not need to be known to or stored by the
encrypting device or entity. Version identifiers can be appended to
the representation to indicate to the reader which of multiple
means of applying the random or pseudo-random or otherwise changing
codes, encryption keys, encryption algorithms, and sequences of
steps were used to produce the representation. These version
identifiers can either be appended to the representation prior to
the application of any subsequent transformation steps, or later in
the transformation process, including after the final
transformation step. The particular set of means of applying the
random or pseudo-random or otherwise changing codes, encryption
keys, and encryption algorithms used and the particular sequence in
which they are applied could vary between different encrypting
devices or entities, and/or could be different at different times
on any given encrypting device or entity.
[0045] The diagram of FIG. 8 shows an example of one possible
implementation of this invention as it could be applied to the
design of an RFID tag and reader. The values and lengths of all
codes, keys, ID's, version numbers, and ID representations were
arbitrarily chosen for illustrative purposes only.
[0046] It should be appreciated that any patent, publication, or
other disclosure material, in whole or in part, that is said to be
incorporated by reference herein is incorporated herein only to the
extent that the incorporated material does not conflict with
existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set
forth in this disclosure. As such, and to the extent necessary, the
disclosure as explicitly set forth herein supersedes any
conflicting material incorporated herein by reference. Any
material, or portion thereof, that is said to be incorporated by
reference herein, but which conflicts with existing definitions,
statements, or other disclosure material set forth herein will only
be incorporated to the extent that no conflict arises between that
incorporated material and the existing disclosure material.
[0047] While the present invention has been illustrated by
description of several embodiments and while the illustrative
embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not
the intention of the applicant to restrict or in any way limit the
scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages
and modifications may readily appear to those skilled in the
art.
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