1. A forklift RFID system for identifying RFID tagged plastic pallets, with each plastic pallet being provided with RFID tags having the same RFID identification comprising:
a) a forklift comprising a body, a mast mounted to said body and a fork assembly moveably mounted on said mast;
b) RFID antenna assemblies secured in a fixed position on said forklift on each side of said forklift and oriented to direct a RFID signal downward;
c) a RFID reader positioned on said forklift and hard wired to said RFID antenna assemblies; and,
d) a user interface assembly including a touch-panel display mounted to said forklift, said RFID reader being hardwired to said touch-panel display.
2. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein each said plastic pallet has an RFID tag located in each corner.
3. The system RFID system of claim 2 wherein each RFID tag for each plastic pallet gives an identical signal when interrogated by said RFID antenna assemblies.
4. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein each plastic pallet is placed in a stack ranging from 10 to 19 pallets in height.
5. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein each said RFID antenna assembly has an antenna with linear polarity.
6. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein said RFID antenna assemblies comprise a body, a patch antenna mounted to said body and mounting means secured to said body allowing said antenna assembly to be mounted to said forklift.
7. The forklift RFID system of claim 6 wherein said mounting means is a magnet.
8. The forklift RFID system of claim 7 wherein said magnet has a pull force ranging from about 95 pounds to 160 pounds.
9. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein the said RFID antenna assemblies have a range of about 2 to about 4 feet.
10. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein each of said antenna assemblies includes a patch antenna having a linear signal.
11. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein said touch-panel display has an associated keyboard.
12. The forklift RFID system of claim 1 wherein said touch-panel display has a removable data storage device.
13. A forklift RFID system for identifying plastic pallets having an RFID tags in at least two corners of each comprising:
a) a forklift comprising a body, a mast mounted to said body and a fork assembly moveably mounted on said mast;
b) RFID antenna assemblies removably secured in a fixed position on said forklift on each side of said forklift, said antenna assemblies being linear patch antenna oriented to primarily transmit RFID signals towards the ground;
c) a RFID reader positioned on said fork assembly and connected to said RFID antenna assemblies by cable; and,
d) a user interface assembly including a touch-panel display, said reader being hardwired to said touch-panel display.
14. The forklift RFID system of claim 13 wherein said pallets each have an RFID tag located in each corner and said RFID tags have the same identification reading.
15. The forklift RED system of claim 13 wherein said linear patch antenna have an effective range from about 2 to about 4 feet.
16. The forklift RFID system of claim 15 wherein said linear patch antenna is mounted in a cylindrical casing with a bracket member secured thereto, said bracket member having mounting means to secure it to said forklift.
17. The forklift RFID system of claim 16 wherein said mounting means is a magnet having a pull force ranging from about 95 pounds to about 160 pounds.
18. The forklift RFID system of claim 11 wherein the system further comprises software adapted to provide information to a user interface regarding an identified pallet.
19. A forklift RFID system for identifying plastic pallets tagged with RFID tags in each corner comprising:
a) a forklift comprising a body, a mast mounted to said body and a fork assembly moveably mounted on said mast, said fork assembly comprising a back frame mounted to said mast and forks mounted to said back frame;
b) RFID antenna assemblies removably secured in a fixed position on said forklift on each side of said forklift, said antenna assemblies being provided with a patch antenna of linear polarity having a cylindrical housing which is oriented parallel to the ground and directs its signal downward and magnet means mounted to said housing allowing said assemblies to be mounted to said forklift;
c) a RFID reader positioned on said fork assembly and hard wired to said RFID antenna assemblies;
d) a user interface assembly including a touch-panel display, a keyboard and a removable data storage device, said reader being electrically connected to said touch-panel display; and
e) software adapted to provide information to the touch-panel display describing which RFID tags have been interrogated by the antenna, said software including filter means which retains tag identification for specific pallets which are being continuously read by said RFID reader.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A fiber optical apparatus comprised of a multiplicity of optical circuits each optical circuit comprised of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) operating in the demultiplexing mode having a multiple n of optical channel outputs that are individually connected to an equal number of 1\xd71 optical switches which are, in turn, connected to either an optical splittercombiner operating in the combiner mode or another arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) operating in a multiplexer mode, such that each optical circuit is suitable for demultiplexing wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical channels on an each input optical fiber and directing one demultiplexed channel at a time over an associated output optical fiber with all such output fibers from all optical circuits connected to a common multiple optical switch which is, in turn, connected to a multiplicity of output ports that connect to optical splittercombiners that are all operated in the splitter mode for purposes of replicating and rebroadcasting various optical channels.
2. A first optical apparatus comprised of an N\xd71 optical switch with N input optical fibers carrying WDM optical signals and a single output fiber, also carrying a WDM signal, that is connected to a second optical apparatus as described in claim 1.
3. The two combined apparatuses described in claim 1 that are contained in a common enclosure that has N input optical fibers carrying WDM signals and a single output fiber carrying a single optical channel.
4. The two combined apparatuses described in claim 2 that are contained in a common enclosure that has N input optical fibers carrying WDM signals and a single output fiber carrying a single optical channel as well as an electronic control module that can be remotely instructed to select in any program sequence one specific single optical channel carried by one of the N input WDM optical fibers so that all channels on all fibers can be monitored in a limited time interval.
5. Equipment as in claim 4 that includes an internal electronic module that can control both of the optical apparatuses through a graphic user interface (GUI).
6. Equipment as in claim 5 that has a height of one Rack Unit (RU) or, equivalently, to 1.75 inches.
7. Equipment as in claim 5 that includes an internal electronic module that can control both of the optical apparatuses within the enclosure and also within one or more secondary enclosures that do not have dedicated controllers and that the equipment in the primary and secondary enclosures are interconnected by use of electrical cables.