Patent ID: 6317082
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: G01S

Abstract:
For use with a system for producing an item from a plurality of different components, which are retrieved from storage remote with respect to workstations of said system and delivered to said workstations for use thereby in production of said item, a method of controlling replenishment of components employed by a respective workstation comprising the steps of:(a) providing, at said respective workstation, a wireless transmitter device which is operative, in response to a stimulus applied thereto associated with the need for replenishment of a component, to controllably transmit a signal encoded with information representative of the identification of said wireless transmitter device;(b) detecting, by at least one transmission reader, said signal transmitted by said wireless transmitter device;(c) processing said signal as detected by said at least one transmission reader to identify said wireless transmitter device;(d) accessing a computer storage containing information that associates said wireless transmitter device with a component employed by said respective workstation, based upon said information representative of the identification of said wireless transmitter device identified in step (c), so as to determine what component is to be replenished at said respective workstation, wherein said respective workstation uses different components in production of said item, and wherein step (a) comprises providing a respective wireless transmitter device for each of said different components, said respective wireless transmitter device being operative, in response to a stimulus applied thereto, to controllably transmit a signal encoded with information representative of the identification of said respective wireless transmitter device, and wherein said computer storage stores information that associates a respective wireless transmitter device with said respective workstation and a respective one said different components.