EP4272302A2

EP4272302A2 - Logistics space and method for operating same

Info

Publication number: EP4272302A2
Application number: EP21847521.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Stefan Schmitz-Galow; Oliver Matipa; Andreas SCHWEIGERT; Ali MONTAZERI NAJAFABADI
Original assignee: Fl Technology GmbH
Current assignee: Fl Technology GmbH
Priority date: 2020-12-30
Filing date: 2021-12-30
Publication date: 2023-11-08
Also published as: WO2022144431A3; WO2022144431A2; CN117378134A; AU2021414302A1; CA3203887A1; US20240120859A1; DE102020135153A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a logistics space (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) comprising a multiplicity of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), wherein each planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is equipped with at least one encoder (5), which has at least one sensor array (11), for determining the position and/or positioning of at least one mover (40), wherein the at least one mover (40) comprises magnets that are arranged in at least one pole pitch pattern, wherein the multiplicity of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is furthermore arranged with respect to a surface such that the encoders (5) of the planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) form at least one pattern that is uniform at least in regions, wherein the distance between the encoders (5) of at least two planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) and/or at least two encoders (5) of one planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) corresponds to a multiple of the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover (40), and also to a method for operating at least one logistics space and to a computer program product and to a control unit for a logistics space.

Description

Logistics area and method for operating such

The present invention relates to a logistics area comprising a large number of planar units, each planar unit being equipped with at least one encoder having at least one sensor array for determining the position and/or positioning of at least one mover, the at least one mover in magnets arranged in at least one pole pitch grid, and a method for operating a logistics area.

In the case of known logistics systems, which include at least one controlling and/or regulating logistics area, the current state of the art does not allow, or only insufficiently, a control system that works in real time to be flexibly and unlimitedly expanded.

In such known systems, a central control unit of the logistics system located externally to the logistics area controls all driving commands for the individual movers based on a driving order. For example, the driving order includes the instruction to transport or move goods or a mover from a first point of the logistics area to a second point. Based on this driving order, the route is then divided into individual sections, in particular depending on the obstacles in the logistics area, such as other movers or fixed obstacles. Based on this information, the trajectories for the individual sections are then calculated in the central control unit, taking into account the boundary conditions of direction, acceleration rate, maximum speed and deceleration rate. The resulting target values for the executing field-generating units in the area must be sent to these units cyclically in real time. The communication system between the central control unit and the executive units is complicated by the resulting large amounts of data, the long signal paths and the large number of quickly brought the participants to its capacity limit. The communication paths commonly used (WLAN; Bluetooth; NFC; ZigBee; Wibree; Ethernet-based bus systems, etc.) lose their real-time capability when there are large numbers of participants in large areas. The communication network is overloaded and data is lost. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that a central control unit with a large computing capacity is necessary or that this control unit has to be reprogrammed, if not even replaced, or at least expanded when the logistics area is expanded. Currently existing systems for fluid logistics are therefore subject to major limitations in terms of payload capacity, energy consumption, investment costs and expandability.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, in particular to provide a logistics area and a method for operating a logistics area that make it possible to flexibly and almost unlimitedly expand a control system without the need to adapt, replace or expand a central control unit and in particular without overloading the communication channels used.

The object relating to the logistics area is achieved according to the invention in that the large number of planar units are arranged to form an area in such a way that the encoders of the planar units form at least one grid which is uniform at least in some areas, the distance between the encoders of at least two planar units and /or at least two encoders of a planar unit corresponds to a multiple of the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover.

Within the meaning of the invention, a pole pitch grid is understood as meaning an arrangement of a plurality of magnets, the poles of which are arranged at a regular, repeating distance, in particular pole pair width, from one another, in particular alternating. The arrangement is preferably uniform in at least two mutually orthogonal spatial directions; in particular, a uniform grid is formed in the spatial directions, for example similar to a chessboard pattern.

In one embodiment, an area that includes the at least one mover is larger than an area that includes a planar unit, preferably includes the area of at least four planar units, the mover rests movably on the logistics area and/or through its weight and/or is held in position by the magnetic attraction of at least some of the magnets in the pole pitch grid of the at least one mover, in particular if the at least one mover is not to be actively moved, and/or the multiple of the pole pair width is a natural number, one real number greater than 1 and/or a rational number.

In a further embodiment, at least one length of the planar unit that defines the preferably square area of the planar unit corresponds to a, in particular natural, real and/or rational multiple, preferably 24 times or 12 times, the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least a mover and/or the planar unit has a length of more than 100 mm, preferably more than 200, more preferably more than 400, particularly preferably 480 mm, and/or the magnets in the pole pitch grid of the at least one mover are in one Pole pair width of more than 4 mm, preferably more than 16.66 mm, more preferably more than 18.75 mm, particularly preferably 20 mm or 40 mm arranged.

In addition, in a further embodiment, the sensors of the sensor array are arranged at a distance of 1/n of the pole pair width of the magnets, the array in particular comprising n ² sensors, with an array having nine sensors preferably being arranged at a distance of 1/3 of the Pole pair width are arranged, can be used, in particular the sensors include Hall sensors, Förster probes and / or magnetometer, and / or where n is a natural number, a real number greater than 1 and / or a rational number.

In a further embodiment, the at least one encoder is arranged centrally in the planar unit, preferably centrally on the surface of the planar unit pointing towards the at least one mover.

In one embodiment, the planar unit can comprise at least one control unit, which is preferably operatively connected to the at least one encoder of the planar unit, in particular via at least one first communication interface, and/or is set up to transmit signals, preferably at least one signal amplitude, of the read out and/or evaluate at least one encoder or the sensor array of the at least one encoder, preferably in order to detect whether the planar unit is at least partially is covered by a mover, in particular the communication with the at least one encoder using SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) communication takes place.

In this context, the terms “encoder signals” and “encoder signals” are used synonymously in this application, in particular for the signals that are detected by means of an encoder and/or an array. Furthermore, such encoder signals or signals from the encoders can include, in particular, raw and/or pre-processed and/or evaluated signals or data that are recorded by means of the encoders.

In a further embodiment, the planar unit can comprise at least one, preferably two and/or a multiplicity of drive unit(s), which is/are designed in particular to enable the movement of a partial area of the mover or of the mover covering the planar unit To mediate mover on the planar unit, preferably mediated by the drive units directions of movement orthogonal to each other and / or the drive unit (s) is an electromagnetic drive unit / are.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the at least one drive unit can be connected to the at least one control unit via at least one second communication interface, preferably in order to be controllable by the at least one control unit and/or to be supplied with energy by it.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, the at least one control unit and the at least one drive unit of the planar unit can additionally or alternatively be designed as one component, preferably as an integrated component, in particular as a 2-axis servo or stepper motor control system.

In one embodiment, the at least one control unit of at least one planar unit can communicate via at least one third communication interface, preferably a proprietary bus, particularly preferably an FPGA-based bus, CAN bus, EtherCAT or another Ethernet-based bus, with one or more other control units of other planar -Units of the logistics area, in particular in real time, communicate and/or, preferably via at least a fourth communication interface, are operatively connected to at least one bottom layer motion controller, BLMC, controller, in particular be connected, with each BLMC preferably having a coherent area of planar Units of the logistics area is assigned, in particular the assigned planar Units are each connected to the respective BLMC via the fourth communication interface, in particular are connected, and/or the BLMCs and control units are organized in a cascaded manner and/or, at least indirectly, are connected.

Furthermore, the at least one control unit of at least one planar unit can also have an operative connection, in particular be connected and/or communicate, with the control units of the respective surrounding, in particular neighboring and/or surrounding, planar units, preferably directly, via the third communication interface.

Furthermore, the at least one control unit of at least one planar unit can have an operative connection, in particular is connected and/or communicates, with at least one control unit of at least one of the respective surrounding and/or adjacent types of surrounding planar unit, preferably directly via the third communication interface.

In addition, the communication and/or connection of the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit to the neighboring and/or surrounding control unit(s) of the planar unit(s) can be limited, in particular by at least one external command of the at least one BLMC and/or or the at least one control system and/or a superordinate grouping of planar units and/or a subdivision of the logistics area, wherein planar units that are only in a neighborhood relationship via at least one respective edge preferably communicate via the third communication interface.

Additionally or alternatively, the at least one BLMC can have an operative connection with at least one higher-level control system, preferably via at least a fifth communication interface, preferably by means of the control system, the BLMC and/or the control unit for one or more partial routes, travel orders and/or travel commands the at least one or more movers can be generated and/or can be transmitted to the relevant BLMC(s), with the driving order(s) preferably being able to be made available to the higher-level control system by an enterprise resource planning system (ERPS). In addition, the higher-level control system can be set up for at least one and/or each mover to which a travel command and/or travel order is assigned, the control unit of a planar unit, which and/or the at least one encoder of which is at least partially covered by the mover, as to define a primary control unit or master, with the organization of the partial routes and/or driving commands required for the execution of the travel order, in particular the information relevant to the driving command and/or the partial route, preferably being organized by the control unit defined as the primary control unit and/or the travel commands and/or partial routes necessary for the execution of the travel order and/or the information necessary for the travel command and/or the partial route are forwarded to at least one control unit of at least one further planar unit, preferably via the third and/or fourth communication interface.

In one embodiment it is proposed that at least some of the control units of at least some of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units process at least (i) some of the signals from the encoders, the raw encoder signals, the pre-processed encoder signals, in particular the temporal derivation of encoder signals, and/or data associated with the encoder signals, in particular a measure of the signal stability or the like, preferably a signal-to-noise ratio, to the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit , wherein preferably the signals from the encoders are transmitted from neighboring and/or surrounding planar units that have a common edge with the at least one planar unit, (ii) additional information for the position and/or positioning and/or position - and/or change in positioning of a mover over the at least one planar unit, in particular during execution guidance of a driving command in which the one planar unit is involved are relevant, and/or (iii) the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to link the transmitted encoder signals and the additional information in order to to assess an assignment of the received encoder signals by the at least one control unit according to whether or not they are relevant for the position and/or positioning and/or position and/or positioning change of the one mover. The aforementioned additional information can include one or more of the following information: (i) whether the respective adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit is involved in the travel command for the same mover as the at least one planar unit and/or control unit; (ii) at least a current status with regard to an integration of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit 1b, 1c in driving commands for other movers, and/or an occupancy by other movers, obstacles and/or other objects on the logistics area, and/or (iii) future reservations for other drive commands and/or error messages.

In one embodiment, the control unit defined as the primary control unit is set up to provide the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit with the additional information according to the two previous paragraphs.

Alternatively or additionally, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to transmit the signal of the at least one encoder and/or the encoder signals of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit(s) together or separately for positioning and /or position detection or for position and/or positioning change detection, in particular during a movement of the one mover over the at least one planar unit, wherein the at least one control unit is preferably set up to do so by means of at least one algorithm and/or based on at least one first criterion such as signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, which are or should be at least partially covered by the mover and/or in the direction of movement, in particular the Direction of movement of the next movement increment, lie, too select at least one encoder signal from the group of encoder signals from the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units and/or the encoder signals from the at least one planar unit, preferably with this selection being relevant to the position and/or Positioning and/or position and/or position change of the encoder signals determined by a mover is restricted and/or this selection takes place in particular in real time, preferably on the respective control unit of the at least one planar unit.

Furthermore, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to check in at least a first step whether one of the one or more Encoder signals, which are detected by the at least one planar unit from the at least one encoder of the planar unit, exceed a first or a second limit value and/or one or more first threshold values, the one or more first threshold values preferably being as signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of the signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like; and/or in at least a second step, in particular if none of the at least one encoder signals of the at least one encoder comprised by the planar unit (is valid, accesses at least one relevant signal from the encoder of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, preferably the relevant encoder signal of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit, which has the greatest signal quality and/or strength/amplitude, being accepted instead of the invalid signal of the at least one encoder of the planar unit.

Alternatively or additionally, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to receive at least one of the encoder signals within a trajectory, route and/or movement that has already been traveled and/or announced and/or one or more travel steps and/or part -Weigh routes more heavily or only consider them.

In addition, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to determine at least one effective encoder signal from at least some or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units.

Furthermore, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to take into account the signals of the at least one encoder of the at least one planar unit and/or to include them in the determination of the position and/or positioning of the one mover, wherein the effective encoder signal is used in combination or alone to determine the positioning of the one mover over the at least one planar unit.

Alternatively or additionally, in the embodiments of the two previous paragraphs, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to output the effective encoder signal either individually or in combination, preferably by averaging and/or interpolation and/or pattern recognition the encoder signals to determine the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, in particular those planar units which (i) supply relevant encoder signals; (ii) are and/or were involved in the current travel step of one mover, with planar units in particular that are in or opposite the direction of travel of the one mover being weighted more heavily.

Alternatively or additionally, one embodiment can provide that the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit is set up to change the position and/or positioning of the one mover over a planar unit, in particular by the encoders changing over time -To determine signals, preferably by evaluating at least one derivation and/or a plurality of derivations, in particular a chronological derivation, of the encoder signal of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit(s) and/or the at least one planar Unit in which this is/are placed in a geometric relation to the logistics area and/or the one mover whose position and/or positioning change is recorded.

Alternatively or additionally, in a further embodiment it can be provided that the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit is set up to use the effective encoder signal to detect and/or to change the position and/or positioning of the one mover preferably (i) at least one change and/or derivation of the effective encoder signal over time is evaluated and/or (ii) the at least one planned and/or already covered position and/or positioning change of the to be executed or already executed Driving and / or movement step and / or the partial route is taken into account for better position and / or positioning change detection and / or (iii) the effective encoder signal in the preferably supported on machine learning and / or artificial intelligence and / or based Position and/or positioning detection and/or position change and/or positioning u to include change detection.

Provision can furthermore be made for the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit and/or the at least one drive unit of the at least one planar unit to include and/or include at least one drive controller and/or the at least one control unit to have at least one movement step -Planner/trajectory planner, which preferably processes the partial route for one mover and controls the drive controller accordingly. In addition, the drive controller can include at least two, preferably three, individual controller elements selected from: at least one position and/or positioning controller, at least one rpm/speed controller, and at least one power/current controller, with preferably corresponding control loops, in particular for controlling the thrust or traction force, rotational speed or speed and/or position or positioning, of the drive unit can be controlled by means of these controller elements.

Furthermore, the control unit defined as the primary control unit can additionally or alternatively be set up in such a way that further control units of surrounding planar units, which are at least partially covered by the mover, can each be defined as secondary control units or slaves, with the secondary control units preferably being used in feedback and /or together with the primary control unit provide the movement of the mover.

Furthermore, the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit can be set up to:

(i) using the trajectory planner to carry out the trajectory planning or travel order planning to determine the next travel step and/or movement increment of a partial route;

(ii) based in particular on this, carrying out the control of the at least one drive unit via the drive controller; and or

(iii) using a planar unit's own encoder signals or the effective encoder signal to track the position and/or positioning change of the mover and/or to control the control loops according to the detected position and/or positioning change and/or adapt, the respective control loops preferably being controlled centrally by the primary control unit or the master and/or being controlled individually by the respective control units of the slaves, with the position controller being particularly preferably controlled centrally via the primary control unit.

As an alternative or in addition to this, the control unit defined as the primary control unit can be set up, via the control units surrounding and/or neighboring planar Unit(s) which is/are relevant for the travel order and/or travel command, these planar unit(s), in particular with regard to functionality, occupancy by at least one obstacle and/or by at least one other, in particular second, mover and/or or query, reserve and/or include in the provision of the movement of the relevant mover with regard to at least one existing reservation and/or blocking, in particular by another, preferably prioritized, travel order and/or travel command, and/or planar units that are no longer required to release and/or, preferably in feedback with the higher-level BLMCs and/or the higher-level control system or independently, in particular based on the result of the reservation and query of the relevant planar units, to adjust the movement of the mover and/or at least one travel command at least incrementally and /or query planar units needed according to the adjustment and/or to reserve.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, the control unit defined as the primary control unit can be set up, preferably automatically, to define a control unit as the subsequent primary control unit, which is preferably at least partially covered by the mover in question, during the execution of at least one travel order and/or travel command for a mover , in particular as soon as (i) the surface of the planar unit and/or the at least one encoder of the control unit defined as the primary control unit is no longer covered by the mover and/or (ii) the mover in question has covered a predetermined distance in which it is to be expected that the planar unit of the primary control unit is no longer sufficiently covered, this being the case preferably when the mover in question has covered a distance which corresponds to the extent of a planar unit in the direction of movement of the mover in question and/or (iii) the encoder signal of the primary Control unit falls below a second threshold value, and/or (iv) no longer has a valid encoder signal.

In this case, the control unit defined as primary can preferably be set up to relinquish its function as primary control unit, preferably independently, after the definition of the subsequent primary control unit has taken place.

Furthermore, the control unit defined as the subsequent primary control unit can be set up to define the control unit(s) of the reserved and/or queried planar unit(s) as new secondary control units or planar unit(s), preferably after the surface of the reserved planar unit(s) is at least partially covered by the mover in question, and/or the planar units that are at least partially covered and defined as secondary control units are to be taken over as secondary control units and/or the subsequent primary ones Control unit defined control unit can be set up to release the control unit defined as the primary control unit or to define it as a secondary control unit.

In addition, the second threshold value of the encoder signal can be a signal amplitude or the like and/or a measure of signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like, and/or correspond to one of the one or more first threshold values.

Alternatively or additionally, the control unit defined as the primary control unit can be set up to make the selection of the subsequent primary control unit based on an evaluation of the encoder signals from the planar units involved in the movement, with the control unit of a planar unit preferably being involved in the movement of the mover, which supplies the most suitable valid encoder signal, is defined as the next primary control unit, the most suitable valid encoder signal among the valid encoder signals preferably being selected, at least taking into account at least one second criterion such as: signal stability, Signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units that are or should be at least partially covered by the mover and/or in the direction of movement, in particular the direction of movement of the next movement increment , lie, preferably wise the first criterion, is determined.

In one embodiment, the at least one control unit of a planar unit can be configured to forward the read or evaluated signals of the encoder or the sensor array of the encoder, preferably in real time and/or by means of the fourth communication interface, to the at least one BLMC, wherein this preferably collects these signals for each connected planar unit and/or forwards them to the higher-level control system by means of the fifth communication interface and/or forwards them directly to the higher-level control system. In a further embodiment, the higher-level control system can be set up to collect the read-out or evaluated signals from the encoder or the sensor array of the encoder for a large number of planar units and/or to combine them into groups using at least one algorithm, preferably into groups for a mover correspond to.

In addition, the higher-level control system can be set up to determine the position and/or positioning of the mover based on the signals from the encoders and/or the sensor arrays of the encoders of the multiplicity of planar units combined into groups, preferably with the aid of further data, in particular dimensions of the mover or other predefined parameters.

In one embodiment, it can be provided that the higher-level control system is set up to use at least one calibration process to detect the position and/or positioning and/or size and/or dimensions of a mover, with at least one encoder signal preferably being at least partially transmitted by the relevant Mover covered planar units is evaluated by the higher-level control system, in particular the encoder signal is compared to one or more first threshold values.

Provision can also be made for the higher-level control system to be set up to determine the dimensions and/or position and/or positioning of the mover by analyzing the change in at least one encoder signal as a function of at least one corresponding oscillating forward or reverse and/or to detect sideways movement of the mover, with at least one encoder signal of at least one adjacent planar unit, which only supplies a corresponding valid encoder signal as a result of the movement steps, preferably being integrated.

Finally, in another embodiment of the logistics area, the higher-level control system can additionally or alternatively be designed to assign individual movers to a group, preferably to define movers of any size and/or logical groups of a large number of individual and/or newly connected movers and/or driving orders for several movers and/or connected movers at the same time and/or to manage them, in particular to prioritize the driving orders and forward them to the primary control unit. The object relating to the method is achieved by a method for operating at least one logistics area comprising a large number of planar units with at least one mover or at least one network of movers that at least partially cover a planar unit, in particular a logistics area according to the invention comprising:

• detecting at least one output signal amplitude of sensors of at least one sensor array of at least one encoder of the planar unit;

• Determination of at least a first difference between at least two output signal amplitudes; and

• checking whether the at least one first difference lies within at least one first limit value, and/or

• detecting at least one magnetic flux or field strength and/or at least one other signal of the sensors of the sensor array of at least one encoder of the planar unit, which is induced and/or generated by the cover of a sensor by the mover;

• Determination of at least a second difference between at least one of the detected magnetic flux and / or the other signal resulting output signal of the at least one sensor of the sensor - array on the one hand and a background value on the other hand; and

• Checking whether the at least one second difference is within at least one second limit value.

It is proposed for the method that the first limit value is at most 20%, preferably at most 10%, particularly preferably at most 7% of one of the detected output signal amplitudes and/or the second limit value is at least 20%, preferably at least 10%, particularly preferably at least corresponds to 7% of the background value.

It is preferred that the method further comprises • Forwarding, preferably in real time, the detected and / or evaluated signals of the encoder or the sensor - array through at least one control unit of the planar unit to at least one BLMC (Bottom Layer Motion Controller), and / or preferably collecting the signals for each planar unit connected to the at least one BLMC;

• Forwarding the signals to at least one higher-level control system;

• Receiving at least some of the encoder signals, in particular the raw encoder signals, the preprocessed encoder signals, in particular the time derivation of encoder signals, and/or data associated with the encoder signals, in particular a measure of the signal stability or the like, preferably a signal-to-noise ratio, of at least part of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units;

• Receiving additional information for the position and / or positioning and / or position and / or change in positioning of a mover or mover network on the at least one planar unit, in particular during the execution of a travel command on the one planar unit involved are relevant; and or

• Linking the at least part of the received signals from the encoder and the additional information in order to assign the received encoder signals by at least one control unit to be relevant or not relevant to the position and/or positioning and/or position and/or change in position of the to get a mover..

The method may further include the following steps:

• Evaluation of the signal of the at least one encoder and/or one of the encoder signals received from the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit(s) together or separately for positioning and/or position detection or for position and/or position change detection, in particular during a movement of the one mover over the at least one planar unit by the at least one control unit, the evaluation preferably comprising a selection made using at least one algorithm and/or based on at least one first criterion such as signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units that are or should be at least partially covered by the mover and/or are in the direction of movement, in particular the direction of movement of the next movement increment, at least one encoder signal from the group of encoder signals from the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units and/or the encoder signals from the at least one planar unit, this selection being based on the relevant for the position and/or positioning and/or position - and/or change in positioning of the encoder signals determined by a mover is limited and/or this selection takes place in particular in real time, preferably on the respective control unit of the at least one planar unit.

In addition, the method may also include any of the following steps:

• Check, in at least a first step, whether one of the one or more encoder signals received by the at least one planar unit from the at least one encoder of the planar unit has a first or a second limit value and/or one or exceeds a plurality of first threshold values, the one or more first threshold values preferably being defined as signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of the signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like; and or

• Falling back, in at least a second step, in particular if none of the at least one encoder signals of the at least one encoder comprised by the planar unit is valid, falls back on at least one relevant signal of the encoder of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, wherein preferably the relevant encoder signal of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit, which has the greatest signal quality and/or strength/amplitude, is accepted instead of the invalid signal of the at least one encoder of the planar unit.

Alternatively or additionally, the method may include:

Greater weighting or exclusive consideration of at least one of the encoder signals within a trajectory that has already been driven and/or announced, Driving route and/or movement and/or one or more driving steps and/or partial

routing through the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit.

Preferred embodiments of the method provide that the method further comprises

• Determination of at least one effective encoder signal from at least a part or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units by the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit.

It is also suggested that the procedure includes:

• Taking into account and / or determining the position and / or positioning of a mover or by the signals of the at least one encoder of the at least one planar unit by the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit, in combination or alone that effective encoder signal for determining the positioning of one mover over the at least one planar unit is used,

It is further suggested that the procedure includes:

• Determination of the position and / or positioning change of a mover on the at least one planar unit, in particular by the encoder signals changing over time by the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit, preferably via an evaluation of at least one Derivation and/or a plurality of derivations, in particular a chronological derivation, of the encoder signal of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units) and/or the at least one planar unit, in which these are in a geometric relation to the logistics area and/or of the one mover whose position and/or positioning change is detected is or are set.

Also, it is suggested that the method further comprises

• Collecting and / or combining the detected and / or evaluated signals of the encoder and / or the sensor - arrays of the encoder, to at least one group, in particular by means of at least one algorithm preferably to groups that a Mover correspond, preferably for a plurality of planar units by the higher-level control system.

Preferred embodiments of the method provide that the method further comprises

• Determining at least one position and/or positioning of the mover based on the signals of the encoders and/or the sensor arrays of the encoders of the plurality of planar units combined into the at least one group, preferably with the aid of further data, in particular at least one dimension of the mover and/or at least one other predefined parameter by the higher-level control system.

It is further suggested that the method further comprises:

• Generating at least one driving command and/or at least one partial route for the at least one mover, the generation preferably being based on at least one driving order provided by at least one higher-level control system and/or at least one enterprise resource planning system (ERPS) and/or the generation takes place by at least one or more BLMC(s) and/or at least one control unit.

According to the invention, it is preferred that the method further comprises:

• Defining at least one control unit of at least one planar unit, which and/or the at least one encoder of which is at least partially covered by the mover, as the primary control unit or master, by the higher-level control system and/or BLMC for each mover to which a travel command and /or is assigned to a driving order, and preferably organizing the control units required for the execution of the driving order and disseminating the information relevant to the generation of the driving command and/or partial route through the control unit defined as the primary control unit.

Alternatively or additionally, the method may further include:

• Carrying out by means of a trajectory planner, which includes the at least one control unit, the trajectory planning or travel order planning, in particular for Determining the next driving step and/or movement increment of a partial route and/or driving command, and in particular based thereon executing the control of the at least one drive unit via the drive controller; and or

• Controlling and/or adjusting the control loops and/or tracking the position and/or positioning change of the mover by using the own encoder signals of a planar unit or the effective encoder signal according to the detected position and/or positioning change, with preference the respective control circuits are controlled centrally by the primary control unit or the master and/or are controlled individually by the respective control units of the slaves, with the position controller being particularly preferably controlled centrally via the primary control unit.

It is also suggested that the method further includes:

• Defining at least one further control unit of at least one planar unit, preferably at least one control unit surrounding the primary control unit and/or primary planar unit, which is at least partially covered by the mover, as a secondary control unit or slave, in particular by the primary Control unit defined control unit, and preferably providing the movement of the mover by the secondary control units in feedback and/or together with the primary control unit.

In the two aforementioned embodiments, it is preferred that the method further comprises:

• Querying, reserving and/or incorporating into the movement of the relevant mover the planar unit(s) relevant to the travel command and/or the partial route by the control unit defined as the primary control unit, in particular via the surrounding and/or neighboring control units (r) Planar unit(s), preferably based on functionality, occupancy by at least one obstacle and/or by at least one other, in particular second, mover, and/or at least one existing reservation and/or blocking, in particular by another, preferably prioritized, driving command, and/or • Release of planar units and/or control units that are no longer required, preferably adjustment in feedback with the higher-level BLMCs and/or the higher-level control system or independently, in particular based on the result of the reservation and query of the relevant planar units, preferably to enable the movement of the Adjust movers at least incrementally and/or query and/or reserve and/or required planar units according to the adjustment

• Providing the previously defined additional information.

It is further proposed that the method further includes:

• Defining at least one control unit as the subsequent primary control unit, which is preferably at least partially covered by the mover in question, preferably automatically, by the control unit defined as the primary control unit, preferably during the execution of the at least one driving command and/or the at least one partial route for a mover, in particular as soon as o (i) the surface of the planar unit and/or the at least one encoder of the control unit defined as primary is no longer covered by the mover; o (ii) the mover in question has covered a predetermined distance at which it can be expected that the planar unit of the primary control unit is no longer sufficiently covered, this being the case preferably when the mover in question has covered a distance, which corresponds to the extent of a planar unit in the direction of movement of the relevant mover and/or o (iii) the encoder signal from the primary control unit falls below a second threshold value, and/or o (iv) no longer has a valid encoder signal.

In the aforementioned embodiment of the method, it is preferred that the method further comprises:

Giving up, preferably independently, the function as primary control unit after the definition of the subsequent primary control unit has taken place, by the control unit defined as primary, and/or • Defining the controller(s) of the reserved and/or polled planar unit(s) as new secondary controllers or planar unit(s) by the controller defined as the subsequent primary controller, preferably after the area of the reserved planar(s). - Unit(s) is at least partially covered by the mover in question, and/or

• Adopting the planar units that are still partially covered and defined as secondary control units as secondary control units by the control unit defined as the subsequent primary control unit and/or preferably

• Share or define as secondary controller the controller defined as primary controller by the controller defined as subsequent primary controller.

Alternatively or additionally, the method may also include:

• Selection of the subsequent primary control unit by the control unit defined as the primary control unit based on an evaluation of the encoder signals from the planar units involved in the movement, with preferably the at least one control unit of a planar unit involved in the movement of the mover , which provides the most suitable valid encoder signal, is defined as the next primary control unit, preferably the most suitable valid encoder signal among the valid encoder signals, at least taking into account at least one second criterion such as: signal stability, signal strength and/or signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units that are or should be at least partially covered by the mover and/or are in the direction of movement, in particular in the direction of movement of the next movement increment, preferably the first criterion , is determined

Finally, for the method, it is proposed that the method further includes:

Assigning a plurality of individual movers to at least one network, preferably movers of any size, in particular by the higher-level control system, • Defining logical groups of a large number of individual and/or new connected movers, in particular by the higher-level control system, and/or,

• preferably simultaneous, giving and/or managing driving commands and/or driving orders for several movers and/or connected movers, in particular prioritizing the driving commands and/or driving orders and forwarding them to the primary control units.

It is further suggested that the procedure includes:

• Carrying out a position and/or positioning detection and/or size detection and/or dimension detection of a mover by the higher-level control system via a calibration process, with preferably at least one encoder signal of the planar units at least partially covered by the relevant mover being evaluated by the higher-level control system is, in particular the encoder signal is compared to one or more first threshold values

Alternatively or additionally, the method may also include:

• Detecting the dimension and / or position and / or positioning of the mover by the higher-level control system by analyzing the change in at least one encoder signal depending on at least one corresponding oscillating forward or backward and / or sideways movement of the mover, wherein preferably at least one encoder signal of at least one neighboring planar unit, which only delivers a corresponding valid encoder signal through the movement steps, are integrated.

Furthermore, the invention provides a computer program product comprising commands which, when the program is executed, in particular by a logistics area according to the invention, cause at least one logistics area to carry out the method according to the invention and/or the steps of the method.

In addition, the invention provides a control unit for processing at least one encoder signal from a planar unit comprising at least one encoder, the encoder having at least one sensor array for position and/or Determination of the positioning of at least one mover, which comprises magnets arranged at least in a pole pitch grid; and the one planar unit is arranged in a surface of a plurality of planar units such that the encoders of the planar units form at least one grid that is uniform at least in some areas, the distance between the encoders of at least two planar units and/or at least two Encoder of a planar unit a multiple, in particular a natural, real and/or rational multiple, which corresponds to the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover.

Furthermore, the control unit can process the encoder signals in such a way as to cause a logistics area, in particular the logistics area according to the invention, to carry out a method and/or at least one step, preferably a large number of steps, of the steps of the method according to the invention.

The present invention is based on the surprising finding that the inventive design of the logistics area with the formation of a uniform grid of the encoders and/or the design of the method according to the invention makes it possible to expand the logistics area easily and efficiently with additional planar units as desired . The logistics area according to the invention can thus be enlarged and/or converted as desired in order to adapt it to new capacity and/or space requirements. The design of the logistics area according to the invention thus makes it possible for the logistics area or the logistics system to be able to flexibly organize itself and thus act in a decentralized manner. In comparison to systems known from the prior art, in which only one power unit - i.e. drives and sensors integrated in the logistics area - and no control and/or communication unit is installed in the logistics area, the invention makes it possible for the control or regulation is transferred from a central control unit to the logistics area, in particular the planar units. In particular, it is possible to have the travel commands required for the execution of a travel order determined, organised, checked, adjusted and/or transmitted in a decentralized manner. Equipping the individual planar units or area motors with their own control units, which is made possible by the design of the grid, also makes it possible for the control units to be able to communicate with one another independently and decentrally. This communication enables travel commands, trajectories, status information, Vectors or comparable data can be passed on over logistics areas of any size, ie areas with any number of planar units or area motors. Because of the design of the grid, the distance between the encoders is known in all control units and can be used as a basis for determining the route without requiring intervention from or communication with a central, higher-level control system. Thanks to the decentralized communication system set up by the respective control units of the planar units, the logistics area can also be set up in a modular manner and expanded flexibly without spatial restrictions, since the bus utilization of the communication system between the planar units remains constant. It is preferred that such surface extensions are automatically recognized by the system consisting of the surface motors or their control units and encoders and the added surfaces can be automatically integrated into the communication and the control. It should be emphasized that information can be passed on and processed in this way using a real-time transmission system, regardless of the size of the logistics area in question.

The one or more encoders integrated into the respective planar units form a grid of discrete measurement points for detecting the position and/or positioning of the one or more movers on the logistics area according to the invention. This grid for position and/or positioning detection is implemented in that the at least one encoder of the plurality of planar units and/or the encoder of a planar unit is at a distance of a multiple of the pole pair widths of the magnets in the pole pitch grid of the at least one mover. This has the advantage over continuously measuring position and/or positioning determination systems that the grid of encoders formed in this way can be constructed in a modular manner and decentralized control by the control units of the planar units is made possible. This enables the high flexibility and scalability of the logistics area according to the invention.

The formation of a surface from identically designed or modular planar units with encoders and the use of movers that cover at least two planar units results in redundancy in the position and/or positioning detection and in the drive for the respective movers. This redundancy allows continuous operation of the Logistics area despite a failure and/or deactivation as part of maintenance work of at least one Planar unit.

Furthermore, the direct communication of the planar units to their respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units allows failed planar units to be clearly identified.

The embodiments listed above can be used individually or in any combination to provide the device and the method according to the invention.

Further aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, in which preferred embodiments are described with the aid of the accompanying drawings:

1 shows a schematic representation of a planar unit with an encoder and control unit in a side view, FIG. 1a, and a top view, FIG. 1b, with the encoder and control unit being connected via a first communication interface.

2 shows a schematic representation of the array of sensors in the form of Hall sensors of an encoder.

3 shows two schematic representations of the logistics area according to the invention. 3a shows a logistics area according to the invention comprising a large number of planar units, which are connected to the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units via a third communication interface and in some areas to a BLMC via a fourth communication interface, the BLMC in turn being connected via a fifth Communication interface is connected to a higher-level control system, shown. A movement of a mover across the logistics area is also shown schematically. FIG. 3b shows a detail of FIG. 3a, which shows a planar unit as part of a logistics area with its surrounding and/or neighboring planar units. Fig. 3c shows the drive controllers of a drive unit of the planar unit of Fig. 1.

4 schematically shows an embodiment of the logistics area according to the invention with a mover and assignment of the individual control units of the planar units involved primary, secondary or reserved control units during the execution of a movement of the mover in response to a given travel order and/or travel command.

FIG. 5 schematically shows an embodiment of the logistics area according to the invention analogous to FIG. 4, the movement of two movers being visualized here at the same time.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic of an embodiment of the logistics area according to the invention analogous to FIG. 4, with the circumnavigation of an obstacle by a mover being shown here.

FIG. 7 schematically shows an embodiment of the logistics area according to the invention analogous to FIG. 4, with a connected mover being shown here.

Detailed character description

In Fig. 1, a modular planar unit 1 of a logistics area not shown in Fig. 1 is shown schematically. In addition to at least one drive unit 3, which effects the movement of a mover, which is also not shown in Fig. 1 and can be moved across the logistics area, in at least one direction via the planar unit 1, this planar unit 1 also contains an encoder 5 and a control unit 7 integrated. This encoder 5, also called feedback, is used for relative position and/or positioning detection during a movement of the mover. The encoder 5 includes at least one array 11 of sensors in the form of Hall sensors 13. The signals from the Hall sensors 13 and the encoder 5 are transmitted to the control unit 7 via a first communication interface 9a, such as via SPI. The control unit 7 is also connected to the at least one drive unit via an interface, which in particular represents a second communication interface (not shown), in order to be able to control it. Furthermore, the at least one drive unit 3 can also be supplied with energy via the control unit 7 via this interface, in particular the second communication interface.

The control unit 7 has a third communication interface 9b, with the help of which it can communicate in the logistics area with other, in particular neighboring and/or surrounding, planar units. The encoder 5 is arranged centrally in the surface of the planar unit 1 over which movers move. However, other arrangements, such as decentralized, for example in a corner and/or at a distance from the surface facing the movers, are also possible.

The size of the planar unit 1 is a multiple of the pole pair width of the magnets arranged like a chessboard in the grid of the pole pitch on the underside of a mover. These magnets move across the Hall array 11 of the encoder 5 at a distance of, for example, 6-10 mm when a mover moves across the planar unit 1 .

The structure of an array 11 of the Hall sensors 13 of the encoder 5 is shown in FIG. In the embodiment of the encoder 5 from FIG. 2, an array 11 of nine Hall sensors 13 is formed. The distance between the Hall sensors 13 is 1/3 of the pole pair width. In general, an array 11 with a spacing of 1/n of the pole pair width with n ² Hall sensors 13 can be used in an alternative embodiment.

The magnets of the mover induce a sinusoidal voltage in the individual Hall sensors 13 during the movement of the mover over the planar unit 1 .

With a movement along the X-direction, i.e. in a direction in Fig. 2 upwards or downwards, the individual voltages in the column Si (in Figure 2: signals at the Hall sensors (RA | Si ) , ( RB | S i) and (Rc | S i); in general, the sum of the signals in column 1) to a constant voltage. The same applies to columns S2 and S3 or, in general, to all columns up to n.

On the other hand, with a movement along the X-direction, the individual voltages of the row RA add up (in Figure 2: signals at the Hall sensors (RA | Si), (RB | Si) and (Rc | Si), generally the sum of the n signals in series A) to a sinusoidal voltage. The same applies to rows RB and Rc, or in general to all rows up to n. The total sinusoidal voltages of the individual rows in three rows have a phase shift of 120°, generally 360°/n.

With a movement along the Y-direction, i.e. in a direction in Fig. 2 to the right or left, the individual voltages in the row RA add up (in Figure 2: signals at the Hall sensors (RA | S 1) , (RB | Si) and (Rc | S 1), in general the sum of the signals in series RA) TO a constant voltage. The same applies to rows B and C, in general to all rows up to n.

On the other hand, with a movement along the Y-direction, the individual voltages of the column Si (in Figure 2: signals at the Hall sensors (RA | Si) , (RB | Si) and (Rc | Si)) add up, generally the sum of the n signals in column Si) to a sinusoidal voltage. The same applies to the columns S2 and S3, generally for all columns up to n. In this case, the total sinusoidal voltages of the individual columns have a phase shift of 120° relative to one another for three columns, generally 360°/n.

A combined movement along the X-direction and Y-direction, such as a diagonal movement, is a superimposition of the movements. Correspondingly, sinusoidal voltages result both for the row signals and for the column signals.

The frequency of the sinusoidal voltages is proportional to the speed of the mover. The amplitude depends on the distance between the magnets of the mover and the Hall sensors 13.

The sinusoidal voltages are analog-digital (AZD) converted either in the encoder 5 or in the control unit 7 of the planar unit 1 and can then be evaluated digitally in the encoder 5 or the control unit 7 of the planar unit 1, so that a position and / or positioning information in the X and Y direction for the respective planar unit or logistics area.

The signals from the individual sensors in the evaluation electronics of the encoder 5 or the control unit 7 are also checked for validity. With complete overlap of the sensors 13 of the Hall sensor array of the encoder 5, the amplitudes of the sinusoidal output voltages of the Hall sensors 13 are approximately the same during the movement. In this case, the evaluation electronics can detect whether the amplitudes are approximately the same size by calculating the difference and subsequent comparison with a first limit value. Based on this, the evaluation electronics can detect a valid encoder signal.

Complete coverage of the encoder 5 by a mover is also recognized when the system is stationary, since the Hall sensors 13 detect a magnetic flux and the output signals assume a value that deviates from a background value. This can be used by the evaluation electronics to detect an overlap by a mover will. By forming the difference between output signals and a background value and subsequent comparison with a second limit value, it can be determined whether there is a sufficient deviation for this. A combination of the two detection options is also possible.

FIG. 3a shows, diagrammatically and in part, the structure of a logistics area 15 comprising a multiplicity of planar units 1, as have been described with reference to FIGS.

The control units 7 have a third communication interface 9b, e.g. an FPGA bus, with which they can communicate with all neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1. A first communication level is formed in the logistics area 15 via this third communication interface. Communication is real-time and/or peer-to-peer. The bus load remains constant, regardless of the size of the total area, since the number of participants is limited by the proximity of the planar units. For example, as shown in FIG. 3a, a planar unit 1 with a square base can be adjacent to a maximum of eight planar units.

FIG. 3b shows a detail from the logistics area 15 of FIG. 3a, in order to illustrate the neighborhood relationship of a planar unit 1a to its surrounding planar units 1b, 1c in more detail. The planar unit 1a is connected via the third communication interface 9b, which forms the first communication level, to its planar units 1b, 1c, which are adjacent at corners and at the edges. Alternatively, however, only the planar units 1b that are adjacent across the edge can also be connected to the planar unit 1a via a communication interface 9b. The control units 7 exchange their respective identifiers (IDs) and other or additional information with the neighbors via the third communication interface 9b.

Furthermore, the planar units 1 are assigned to areas and correspondingly connected to at least one bottom layer motion controller (BLMC) 19 for this area via at least a fourth communication interface 17 . The BLMCs 19 shown in FIG. 3a are connected to a higher-level control system 21 via a fifth communication interface, preferably based on CAN or EtherNet. The fourth and fifth communication interface form a second communication level of the logistics area. Because each control unit, as already described above, exchanges its IDs with one another, each control unit 7 knows its neighbors with their ID. This information about the ID and the neighborhood relationships is forwarded to the higher-level control system via the BLMC. There, the logistics area 15 can be mapped based on the transmitted IDs and the neighboring relationships. The surface is therefore self-identifying and a failure of planar units is automatically detected by comparing the transmitted information with the target state of the surface. The transmission can take place on a regular basis or by querying the higher-level control system 21 and/or the downstream BMLCs 19. Detected defective areas can be avoided by the higher-level control system when routing travel commands for movers 40, which is explained below. Furthermore, the defective areas can be marked for maintenance by the higher-level control system. The control units 7 can communicate around defective control units by means of the third communication interface 9b.

The higher-level control system 21 manages travel and/or transport orders for goods located on the movers that are commissioned by an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning System), which is not shown in FIG. 3 . The higher-level control system 21 processes the various travel orders and uses them to generate various collision-free travel routes, which are then broken down into individual linear sub-routes. These are then sent one after the other to the corresponding BLMCs, which in turn send them to the responsible primary control unit below the mover, which is defined in particular by the higher-level control system 21 . The primary control unit in the planar unit then generates the travel command, the trajectory and organizes the required secondary control units, optionally the possible forwarding of the primary control unit, which is explained below, and everything else via the third communication interface. The completed processing of a partial travel order is then reported back to the higher-level control unit by the last or last primary control unit via the BLMC. To determine the position and/or positioning of a mover, only valid encoder signals are sent from the control unit 7 of a planar unit 1 to the BLMC 19 via the fourth communication interface 17 . The BLMC 19 collects the signals and forwards them to the higher-level control system 21 via the fifth communication interface 23 . In this case, the fifth communication interface 23 can be based on an EtherNet bus. The forwarded signals are linked to one another in a suitable form by the higher-level control system 21 in order to generate continuous position and/or positioning information for the movers. The signals are collected, called aggregation, and combined by an algorithm into groups that correspond to a mover. Furthermore, other predefined parameters or dimensions of the mover and/or its loading can be retrieved for determining the position and/or positioning, for example from a database, or can be included in it and/or specify it.

The dimensions of a transport unit or mover and/or its load can be determined by means of at least one additional sensor located in the at least one planar unit 1, by means of at least one encoder 5 of the planar units 1 and/or by means of at least one camera, each the covered area of the mover and/or its load can be detected. The recorded dimensions can be fed into the database. Parameters can be generated from the recorded dimensions, e.g. geometry and number of planar units 1 and/or encoder 5 covered by the mover and/or its load Database with predefined parameters possible. This means that the exact dimensions of the mover or transport unit are always known.

The mover is also in physical contact with the logistics area 15, which significantly reduces the energy consumption since no energy is required for levitation. This means that large loads of any format can also be transported.

Due to the fact that only relevant encoder information, ie valid signals, is forwarded and processed, the position and/or positioning detection can be operated efficiently and with minimal data transfer and can thus be extended to areas of any size.

The amount of data only depends on the size of the mover and always remains constant, regardless of the size of the area.

As also shown in FIG. 3a, a redundant position and/or positioning detection for a mover can be implemented if the mover at least size of two planar units is 1 or more. This makes it possible for the failure of an encoder 5 to be detected and compensated for. The failure of individual encoders 5 then does not lead to a failure of the system.

Another special feature of the system described is the discontinuous position and/or positioning information. The planar units 1 with their individual encoders thus form a grid, as shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b. Thus, during the movement of the mover, new encoders 5 are always covered and others left again. This results above all in a reduced hardware effort compared to continuously measuring systems, especially for large areas.

In order to achieve the most precise possible position and/or positioning detection and/or size detection or dimension detection of a mover 40, 40a, the mover position and/or positioning can be determined more precisely by a calibration process that takes place via the higher-level control system .

The encoder signals of the planar units 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, which are at least partially covered by the relevant mover 40, 40a, are evaluated by the higher-level control system 21. The signals from the encoders 5, 5a are compared against one or more first threshold values. These one or more first threshold values serve in particular as a relative measure (for example a percentage measure) for the coverage of an encoder of a planar unit by the mover 40, 40a. The one or more first threshold values can be defined in particular as signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of the signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like. If only a first threshold value is used, this should preferably be selected in such a way that this first threshold value corresponds to a signal with complete coverage of an encoder of the planar unit 1, la, 1b, 1c and/or the at least one encoder 5, 5a, 5b , 5 c by the mover 40, 40a corresponds.

Alternatively or additionally, the dimension and/or the position and/or positioning of the mover can be detected more precisely by analyzing the change in encoder signals as a function of corresponding oscillating forward or backward and/or sideways movements of the mover. The encoder signals from adjacent planar units 1, 1a, 1b, 1c can preferably also be integrated, which only through the Movement steps provide a corresponding valid encoder signal. The higher-level control system initiates the oscillating movements via a primary control unit 21 and evaluates the received signals in order to determine the dimensions and/or precise positioning of the mover 40, 40a.

It is particularly advantageous if the movement of the mover in one direction takes place at a constant speed until an encoder of an adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit, which has not previously supplied a valid encoder signal, sends a signal with a maximum Provides amplitude, which corresponds to a complete coverage of the encoder 5 and / or the planar unit. Furthermore, the absolute position and/or positioning of the mover 40, 40a is monitored at all times by the higher-level control system 21, so that an exact calibration in relation to the dimensions of the mover can only be carried out once after it has been configured from possibly several movers and/or mover elements has taken place.

A transport order (drive or transport goods X from A to B) is transferred from an order system or ERP system to the superordinate control system 21 (FL Control=Fluid Logistics Control System). In the higher-level control system, routing is used to create collision-free routes for the relevant mover(s) on the logistics area. These routes are then broken down into linear sub-routes. These partial routes are sent one after the other via the associated BLMC to the responsible control unit under the mover. The higher-level control system therefore defines a control unit 7 of a planar unit 1 for the relevant mover 40, which is covered by the relevant mover 40, as the primary control unit (master) 70. The BLMC 19, in whose area the primary control unit 70 is located, sends this the partial route.

In this case, the master or the primary control unit can be selected in particular according to the quality of the encoder signal. For this purpose, all encoder signals of the planar units 1 that are at least partially covered by the mover 40, 40a are transmitted to the higher-level control system 21. The higher-level control system 21 selects between the valid encoder signals, taking at least one of the following criteria into account: signal stability, signal strength, in particular a signal strength that indicates complete coverage of the planar unit by the mover (for example by exceeding the corresponding first or second limit value ) and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, which are also at least partially covered by the mover.

The defined primary control unit 70 calculates the travel command, the trajectory and independently defines its secondary control units (slaves) 71 for the area of planar units 1 occupied by the mover 40 and takes over the organization of the control units 7 required for the travel command and the distribution of the information relevant to the drive command. As already described, the control units 7 communicate with all of their neighbors by means of a real-time capable communication system via the third communication interface 9b, which forms a first communication level. This system makes the structure insensitive to the failure of individual control units 7 and/or encoders 5 in the communication and/or other components of a relevant planar unit that are relevant for position and/or positioning detection and/or for the movement of the mover and can react flexibly to disruptions and work around them. The information is forwarded and processed unaffected by disturbances and an optimal route can be driven.

Furthermore, this direct communication, which will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG drive command. For these reasons, only the first communication level is shown in FIG. 3b for illustration purposes.

In order to enable said position and/or positioning detection that is as trouble-free, reliable and continuous as possible, signals from the encoders 5b, 5c of at least some of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c transmitted by their control units 7b, 7c to the control unit 7a of a planar unit 1a, which is involved in the execution of a driving command for the mover 40a.

This means that a planar unit 1a not only has its own encoder signal available, but also the encoder signals of part or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c in order to position and/or position or change them of a mover 40a, which at least partially covers a planar unit 1, 1a. Correspondingly, signals from the encoders 5b, 5c of the surrounding and/or neighboring planar units 1b, 1c can be taken into account by the control unit 7a of the planar unit 1a when detecting the position and/or positioning of the mover.

Signals from the encoder 7b are preferably transmitted from neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, which have a common edge with the planar unit 1, 1a. In such a case, an associated encoder signal is then available to a planar unit la for each direction (+/−X and+/−Y) on the grid of the logistics area. Furthermore, of course, encoder signals from the planar units 1c that are adjacent and/or surrounding in each case via the corners can also be made available to the control unit 7a of the planar unit 1, 1a.

In this case, in particular encoder signals, pre-processed encoder signals, in particular the time derivation of encoder signals, and/or data associated with the encoder signals, in particular a measure of the signal stability or the like, preferably a signal-to-noise Ratio of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c together or separately in the control unit 7a of a planar unit 1, 1a to the position! tion and/or position detection or for position and/or positioning change detection, in particular during a movement of the mover.

In addition to the encoder signals received from the surrounding and/or neighboring planar units 1b, 11c, the information that is relevant to the execution of a travel command of a mover 40, 40a and to which the planar unit 1a is involved, are taken into account in order to achieve a correct interpretation of the received encoder signals by the control unit 7a of a planar unit la. For this purpose, the control units of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c can communicate whether they are involved in the travel command for the same mover 40a as the one planar unit 1a. Furthermore, the control unit 7a of a planar unit la the information about whether and which of its neighboring and / or surrounding planar units are involved in the movement of the mover 40a, from the primary control unit, or if the affected planar unit la itself should be the primary control unit, from the drive command information provided by the overriding control system 21 or BLMC 19, respectively. Alternatively or additionally, the control units 7b, 7c of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c also share their current status with regard to their integration into driving commands for other movers, occupancy by other movers, obstacles in addition to their encoder signals and their ID and/or other items in the logistics area, and/or error messages.

Furthermore, the control units 7b, 7c can inform the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c of future reservations for other travel commands.

In order to achieve particularly efficient and data-saving communication, the proximity relationship of the planar units for information exchange can be limited as an alternative or in addition. This can occur, for example, by an external command from the BMLC 19 and/or the higher-level control system 21 and/or a higher-level grouping of planar units. For example, planar units 1a that are only in a neighborhood relationship via the edges 1b or corners 1c can exchange information. Furthermore, the neighborhood relationship can also be limited by the higher-level control system 21 or the BLMC 19 via a higher-level subdivision of the logistics area into specific areas.

As a result of the exchange of information, only those encoder signals from neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c are considered relevant by the control unit 7a of one planar unit la, which are involved in the movement and/or the execution of a travel command via a primary Control unit 70 are involved. This ensures that only relevant encoder signals from encoders in the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c that provide relevant information for position determination are taken into account. Thus, no encoder signals from surrounding and/or neighboring planar units, which are occupied by another mover and/or integrated into another movement command and/or reserved for this, are used for position and/or positioning detection and/or Position and/or positioning change detection, which is described below, is taken into account.

Thus, from the relevant encoder signals using an algorithm and/or based on at least one first criterion such as signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoder of the neighboring and/or surrounding Planar units that are or are to be at least partially covered by mover 40, 40a and/or lie in the direction of movement, in particular in the direction of movement of the next movement increment, at least one encoder signal from the group of encoder signals of the neighboring and /or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c and/or the encoder signals of the planar unit 1a of the control unit 7a are selected. This selection takes place in real time on the respective control unit, in the example in FIG. 3b, control unit 7a.

In a first step, it is first checked whether one of the encoder signals, which are detected by the corresponding planar unit 1a of the control units 7 from its own encoder 5a, is valid, i. H. exceeds the first or second limit value and/or one of the one or more first threshold values. The first threshold values in particular define signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like, which correspond to a partial coverage of the encoder by a mover 40a.

For example, a control unit, the control units 7a of the planar unit 1a, can store first threshold values for one of the one or more encoders 5a, which correspond to an overlapping of an encoder and/or the or a planar unit by a mover 40, 40a of 5%. , until equal to 100% in 5% increments, or 10% increments, or 20% increments, or 25% increments, or 50% increments, or any combination of different increments.

Furthermore, in a second step, if none of the at least one encoder signals of the at least one encoder 5a comprised by the planar unit 1, 1a is valid, at least one relevant signal of the encoder 5b, 5c of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar Units 1b, 1c resorted. In this case, the encoder signal from the adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit 1b, 1c, which has the greatest signal quality and/or strength/amplitude, is preferably accepted instead of the invalid signal from the encoder 5a of the planar unit 1a. In particular, this allows fail-safe detection of the position and/or continuation of a travel route of the relevant mover.

It is also possible, alternatively or additionally, encoder signals that are within a trajectory, route and / or movement that has already been traveled and / or announced and / or one or several driving steps and/or partial routes are to be weighted more heavily or to be considered exclusively.

In a preferred embodiment, this evaluation for determining the position and/or positioning of a mover 40a is supported, in particular by machine learning and/or artificial intelligence. In this case, models are created and trained based on data sets of encoder signals from already recorded and completed mover movements, driving routes, partial routes, driving steps and/or total and/or partial trajectories. These models are stored on the respective control units 7, 7a of the planar unit 1, 1a and/or by the higher-level control system 21 for position and/or positioning determination and/or detection of one or more position and/or positioning changes of the mover 40, 40a used. The models are preferably created based on one or more of the following methods: Principal Component Regression and/or Analysis (PCR, PCA), Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR), Neural Networks and/or Supported Vector Machines (SVM).

The advantage of an encoder signal evaluation based on machine learning and/or artificial intelligence lies in the increased robustness of the evaluation and the better and more efficient assignment of patterns and/or patterns in the encoder signals to a mover and/or a mover movement.

Alternatively, an effective encoder signal can also be determined from part or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c. In addition, the signals of the encoder 5a of the planar unit 1a can also be taken into account and included in the determination of the position and/or positioning of a mover 40a. The effective encoder signal is determined by the control unit 7a of the respective planar unit 1a. Thus, in combination or alone, the effective encoder signal can be used to determine the position of the mover 40a over the planar unit 1a

Alternatively or additionally, the effective encoder signal can be determined in combination (for example by averaging and/or interpolation and/or pattern recognition) from relevant encoder signals from the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units and/or encoder signals from planar units, which, like the planar unit la, are and/or were involved in a driving step and/or a partial route of the mover 40, 40a, in particular, planar units that are in or against the direction of travel of the mover 40, 40a are weighted more heavily.

This effective encoder signal can then be used to carry out the corresponding control of the movement of a mover more efficiently by the at least one drive unit of the planar unit.

Furthermore, not only the current position and/or positioning of the mover over the one planar unit 1a, 1 can be detected by means of the encoder signals of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c, but also corresponding position and/or positioning changes.

In an exemplary embodiment, the change in position and/or positioning of the mover over a planar unit 1a is determined by the encoder signals that change over time. The same signal evaluation methods and/or steps can be used here that have already been described for the positioning and/or position detection of the mover. In order to derive a relative change in position and/or positioning over a planar unit 1a from this, these signals are further evaluated accordingly over time.

In particular, derivatives of the encoder signals from the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c and/or one planar unit 1a, 1 can be evaluated by relating them geometrically to the logistics area and/or the mover 40a, whose Position and / or positioning change is detected, are set.

In a preferred embodiment, this evaluation for determining position and/or positioning changes is supported in particular by machine learning and/or artificial intelligence. In this case, driving routes, partial routes, driving steps and/or total and/or partial trajectory models are created and trained based on data sets of encoder signals from mover movements that have already been recorded and completed.

As already described, these models can be used on the respective control units 7, 7a of a planar unit 1, 1a and/or by the higher-level control system 21 for position and/or positioning determination and/or detection of one or more position and/or positioning changes of the mover 40, 40a are used. Those are preferred Models created based on one or more of the following methods: Principal Component Regression and/or Analysis (PCR, PCA), Practical Least Square Regression (PLSR), Neural Networks and/or Supported Vector Machines (SVM).

As an alternative or in addition, the effective encoder signal can also be used to detect and/or track position and/or positioning changes of the mover. In particular, the change in the effective signal over time is analyzed.

In one embodiment, the planned and/or already covered change in position and/or positioning of the driving and/or movement step to be carried out or already carried out and/or the partial route can be taken into account for better detection of the position and/or change in positioning.

Furthermore, it is possible to integrate the effective encoder signal into the position and/or positioning detection supported and/or based on machine learning and/or artificial intelligence and into the position change and/or position change detection.

The above-described integration of the adjacent and / or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c in the feedback system for position and / or positioning detection, as well as for detecting position and / or positioning change of the mover on a planar unit 1, 1a, the is involved in particular in a movement of the mover 40, 40a, in particular reduces the susceptibility to errors of the overall system in relation to encoder failures of individual planar units 1, 1a. Also, this provides an effective methodology to compensate for such encoder failures. In addition, unwanted shielding of the encoder, for example by covering the encoder by rolling a mover 40, 40a, can also be effectively handled and compensated for. Furthermore, taking into account the encoder signals of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 1b, 1c enables a more precise position or positioning detection and/or detection of position or positioning changes over a planar unit 1, 1a.

During the journey, the control units request, reserve and activate new planar units required for the journey and include them in the movement. In particular, the drive units of the planar units 1 involved in the movement of the mover 40, 40a work synchronously. This enables a uniform and less error-prone Movement of the mover, which is achieved in particular by decentralizing the drive via the drive units of several planar units. In addition, an even load distribution is achieved on all available planar units involved in the movement. The feedback system previously described in FIG. 3b can preferably be used to control the synchronous movement.

At the same time, planar units that are no longer required are unlocked behind the mover. In this context, the primary control unit can also be passed on during the execution of the travel order as soon as the original primary control unit 70 is no longer covered by the mover relating to the travel order. Alternatively or in combination with this, the primary control unit can preferably also be passed on as soon as the mover 40 has covered a predetermined distance. In particular, this can be a distance where it is to be expected that the planar unit of the primary control unit 70 is no longer sufficiently covered. This is especially the case when the mover has traveled a distance equal to the extent of one planar unit in the direction of movement. Alternatively or additionally, the primary control unit 70 can be passed on after the encoder signal has fallen below a second threshold value, for example the signal amplitude or the like and/or a measure of signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like. In one embodiment, the second threshold may correspond to one of the one or more first thresholds.

After the function as the primary control unit has been passed on, the original primary control unit can either be released or continue to be involved in the movement of the mover 40 as a secondary control unit.

This is discussed further with reference to FIG.

Furthermore, the decentralized control units of the individual planar units in the direction of movement, depending on the current speed of the mover 40, can dynamically reserve an area that includes a number of planar units 1, within which the mover 40 would come to a standstill in the event of emergency braking. No movement of another mover can take place in this area, as a result of which, independent of the routing of the higher-level control system 21, there is diverse redundant collision avoidance is. The drive units 3 are not active in this area, which reduces the energy consumption.

The optional but preferred method is described below, which runs synchronously and/or in parallel to implement the movement of a mover on the control units 7 of the planar units involved. The associated drive controller is shown in FIG. 3c. The at least one control unit 7 and/or the at least one drive unit 7 of a planar unit 1 can include a drive controller. In general, the drive controller 31 comprises at least three individual controller elements: a position and/or positioning controller 33, a rotational speed/speed controller 35, and a power/current controller 37. These controllers 33, 35, 37 control three control circuits of the drive unit 3. Each control unit also includes a movement step planner/trajectory planner 25, which processes the partial route for a mover 40 and controls the drive controller 31 accordingly. The respective controllers regularly query the data required for control, so the sampling rate for each controller can be the same or different. A sampling rate of 1 kHz for the position and/or positioning controller 33, 5 kHz for the rpm/speed controller 35 and 10 kHz for the power/current controller 37 is particularly preferred. However, other sampling rates are also possible , in particular at least one same sampling rate for the controllers 33, 35, 37.

The method preferably comprises the following steps:

1. Trajectory planning or travel order planning to determine the next travel step and/or movement increment of a partial route;

2. Control of the drive units via at least three control circuits, for example current controllers, speed controllers and location or position controllers;

3. Use of the own encoder signals of a planar unit 1 or the effective encoder signal, which consists of the encoder signals of the surrounding and/or neighboring and/or surrounding planar units alone and/or in combination with its own encoder signal is determined in order to track the change in position and/or positioning of the mover 40 and/or to control the control loops in accordance with the determined change in position and/or positioning. In this case, individual control loops can be controlled centrally by the control unit 7 of the master 70 or the primary control unit 70 and/or individually controlled by the respective control units 7 of the slaves 71 . In particular, it makes sense to control the position controller centrally via the primary control unit 70 or the master. In addition to the position and/or positioning change of the mover 40, the primary control unit 70 or the master also monitors the respective position and/or positioning change via the associated slave 70 via its own planar unit. This serves to verify that the position - and/or change in position according to the trajectory planning and the mover 40 reaches the change in position defined according to the trajectory planning via each of the integrated planar units 1. By using the encoder signals as feedback for controlling the individual control loops, it can be ensured in particular that locally occurring power losses are compensated for locally by the respective control unit 7 by adjusting the control loop parameters and/or manipulated variables, such as current (pushing or pulling force) or speed ( speed) can be compensated directly or locally. Such (drive) power losses can be caused, for example, by uneven ground and/or different ground adhesion and/or a different distance between the mover and the electromagnetic drive units, in particular their magnets. A further schematic representation of the movement of a mover over a logistics area 115 according to the invention is shown in FIG. Those elements of the logistics area 115 that correspond to those of the logistics area 15 have the same reference numbers, but increased by 100. The forwarding of the status of a control unit as the primary control unit and the querying and reserving of required planar units 101 are explained below with the aid of FIG. 4 .

New areas or required planar units 121a, 121'b, 121c, 121d are thus independently queried and reserved by the control units for the movement of the mover. In the example of FIG. 4, the mover covers the planar units 101a to 101d with control units 107a, 107c, 107d, which act as temporary slaves of the temporary master 107b'. After receiving the driving command or the information about the driving command, in particular from the BLMC 19, the control units communicate in such a way that the planar units 121a, 121'b, 121c, 121d are reserved for a movement of the mover and the control unit 127'b of the Planar unit 121'b becomes temporary master, while control units 127a, 127c and 127d of planar units 121a, 121c, 121d become temporary slaves of master control unit 127'b will. The drive units 3 of the planar units 101a, 101'b, 101c, 101c and 121a, 121'b, 121c, 121d are also controlled accordingly for the upcoming movement of the mover. In one embodiment, the electromagnetic fields of an electromagnetic drive necessary for the transport or the movement of the mover can be built up. During this movement of the mover, the function of the primary control unit can be passed on with each iteration and areas or planar units 101 that are no longer required are thus released again for further movement commands. The transfer of the function of the primary control unit can either follow the direction of movement of the mover to an adjacent control unit of the primary control unit or, as shown in FIG. 4, to a control unit of a planar unit of the planar units reserved for the movement.

As an alternative or in addition to these transfer rules, the next master or the next primary control unit 71 can also be selected by evaluating the encoder signals from the planar units 1 involved in the movement. This evaluation can be carried out on the primary control unit 71, which should or must pass on its function as the primary control unit in the course of the movement of the mover.

Alternatively or additionally, the assigned BLMC 19 and/or the control system 21 can also take over at least parts of the evaluation and selection of the next primary control unit.

In general, the control unit 7 of a planar unit 1, which is involved in the movement of the mover 40 and which supplies the most suitable valid encoder signal, can be selected as the next primary control unit. The most suitable valid encoder signal is determined from among the valid encoder signals, at least taking into account at least one of the following second criteria: signal stability, signal strength, in particular a signal strength that indicates complete coverage of the planar unit by the mover (e.g. by exceeding a corresponding first and/or second limit value) and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, which in particular are or should also be at least partially covered by the mover and/or the direction of movement, in particular the direction of movement of the next movement increment. The function is preferably handed over as soon as the original primary control unit and/or the at least one encoder is no longer available is covered by the mover 40, has no valid encoder signal and/or has fallen below the second threshold value. As already described above, after the function as the primary control unit has been passed on, the original primary control unit can, for example, either be released or continue to participate in the movement of the mover 40 as a secondary control unit.

In this way, the function as the primary control unit or master control 70 and the continuous communication with the secondary control units or slaves 71 and neighboring and/or surrounding control units is constantly adapted based on the movement of the mover. All the data and/or signals previously recorded for the movement, trajectory and/or driving route, in particular encoder signals, are preferably passed on from the respective primary control unit 70 or the master to its subsequent primary control unit. This enables the respective primary control unit 70 to verify that the previous movement steps have been carried out correctly. In addition, step losses within the planned trajectory are avoided.

In particular, the respective primary control unit 70 also communicates the total distance traveled in real time with the secondary control units (slaves) 71 so that they can synchronously convert the correspondingly specified distance and direction of the next movement step.

A further embodiment of a logistics area 215 according to the invention is shown in FIG. 5 . Those elements of logistics area 215 that correspond to those of logistics area 115 have the same reference numbers, but increased by 100. 5 shows that, based on the structure or construction of the logistics area 115 described above, it is also able to control several transport units simultaneously and independently of one another. The covering surface 229 of a first mover and the covering surface 231 of a second mover are thus shown. The first mover with the covering surface 229 covers 4 planar units 201, while the second mover with the covering surface 231 covers a total of 6 planar units 201 completely and 3 further planar units 201 each 2/3.

6 shows a further logistics area 315 according to the invention. Those elements of the logistics area 315 which correspond to those of the logistics area 215 have the same reference numbers, but increased by 100. The logistics area 315 has an obstacle 333 . In order to move a mover from a position represented by cover surface 329 to the position represented by cover surface 331 , a planned route 335 cannot be selected due to obstacle 333 . Obstacles can also be defective areas or areas that have been shut down for maintenance. The route 337 is therefore reserved and traveled on by the control units or the higher-level control system. Furthermore, the logistics areas 15, 115, 215, 315 according to the invention can also take into account the movements of other movers, stationary, non-moving, movers and/or obstacles 333 during the execution of a travel order and/or travel command or a movement of a mover, in particular changing them Bypass movers and/or obstacles 333 when planning the route. The travel path is broken down into simple, short and straight sections by means of the higher-level control system (FL Control) and several subordinate, cascadable BLMCs and control units of planar units 301 in order to guarantee collision-free travel. In this way, the control units can independently recognize whether the movement can be continued or whether a collision with an obstacle 333 or the travel command of another mover is imminent and react according to the specified programming. For this purpose, the control units of the planar units are pre-reserved decentrally in the direction of travel of a first travel command by the control units that are already integrated. As a rule, the control units are pre-reserved for the next route increment, but a more far-reaching reservation over larger parts or the entire route is also possible via a cascade via the third communication interface or the first communication level formed thereby. If the pre-reserved control units receive an additional, different second movement command, such as something for a second mover, they return an error message for this additional movement command, so that this movement is stopped in front of the already reserved area and a collision is avoided. The cancellation of the movement is reported back to the higher-level control system, which then adjusts the routing. In the case of obstacles, such as defective planar units and/or planar units that have been deactivated or marked for maintenance purposes and/or planar units that are stationarily occupied by movers, the same procedure can also be used for a first travel command. Furthermore, it is possible for the control units to exchange the position and/or positioning information of the movers and/or obstacles 333 with one another and coordinate the routes with one another. 7 shows a further logistics area 415. Those elements of the logistics area 415 which correspond to those of the logistics area 315 have the same reference numbers, but increased by 100. 7 shows that a plurality of movers, here four movers, which are represented by covering surfaces 429a, 429b, 429c and 429d, can be configured to form a group or virtual overall mover. This enables closed locomotion as an overall mover in that all planar units under the overall mover are controlled by one master. Such locomotion is guaranteed or realizable by appropriate programming. This means that several transport units or movers can be combined and defined as a logical, large transport unit in order to transport loads with a larger contact area or weight or to group goods on different movers and move them together. Priorities can be defined, which means that a priority is assigned to defined movers before the start of the movement command. Other travel commands are subordinate to this travel command. The area can be rearranged and reorganized at any time. Any group formation and rearrangement of transport units in the smallest of spaces is possible at any time "on the fly".

The transport units remain in position even when they are switched off, due to the high attractive forces generated by the permanent magnets attached to the transport units. The attraction forces can be so high that when switched on and off, a weighted arm protruding far beyond the edge of the mover does not cause the mover to tip over with the arm. This enables, for example, robots to be operated on the mover without it tipping over. These high pull-in forces actually allow the surface to be operated overhead, e.g. on a hall ceiling. Even when switched off, the movers cannot fall down, provided that the load is of the right weight and that it is secured.

The logistics areas 15, 115, 215, 315, 415 described in FIGS. 1 to 7 are not subject to any spatial restrictions and can be flexibly expanded to new requirements. In the case of conventional logistics areas that work in real time and are known from the prior art, the number of participants is limited due to the limited computing and control resources. From a certain number of participants, the real-time requirement can no longer be achieved with them. The features shown or described in the preceding description, the claims and the figures can be essential for the invention in its various embodiments both individually and in any combination.

Reference List

1 planar unit la planar unit lb adjacent planar unit (via edge to planar unit la) lc adjacent planar unit (via corner to planar unit la)

3 drive unit

5 encoder la encoder of the planar unit la

5b adjacent encoder (over edge to planar unit la)

5c adjacent encoder (across corner to planar unit la)

7 control unit

7a control unit of the planar unit la

7b adjacent control unit (over edge to planar unit la)

7c adjacent control unit (across corner to planar unit la)

9a first communication interface

9b third communication interface

11 arrays

13 Hall sensor

15, 115, 215, 315,415 logistics area

17 fourth communication interface

19 control bottom layer motion controller (BMLC) 1 control system (FL control) 3 fifth communication interface 5 trajectory planner/ motion step planner

31 drive controller

33 attitude/position controller

35 rpm/speed controller

37 Power/Current Controller 0 Mover 40a movers

70 primary control unit / master

71 secondary control unit / salvo

101, 101a, 101'b, 101c, lOld planar unit

107a, 107'b, 107c, 107d control unit

121a, 121'b, 121c, 121d planar unit

127a, 127'b, 127c, 127d control unit

129, 229, 329, 429a to 429d cover surface

201, 301, .401 planar unit

331 cover surface of second mover

333 obstacle

335 driveway

337 driveway

Ri, R2, R3 row

Si, S2, S3 column

Claims

patent claims

1. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) comprising a plurality of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), each planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) having at least one encoder (5) having at least one sensor array (11) for determining the position and/or positioning of at least one mover (40), the at least one mover (40) comprising magnets arranged in at least one pole pitch grid; the plurality of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is arranged to form a surface in such a way that the encoders (5) of the planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) have at least one at least regionally uniform form a grid, and the distance between the encoders (5) of at least two planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) and/or at least two encoders (5) of a planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401 ) corresponds to a multiple of the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover (40).

2. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to Claim 1, characterized in that an area which the at least one mover (40) comprises is larger than an area which a planar unit (1, 101 , 201, 301, 401), preferably the surface (129, 229) is surrounded by at least four planar units, the mover (40) rests movably on the logistics surface (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) and/or is held in position by its weight and/or by the magnetic attraction of at least some of the magnets in the pole pitch grid of the at least one mover (40), in particular if the at least one mover (40) is not to be actively moved, and/or the multiple the pole pair width is a natural number, a real number greater than 1 and/or a rational number.

3. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the, preferably square, area of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) defining length of the Planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) corresponds in particular to a natural, real and/or rational multiple, preferably 24 times or 12 times, the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover (40) and/or the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) has a length of more than 100 mm, preferably more than 200, more preferably more than 400, particularly preferably 480 mm, and/or the magnets in the pole pitch grid of the at least a mover (40) are arranged in a pole pair width of more than 4 mm, preferably more than 16.66 mm, more preferably more than 18.75 mm, particularly preferably 20 mm or 40 mm.

4. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sensors of the sensor array (11) are arranged at a distance of 1/n of the pole pair width of the magnets, with the Array (11) comprises, in particular, n ² sensors, with an array (11) with nine sensors, which are arranged at a distance of 1/3 of the pole pair width, being usable, with the sensors in particular being Hall sensors, Förster probes and/or or magnetometers, and/or where n is a natural number, a real number greater than 1 and/or a rational number.

5. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one encoder (5) is centrally located in the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), preferably is arranged centrally on the surface of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) facing the at least one mover (40).

6. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) comprises at least one control unit (7) which is preferably the at least one encoder (5) of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), in particular via at least one first communication interface (9a), is operatively connected and/or is set up to transmit signals, preferably at least one signal amplitude, of the at least one encoder or the sensor array (11) of the at least one encoder and/or evaluate it, preferably in order to identify whether the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is being moved at least in some areas by a mover (40th ) is covered, in particular the communication with the at least one encoder (5) by means of SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) - communication takes place.

7. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) has at least one, preferably two and/or a large number of , drive unit(s) (3), which is/are designed in particular to enable the movement of a partial area (129, 229, 231) of the mover (40 ) or the mover (40) via the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), the directions of movement mediated by the drive units (3) preferably running orthogonally to one another and/or the drive unit(s) (3 ) is/are an electromagnetic drive unit.

8. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 7, characterized in that the at least one drive unit (3) is connected to the at least one control unit (7) via at least one second communication interface, preferably in order to be at least one control unit (7) to be controllable and/or to be supplied with energy by this.

9. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7) and the at least one drive unit (3) of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) as one component, preferably as an integrated component, in particular as a 2-axis servo or stepping motor control system.

10. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7) at least one planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) via at least one third communication interface (9b), preferably a proprietary bus, particularly preferably an FPGA-based bus, CAN bus, EtherCAT or another Ethernet-based bus, with one or more other control units of other planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) of the logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415), in particular in real time, and/or, preferably via at least a fourth communication interface (17), with at least one bottom layer motion controller, BLMC, controller (19) in Actively connected, in particular connected, with each BLMC (19) preferably being assigned a coherent area of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) of the logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315,415), in particular the assigned Pl anar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) each have an operative connection with the respective BLMC (19) via the fourth communication interface (17), in particular are connected, and/or the BLMCs (19) and control units are organized in a cascaded manner and /or, at least indirectly, are connected.

11. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 10, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7) of at least one planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) with at least one control unit at least one of the respective surrounding and/or adjacent types of surrounding planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), preferably directly, via the third communication interface (9b) is operatively connected, in particular is connected and/or communicates.

12. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 11, characterized in that the communication and/or connection of the at least one control unit of the at least one planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) with of the neighboring and/or surrounding control units of the planar unit(s) (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is/are limited, in particular by at least one external command of the at least one BLMC (19) and/or the at least one control system (21) and/or a superordinate grouping of planar units and/or a subdivision of the logistics area (15), with preferably planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) which only have at least one respective edge (1b ) are in a neighborhood relationship, communicate via the third communication interface (9b).

13. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of Claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the at least one BLMC (19) is connected to at least one higher-level control system (21), preferably via at least one fifth communication interface (23) , is operatively connected, preferably by means of the control system, the BLMC and/or the control unit, one or more partial routes, travel orders and/or travel commands for the at least one or more movers (40) can be generated and/or sent to the BLMC(s) concerned s) (19) can be transmitted, with the driving order(s) preferably being able to be made available to the higher-level control system (21) by an enterprise resource planning system (ERPS).

14. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 13, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up for at least one and/or everyone Mover (40) to which a travel command and/or travel order is assigned, the control unit (7) of a planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), the and/or its at least one encoder (5) at least in some areas of the mover (40) is covered to be defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) or master, with the organization of the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) preferably being used for the execution of the travel order or part -Route necessary driving commands, in particular for the driving command and / or the partial route relevant information, and / or the transmission of the driving commands necessary for the execution of the driving order or partial route and / or for the driving command and / or the part -Route necessary information to at least one control unit at least one further planar unit, preferably via the third and / or fourth communication interface.

15. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that at least part of the control units (7b, 7c) of at least part of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units ( 1b, 1c) at least

(i) part of the signals from the encoders (5, 5b, 5c), the raw encoder signals, the preprocessed encoder signals, in particular the time derivation of encoder signals, and/or data associated with the encoder signals, in particular a A measure of the signal stability or the like, preferably a signal-to-noise ratio, to the at least one control unit (7a) of the at least one planar unit (1a), with preferably the signals from the encoders from neighboring and/or surrounding planar - Units (1b) are transmitted which have a common edge with the at least one planar unit (1, 1a),

(ii) additional information for the position and/or positioning and/or position and/or change in positioning of a mover (40, 40a) over the at least one planar unit (1, la), in particular during the execution of a travel command in which a planar unit (la) is involved, are relevant, transmitted and/or

(iii) the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, la) is set up to link the transmitted encoder signals and the additional information in order to assign the received encoder signals to assess the at least one control unit (7a) according to whether it is relevant or not for the position and/or positioning and/or change in position and/or positioning of the one mover (40, 40a).

16. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to Claim 15, characterized in that the additional information comprises one or more of the following information:

(i) whether the respective adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit (1b, 1c) is integrated into the travel command for the same mover (40, 40a) as the at least one planar unit (1,1a) and/or control unit (7a). is;

(ii) at least a current status with regard to an integration of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit 1b, 1c in driving commands for other movers, and/or an occupancy by other movers, obstacles and/or other objects on the logistics area ( 15), and/or

(iii) future reservations for other drive commands and/or error messages.

17. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 15 or 16, characterized in that the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70) is set up which has at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one Planar unit (1, la) providing the additional information according to claim 15 and/or 16.

18. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up to the signal of the at least one encoder (5, 5a) and/or the encoder signals of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit(s) (1b, 1c) together or separately for positioning and/or position detection or for position and /or Positioning change detection, in particular during a movement of the one Movers (40, 40a) over the at least one planar unit (1, la), wherein the at least one control unit (7, 7a) is preferably set up to use at least one algorithm and/or based on at least one first criterion such as Signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units that are or should be covered at least partially by the mover (40, 40a) and/or the direction of movement , in particular in the direction of movement of the next movement increment, are at least one encoder signal from the group of encoder signals from the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units (7b, 7c) and/or the encoder signals from the at least one planar unit (1, 1a), this selection preferably being determined as relevant to the position and/or positioning and/or position and/or change in positioning of the one mover (40, 40a). en encoder signals is limited and/or this selection takes place in particular in real time, preferably on the respective control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, la).

19. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 18, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1,1a) is set up in at least one first step to check whether one of the one or more encoder signals that are detected by the at least one planar unit (1, la) from the at least one encoder (5, 5a) of the planar unit (1,1a). exceeds a first or a second limit value and/or one or more first threshold values, the one or more first threshold values preferably being defined as signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of the signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like; and/or in at least a second step, in particular if none of the at least one encoder signals of the at least one encoder (5, 5a) comprised by the planar unit (1, la) is valid, at least one relevant signal of the encoder (5b , 5c) of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units (1b, 1c), preferably using the relevant encoder signal of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit (1b, 1c), which has the greatest signal quality and/or strength/amplitude, is accepted instead of the invalid signal of the at least one encoder (5.5a) of the planar unit (1, la).

20. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up for this purpose, at least one of the encoder signals within a trajectory, route and/or movement that has already been driven and/or announced and/or one or more driving steps and/or partial routes to be weighted more heavily or to be taken into account exclusively.

21. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up for this purpose to determine at least one effective encoder signal from at least some or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units (1b, 1c).

22. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 18 to 22, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up for this purpose , taking into account the signals of the at least one encoder (5a) of the at least one planar unit (1,1a) and/or including them in the determination of the position and/or positioning of the one mover (40a. 40), wherein in Combination or alone the effective encoder signal for determining the positioning of a mover (40a) on the at least one planar unit (la) is used.

23. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 21 or 22, characterized in that 60 the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1,1a) is set up to output the effective encoder signal either individually or in combination, preferably by averaging and/or interpolation and/or pattern recognition to determine the encoder signals of the neighboring and / or surrounding planar units, in particular those planar units that

(i) provide relevant encoder signals;

(ii) are and/or were involved in the current travel step of one mover (40, 40a), in particular planar units that are in or opposite the direction of travel of one mover (40, 40a) being weighted more heavily;

24. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 18 to 23, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up to to determine the change in position and/or positioning of one mover (40, 40a) over a planar unit (1, 1a), in particular by means of the encoder signals changing over time, preferably by evaluating at least one derivation and/or or a plurality of derivations, in particular a time derivation, of the encoder signal of the adjacent and/or surrounding planar unit(s) (1b, 1c) and/or the at least one planar unit (1a, 1), in which this is or are placed in a geometric relation to the logistics area (15) and/or the one mover (40, 40a) whose position and/or positioning change is detected.

25. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up to to use the effective encoder signal in order to detect and/or track changes in position and/or positioning of a mover, with this preferably being the case

(i) at least one change over time and/or derivation of the effective encoder signal is evaluated and/or

(ii) the at least one planned and/or already covered position and/or 61

Positioning change of the driving and/or movement step to be executed or already executed and/or the partial route is taken into account for better position and/or positional change detection and/or

(iii) to integrate the effective encoder signal into the position and/or positioning detection and/or position change and/or position change detection preferably supported and/or based on machine learning and/or artificial intelligence.

26. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to any one of claims 18 to 25, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, la) and / or the at least one drive unit (3) of the at least one planar unit (1) comprises and/or comprise at least one drive controller and/or the at least one control unit (7) at least one movement step planner/trajectory planner (25), which preferably processes the partial route for one mover (40, 40a) and controls the drive controller (31) accordingly.

27. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 26, characterized in that the drive controller (31) comprises at least two, preferably three individual controller elements selected from: at least one position and/or positioning - Controller (33), at least one rotational speed/speed controller (35), and at least one power/current controller (37), with these controller elements (33, 35, 37) preferably using corresponding control circuits, in particular for control of thrust or traction, rotational speed or speed and/or position or positioning of the drive unit (3) are controllable.

28. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of Claims 14 to 27, characterized in that the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is set up in such a way that 62 further control units of surrounding planar units, which are at least partially covered by the mover (40), can each be defined as secondary control units (71, 107a, 107c, 107d) or slaves, with the secondary control units (71, 107a, 107c , 107d) provide the movement of the mover (40) in feedback and/or together with the primary control unit (70, 107'b).

29. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 26 to 28, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7, 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, 1a) is set up to:

(i) using the trajectory planner (25) to carry out the trajectory planning or travel order planning to determine the next travel step and/or movement increment of a partial route;

(ii) based in particular on this, carrying out the control of the at least one drive unit (3) via the drive controller; and or

(iii) Using a planar unit's own encoder signals (1,1a) or the effective encoder signal to track the position and/or positioning change of the mover (40,40a) and/or the control loops according to the detected position - and/or to control and/or adjust positioning changes, the respective control circuits preferably being controlled centrally by the primary control unit or the master and/or being controlled individually by the respective control units (7) of the slaves (71), with particular preference the position controller is controlled centrally via the primary control unit (70).

30. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 14 to 29, characterized in that the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is set up to control surrounding and /or neighboring planar unit(s) that is/are relevant to the movement order and/or movement command, this planar unit(s), in particular 63 with regard to functionality, occupancy by at least one obstacle (333) and/or by at least one other, in particular second, mover (231), and/or with regard to at least one existing reservation and/or blocking, in particular by another, preferably prioritized, driving order and/or to query, to reserve and/or to integrate the movement of the relevant mover (40) into the movement command and/or to release planar units that are no longer required and/or, preferably in feedback with the higher-level BLMCs (19) and/or or the higher-level control system (21) or independently, in particular based on the result of the reservation and query of the relevant planar units, to adapt the movement of the mover (40) and/or at least one travel command at least incrementally and/or planar Request and/or reserve units.

31. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 14 to 30, characterized in that the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is set up, preferably automatically, during the execution of at least one to define a control unit as the subsequent primary control unit (127'b), which is preferably at least partially covered by the relevant mover (40), particularly as soon as a driving order and/or driving command for a mover (40) is received

(i) the surface of the planar unit (1) and/or the at least one encoder (5) of the control unit (70, 107'b) defined as the primary control unit is no longer covered by the mover (40) and/or

(ii) the mover (40) in question has covered a predetermined distance at which it is to be expected that the planar unit of the primary control unit (70, 107'b) will no longer be sufficiently covered, this being the case preferably, when the mover (40) in question has covered a distance that corresponds to the extent of a planar unit in the direction of movement of the mover (40) in question and/or

(iii) the encoder signal of the primary control unit (70, 107'b) falls below a second threshold value, and/or

(iv) no longer has a valid encoder signal, wherein 64 preferably the control unit (70, 107'b) defined as the primary is set up, preferably independently, after the definition of the subsequent primary control unit (127'b) has taken place, to give up its function as the primary control unit and/or preferably to give up its function as the subsequent primary Control unit (127'b) defined control unit, is set up to use the control unit(s) of the reserved and/or queried planar unit(s) as new secondary control units (127a, 127c, 127d) or planar unit(s) (107a , 107c, 107d), preferably

(a) after the area of the reserved planar unit(s) has been covered at least in regions by the relevant mover (40), and/or

(b) the at least partially covered planar units defined as secondary control units (71, 107a, 107c, 107d) are to be taken over as secondary control units and/or preferably the control unit defined as the subsequent primary control unit (127'b) is set up to release the control unit (70, 107b) defined as the primary control unit or to define it as a secondary control unit.

32. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 31, characterized in that the second threshold value of the encoder signal is a signal amplitude or the like and/or a measure of signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like, and/or corresponds to one of the one or more first threshold values.

33. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is set up based on the selection of the subsequent primary control unit (71). to take on an evaluation of the encoder signals from the involved in the movement planar units (1), preferably the control unit (7) of a planar unit (1), which is involved in the movement of the mover (40), the provides the most appropriate valid encoder signal, next primary 65

Control unit (70) is defined, with preferably the most suitable valid encoder signal among the valid encoder signals at least taking into account at least one second criterion such as: signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoder adjacent and/or surrounding planar units which are or should be at least partially covered by the mover and/or lie in the direction of movement, in particular in the direction of movement of the next movement increment, preferably the first criterion.

34. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 6 to 33, characterized in that the at least one control unit (7) of a planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) is designed to to forward the read or evaluated signals of the encoder or the sensor array (11) of the encoder, preferably in real time and/or by means of the fourth communication interface, to the at least one BLMC (19), the latter preferably sending these signals for each connected planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), in particular collected and/or forwarded to the higher-level control system (21) by means of the fifth communication interface and/or forwarded directly to the higher-level control system (21).

35. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315,415) according to one of claims 13 to 34, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up to read or evaluate signals from the encoder or the sensor array (11) of the encoder for a large number of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) and/or to combine them into groups using at least one algorithm, preferably into groups which correspond to a mover (40).

36. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to claim 35, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up based on the groups 66 summarized signals from the encoder and/or the sensor array (11) from the encoder (5) from the multiplicity of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), a position and/or positioning determination of the mover (40) , preferably with the help of additional data, in particular dimensions of the mover (40) or other predefined parameters.

37. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of Claims 14 to 36, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up to detect position and/or positioning and/or size by at least one calibration process and/or or to carry out the measurement of the dimensions of a mover (40, 40a), with at least one encoder signal of the planar units (1, 1a, 1b, 1c) at least partially covered by the relevant mover (40, 40a) being transmitted by the higher-level control system (21) is evaluated, in particular the encoder signal being compared to one or more first threshold values.

38 Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315, 415) according to one of claims 14 to 37, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up to determine the dimensions and/or the position and/or positioning of the mover (40, 40a ) by analyzing the change of at least one encoder signal as a function of at least one corresponding oscillating forward or backward and/or sideways movement of the mover, wherein at least one encoder signal of at least one adjacent planar unit (1, 1b , 1c), which only delivers a corresponding valid encoder signal through the movement steps, are integrated.

39. Logistics area (15, 115, 215, 315,415) according to one of claims 13 to 38, characterized in that the higher-level control system (21) is set up to individual movers (40) a 67

Assign network, preferably to define movers (40) of any size and/or logical networks of a large number of individual and/or new connected movers and/or to give and/or to drive orders for several movers (40) and/or connected movers at the same time manage, in particular prioritizing the driving orders and forwarding them to the BLMC and/or the primary control units (70, 107'b).

40. A method for operating at least one logistics area comprising a large number of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) with at least one mover (40) or at least one network of movers, which at least partially have a planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), in particular according to one of claims 1 to 39, comprising:

• detecting at least one output signal amplitude of sensors (13) of at least one sensor array (11) of at least one encoder (5) of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401);

• detecting at least one magnetic flux or field strength and/or at least one other signal from the sensors (13) of the sensor array (11) of the at least one encoder (5) of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401), which is induced and/or generated by the covering of a sensor (13) by the mover (40);

• Determination of at least a second difference between at least one of the detected magnetic flux and / or the other signal resulting output signal of the at least one sensor (13) of the sensor - array (11) on the one hand and a background value on the other hand; and

• Checking whether the at least one second difference is within at least one second limit value. 68

41. The method according to claim 40, characterized in that the first limit value is at most 20%, preferably at most 10%, particularly preferably at most 7% of one of the detected output signal amplitudes and/or the second limit value is at least 20%, preferably at least 10%, in particular preferably corresponds to at least 7% of the background value.

42. The method according to any one of claims 40 or 41, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Forwarding, preferably in real time, the detected and / or evaluated signals of the encoder or the sensor - array (11) by at least one control unit (7) of the planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) to at least one BLMC (19), and/or preferably collecting the signals for each planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) connected to the at least one BLMC (19);

• Forwarding the signals to at least one higher-level control system (21);

• receiving at least some of the signals from the encoders (5, 5b, 5c), in particular the raw encoder signals, the preprocessed encoder signals, in particular the time derivation of encoder signals, and/or data associated with the encoder signals , in particular a measure of the signal stability or the like, preferably a signal-to-noise ratio, of at least part of the respective neighboring and/or surrounding planar units (1b, 1c);

• Receiving additional information for the position and / or positioning and / or position and / or change in position of a mover (40, 40a) or mover network on the at least one planar unit (1, la), in particular during Execution of a driving command in which a planar unit (la) is involved, are relevant; and or

• Linking the at least part of the received signals from the encoder (5, 5b, 5c) and the additional information in order to assign the received encoder signals by at least one control unit (7a) according to relevant or not 69 relevant to the position and/or positioning and/or position and/or

To obtain a change in positioning of a mover (40, 40a).

43. The method according to claim 42, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Evaluation of the signal of the at least one encoder (5, 5a) and/or one of the encoder signals received from the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit(s) (1b, 1c) together or separately for positioning and/or position detection or for position and/or positioning change detection, in particular during a movement of one mover (40, 40a) over the at least one planar unit (1, la) by the at least one control unit (7, 7a), with the evaluation preferably being a selection which, by means of at least one algorithm and/or based on at least one first criterion, such as signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units (1, 1b, 1c) which are or should be at least partially covered by the mover (40, 40a) and/or lie in the direction of movement, in particular in the direction of movement of the next movement increment an encoder signal from the group of encoder signals from the adjacent and/or surrounding planar units (7b, 7c) and/or the encoder signals from the at least one planar unit (1, la), this selection preferably being made is limited to the encoder signals determined as relevant for the position and/or positioning and/or change in position and/or positioning of the one mover (40, 40a) and/or this selection is made in real time, preferably on the respective control unit (7 , 7a) of the at least one planar unit (1, la) takes place.

44. The method according to claim 43, characterized in that the method further comprises 70

• Check, in at least a first step, whether one of the one or more encoder signals from the at least one planar unit (1, la) from the at least one encoder (5, 5a) of the planar unit (1,1a ) are received exceeds a first or a second limit value and/or one or more first threshold values, the one or more first threshold values preferably being signal amplitudes or the like and/or a measure of the signal stability, preferably the signal-to-noise ratio or the like are defined; and or

• Falling back, in at least a second step, in particular if none of the at least one encoder signals of the at least one encoder (5, 5a) comprised by the planar unit (1, la) is valid, to at least one relevant signal of the encoder (5b , 5c) of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units (1b, 1c), preferably using the relevant encoder signal of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit (1b, 1c), which has the greatest signal quality and/or strength/ Has amplitude, instead of the invalid signal of the at least one encoder (5.5a) of the planar unit (1, la) is accepted.

45. The method according to claim 43 or claim 44, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Greater weighting or exclusive consideration of at least one of the encoder signals within an already driven and/or announced trajectory, driving route and/or movement and/or one or more driving steps and/or partial routes by the at least one control unit (7). at least one planar unit (1, la).

46. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 45, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Determining at least one effective encoder signal from at least part or all of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units 71

(lb, 1c) by the at least one control unit (7) of the at least one planar unit (l, la).

47. The method according to any one of claims 43 to 46, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Taking into account and/or determining the position and/or positioning of one mover (40a. 40) or by the signals of the at least one encoder (5a) of the at least one planar unit (1,1a) by the at least one control unit (7) the at least one planar unit (1, 1a), the effective encoder signal for determining the positioning of the one mover (40a) over the at least one planar unit (1a) being used in combination or alone.

48. The method according to any one of claims 43 to 47, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Determination of the position and / or positioning change of a mover (40, 40a) on the at least one planar unit (1, la), in particular by the encoder signals changing over time by the at least one control unit (7). at least one planar unit (1, la), with preferably an evaluation of at least one derivation and/or a plurality of derivations, in particular a chronological derivation, of the encoder signal of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar unit(s) (lb , 1c) and/or the at least one planar unit (1a, 1), in which this is recorded in a geometric relation to the logistics area (15) and/or the one mover (40, 40a), whose position and/or positioning change is, is or will be set.

49. The method according to any one of claims 40 to 48, characterized in that the

Method also includes 72

• Collecting and/or combining the detected and/or evaluated signals from the encoder and/or the sensor array (11) of the encoder into at least one group, in particular by means of at least one algorithm, preferably into groups that correspond to a mover (40), preferably for a large number of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) by the higher-level control system (21).

50. The method of claim 49, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Determination of at least one position and/or positioning of the mover (40) based on the signals of the encoders and/or the sensor array (11) of the encoders (5) of the plurality of planar units (1, 101 , 201, 301, 401), preferably with the aid of further data, in particular at least one dimension of the mover (40) and/or at least one further predefined parameter, by the higher-level control system (21).

51. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 50, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Generating at least one driving command and/or at least one partial route for the at least one mover (40), the generation preferably being based on at least one of at least one higher-level control system (21) and/or at least one Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERPS) provided driving order takes place and/or the generation takes place by at least one or more bottom layer motion controllers, BLMC(s) (19) and/or at least one control unit.

52. The method according to claim 51, characterized in that the method further comprises: 73

• defining at least one control unit (7) of at least one planar unit, which and/or the at least one encoder (5) of which is at least partially covered by the mover (40), as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) or master, by the higher-level control system (21) and/or BLMC for each mover (40) to which a travel command and/or travel order is assigned, and preferably organizing the control units required for executing the travel command and/or the partial route and disseminating the information relevant to the travel command and/or the partial route by the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b).

53. The method according to any one of claims 43 to 52, characterized in that the method further comprises

• Execution by means of a trajectory planner (25), which comprises the at least one control unit, of trajectory planning or travel order planning, in particular for determining the next travel step and/or movement increment of a partial route and/or travel command, and in particular based on this execution of the control of at least one drive unit (3) via the drive controller; and or

• Controlling and/or adjusting the control loops and/or tracking the change in position and/or positioning of the mover (40,40a) by using the own encoder signals of a planar unit (1,1a) or the effective encoder signal according to the determined position and/or positioning change, with the respective control loops preferably being controlled centrally by the primary control unit (70) or the master and/or being controlled individually by the respective control units (7) of the slaves (71), with the Position controller is controlled centrally via the primary control unit (70).

54. The method according to claim 52 or 53, characterized in that the method further comprises: 74

• Defining at least one further control unit of at least one planar unit, preferably at least one control unit surrounding the primary control unit and/or primary planar unit, which is at least partially covered by the mover (40), as a secondary control unit (71, 107a, 107c , 107d) or slave, in particular by the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b), and preferably providing the movement of the mover (40) by the secondary control units (71, 107a, 107c, 107d) in feedback and/or or together with the primary control unit (70, 107'b).

55. The method according to any one of claims 52 to 54, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Querying, reserving and/or incorporating into the movement of the relevant mover (40) the planar unit(s) relevant to the travel command and/or the partial route by the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b), in particular via the control units surrounding and/or neighboring planar unit(s), preferably based on functionality, occupancy by at least one obstacle (333) and/or by at least one other, in particular second, mover (231) , and/or at least one existing reservation and/or blocking, in particular by another, preferably prioritized, driving command, and/or

• Release of planar units and/or control units that are no longer required, preferably adjustment in feedback with the higher-level BLMCs (19) and/or the higher-level control system (21) or independently, in particular based on the result of the reservation and query of the relevant planar units , preferably in order to adapt the movement of the mover (40) at least incrementally and/or to query and/or reserve and/or planar units required according to the adaptation

• Providing the additional information according to claim 42

56. The method according to any one of claims 52 to 54, characterized in that the

Method further includes: 75

• Defining at least one control unit as the subsequent primary control unit (127'b), which is preferably at least partially covered by the relevant mover (40), preferably automatically, by the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b), preferably during the Execution of the at least one travel command and/or the at least one partial route for a mover (40), in particular as soon as o (i) the area of the planar unit (1) and/or the at least one encoder (5) is defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is no longer covered by the mover (40); o (ii) the relevant mover (40) has covered a predetermined distance at which it is to be expected that the planar unit of the primary control unit (70, 107'b) is no longer sufficiently covered, this being the case preferably if the mover (40) in question has covered a distance that corresponds to the extent of a planar unit in the direction of movement of the mover (40) in question and/or o (iii) the encoder signal of the primary control unit (70, 107'b) falls below a second threshold value, and/or (iv) no longer has a valid encoder signal,

57. The method of claim 56, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Giving up, preferably independently, the function as primary control unit after the subsequent primary control unit (127'b) has been defined, by the control unit (70, 107'b) defined as primary, and/or

• Defining the controller(s) of the reserved and/or queried planar unit(s) as the new secondary controller(s) (127a, 127c, 127d) or planar unit(s) (107a, 107c, 107d) through the subsequent primary Control unit (127'b) defined control unit, preferably after the surface of the reserved planar unit(s) is/are at least partially covered by the relevant mover (40), and/or 76

• Adoption of the planar units that are still partially covered and defined as secondary control units (71, 107a, 107c, 107d) as secondary control units by the control unit defined as the subsequent primary control unit (127'b).

• and/or preferably enabling or defining as a secondary control unit the control unit (70, 107b) defined as the primary control unit by the control unit defined as the subsequent primary control unit (127'b).

58. The method according to claim 56 or 57, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Selection of the subsequent primary control unit (71) by the control unit defined as the primary control unit (70, 107'b) based on an evaluation of the encoder signals from the planar units (1) involved in the movement, preferably the at least one control unit (7) a planar unit (1) involved in the movement of the mover (40) providing the most appropriate valid encoder signal is defined as the next primary controller (70), preferably the most appropriate valid encoder signal among the valid encoder signals, at least taking into account at least one second criterion, such as signal stability, signal strength and/or the signal strength and/or signal stability of the encoders of the neighboring and/or surrounding planar units, which are at least partially controlled by the mover are or should be covered and/or preferably lie in the direction of movement, in particular the direction of movement of the next movement increment e the first criterion, is determined.

59. The method according to any one of claims 42 to 58, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Assigning a plurality of individual movems (40) to at least one group, preferably movems (40) of any size, in particular by the higher-level control system (21), 77

• Defining logical groups of a large number of individual and/or new connected movers, in particular by the higher-level control system (21), and/or,

• preferably simultaneously giving and/or managing driving commands and/or driving orders for a plurality of movers (40) and/or connected movers, in particular prioritizing the driving commands and/or driving orders and forwarding them to the primary control units (70, 107'b).

60. The method according to claim 56 or 57, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Carrying out a position and/or positioning detection and/or size detection and/or dimension detection of a mover (40, 40a) by the higher-level control system (21) via a calibration process, with at least one encoder signal preferably being at least partially transmitted by the relevant mover ( 40, 40a) covered planar units (1, 1a, 1b, 1c) is evaluated by the higher-level control system (21), in particular the encoder signal being compared with one or more first threshold values.

61. The method according to claim 56 or 57, characterized in that the method further comprises:

• Detecting the dimension and/or position and/or positioning of the mover (40, 40a) by the higher-level control system (21) by analyzing the change in at least one encoder signal as a function of at least one corresponding oscillating forward or reverse - and/or sideways movement of the mover (40, 40a), with preferably at least one encoder signal of at least one neighboring planar unit (1, 1b, 1c), which only supplies a corresponding valid encoder signal through the movement steps, being integrated. 78

62. Computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed, in particular by a logistics area according to claims 1 to 39, cause at least one logistics area to carry out the method/the steps of the method according to at least one of claims 40 to 62.

63. Control unit (7) for processing at least one encoder signal from a planar unit (1) comprising at least one encoder, the encoder having at least one sensor array (11) for determining the position and/or positioning of at least one mover ( 40), which comprises magnets arranged at least in a pole pitch grid; and the one planar unit (1) is arranged in a surface of a plurality of planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) such that the encoders (5) of the planar units (1, 101, 201 , 301, 401) form at least one at least regionally uniform grid, the distance between the encoders (5) of at least two planar units (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) and/or at least two encoders (5) of a planar unit (1, 101, 201, 301, 401) a multiple, in particular a natural, real and/or rational multiple, which corresponds to the pole pair width of the magnets of the at least one mover (40).

64. Control unit (7) according to claim 53, characterized in that the control unit processes the encoder signals in such a way as to cause a logistics area, in particular a logistics area according to one of claims 1 to 39, a method and/or at least one step , preferably a plurality of steps of the steps of the method according to at least one of claims 40 to 51 to carry out.