Methods for entering and exiting goods from storage, inventory systems, devices, equipment and media

Abstract

The embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for entering and exiting an item warehouse, an inventory system, an apparatus, equipment, and a medium. The method may include: receiving an item entry and exit task, determining the target storage location for each item to be entered and exited corresponding to the item entry and exit task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is storing or to be stored items to be entered and exited; determining a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location are adjacent in space; controlling the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and controlling the items to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to enter and exit the warehouse from the second lane. The technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention can efficiently complete the entry and exit of items to be entered and exited.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of warehousing, and in particular to a method for storing and unloading items, an inventory system, a device, equipment, and a medium. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of e-commerce, the scale of warehousing platforms is getting larger and larger. As an important component of the warehousing platform, the Warehouse Control System (WCS) can control the entry and exit of the corresponding items to be entered and exited according to the received entry and exit tasks.

[0003] In the process of realizing the present invention, the inventors discovered that the prior art has the following technical problems: the existing control scheme for the entry and exit of items has the problem of low entry and exit efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present invention provide a method for storing and unloading items, an inventory system, an apparatus, a device and a medium to achieve efficient storage and unloading of items to be stored and unloaded.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for storing and removing items from a warehouse, which may include:

[0006] Receive item in / out tasks, and determine the target storage locations for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out tasks, where the target storage locations include the storage locations where the items to be in / out are being stored or are to be stored;

[0007] Determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position;

[0008] The first storage location is controlled to rotate to the second lane, and the articles to be entered and exited, respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, are controlled to enter and exit the warehouse from the second lane.

[0009] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an inventory system, which may include:

[0010] At least two storage shelves and an aisle arranged between the two storage shelves, wherein a storage location group and a rotating device for controlling the storage location group to rotate are arranged on the storage shelf, and the storage location group is provided with at least two storage locations.

[0011] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an article storage and retrieval device, which may include:

[0012] The target storage location determination module is used to receive the item in-and-out tasks and determine the target storage locations of the items to be in-and-out corresponding to the item in-and-out tasks, wherein the target storage locations include the storage locations where the items to be in-and-out are being stored or are to be stored;

[0013] A second storage location determination module is configured to determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position;

[0014] The article entry and exit module is used to control the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and control the articles to be entered and exited that are respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to enter and exit the second lane.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an item storage and retrieval device, which may include:

[0016] one or more processors;

[0017] a memory for storing one or more programs;

[0018] When one or more programs are executed by one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method for entering and exiting a warehouse provided by any embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for entering and exiting a warehouse provided by any embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

[0020] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention receives the task of entering and exiting the warehouse, and determines the target storage location of each item to be entered and exited corresponding to the task of entering and exiting the warehouse from each storage location, which is an important prerequisite for the subsequent control of the entry and exit of each item to be entered and exited; the spatial position relationship between the lanes where these target storage locations are located may be the same lane, adjacent lanes or separated lanes, and the spatial position relationship between the shelves where they are located may also be the same shelf, adjacent shelves or separated shelves. In order to solve the problem of low efficiency of entering and exiting the warehouse due to more resource occupation and / or longer entry and exit time, a first storage location and a second storage location with adjacent lanes and shelves can be determined from each target storage location; then, the first storage location is controlled to rotate to the second lane where the second storage location is located, that is, the entrance and exit of the first storage location and the entrance and exit of the second storage location after rotation are both located on the same lane, thereby controlling the entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to enter and exit from the second lane. The above technical solution can rotate the first storage position so that the first storage position and the second storage position originally located on adjacent lanes are both located on the second lane, thereby reducing the resource occupation and entry and exit time of the items to be entered and exited during the entry and exit process, thereby achieving the effect of efficient entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a top view of a storage shelf;

[0022] Figure 2 This is a flow chart of a method for storing and removing items in a warehouse in the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 This is a top view of a storage shelf in a method for loading and unloading items in the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of a method for loading and unloading items in a warehouse in the second embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 5a This is a top view of a storage location group and a rotating device in a method for loading and unloading items in a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 5b It is a plan view of a storage location group and a rotating device in a method for loading and unloading items in a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 6a This is a top view of a storage shelf in a method for loading and unloading items in a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 6b It is a plan view of a storage shelf in a method for loading and unloading articles in the second embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 6cThis is a top view of a storage shelf after the storage location is rotated in a method for loading and unloading items in Example 2 of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 7 This is a flow chart of a method for loading and unloading items in the third embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 8 This is a flowchart of an optional example of a method for loading and unloading items in the third embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 9 This is a structural block diagram of an inventory system in Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 10 This is a structural block diagram of an article loading and unloading device in the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 11 It is a structural diagram of an item storage and retrieval device in embodiment 6 of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It will be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are intended only to illustrate the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. It should also be noted that, for ease of description, the accompanying drawings only illustrate portions relevant to the present invention, not all structures.

[0036] Before introducing the embodiment of the present invention, the application scenario of the embodiment of the present invention is first exemplified: Assume that the WCS receives an item outbound task and needs to outbound two items, which are located in storage location 10 and storage location 12 respectively. Figure 1 , where storage locations 12 and 14 are located on lane 20, and storage locations 10, 11, and 13 are located on lane 21. Based on this, one alternative solution for removing items from the warehouse is to control cart A to first move to storage location 10 in lane 21, remove the first item, then control cart A to move from storage location 10 to storage location 12 in lane 20, remove the second item, and finally return to the workstation. Another alternative solution for removing items from the warehouse is to control cart A to move to storage location 10 in lane 21, remove the first item, and then return to the workstation, and control cart B to move to storage location 12 in lane 20, remove the second item, and then return to the workstation. However, the first alternative requires two lanes, which consumes a lot of lane resources. Furthermore, the detour leads to longer cart path planning and, consequently, longer removal times. The second alternative requires two carts and two lanes, which consumes a lot of resources. It can be seen that both of the above alternatives suffer from the problem of low removal efficiency due to the high resource consumption and / or long removal times. The situation of putting items into storage is similar and will not be described here.

[0037] Example 1

[0038] Figure 2 This is a flow chart of a method for loading and unloading items provided in Example 1 of the present invention. This embodiment is applicable to the efficient loading and unloading of items to be loaded and unloaded. This method can be performed by the device for loading and unloading items provided in this embodiment of the present invention. This device can be implemented using software and / or hardware and can be integrated into a device for loading and unloading items, which can be various user terminals or servers.

[0039] See also Figure 2 The method of the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps:

[0040] S110: Receive an item in / out task, and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is storing or waiting to store the item to be in / out.

[0041] Among them, the item in-and-out task can be understood as a task used to control the in-and-out of items to be in-and-out, such as an item out-of-warehouse task used to control the out-of-warehouse of items to be out-of-warehouse, an item in-warehouse task used to control the in-warehouse of items to be in-warehouse, and so on. The items to be in-and-out can be items to be in-and-out of the warehouse, such as items to be out-of-warehouse, items to be in-warehouse, and so on. Therefore, after receiving the item in-and-out task, the corresponding items to be in-and-out of the warehouse can be determined. The number of items to be in-and-out of the warehouse can be one, two, or more, which is not specifically limited here. The storage location can be a location set on a storage shelf for storing items, and the target storage location can be a storage location among the storage locations for storing items to be in-and-out of the warehouse, such as a storage location currently storing items to be out-of-warehouse, a storage location to store items to be in-warehouse, and so on. Therefore, after determining each item to be in-and-out of the warehouse, the target storage location associated with each item to be in-and-out of the warehouse can be determined respectively. In practical applications, optionally, the number of items to be stored in or out of the warehouse at each target storage location may be one, two, or more, which is not specifically limited here.

[0042] S120. Determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space.

[0043] Among them, each storage location corresponds to its own lane, such as Figure 1Storage locations 12 and 14 are located on lane 20, and storage locations 10, 11, and 13 are located on lane 21. A lane can be a passable passage between two storage racks, such as lane 20 can be a passable passage between storage rack 30 and storage rack 31, and lane 21 can be a passable passage between storage rack 31 and storage rack 32. Similarly, each storage location corresponds to its own rack, such as Figure 1 Storage location 10 is located on shelf 32, and storage location 11, storage location 12, storage location 13 and storage location 14 are all located on shelf 31.

[0044] A first storage location and a second storage location are determined from each target storage location, wherein a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, that is, there is no other lane between the first lane and the second lane in spatial position. For example, Figure 3 As shown, lanes 20 and 21 are spatially adjacent lanes, and lanes 21 and 22 are also spatially adjacent lanes. Lanes 20 and 22 are not spatially adjacent lanes because of the presence of lane 21. At the same time, the first shelf where the first storage location is located and the second shelf where the second storage location is located are also spatially adjacent, that is, there is no other shelf in the spatial position between the first shelf and the second shelf. For example, see Figure 1 Shelf 30 and shelf 31 are adjacent shelves in space, shelf 31 and shelf 32 are also adjacent shelves in space, but shelf 30 and shelf 32 are not adjacent shelves in space because of the existence of shelf 31.

[0045] S130: Control the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and control the items to be entered or exited, respectively, associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, to be entered or exited from the second lane.

[0046] The first storage location is controlled to rotate so that the rotated first storage location is located on the second aisle, that is, the second storage location and the rotated first storage location are located on the same aisle. It should be emphasized that the first storage location is a storage location located on a storage shelf, and the rotation of the first storage location is the rotation of the first storage location itself, not the storage shelf where the first storage location is located. In addition, the items to be entered or exited associated with the first storage location before rotation and the items to be entered or exited associated with the first storage location after rotation are the same items.

[0047] Furthermore, since the second storage location and the rotated first storage location are both located on the second lane, that is, the entrance and exit of the second storage location and the entrance and exit of the rotated first storage location are both located on the second lane, the entrance and exit can be openings for allowing items to be entered and exited. Therefore, for the items to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the items to be entered and exited associated with the second storage location, both can be controlled to enter and exit the warehouse through the second lane. For example, the items to be exited can be controlled to exit from the entrance and exit of the first storage location and / or the second storage location and move along the second lane to the workstation for exit; or the items to be entered can be controlled to move from the workstation along the second lane to the entrance and exit of the first storage location and / or the second storage location and enter the first storage location and / or the second storage location through the entrance and exit to complete entry; etc. The above movement process can be achieved by a moving device that can move on the second lane.

[0048] The above technical solution only needs to occupy one lane (i.e., the second lane), one moving device, and a moving path without detours during the process of items entering and leaving the warehouse. It achieves the effect of efficient item entry and exit because it does not require occupying more resources and does not take up more time.

[0049] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention receives the task of entering and exiting the warehouse, and determines the target storage location of each item to be entered and exited corresponding to the task of entering and exiting the warehouse from each storage location, which is an important prerequisite for the subsequent control of the entry and exit of each item to be entered and exited; the spatial position relationship between the lanes where these target storage locations are located may be the same lane, adjacent lanes or separated lanes, and the spatial position relationship between the shelves where they are located may also be the same shelf, adjacent shelves or separated shelves. In order to solve the problem of low efficiency of entering and exiting the warehouse due to more resource occupation and / or longer entry and exit time, a first storage location and a second storage location with adjacent lanes and shelves can be determined from each target storage location; then, the first storage location is controlled to rotate to the second lane where the second storage location is located, that is, the entrance and exit of the first storage location and the entrance and exit of the second storage location after rotation are both located on the same lane, thereby controlling the entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to enter and exit from the second lane. The above technical solution can rotate the first storage position so that the first storage position and the second storage position originally located on adjacent lanes are both located on the second lane, thereby reducing the resource occupation and entry and exit time of the items to be entered and exited during the entry and exit process, thereby achieving the effect of efficient entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited.

[0050] An optional technical solution for controlling the rotation of a first storage location to a second lane includes: determining the lane position relationship between the first and second lanes, as well as the location position of the first storage location within the location group in which the first storage location is located, and determining a rotation angle of the first storage location based on the lane position relationship and the location position; and controlling the rotation of the first storage location to the second lane based on the rotation angle. The first lane may be the target lane for the first storage location, and the second lane may be the target lane for the second storage location. The lane position relationship may be the spatial relationship between the first and second lanes, such as whether the second lane is to the left or right of the first lane. The location group may be a group of multiple locations, including at least the first storage location, and the location position may be the position of the first storage location within the location group, such as the upper left corner, upper right corner, or directly above. Therefore, the rotation angle of the first storage location can be determined based on the lane position relationship and the location position, and the rotation of the first storage location can be controlled based on the rotation angle, or the rotation of each storage location in the location group can be controlled based on the rotation angle, thereby achieving precise rotation of the first storage location. The above rotation angle can be positive or negative, so that different rotation directions can be distinguished. Figure 1 Assuming that the first storage location is storage location 12, the storage location group where storage location 12 is located may include storage location 11, storage location 12, storage location 13 and storage location 14. In order to rotate storage location 12 to lane 21, the rotation angle can be -90° (i.e., 90° clockwise rotation), or 180° (i.e., 180° counterclockwise rotation), and so on.

[0051] An optional technical solution, the above-mentioned method for storing and unloading items may further include: after controlling the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, the above-mentioned method for storing and unloading items may further include: obtaining a storage location-lane relationship, wherein the storage location-lane relationship stores the correspondence between each target storage location and the target lane where each target storage location is located; and updating the storage location-lane relationship based on the correspondence between the rotated first storage location and the second lane. The storage location-lane relationship may store the correspondence between each target storage location and the target lane where each target storage location is located, or more broadly speaking, may store the correspondence between each storage location and each lane. In practical applications, the storage location-lane relationship may optionally be obtained from the storage location-lane relationship center, that is, the storage location-lane relationship center may be an area for storing storage location-lane relationships. After the first storage position is controlled to rotate, the correspondence between the rotated first storage position and the second lane is the latest storage position-lane relationship of the first storage position. Therefore, the storage position-lane relationship can be updated based on the correspondence between the rotated first storage position and the second lane. Specifically, the storage position-lane relationship of the first storage position before rotation can be updated, thereby ensuring that in subsequent items in and out of the warehouse, the storage position-lane relationship of the rotated first storage position can be accurately obtained, and then it is determined that the lane where it is located is the second lane.

[0052] Example 2

[0053] Figure 4 It is a flow chart of a method for entering and exiting an article in a warehouse provided in the second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is optimized based on the above-mentioned technical solutions. In this embodiment, optionally, before controlling the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, the above-mentioned method for entering and exiting an article in a warehouse may further include: determining the resources to be occupied corresponding to the task of entering and exiting an article in a warehouse, and the resources to be occupied include the first storage location, the second storage location, and the second lane; determining whether the resource status of the resources to be occupied is a resource unlocked state, and if so, adjusting the resource status from a resource unlocked state to a resource locked state; after controlling the articles to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, respectively, to enter and exit the warehouse from the second lane, the above-mentioned method for entering and exiting an article in a warehouse may further include: adjusting the resource status from a resource locked state to a resource unlocked state. Among them, the explanations of the terms that are the same as or corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiments will not be repeated here.

[0054] See also Figure 4 The method of this embodiment may specifically include the following steps:

[0055] S210: Receive an item in / out task, and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is storing or to be stored for the item to be in / out.

[0056] S220. Determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space.

[0057] S230. Determine the resources to be occupied corresponding to the item in and out of the warehouse task, and determine whether the resource status of the resources to be occupied is a resource unlocked state. If so, adjust the resource status from the resource unlocked state to the resource locked state, wherein the resources to be occupied include the first storage location, the second storage location, and the second lane.

[0058] The resources to be occupied may be resources required for the currently received item entry and exit task, i.e., resources that cannot be occupied by other item entry and exit tasks, such as the first storage location, the second storage location, or the second lane in which both the first and second storage locations after rotation are located. It should be noted that the execution of item entry and exit tasks may involve a mobile device that needs to move in the second lane to move the items to be entered and exited. To ensure the safety of the mobile device during movement, the second lane may be designated as a resource to be occupied to ensure that only one mobile device moves in the second lane at a time, thereby avoiding collisions caused by at least two mobile devices moving in the second lane.

[0059] The resource status indicates whether the resource to be occupied is currently occupied. For example, if the resource status is "Resource Locked," this indicates that the resource to be occupied is currently occupied and cannot be occupied. Alternatively, if the resource status is "Resource Unlocked," this indicates that the resource to be occupied is not currently occupied and can be occupied. It should be noted that before occupying the resource to be occupied, its resource status can be adjusted from "Resource Unlocked" to "Resource Locked." This ensures that when the resource is occupied, it will not be occupied by other items entering or leaving the warehouse, causing an occupation conflict.

[0060] On this basis, optionally, if the resource status of the resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state, the above steps of determining whether the resource status of the resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state can be repeated, such as repeating this step based on a preset time interval, thereby ensuring that the resource to be occupied in the resource locked state is promptly occupied after the lock is released, thereby ensuring the timely completion of the task of entering and leaving the warehouse.

[0061] S240: Control the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and control the items to be entered or exited, respectively, associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, to be entered or exited from the second lane.

[0062] S250: Adjust the resource state from the resource locked state to the resource unlocked state.

[0063] After the item in and out of the warehouse is completed, the resource status can be adjusted from the resource locked state to the resource unlocked state, so that the remaining item in and out of the warehouse tasks can occupy the to-be-occupied resources when needed.

[0064] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention can first determine whether the resource status of the to-be-occupied resources corresponding to the item in-and-out tasks is a resource unlocked state. If so, it means that the to-be-occupied resources can be occupied. Then, its resource status is first adjusted from a resource unlocked state to a resource locked state, and then the first storage position is rotated, thereby ensuring that the to-be-occupied resources involved in the rotation process will not be occupied by the remaining item in-and-out tasks; further, after completing the item in-and-out tasks, its resources can be adjusted from a resource locked state to a resource unlocked state, so that the remaining item in-and-out tasks can occupy the to-be-occupied resources when needed, thereby achieving the effect of effective execution of each item in-and-out task.

[0065] An optional technical solution is that the resource to be occupied also includes a mobile device that can move on the second lane. For each item to be in and out of the warehouse, the first item to be in and out of the warehouse associated with the first storage location, and the second item to be in and out of the warehouse associated with the second storage location, controlling the items to be in and out of the warehouse associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, respectively, to enter and exit the warehouse from the second lane can include: controlling the mobile device to move on the second lane, and during the movement, picking the first item to be in and out of the warehouse from the first storage location, or placing the first item to be in and out of the warehouse into the first storage location, and picking the second item to be in and out of the warehouse from the second storage location, or placing the second item to be in and out of the warehouse into the second storage location. Among them, using the mobile device as a resource to be occupied means that the same mobile device can only be occupied by one item entry and exit task, thereby ensuring that the entry and exit of the items to be in and out of the warehouse can be effectively completed by the mobile device.

[0066] An optional technical solution, the resources to be occupied may also include each third storage position in the storage position group where the first storage position is located, each third storage position is set on the same rotating device, and controlling the first storage position to rotate to the second lane may include: controlling the rotation of each third storage position by the rotating device so that the first storage position rotates to the second lane where the second storage position is located. Among them, the third storage position may be a storage position in the storage position group where the first storage position is located, and the first storage position may also be one of the third storage positions. The reason why the third storage position is regarded as the resource to be occupied here is that each third storage position is set on the same rotating device, which means that when the first storage position is rotated based on the rotating device, each third storage position set on the rotating device will also rotate accordingly, so each third storage position can also be regarded as a resource to be occupied. In actual applications, optionally, the number of storage positions of each third storage position set on the same rotating device can be two or more. From the perspective of rotation convenience and saving storage space, optionally, four third storage positions can be set as a group on a circular rotating device. For example, the top view of the above storage position group (including four third storage positions 15) and the rotating device 33 after coordination is shown as follows: Figure 5a As shown, the plan view is as follows Figure 5b As shown, the top view of the entire storage shelf is as follows Figure 6a As shown, the plan view is as follows Figure 6b As shown, there are three rows of storage shelves (30, 31 and 32), each row of storage shelves has three layers, and each layer can be provided with at least one rotating device 33 and storage location group.

[0067] Example 3

[0068] Figure 7 This is a flow chart of a method for storing and removing items from a warehouse, provided in Example 3 of the present invention. This embodiment is optimized based on the above-mentioned technical solutions. Explanations of terms that are the same as or corresponding to those in the above-mentioned embodiments are not repeated here.

[0069] See also Figure 7 The method of this embodiment may specifically include the following steps:

[0070] S310: Receive an item in / out task, and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is storing or waiting to store the item to be in / out.

[0071] S320. Determine the first storage location and the second storage location from each target storage location, and determine the resources to be occupied associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, wherein the first shelf where the first storage location is located and the second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and the first lane where the first storage location is located and the second lane where the second storage location are located are adjacent in spatial position, and the resources to be occupied may include the first storage location, the second storage location, the second lane, a movable device that can move on the second lane, and each third storage location in the storage location group where the first storage location is located, and each third storage location is set on the same rotating device.

[0072] S330: Determine whether the resource status of each resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state.

[0073] S340: If no, then repeat S330 until the number of repetitions exceeds a preset threshold.

[0074] S350: If yes, adjust the resource state from the resource unlocked state to the resource locked state.

[0075] S360. Control the rotation of each third storage location through a rotating device so that the first storage location among the third storage locations rotates to the second lane.

[0076] S370 , updating the storage location-lane relationship of each third storage location before the rotation in the storage location-lane relationship database according to the storage location-lane relationship of each third storage location after the rotation.

[0077] S380: For each of the first in-and-out items associated with the first storage location and the second in-and-out items associated with the second storage location among the items to be in-and-out, control the mobile device to move on the second lane, and during the movement, pick out the first in-and-out item from the first storage location or place the first in-and-out item in the first storage location, and pick out the second in-and-out item from the second storage location or place the second in-and-out item in the second storage location.

[0078] Among them, the execution order of S370 and S380 can be set according to actual conditions, such as executing one after the other, executing one after the other, executing simultaneously, executing one during the execution of the other, etc., which is not specifically limited here.

[0079] S390: Adjust the resource state from the resource locked state to the resource unlocked state.

[0080] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention can rotate the first storage position so that the first storage position and the second storage position originally located on adjacent lanes are both located on the second lane, thereby reducing resource occupation and storage and warehousing time, and achieving the effect of efficient storage and warehousing of items to be stored in and out.

[0081] In order to better understand the specific implementation process of the above steps, the following is an exemplary description of the method for loading and unloading items in this embodiment with reference to specific examples. Figure 6a , suppose the WCS receives an item outbound task and needs to outbound two items (i.e., items to be outbound), which are located in storage locations 10 and 12 respectively. At this time, the WCS starts to execute the following steps, see Figure 8 :

[0082] (1) The WCS generates a dispatch schedule, starts occupying the cart, lane 21, and locks storage location 10;

[0083] (2) Try to lock storage locations 11, 12, 13, and 14;

[0084] (3) If the storage locations 11, 12, 13, and 14 are locked successfully, the rotating device where the storage locations 11, 12, 13, and 14 are located is controlled to rotate 180°, and the corresponding relationship between the storage locations and lanes in the storage location and lane relationship database is synchronously updated. The top view of the rotated storage shelf is as follows: Figure 6c As shown;

[0085] (4) At this time, both storage locations 10 and 12 are located on lane 21, so a more optimal movement path can be planned: after the trolley enters lane 21 and moves to storage location 10 to take out the first item, it can directly move to storage location 12 in lane 21 to take out the second item. It does not need to move to lane 20 again and can directly return to the workstation;

[0086] Configure the number of retries. If locking storage locations 11, 12, 13, and 14 fails, repeat step (2).

[0087] Example 4

[0088] Figure 9 This is an architectural diagram of an inventory system provided in the fourth embodiment of the present invention. Figure 9As shown, the inventory system may include at least two storage shelves 40 and an aisle 41 disposed between the two storage shelves 40. The storage shelves 40 are provided with a storage location group 401 and a rotating device 402 for controlling the rotation of the storage location group 401. The storage location group 401 is provided with at least two storage locations 4011. Specifically, an aisle 41 for storing items to be stored is provided between any two storage shelves 40 in the inventory system. The storage location group 401 disposed on the storage shelves 40 can be rotated under the control of the rotating device 402. That is, the storage locations 4011 on the storage location group 401 for storing items to be stored can be rotated under the control of the rotating device. In this way, for two storage locations 4011 located on adjacent storage shelves 40 and adjacent aisles 41, either storage location 4011 can be controlled to rotate so that both are located in the same aisle 41, thereby allowing items to be stored in and out of the same aisle 41.

[0089] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, through at least two storage shelves equipped with a rotating device and a storage location group containing at least two storage locations, and an aisle arranged between the two storage shelves, can control the rotation of the storage locations based on the rotating device so that the items to be entered and exited from the warehouse can be entered and exited from the same aisle, thereby achieving the effect of efficient entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited from the warehouse without occupying more resources and consuming more time.

[0090] Example 5

[0091] Figure 10 This is a structural block diagram of the article storage and retrieval device provided in the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The device is used to execute the article storage and retrieval method provided in any of the above embodiments. The device and the article storage and retrieval method of the above embodiments belong to the same inventive concept. For details not fully described in the embodiments of the article storage and retrieval device, please refer to the embodiments of the above-mentioned article storage and retrieval method. Figure 10 The device may specifically include: a target storage location determination module 510, a second storage location determination module 520 and an item entry and exit module 530.

[0092] The target storage location determination module 510 is configured to receive an item in / out task and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is currently storing or is to store items to be in / out;

[0093] The second storage location determination module 520 is configured to determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in space;

[0094] The article loading and unloading module 530 is used to control the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and control the articles to be loaded and unloaded, which are respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, to be loaded and unloaded from the second lane.

[0095] Optionally, the item entry and exit module 530 may include:

[0096] a rotation angle determination unit, configured to respectively determine a lane position relationship between the first lane and the second lane, and a storage location of the first storage location within the storage location group where the first storage location is located, and determine a rotation angle of the first storage location based on the lane position relationship and the storage location location;

[0097] The first storage position rotation unit is used to control the first storage position to rotate to the second lane according to the rotation angle.

[0098] Optionally, the above-mentioned article loading and unloading device may further include:

[0099] A storage position-lane relationship acquisition module is used to acquire a storage position-lane relationship after controlling the first storage position to rotate to the second lane, wherein the storage position-lane relationship stores a correspondence between each target storage position and the target lane where each target storage position is located;

[0100] The storage position and lane relationship updating module is used to update the storage position and lane relationship according to the corresponding relationship between the rotated first storage position and the second lane.

[0101] Optionally, the above-mentioned article loading and unloading device may further include:

[0102] A module for determining resources to be occupied, configured to determine resources to be occupied corresponding to the item in / out task before controlling the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, wherein the resources to be occupied include the first storage location, the second storage location, and the second lane;

[0103] a resource state adjustment module, configured to determine whether the resource state of the resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state, and if so, adjust the resource state from the resource unlocked state to the resource locked state;

[0104] The resource status readjustment module is used to adjust the resource status from the resource locked state to the resource unlocked state after controlling the items to be entered or exited from the second lane and associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to enter or exit the warehouse respectively.

[0105] On this basis, optionally, the above-mentioned article loading and unloading device may further include:

[0106] The resource status determining module is configured to, otherwise, repeatedly execute the step of determining whether the resource status of the resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state.

[0107] Optionally, the resource to be occupied further includes a moving device that can move on the second lane. For each of the items to be entered or exited, the first item associated with the first storage location and the second item associated with the second storage location, the item entry and exit module 530 may include:

[0108] The item in-and-out unit is used to control the mobile device to move on the second lane, and during the movement, picks out the first in-and-out item from the first storage location or places the first in-and-out item into the first storage location, and picks out the second in-and-out item from the second storage location or places the second in-and-out item into the second storage location.

[0109] Optionally, the resources to be occupied further include each third storage location in the storage location group where the first storage location is located, and each third storage location is provided on the same rotating device. The item storage and retrieval module 530 may include:

[0110] The third storage position rotation unit is used to control the rotation of each third storage position through a rotating device so that the first storage position is rotated to the second lane where the second storage position is located.

[0111] The article in-and-out device provided in the fifth embodiment of the present invention receives article in-and-out tasks through a target storage location determination module, and determines the target storage location of each article to be in-and-out corresponding to the article in-and-out task from each storage location, which is an important prerequisite for subsequent control of the entry and exit of each article to be in-and-out; the spatial position relationship between the lanes where these target storage locations are located may be the same lane, adjacent lanes, or separated lanes, and the spatial position relationship between the shelves where they are located may also be the same shelf, adjacent shelves, or separated shelves. In order to solve the problem of low efficiency of article in-and-out due to more resource occupation and / or longer entry and exit time, a first storage location and a second storage location with adjacent lanes and adjacent shelves are determined from each target storage location through a second storage location determination module; further, the article in-and-out module controls the first storage location to rotate to the second lane where the second storage location is located, that is, the entrance and exit of the first storage location and the entrance and exit of the second storage location after rotation are both located on the same lane, thereby controlling the entry and exit of the articles to be in-and-out associated with the first storage location and the second storage location to be controlled to enter and exit from the second lane. The above-mentioned device can rotate the first storage position so that the first storage position and the second storage position originally located on adjacent alleys are both located on the second alley, thereby reducing the resource occupation and entry and exit time of the items to be entered and exited during the entry and exit process, thereby achieving the effect of efficient entry and exit of the items to be entered and exited.

[0112] The article storage and unloading device provided in the embodiment of the present invention can execute the article storage and unloading method provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and has the corresponding functional modules and beneficial effects of the execution method.

[0113] It is worth noting that in the embodiment of the above-mentioned device for entering and exiting the warehouse, the various units and modules included are only divided according to functional logic, but are not limited to the above-mentioned division, as long as the corresponding functions can be achieved; in addition, the specific names of the functional units are only for the convenience of distinguishing each other, and are not used to limit the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0114] Example 6

[0115] Figure 11 This is a structural diagram of an item storage and retrieval device provided by Example 6 of the present invention, such as Figure 11 As shown, the device may include a memory 610, a processor 620, an input device 630, and an output device 640. The number of processors 620 in the device may be one or more. Figure 11 In the embodiment, a processor 620 is used as an example; the memory 610, the processor 620, the input device 630 and the output device 640 in the device can be connected via a bus or other means. Figure 11 The connection via bus 650 is taken as an example.

[0116] The memory 610, as a computer-readable storage medium, can be used to store software programs, computer-executable programs, and modules, such as the program instructions / modules corresponding to the item storage and retrieval method in the embodiments of the present invention (e.g., the target storage location determination module 510, the second storage location determination module 520, and the item storage and retrieval module 530 in the item storage and retrieval device). The processor 620 executes the software programs, instructions, and modules stored in the memory 610 to execute various functional applications and data processing of the device, thereby implementing the aforementioned item storage and retrieval method.

[0117] The memory 610 may primarily include a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area may store an operating system and at least one application required for a function; the data storage area may store data created based on the use of the device, etc. Furthermore, the memory 610 may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid-state memory device. In some instances, the memory 610 may further include a memory remotely located relative to the processor 620, and such remote memory may be connected to the device via a network. Examples of the aforementioned network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0118] The input device 630 may be used to receive input digital or character information and generate key signal input related to user settings and function control of the device. The output device 640 may include a display device such as a display screen.

[0119] Example 7

[0120] A seventh embodiment of the present invention provides a storage medium containing computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a computer processor, they are used to perform a method for storing and removing items from a warehouse. The method may include:

[0121] Receive item in / out tasks, and determine the target storage locations for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out tasks, where the target storage locations include the storage locations where the items to be in / out are being stored or are to be stored;

[0122] Determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each target storage location, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position;

[0123] The first storage location is controlled to rotate to the second lane, and the articles to be entered and exited, respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, are controlled to enter and exit the warehouse from the second lane.

[0124] Of course, the computer executable instructions of the storage medium provided by the embodiment of the present invention are not limited to the operations of the method described above, but can also execute related operations in the method for entering and exiting the warehouse of items provided by any embodiment of the present invention.

[0125] Through the above description of the implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented with the help of software and necessary general-purpose hardware, and of course it can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as a computer's floppy disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory (FLASH), hard disk or optical disk, etc., including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention.

[0126] Note that the above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, and that various obvious changes, readjustments, and substitutions can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in detail through the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and may include many other equivalent embodiments without departing from the concept of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for storing and removing items from a warehouse, characterized in that: include: Receive an item in / out task, and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is storing or to be stored the item to be in / out; Determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each of the target storage locations, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and the first shelf and the second shelf are both adjacent in spatial position to the second lane; determining a rotation angle of the storage location group according to a positional relationship between the first lane and the second lane, and a storage location position of the first storage location in the storage location group where the first storage location is located; According to the rotation angle, the storage location group is controlled to rotate so as to rotate the first storage location to the second lane, and the items to be entered and exited, respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, are controlled to be entered and exited from the second lane.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that After rotating the first storage location onto the second lane, the method further comprises: Acquiring a storage location-lane relationship, wherein the storage location-lane relationship stores a correspondence between each target storage location and the target lane where each target storage location is located; The storage position and lane relationship is updated according to the corresponding relationship between the first storage position and the second lane after rotation.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before rotating the first storage position onto the second lane, the method further comprises: Determining resources to be occupied corresponding to the item storage and out-of-warehouse task, wherein the resources to be occupied include the first storage location, the second storage location, and the second lane; determining whether the resource state of the resource to be occupied is a resource unlocked state, and if so, adjusting the resource state from the resource unlocked state to a resource locked state; After controlling the objects to be entered or exited, which are respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, to enter or exit the second lane, the method further includes: The resource state is adjusted from the resource locked state to the resource unlocked state.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Also includes: Otherwise, the step of determining whether the resource state of the resource to be occupied is in the resource unlocked state is repeated.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The resource to be occupied further includes a moving device capable of moving on the second lane. For each of the items to be entered and exited, the first item to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second item to be entered and exited associated with the second storage location, the controlling of the items to be entered and exited associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, respectively, to enter and exit the second lane includes: The mobile device is controlled to move on the second lane, and during the movement, the first in-and-out item is picked out from the first storage location or the first in-and-out item is placed in the first storage location, and the second in-and-out item is picked out from the second storage location or the second in-and-out item is placed in the second storage location.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The resources to be occupied further include each third storage location in the storage location group where the first storage location is located, each third storage location being arranged on the same rotating device, and controlling the rotation of the storage location group according to the rotation angle to rotate the first storage location to the second lane, including: The rotating device controls each of the third storage locations to rotate by the rotation angle so that the first storage location is rotated to the second lane.

7. An inventory system, characterized in that: include: At least two storage shelves and an alley arranged between the two storage shelves for loading and unloading goods; The storage shelf is provided with a storage location group and a rotating device for controlling the rotation of the storage location group. The storage location group is provided with at least two storage locations. After any two storage locations among the plurality of storage locations in the inventory system that are located on adjacent storage shelves and adjacent lanes rotate under the control of the rotating device, the two storage locations are located on the same lane, and the items to be entered and exited from the warehouse that are respectively associated with the two storage locations are entered and exited from the warehouse through the same lane. The rotation angle of the rotating storage location is determined according to the lane position relationship between the lanes corresponding to the two storage locations before the rotation and the location position of the rotating storage location in the corresponding storage location group.

8. An article storage and retrieval device, characterized in that: include: A target storage location determination module is configured to receive an item in / out task and determine a target storage location for each item to be in / out corresponding to the item in / out task, wherein the target storage location includes a storage location that is currently storing or is to store the item to be in / out; a second storage location determination module configured to determine a first storage location and a second storage location from each of the target storage locations, wherein a first shelf where the first storage location is located and a second shelf where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, a first lane where the first storage location is located and a second lane where the second storage location is located are adjacent in spatial position, and both the first shelf and the second shelf are adjacent in spatial position to the second lane; An article loading and unloading module is used to control the first storage location to rotate to the second lane, and control the articles to be loaded and unloaded, respectively associated with the first storage location and the second storage location, to be loaded and unloaded from the second lane; The item entry and exit module includes: a rotation angle determining unit, configured to determine a rotation angle of the storage location group according to a positional relationship between the first lane and the second lane, and a storage location position of the first storage location in the storage location group where the first storage location is located; The first storage location rotation unit is used to control the rotation of the storage location group according to the rotation angle, so as to rotate the first storage location to the second lane.

9. An article storage and retrieval device, characterized in that: include: one or more processors; a memory for storing one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method for entering and exiting a warehouse as described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method for storing and removing items from a warehouse as described in any one of claims 1 to 6 is implemented.

Images