Order processing method, device and warehousing system

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of warehouse logistics, and discloses an order processing method, device and warehouse system. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining a to-be-processed order, and determining a to-be-picked container in a plurality of buffer containers of a first workstation in a warehouse system according to the to-be-processed order; wherein the first workstation is provided with a plurality of buffer positions, and the buffer positions are used for placing the buffer containers. According to the to-be-picked container, a target carrier is determined in a plurality of carriers corresponding to the first workstation; wherein the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, the plurality of carriers comprise a picking carrier parked in the picking area and at least one to-be-picked carrier parked in the queuing area. In the process of picking the target carrier at the first workstation, the first workstation is controlled to carry the to-be-picked container from a target buffer position to the target carrier. The order processing method provided in the application can improve the picking efficiency of the warehouse system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of warehousing and logistics technology, and in particular to an order processing method, apparatus and warehousing system. Background Technology

[0002] During the order picking process, robots (such as material handling robots) can transport the containers of an order to the workstation for picking. The order picking process is a significant component of warehouse operating costs, accounting for approximately 60% to 70% of the total warehouse operating costs. Therefore, improving picking efficiency to reduce warehouse operating costs has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the aforementioned problems, embodiments of this application provide an order processing method, apparatus, and warehousing system, which can improve the picking efficiency of the warehousing system. Specifically, embodiments of this application disclose the following technical solutions:

[0004] The first aspect of this application provides an order processing method, which includes: first, acquiring an order to be processed, and determining a container to be picked up from multiple cache containers of a first workstation in a warehousing system based on the order to be processed; wherein the first workstation is provided with multiple cache positions for placing cache containers. Second, determining a target vehicle from multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be picked up; wherein the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, and the multiple vehicles include a picking vehicle parked in the picking area and at least one vehicle to be picked parked in the queuing area. Finally, during the picking process of the target vehicle by the first workstation, controlling the first workstation to move the container to be picked up from the target cache position to the target vehicle; wherein the target cache position is a cache position among the multiple cache positions of the first workstation used to store the container to be picked up.

[0005] In some embodiments, determining a container to be sorted among multiple cache containers of a first workstation in a warehousing system based on an order to be processed includes: if the order to be processed includes a first order corresponding to a second workstation in the warehousing system, and the first order hits at least one cache container among multiple cache containers of the first workstation, then at least one cache container is determined as a container to be sorted; wherein the second workstation is different from the first workstation.

[0006] In some embodiments, determining a target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to a first workstation based on the pending container includes: determining a first set of workstations that hit the pending container and a second set of workstations that hit the current face of the first picking vehicle, based on multiple workstations in the warehousing system; wherein the first picking vehicle is a vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; determining the overlap between the pending container and the first workstation currently facing the first picking vehicle based on the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations; and determining the target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the first workstations.

[0007] In some embodiments, determining the overlap degree of the first workstation on the current face of the first picking carrier with respect to the first workstation set and the second workstation set includes: determining the intersection of the workstations corresponding to the first workstation set and the second workstation set; and determining the overlap degree of the first workstation on the current face of the first picking carrier with respect to the first workstation set based on the number of workstations in the intersection.

[0008] In some embodiments, determining a target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to a first workstation based on the overlap of the first workstation includes: if the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to an overlap threshold, then determining the first picking vehicle as the target vehicle; if the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold, then determining a set of third workstations that are currently in front of each picking vehicle located in the queuing area; determining the overlap of the picking container with the second workstation in front of each picking vehicle based on the first workstation set and the third workstation set; and determining the target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the second workstation.

[0009] In some embodiments, determining a target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to a first workstation based on the overlap degree of the second workstation includes: if there is a vehicle to be picked with an overlap degree greater than or equal to an overlap degree threshold among the second workstation overlap degrees corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked in the queuing area, then the vehicle to be picked with the largest overlap degree of the second workstation is determined as the target vehicle; if the overlap degrees of the second workstations corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked are all less than the overlap degree threshold, then a fourth set of workstations that hit the other side of each of the multiple vehicles is determined; based on the first set of workstations and the fourth set of workstations, the overlap degree of the third workstations between the container to be sorted and the other side of each vehicle is determined; based on the overlap degree of the third workstations, the target vehicle is determined among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0010] In some embodiments, determining the target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the third workstation includes: if there is a vehicle with an overlap of greater than or equal to the overlap threshold among the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to the multiple vehicles, then the vehicle with the largest overlap of the third workstations is determined as the target vehicle.

[0011] In some embodiments, the method further includes: if the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to the multiple vehicles is less than the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

[0012] In some embodiments, determining a container to be sorted among multiple cache containers of a first workstation in a warehousing system based on an order to be processed includes: if at least one cache container among the multiple cache containers is not hit by a first order corresponding to a second workstation within a preset time period, and / or at least one cache container will not be hit by a second order corresponding to the first workstation within an estimated future time period, then at least one cache container is determined as a container to be sorted; wherein the order to be processed includes a first order and a second order, and the second workstation is any workstation in the warehousing system that is different from the first workstation.

[0013] In some embodiments, determining a target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to a first workstation based on the cargo container to be processed includes: determining the correlation between the cargo container to be processed and each container on each of the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation; and determining the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles based on the correlation between the cargo container to be processed and each container on each vehicle.

[0014] In some embodiments, determining the correlation between the container to be sorted and the containers on each of the multiple carriers corresponding to the first workstation includes: obtaining historical orders and determining the correlation between each minimum inventory unit (SKU) in the warehousing system based on the historical orders; and determining the correlation between the container to be sorted and the containers on each carrier based on the correlation between each SKU.

[0015] In some embodiments, determining the correlation between the smallest inventory unit SKUs in the warehousing system based on historical orders includes: determining the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order based on historical orders; and determining the correlation between any two SKUs based on the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order.

[0016] In some embodiments, determining a target vehicle among a plurality of vehicles based on the correlation between the pending cargo container and each container on each vehicle includes: if the correlation between the pending cargo container and at least one container on at least one of the plurality of vehicles is greater than or equal to a correlation threshold, then in at least one vehicle, the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation is determined as the target vehicle.

[0017] In some embodiments, during the picking process of the first workstation on the target vehicle, controlling the first workstation to move the pending container from the target buffer position to the target vehicle includes: if there is an available storage location on the current side of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the first workstation on the current side of the target vehicle, controlling the first workstation to move the pending container from the target buffer position of the first workstation to the available storage location on the current side of the target vehicle; if there is no available storage location on the current side of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the first workstation on the current side of the target vehicle, controlling the first workstation to exchange the exchange container on the current side of the target vehicle with the pending container on the target buffer position, so as to place the pending container in the original storage location of the exchange container.

[0018] In some embodiments, the method further includes: obtaining order information, and determining a container to be cached among a plurality of containers on the current face of a second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation based on the order information; wherein the second picking carrier is a carrier that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; and controlling the first workstation to move the container to be cached from the current face of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation.

[0019] In some embodiments, determining a container to be cached among multiple containers on the current surface of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation based on order information includes: determining multiple SKUs required by the order information; wherein the order information includes multiple pending orders and multiple historical orders in the order pool; determining a target SKU among the multiple SKUs based on the number of inventory containers used to place each SKU in the warehousing system, and determining the inventory container holding the target SKU as the target container; if there is a target container for the target SKU on the current surface of the second picking carrier, and there is no cache container storing the target SKU on the multiple cache slots of the first workstation, then the target container is determined as the container to be cached.

[0020] In some embodiments, determining a target SKU among multiple SKUs based on the number of inventory containers in the warehousing system used to place each SKU includes: if the number of inventory containers in the warehousing system that place a first SKU is greater than or equal to a preset quantity threshold, then determining the first SKU as the target SKU; wherein the first SKU is any SKU among multiple SKUs.

[0021] In some embodiments, the preset quantity threshold is related to the number of workstations included in the warehousing system.

[0022] In some embodiments, determining a container to be cached among multiple containers on the current face of the second picking vehicle corresponding to the first workstation based on order information includes: determining a hit container on the current face of the second picking vehicle based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information; if there is no free seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation when the second picking vehicle arrives at the picking area of ​​the first workstation, then the hit container is determined as a container to be cached.

[0023] In some embodiments, after controlling the first workstation to move the container to be cached from the current face of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation, the method further includes: associating the second order with a virtual seeding position on the virtual seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation; if there is an empty seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation, generating a picking instruction based on the second order associated with the virtual seeding position; wherein the picking instruction is used to instruct the first workstation to pick the goods to be planted required for the second order from the container to be cached, and to instruct the seeding object to plant the goods to be planted into the order container of the empty seeding position on the real seeding wall.

[0024] In some embodiments, the method further includes: determining a container to be picked on the current surface of a third picking carrier according to a second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information; wherein the third picking carrier is a carrier that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; if the third picking carrier is moved away from the picking area of ​​the first workstation during the picking process of the container to be picked by the first workstation, then after the first workstation completes picking the container to be picked, the first workstation is controlled to move the container to be picked to the buffer position of the first workstation.

[0025] A second aspect of this application provides an order processing apparatus, including an acquisition module, a container determination module, a carrier determination module, and a control module. The acquisition module is configured to acquire orders to be processed. The container determination module is configured to determine a container to be processed from multiple cache containers of a first workstation in a warehousing system based on the order to be processed; wherein the first workstation has multiple cache positions for placing cache containers. The carrier determination module is configured to determine a target carrier from multiple carriers corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be processed; wherein the first workstation has a picking area and a queuing area, and the multiple carriers include a picking carrier docked in the picking area and at least one carrier to be picked docked in the queuing area. The control module is configured to control the first workstation to move the container to be processed from the target cache position to the target carrier during the picking process of the first workstation; wherein the target cache position is a cache position among the multiple cache positions of the first workstation used to store the container to be processed.

[0026] A third aspect of this application provides a warehousing system including multiple carriers, multiple workstations, and a control device. Each carrier includes multiple storage locations for placing containers storing goods. Each workstation has multiple buffer locations for placing buffer containers; each workstation also has a picking area and a queuing area. The picking area is for parking picking carriers, and the queuing area is for parking at least one carrier to be picked. The control device is configured to: acquire pending orders and, based on the pending orders, determine a container to be picked from multiple buffer containers in a first workstation. Based on the container to be picked, determine a target carrier from multiple carriers corresponding to the first workstation; wherein the multiple carriers include a picking carrier parked in the picking area of ​​the first workstation and at least one carrier to be picked parked in the queuing area of ​​the first workstation. During the picking process of the target carrier by the first workstation, the control device moves the container to be picked from the target buffer location to the target carrier; wherein the target buffer location is a buffer location among the multiple buffer locations of the first workstation used to store the container to be picked.

[0027] A fourth aspect of this application provides an electronic device, including: a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store computer-executable instructions; the processor being used to read the instructions from the memory and execute the instructions to implement the order processing method described in the first aspect above.

[0028] A fifth aspect of this application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions, which, when read by a computer, execute the order processing method described in the first aspect above.

[0029] A sixth aspect of this application provides a computer program product including a computing program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program includes program instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the order processing method described in the first aspect.

[0030] The seventh aspect of this application provides a computer program that, when executed by a processor, can implement the order processing method described in the first aspect above.

[0031] The order processing method, apparatus, and warehousing system provided in this application embodiment, by setting multiple buffer positions at the workstation to place multiple buffer containers, and identifying containers that meet the sorting conditions from among the multiple buffer containers, and identifying the target carrier corresponding to the containers to be sorted from among the multiple carriers corresponding to the workstation; during the picking process of the target carrier at the workstation, the containers to be sorted are moved from the buffer positions to the target carrier, thereby realizing the sorting operation of the containers to be sorted while picking the target carrier, which can improve the hit rate of the target carrier, reduce the number of times the target carrier is moved, and improve the picking efficiency of the warehousing system. Attached Figure Description

[0032] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0033] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of a warehousing system provided for some embodiments of this application;

[0034] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of a workstation provided for some embodiments of this application;

[0035] Figure 2 A schematic diagram illustrating an order processing method provided for some embodiments of this application;

[0036] Figure 3 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0037] Figure 4 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0038] Figure 5 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0039] Figure 6 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0040] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0041] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0042] Figure 9A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0043] Figure 10 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0044] Figure 11 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application;

[0045] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of an order processing apparatus according to some embodiments of this application;

[0046] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to some embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0047] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, and to make the above-mentioned objectives, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent and understandable, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0048] The order picking process is the process of retrieving goods from containers to fulfill customer order requirements. Picking is a significant component of warehouse operating costs, accounting for approximately 60% to 70% of total warehouse operating costs. Therefore, improving the efficiency of the picking process can substantially reduce warehouse operating costs.

[0049] To improve warehouse picking efficiency, robotic mobile fulfillment systems (RMFS) are typically used to replace traditional manual picking. RMFS utilizes mobile robots to move movable shelves containing items with matching orders to workstations (such as picking stations) for picking personnel. After picking, the mobile robot returns the shelf to its storage area and places the picked items onto a picker wall. Compared to traditional manual picking, RMFS offers higher picking efficiency, better scalability, and flexibility. In other words, RMFS improves picking efficiency while also increasing warehouse space utilization and allows for real-time, dynamic adjustments to the warehouse layout based on customer needs.

[0050] However, RMFS still faces some challenges in the picking process. For example, when goods on the same shelf are picked multiple times by a workstation, the mobile robot needs to repeatedly move that shelf to the workstation for picking; or, when the goods picked by an order at the same workstation are distributed across multiple shelves, the mobile robot needs to move all of these shelves to the workstation for picking, thus reducing handling and picking efficiency.

[0051] In related technologies, sorting operations can be performed on shelves during idle time to move as many items as possible from an order to the same shelf, thereby reducing the number of handling operations and improving picking efficiency. However, idle time in a warehousing system is very limited, and when the number of orders is large, sorting operations during idle time cannot significantly improve subsequent picking efficiency.

[0052] To address the aforementioned issues, this application provides an order processing method, apparatus, and warehousing system. By optimizing the workstation and adding multiple buffer slots, the buffer containers placed in the buffer slots are sorted during the picking process on the carriers at the workstation, so as to sort the buffer containers onto the corresponding carriers. This enables simultaneous picking and sorting at the workstation, improving the carrier hit rate while reducing the number of carrier handling operations, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0053] The warehousing system provided in the embodiments of this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0054] Figure 1A This is a schematic diagram of a warehousing system provided for some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 1A As shown, the warehousing system 100 includes multiple carriers 10, multiple handling devices 20, and multiple workstations 30, as well as a control device ( Figure 1A (Not shown in the image).

[0055] Exemplarily, the carrier 10 may include multiple storage locations (also referred to as storage locations). These storage locations may be used to place containers, bins, or goods directly, or even the original packaging of the goods. This application does not limit this; the following embodiments use the placement of containers as an example for illustrative purposes.

[0056] For example, the cargo space can be a rectangular prism-shaped storage space, and multiple cargo spaces on the carrier 10 can be neatly arranged along the length, width, and height of the carrier 10. The container can be a product specifically designed for the carrier 10, a regular cargo box (also called a container), or packaging for goods (also called a box), and this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0057] In some examples, the carrier 10 can be a shelf, a turnover cart, a cage cart, etc. For example, the carrier 10 can be a mobile shelf. The mobile shelf includes at least one partition that divides the carrier 10 into at least two layers. Each partition of the carrier 10 has at least one storage location, and each storage location can accommodate at least one container. The container placed in each storage location can be a box or a pallet; this application embodiment does not limit this. It should be noted that the carrier 10 includes, but is not limited to, partitioned shelves, container shelves, picking shelves, mobile shelves, etc. The carrier 10 provided in this application embodiment can refer to any carrier used for placing containers.

[0058] In some examples, vehicle 10 can be either a high-density storage rack or a low-density storage rack. When vehicle 10 is a high-density storage rack, the gaps between containers are smaller. For example, vehicle 10 can be parked in rack area 101, which can be either a high-density storage area or a low-density storage area. Rack area 101 can include multiple storage locations, which can be neatly arranged in rows and columns, and each storage location can be used to park one vehicle 10.

[0059] In some examples, the carrier 10 can be a single-sided carrier, a double-sided carrier, or a four-sided carrier (i.e., containers can be retrieved from four sides). This application embodiment does not limit this; however, it uses a double-sided carrier 10 as an example for illustrative purposes. For instance, when the carrier 10 is a double-sided shelf, partitions can be provided between multiple storage locations along the vertical direction; each side of the carrier 10 can have 30 storage locations, for a total of 60 storage locations on both sides. This application embodiment does not limit the type of carrier 10 or the number of storage locations it includes; this is merely an illustrative example.

[0060] For example, the number of workstations 30 in the warehousing system 100 can be one or more. Each workstation 30 can be provided with a corresponding vehicle docking area, which includes one or more docking positions for parking vehicles 10. The vehicle docking area can include a picking area 301 and a queuing area 302. Both the picking area 301 and the queuing area 302 are used to park vehicles 10. The picking area 301 is used to park vehicles that are being picked by the workstation 30, and the queuing area 302 is used to park at least one vehicle that has been picked by the workstation 30 but has not yet been picked. That is, the vehicle parked in the picking area 301 is being picked by the workstation 30, and the vehicle parked in the queuing area 302 is waiting for the workstation 30 to pick it.

[0061] For example, the handling equipment 20 may also be referred to as an automated handling equipment or a vehicle handling equipment, for handling the vehicle 10. For instance, the handling equipment 20 can move the vehicle 10 in the shelving area 101 to the corresponding vehicle docking area in the workstation 30.

[0062] In some examples, the handling equipment 20 can move the carrier 10 to the queuing area 302 corresponding to the workstation 30. Once the picking area 301 of the workstation 30 is free, the carrier 10 is moved from the queuing area 302 to the picking area 301, allowing the workstation 30 to perform a picking operation on the carrier 10. For example, the workstation 30 can remove a container from the carrier 10 docked in the picking area 301, or place a container on the location of the carrier 10. It should be noted that the handling equipment that moves the carrier 10 from the shelving area 101 to the queuing area 302 corresponding to the workstation 30 can be the same equipment or a different equipment that moves the carrier 10 from the queuing area 302 to the picking area 301.

[0063] In some examples, the handling device 20 can be a handling robot, such as an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV). For example, the handling robot can move under the carrier 10 and then lift the carrier 10 off the ground, thereby carrying the carrier 10 for movement.

[0064] For example, the storage system 100 also includes a seeding wall 40, which has a plurality of seeding positions 41, each of which can hold an order container 50. For example, the seeding wall 40 can be located on one side of the workstation 30, or the seeding wall 40 can be located in the distribution area of ​​the storage system 100, which can be a preset area in the warehouse for performing distribution operations.

[0065] In some examples, order container 50 is used to hold goods to be planted. For example, a picking object can pick up the goods to be planted from a container taken from carrier 10 according to order requirements and plant the goods to be planted into the order container 50 corresponding to the order.

[0066] For example, an output device 42 may be provided on the sowing position 41. The output device 42 may be a display screen, electronic tag, speaker, and projection device, etc. The output device 42 is used to display the sowing quantity of the goods to be sown on the corresponding sowing position 41. When sowing, the sowing personnel can sow the goods to be sown into the order container 50 on the sowing position 41 according to the sowing quantity displayed on the output device 42.

[0067] For example, multiple seeding positions 41 on the seeding wall 40 can be neatly arranged along the length, width, and height directions. Seeding is complete when all the goods to be seeded for the order container 50 at a seeding position 41 have been seeded.

[0068] In some examples, when the seeding wall 40 is located on one side of the workstation 30, the vehicle docking area of ​​the workstation 30 can be located on the other side of the workstation 30. This application embodiment does not limit the location of the vehicle docking area and the seeding wall.

[0069] For example, the control device can be coupled to the handling equipment 20 and the workstation 30 respectively, and is used to control the operation of the handling equipment 20 and the workstation 30. For example, the control device can control the handling equipment 40 to move and handle the carrier 10, or control the workstation 30 to perform sorting, picking and other operations on the carrier 10 parked on the picking area 301.

[0070] For example, the control device can be a server or a terminal device, or a device deployed with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) and a Robot Management System (RMS). The terminal device can include at least one of a personal computer, laptop computer, smartphone, tablet computer, and portable wearable device; the server can include a standalone server or a server cluster consisting of multiple servers, and this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0071] In some examples, the control device communicates with the handling equipment 20 and the workstation 30 for data communication. For example, the control device can communicate with the handling equipment 20 and the workstation 30 via a local area network (LAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), or other networks.

[0072] In some embodiments, the workstation 30 may be provided with multiple cache slots, each cache slot being used to place a cache container.

[0073] In some examples, multiple cache bits can be divided into different types of cache bits according to different functions. The proportion of different types of cache bits in the multiple cache bits can be different, and the proportion of each type of cache bit in the multiple cache bits can be set according to actual needs. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0074] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of a workstation provided for some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 1B As shown, workstation 30 includes a box retrieval device 31, a picking station, and a buffer area.

[0075] In some examples, a picking station is an area for performing container picking operations, where containers can be placed. For example, a container retrieval device 31 can remove a container from a carrier 10 docked in picking area 301 and place it at a picking station so that a picking person or picking device can pick out the goods that meet the order requirements from the container.

[0076] In some examples, the buffer area may be located above the picking station, and the buffer area includes multiple buffer positions 32. The retrieval device 31 can move containers from the picking station or carrier 10 to the buffer positions 32 in the buffer area to achieve container buffering. Alternatively, the retrieval device 31 can also move the buffered containers placed on the buffer positions 32 to an empty storage location on the carrier 10 to achieve container sorting.

[0077] In some examples, to cache more containers in the cache, such as Figure 1B As shown, the buffer positions 32 in the buffer area can be arranged sequentially at intervals along the height (i.e., up and down) direction, and / or sequentially at intervals within the same horizontal plane. It should be noted that the specific number of buffer positions 32 can be determined based on the space above the picking station; or, an appropriate number of buffer positions 32 and their arrangement can be selected according to actual needs, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0078] In some examples, the buffer of workstation 30 may also be located in other locations; for example, the buffer may be set up separately from workstation 30. This application embodiment does not limit the location of the buffer; in some examples, the buffer may also be a buffer rack located near workstation 30.

[0079] In some embodiments, the control device is configured to acquire pending orders and, based on the pending orders, determine a pending container among multiple buffer containers of a first workstation among multiple workstations; determine a target vehicle among multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the pending container; and, during the picking process of the first workstation on the target vehicle, control the first workstation to move the pending container from the target buffer location to the target vehicle; wherein the target buffer location is a buffer location among multiple buffer locations of the first workstation used to store the pending container.

[0080] The warehousing system provided in this application embodiment optimizes the workstation 30 by setting multiple buffer positions at the workstation to place multiple buffer containers, identifying containers that meet the sorting conditions from among the multiple buffer containers, and identifying the target carrier corresponding to the containers to be sorted from among the multiple carriers corresponding to the workstation. During the picking process of the target carrier at the workstation, by moving the containers to be sorted from the buffer positions to the target carrier, it is possible to sort the containers to be sorted while picking the target carrier, thereby improving the hit rate of the target carrier, reducing the number of times the target carrier is moved, and improving the picking efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0081] The order processing method provided in the embodiments of this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the order processing method provided in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by the warehousing system 100 in the above embodiments, such as by the control device in the warehousing system 100.

[0082] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the order processing method includes steps 210 to 230 as shown below.

[0083] Step 210: Obtain pending orders and, based on the pending orders, determine the containers to be sorted from the multiple cache containers of the first workstation in the warehousing system.

[0084] The first workstation is equipped with multiple cache slots, which are used to place cache containers. The first workstation can be any workstation in the warehousing system.

[0085] In some examples, pending orders can be multiple orders received by the control device within a certain time range. For instance, the control device can add the acquired pending orders to an order pool, and then assign each pending order in the order pool to different workstations for processing. Different pending orders can target containers on different vehicles, or they can target containers on the same vehicle.

[0086] For example, each cache slot in the first workstation may or may not contain a cache container (i.e., it may be an empty cache slot). When a cache container is placed in a cache slot, it can be determined whether each cache container meets the sorting conditions, and the cache containers that meet the sorting conditions are identified as containers to be sorted, and then the sorting operation is performed on the containers to be sorted.

[0087] In some examples, before step 210, it can be determined which containers to place in the cache slots, i.e., the containers to be cached that need to be placed in the cache slots. After placing the containers to be cached in the cache slots, step 210 can continue. It should be noted that when a container is placed in a cache slot, that container is itself a cached container. The following section will combine... Figures 3 to 5 The method for determining the cache container is explained.

[0088] Figure 3 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the order processing method may also include steps 310 to 320 as shown below, before steps 210-230 above.

[0089] Step 310: Obtain order information and, based on the order information, determine the container to be cached from among the multiple containers on the current face of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation.

[0090] In some examples, the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, and the second picking vehicle is any vehicle parked in the picking area of ​​the first workstation that is performing a picking operation, with the current face of the second picking vehicle being the face of the first workstation that is performing the picking operation.

[0091] For example, the cache container placed on the cache bit of the first workstation can be determined from the current face of the second picking vehicle performing the picking operation at the first workstation.

[0092] For example, the container to be cached can be a super A container, a container to be seeded, or a container that has been picked but whose carrier has been moved away from the workstation. The following section combines... Figure 4 and Figure 5 The specific methods for determining these three types of containers to be cached will be explained separately.

[0093] Figure 4 A schematic diagram illustrating yet another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 4 As shown, step 310 above includes steps 410 to 430 as shown below.

[0094] Step 410: Based on the order information, determine the multiple SKUs required for the order information.

[0095] In some examples, order information includes multiple pending orders and multiple historical orders. The multiple pending orders can be orders from an order pool, such as all orders in the order pool. The multiple historical orders can be completed orders from the warehousing system within a preset time period, or a preset number of completed orders; this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0096] For example, multiple SKUs can be determined based on multiple pending orders and multiple historical orders. Each order can correspond to at least one SKU. For instance, the multiple SKUs can be sorted in descending order of demand to obtain an SKU sequence. Since the higher the order demand for an SKU, the higher its popularity, sorting the multiple SKUs in descending order of demand yields an SKU sequence from high to low popularity.

[0097] Step 420: Based on the number of inventory containers used to place each SKU in the warehousing system, determine the target SKU among multiple SKUs, and determine the inventory container that holds the target SKU as the target container.

[0098] In some examples, the SKU sequence can be iterated through to determine the number of inventory containers holding each SKU in the sequence across all inventory containers in the warehousing system. Based on the number of inventory containers corresponding to each SKU, the target SKU can be determined. The container holding the target SKU can be designated as the target container. It should be noted that the target SKU can be referred to as a high-temperature SKU or a super-A SKU, and the container holding the target SKU can be called a high-temperature container or a super-A container.

[0099] In some embodiments, if the number of inventory containers holding the first SKU in the warehousing system is greater than or equal to a preset quantity threshold, then the first SKU is determined as the target SKU. The first SKU can be any one of multiple SKUs. The number of target SKUs can be one or more.

[0100] In some embodiments, the preset quantity threshold is related to the number of workstations included in the warehousing system. The preset quantity threshold can be the product of the number of multiple workstations in the warehousing system and a preset coefficient. For example, the target SKU can satisfy the following formula:

[0101] The number of SKU inventory containers ≥ the number of workstations * C Formula (1);

[0102] Wherein, C is a preset coefficient. For example, C can be a value greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1, such as C being 0.5. It should be noted that the preset coefficient C can also be a value greater than 1. The preset coefficient C can be set according to requirements, and this application embodiment does not limit this. When the quantity of the SKU's inventory containers satisfies formula (1), the SKU can be the target SKU.

[0103] For example, when multiple SKUs include a first SKU and a second SKU, the number of workstations in the warehousing system is 10, and the preset coefficient is 0.5, if the number of inventory containers for the first SKU is greater than or equal to 5, then the first SKU can be identified as the target SKU. If the number of inventory containers for the second SKU is less than 5, then the second SKU is not the target SKU.

[0104] In other examples, SKUs can be sorted from largest to smallest based on the number of inventory containers holding each SKU, and the SKUs at the top of the sort can be identified as target SKUs. This application does not limit the method for determining the target SKU; the target SKU can be a frequently used SKU in the warehousing system.

[0105] Step 430: If there is a target container for placing the target SKU on the current surface of the second picking carrier, and there is no cache container for placing the target SKU on multiple cache slots of the first workstation, then the target container is determined as the cache container.

[0106] In some examples, after determining the target container based on the target SKU, it can be determined whether each container on the current face of the second picking carrier includes the target container. If the target container exists on the current face of the second picking carrier, it is further determined whether there is a cache container storing the target SKU on the cache position of the first workstation (i.e., whether there is a target container on the cache position of the first workstation). If not, the target container on the current face of the second picking carrier can be identified as a container to be cached. If it exists, it means that a cache container storing the target SKU has already been placed on the cache position of the first workstation, so there is no need to move the target container storing the target SKU from the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation. Therefore, it can be determined that the target container on the second picking carrier is not a container to be cached.

[0107] For example, the target SKUs include SKU 1, SKU 2, and SKU 3, and the inventory containers holding SKU 1, SKU 2, and SKU 3 are all target containers. Taking a second picking carrier with a target container A1 containing SKU 1 and a target container B1 containing SKU 2 on its current surface, and a buffer container B2 containing SKU 2 already on the buffer position of the first workstation as an example: Since the buffer container B2 containing SKU 2 is already on the buffer position of the first workstation, there is no need to move the target container B1 containing SKU 2 from the second picking carrier to the buffer position of the first workstation. Since there is no buffer container containing SKU 1 on the buffer position of the first workstation, the target container A1 containing SKU 1 on the second picking carrier can be identified as the container to be buffered.

[0108] Understandably, since multiple cache slots on the first workstation store only one container for the same SKU (i.e., the cache containers placed on different cache slots store different SKUs), when a cache slot already contains a cache container for a specific target SKU, there is no need to cache the container containing that target SKU again, thereby improving the utilization of the cache slots.

[0109] It should be noted that when determining the container to be cached through the above steps 410 to 430, it can be determined after the second picking vehicle arrives at the vehicle docking area (such as the picking area or queuing area) of the first workstation, or it can be determined before the second picking vehicle arrives at the vehicle docking area of ​​the first workstation. This application embodiment does not limit the determination time of the container to be cached.

[0110] It should be noted that steps 410 to 430 are the first method of determining the container to be cached, and the cache container determined by steps 410 to 430 can be the super A container.

[0111] The order processing method provided in this application embodiment can pre-cache high-temperature containers (i.e., containers that may be frequently picked in the future) in the cache position of the workstation. When the first workstation subsequently picks the high-temperature container, there is no need for the handling equipment to move the container carrier to the first workstation again. Instead, the high-temperature container in the cache position can be picked directly, thereby reducing the number of times the carrier is moved and improving the picking efficiency.

[0112] Figure 5 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 5 As shown, step 310 above includes steps 510 to 520 as shown below.

[0113] Step 510: Based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information, determine the hit container on the current face of the second picking carrier.

[0114] In some examples, based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation, multiple containers that the second order hits are identified on the second picking vehicle, i.e., the hit containers.

[0115] Step 520: If there is no available seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation when the second picking vehicle arrives at the picking area of ​​the first workstation, then the hit container is identified as a container to be cached.

[0116] For example, the first workstation can retrieve the hit container from the current face of the second picking carrier and pick the goods to be planted from the hit container. Then, the planting object plants the goods to be planted into the order container corresponding to the second order on the actual planting wall.

[0117] In some examples, when the second picking vehicle arrives at the picking area of ​​the first workstation, there may not be any available picking positions on the actual picking wall corresponding to the first workstation. That is, there are no available picking positions on the actual picking wall to place the order container corresponding to the second order, thus making it impossible to pick the goods to be picked from the hit container. In this case, the hit container can be identified as a container to be cached and cached in a cache position, without picking it temporarily.

[0118] It should be noted that steps 510 to 520 are the second method for determining the container to be cached. The container to be cached determined by steps 510 to 520 can be the container to be seeded.

[0119] Step 320: Control the first workstation to move the container to be cached from the front of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation.

[0120] In some examples, after the container to be cached has been determined through the two methods described above (the first method in steps 410 to 430 and the second method in steps 510 to 520), the control device can generate a transport instruction. This transport instruction instructs the first workstation, such as its pick-up device, to transport the container to be cached from the current face of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation, thereby achieving the caching of the container to be cached.

[0121] The order processing method provided in this application embodiment can cache containers that cannot be sown temporarily at the first workstation to a cache position. When there is an empty sowing position on the actual sowing wall of the first workstation, the first workstation can select and sow the containers placed in the cache position, thereby avoiding the carrier of the container waiting at the workstation and improving the selection efficiency and sowing efficiency.

[0122] In some embodiments, prior to step 210, the order processing method may further include: determining a container to be picked on the current surface of a third picking carrier based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information; and, during the picking process of the container to be picked by the first workstation, if the third picking carrier is moved away from the picking area of ​​the first workstation, then after the first workstation completes picking the container to be picked, controlling the first workstation to move the container to be picked to the buffer position of the first workstation.

[0123] The third picking carrier is any carrier parked in the picking area of ​​the first workstation that is currently performing a picking operation. The front of the third picking carrier is the side of the first workstation where the picking operation is being performed. It should be noted that the third picking carrier may be the same as or different from the second picking carrier.

[0124] In some examples, after a container for picking corresponding to a second order is identified on the current face of the third picking carrier, if the third picking carrier is picked by another workstation besides the first workstation during the picking process of the container at the first workstation, the handling equipment may move the third picking carrier away from the first workstation. This would prevent the first workstation from returning the container to the current face of the third picking carrier after completing the picking process. In this case, the picked container can be identified as a buffer container, and the first workstation can be controlled to place the picked container in the buffer position. This is a third method for identifying buffer containers, which can be containers that have been picked but whose carriers have been moved away from the workstation.

[0125] The order processing method provided in this application embodiment can place the picked container in the buffer position, so that if the container is picked by another workstation during the picking process, the container can be preferentially moved to another workstation to perform the picking operation, thereby improving the picking efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0126] It should be noted that when a container to be cached is moved to a cache position, that container can be referred to as a cache container. Therefore, the cache containers placed on the cache position of the first workstation can include super A containers, containers to be seeded, and containers that have been picked but whose carriers have been moved away from the workstation. It should also be noted that the cache containers placed on the cache position can be other containers, and this embodiment of the application does not limit this.

[0127] In some examples, after placing multiple cache containers on the cache slots, step 210 can be used to determine the pending container. For example, a cache container that has been hit by other workstations can be determined as a pending container, or a cache container that has not been hit for a long time can be determined as a pending container. The specific methods for determining the pending container from multiple cache containers are illustrated below.

[0128] In some embodiments, step 210 may include: if the order to be processed includes a first order corresponding to a second workstation in the warehousing system, and the first order hits at least one cache container among a plurality of cache containers of the first workstation, then at least one cache container is determined as a container to be processed.

[0129] The second workstation is a different workstation from the first workstation among multiple workstations in the warehousing system. For example, the number of second workstations can be one or more, and this embodiment does not limit this.

[0130] In some examples, multiple pending orders in the order pool may include a first order corresponding to a second workstation. The number of first orders can be one or more. When a first order hits at least one cache container of a second workstation, at least one cache container can be identified as a container to be loaded. That is, when a cache container on a cache slot is hit by another workstation (such as the second workstation), that cache container can be loaded onto the target vehicle.

[0131] It should be noted that the cache container hit by the second workstation can be referred to as the first pending container.

[0132] In some embodiments, step 210 may further include: if at least one of the multiple cache containers is not hit by the first order corresponding to the second workstation within a preset time period, and / or at least one cache container will not be hit by the second order corresponding to the first workstation within an estimated time period in the future, then at least one cache container is determined as a container to be sorted.

[0133] In some examples, the orders to be processed include a second order corresponding to a first workstation and a first order corresponding to a second workstation. The second workstation is any workstation in the warehousing system that is different from the first workstation.

[0134] For example, if at least one cache container on the cache position is not hit by any workstation other than the first workstation (i.e., the second workstation) within a preset time period, it indicates that the cache container has low heat. Therefore, the at least one cache container can be identified as a container to be sorted, thereby moving it out of the cache position and freeing up the cache position to place other containers with higher heat (such as Super A containers).

[0135] For example, it can be predicted whether at least one cache container on the cache position will be hit by the second order corresponding to the first workstation within an estimated time period in the future. If it will not be hit, the at least one cache container can be moved out of the cache position, that is, the at least one cache container can be sorted to free up the cache position for storing other cache containers.

[0136] It should be noted that cache containers that are not hit by the first workstation and / or the second workstation within a preset time period can be referred to as second pending containers.

[0137] Step 220: Based on the containers to be sorted, determine the target vehicle from among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0138] After identifying the container to be loaded, it is necessary to further determine which vehicle to load the container onto, i.e., to identify the target vehicle.

[0139] In some examples, the first workstation is equipped with a picking area and a queuing area, and multiple vehicles include picking vehicles parked in the picking area that are picking, and at least one vehicle waiting to be picked parked in the queuing area. It should be noted that the queuing area may also be empty of vehicles waiting to be picked, and this embodiment of the application does not limit this. The following embodiments are illustrated by example with at least one vehicle waiting to be picked parked in the queuing area.

[0140] Since pending cargo containers can be cached containers that have been hit by other workstations (such as the first pending cargo container) or cached containers that have not been hit for a long time (such as the second pending cargo container), the methods for determining the target vehicle corresponding to different types of pending cargo containers can be different. The following section combines... Figures 6 to 9 The method for determining the target vehicle corresponding to the first cargo container to be sorted is explained.

[0141] Figure 6 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 6 As shown, step 220 above includes steps 610 to 630 as shown below.

[0142] Step 610: Based on the multiple workstations in the warehousing system, determine the first set of workstations that hit the container to be picked, and the second set of workstations that hit the current face of the first picking vehicle.

[0143] The first picking vehicle is the vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation.

[0144] In some examples, the first picking carrier includes two faces, such as a first face and a second face, each of which can hold multiple containers. The first workstation can hit one face or both faces of the first picking carrier. When the first workstation hits the first face of the first picking carrier, the handling equipment can face the first face towards the first workstation when moving the first picking carrier to the first workstation. When the first workstation hits both faces of the first picking carrier, the handling equipment can face either face of the first picking carrier to the workstation, and after picking is completed on one face, perform a face-turning operation on the first picking carrier, and then move the first picking carrier to the workstation with the other face of the first picking carrier facing the first workstation.

[0145] In some examples, the workstation that hits the container awaiting loading can be at least one workstation in the warehousing system other than the first workstation. Each workstation that hits the container awaiting loading can be added to the first workstation set; that is, the first workstation set includes at least one workstation that hits the container awaiting loading. In other words, the first workstation set can include a second workstation.

[0146] In some examples, the current face of the first picking vehicle can also be hit by other workstations besides the first workstation. Workstations that hit the current face of the first picking vehicle can be added to a second set of workstations; that is, the second set of workstations includes workstations that hit the current face of the first picking vehicle. Hitting the current face of the first picking vehicle means that the order corresponding to that workstation hits at least one container on the current face of the first picking vehicle.

[0147] For example, the second set of workstations may be empty or not. When the second set of workstations is empty, it means that there is no workstation in the warehousing system other than the first workstation that hits the container on the current face of the first picking vehicle.

[0148] Step 620: Determine the overlap between the container to be sorted and the first workstation on the current face of the first picking carrier based on the first workstation set and the second workstation set.

[0149] In some examples, after determining the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations, the overlap degree between the pending container and the first workstation on the current face of the first picking carrier can be further determined. The first workstation overlap degree indicates the degree of overlap between the workstation hitting the pending container and the workstation hitting the current face of the first picking carrier.

[0150] In some embodiments, step 620 may include: determining the intersection of the workstations corresponding to the first workstation set and the second workstation set based on the first workstation set and the second workstation set; and determining the overlap degree between the container to be sorted and the first workstation on the current face of the first picking carrier based on the number of workstations in the workstation intersection.

[0151] For example, the intersection of the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations is obtained, and the overlap degree of the first workstations is determined based on the number of workstations in the workstation intersection. The overlap degree of the first workstations can be 0 or an integer greater than 0.

[0152] In some examples, the overlap of the first workstation set and the second workstation set can be 0 when the intersection of the workstations is empty. An empty intersection can include an empty second workstation set, or both the first and second workstation sets being non-empty but having no overlapping workstations.

[0153] In some examples, the overlap of the first workstation set is equal to the number of workstations in the intersection of the first and second workstation sets when the intersection is not empty. For example, if the number of workstations in the intersection is 1, then the overlap of the first workstation set is 1.

[0154] Step 630: Based on the overlap of the first workstation, determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0155] In some examples, after determining the overlap of the first workstation, the target vehicle can be determined based on the overlap of the first workstation. The target vehicle can be the first picking vehicle, or any of at least one vehicle to be picked. The following section combines... Figure 7 The process of determining the target vehicle will be further explained.

[0156] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 7 As shown, step 630 above includes steps 710 to 740 as shown below.

[0157] Step 710: If the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

[0158] In some examples, the overlap threshold can be preset as needed. For example, the overlap threshold can be set to 1, meaning that when the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to 1, the first picking vehicle can be identified as the target vehicle. It should be noted that the overlap threshold can also be set to other values ​​greater than 1, and this application embodiment does not limit this. This application embodiment uses an overlap threshold of 1 as an example for illustration.

[0159] In some examples, the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, indicating that the workstation that hits the pending container overlaps with the workstation that hits the first picking carrier. In this case, the pending container can be moved to the front of the first picking carrier so that the pending container can be moved with the first picking carrier to the next workstation for picking, thereby improving picking efficiency and handling efficiency.

[0160] Step 720: If the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold, then determine the set of the third workstations that are currently in front of each vehicle to be picked in the queuing area.

[0161] In some examples, if the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold, it indicates that the workstation hitting the container to be picked does not overlap with the workstation hitting the first picking vehicle. In this case, the target vehicle can continue to be determined among at least one picking vehicle in the queuing area. Therefore, it is necessary to further determine the current set of third workstations for each picking vehicle hitting the queuing area, thus obtaining at least one set of third workstations.

[0162] Step 730: Based on the first workstation set and the third workstation set, determine the overlap between the container to be sorted and the second workstation on the current face of each picking vehicle.

[0163] In some examples, the method for determining the overlap between the container to be picked and the second workstation on the current face of each picking vehicle, based on the first workstation set and at least one third workstation set, is similar to the method for determining the overlap between the first workstation and the second workstation, and will not be repeated here.

[0164] In some examples, in the set of third workstations corresponding to each vehicle to be picked, some sets of third workstations may be empty, all sets of third workstations may be empty, or all sets of third workstations may not be empty. This application does not limit this.

[0165] Step 740: Based on the overlap of the second workstation, determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0166] In some examples, when determining the target vehicle based on the overlap of the second workstations, it is necessary to further determine the relationship between the overlap of each second workstation and the overlap threshold. Therefore, it is possible to directly determine the target vehicle from at least one vehicle to be picked based on the overlap of the second workstations, or it may not be possible to determine it directly (e.g., the overlap of all second workstations is less than the overlap threshold), and it is necessary to further determine the target vehicle from the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the set of workstations that hit the other side of each vehicle.

[0167] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 8 As shown, step 740 above includes steps 810 to 840 as shown below.

[0168] Step 810: If, in the overlap of at least one vehicle to be picked in the queuing area, there is a vehicle to be picked with an overlap greater than or equal to the overlap threshold in the second workstation, then the vehicle to be picked with the largest overlap in the second workstation is determined as the target vehicle.

[0169] In some examples, if there is a pickup vehicle with a overlap degree greater than or equal to an overlap degree threshold in the second workstation overlap of at least one pickup vehicle in the queuing area, then the target vehicle can be determined among at least one pickup vehicle. For example, the pickup vehicle with the largest overlap degree in the second workstation among the at least one overlapping workstations can be determined as the target vehicle, and an empty storage location on the current face of the pickup vehicle with the largest overlap degree in the second workstation can be used as the target storage location for the pending container.

[0170] For example, the queuing area of ​​the first workstation includes four vehicles to be picked, such as the first vehicle to the fourth vehicle. The overlap between the current face of the first vehicle and the container to be picked in the second workstation is 0; the overlap is 1; the overlap is 2; and the overlap is 2. Therefore, either the third or fourth vehicle can be identified as the target vehicle.

[0171] In some examples, if there are multiple vehicles with the highest overlap at the second workstation, the vehicle picked earlier can be identified as the target vehicle based on the order in which these vehicles are picked in the queuing area. For example, if the third vehicle is ahead of the fourth vehicle in the queuing area, meaning it can be picked earlier by the first workstation, the third vehicle can be identified as the target vehicle. Alternatively, the target vehicle can be randomly selected from the third and fourth vehicles; this embodiment does not limit this selection.

[0172] Step 820: If the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked is less than the overlap threshold, then determine the set of fourth workstations that hit the other side of each of the multiple vehicles.

[0173] In some examples, if the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked is less than the overlap threshold, that is, the overlap of the current face of all vehicles to be picked in the queuing area with the container to be sorted is 0, then the set of fourth workstations on the other side of each of the multiple vehicles that hit the first workstation can be determined. For example, the other side of each vehicle (such as the second side) is the side opposite to the current face (such as the first side), that is, the side away from the first workstation.

[0174] Step 830: Based on the first workstation set and the fourth workstation set, determine the overlap between the cargo container to be sorted and the third workstation on the other side of each carrier.

[0175] It should be noted that the process of determining the overlap of the third workstation is similar to that of determining the overlap of the first workstation, and will not be repeated here to avoid repetition.

[0176] In some examples, the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of the first picking carrier can be determined first, and then the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of at least one picking carrier can be calculated.

[0177] Step 840: Based on the overlap of the third workstation, determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0178] In some examples, multiple vehicles may include the first picking vehicle in the picking area, or at least one vehicle to be picked in the queuing area.

[0179] Figure 9 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 9 As shown, step 840 above includes steps 910 to 930 as shown below.

[0180] Step 910: If among the overlap degrees of the third workstations corresponding to multiple vehicles, there is a vehicle with an overlap degree greater than or equal to the overlap degree threshold, then the vehicle with the largest overlap degree of the third workstation is determined as the target vehicle.

[0181] In some examples, among multiple vehicles, the target vehicle can be determined as long as there is a vehicle with a third workstation overlap greater than or equal to the overlap threshold. For example, the vehicle with the largest third workstation overlap can be determined as the target vehicle, and an empty storage location on the other side of the vehicle with the largest third workstation overlap can be used as the target storage location for the container to be processed.

[0182] In other examples, the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of the first picking carrier can be determined first. If the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of the first picking carrier is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, the first picking carrier is directly identified as the target carrier. After the first picking carrier completes its turn at a preset turn point, the pending container is then moved onto the first picking carrier. If the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of the first picking carrier is less than the overlap threshold, the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of at least one picking carrier is calculated. If the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of at least one picking carrier is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, the carrier with the largest overlap of the corresponding third workstation among the at least one picking carrier is identified as the target carrier. If the overlap between the pending container and the third workstation on the other side of at least one picking carrier is less than the overlap threshold, the target carrier is further determined based on the correlation between the pending container and each container on each of the multiple carriers.

[0183] Step 920: If the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to multiple vehicles is less than the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

[0184] In some examples, if the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to multiple carriers is less than the overlap threshold, it indicates that there are no overlapping workstations between the multiple carriers corresponding to the first workstation and the containers awaiting processing. In this case, the first picking carrier currently being picked can be identified as the target carrier, so that the containers awaiting processing can be moved out of the first workstation as soon as possible. For example, an empty storage location on the current face of the first picking carrier can be used as the target storage location for the containers awaiting processing.

[0185] The order processing method provided in this application, when a pending container (such as a first pending container) is selected by another workstation, can determine the target carrier corresponding to the pending container by the workstation overlap between the pending container and the carriers corresponding to the first workstation. This allows carriers with a high workstation overlap with the pending container to be identified as the target carrier. Therefore, after the pending container is loaded onto the target carrier, it can be simultaneously transported to other workstations for picking, reducing the number of handling operations and improving both handling and picking efficiency.

[0186] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application. The following is in conjunction with... Figure 10 The method for determining the target vehicle corresponding to the second pending cargo container (i.e., the cache container that has not been hit for a long time) is explained. For example... Figure 10 As shown, step 220 above also includes steps 1010 to 1020.

[0187] Step 1010: Determine the correlation between the containers to be sorted and the containers on each of the multiple carriers corresponding to the first workstation.

[0188] Since the second cargo container was not selected by the workstation, the target vehicle corresponding to the second cargo container can be determined by the correlation between the second cargo container and the containers on the vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

[0189] In some embodiments, step 1010 may include: obtaining historical orders and determining the correlation between each minimum inventory unit (SKU) in the warehousing system based on the historical orders; and determining the correlation between the container to be sorted and each container on each carrier based on the correlation between each SKU.

[0190] In some examples, the control device can determine the correlation between SKUs based on the SKUs required by each historical order from multiple historical orders. For example, the control device can determine the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order based on historical orders; and determine the correlation between any two SKUs based on the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order.

[0191] In some examples, the same historical order may hit multiple SKUs. Among the SKUs hit by multiple historical orders, the higher the probability that any two SKUs are hit at the same time in the same historical order, the higher the correlation between the two SKUs.

[0192] For example, multiple historical orders include historical order 1 to historical order 5. Historical order 1 contains 3 SKUs, such as SKU 1, SKU 2 and SKU 3; historical order 2 contains 2 SKUs, such as SKU 1 and SKU 2; historical order 3 contains 3 SKUs, such as SKU 1, SKU 3 and SKU 4; historical order 4 contains 4 SKUs, such as SKU 1, SKU 2, SKU 3 and SKU 4; and historical order 5 contains 3 SKUs, such as SKU 1, SKU 2 and SKU 5. Of the five historical orders mentioned above, SKU 1 and SKU 2 were simultaneously matched by four historical orders (e.g., historical order 1, historical order 2, historical order 4, and historical order 5), meaning the probability of SKU 1 and SKU 2 being matched simultaneously is 0.8 (4 / 5 = 0.8); SKU 1 and SKU 3 were simultaneously matched by three historical orders, meaning the probability of SKU 1 and SKU 3 being matched simultaneously is 0.6; SKU 1 and SKU 4 were simultaneously matched by two historical orders, meaning the probability of SKU 1 and SKU 4 being matched simultaneously is 0.4; and SKU 1 and SKU 5 were not simultaneously matched by any historical order, meaning the probability of SKU 1 and SKU 5 being matched simultaneously is 0. Similarly, SKU 2 and SKU 3 are simultaneously matched by two historical orders, meaning the probability of SKU 2 and SKU 3 being matched simultaneously is 0.4; SKU 2 and SKU 4 are simultaneously matched by one order, meaning the probability of SKU 2 and SKU 4 being matched simultaneously is 0.2; SKU 3 and SKU 4 are simultaneously matched by two historical orders, meaning the probability of SKU 3 and SKU 4 being matched simultaneously is 0.4; SKU 3 and SKU 5, as well as SKU 4 and SKU 5, are not simultaneously matched by the same historical order, meaning the probability of SKU 3 and SKU 5, as well as SKU 4 and SKU 5 being matched simultaneously is 0. Therefore, the probability of SKU 1 and SKU 2 being simultaneously hit by the same historical order (e.g., 0.8) is the highest, meaning that the correlation between SKU 1 and SKU 2 is the greatest.

[0193] For example, the correlation between the containers holding any two SKUs can be determined based on the correlation between them. For instance, the correlation between the containers holding the SKUs is directly proportional to the correlation between the SKUs; the greater the correlation between the SKUs, the greater the correlation between the containers holding those SKUs.

[0194] It should be noted that each SKU determined through historical orders can include the SKUs in the container awaiting loading and the SKUs in each container on each carrier corresponding to the first workstation. Therefore, the correlation between the container awaiting loading and each container on each carrier corresponding to the first workstation can be determined based on the correlation between each SKU in the warehousing system.

[0195] Step 1020: Based on the correlation between the container to be loaded and the containers on each vehicle, determine the target vehicle among multiple vehicles.

[0196] In some embodiments, step 1020 may include: if the correlation between the container to be loaded and at least one container on at least one of the multiple vehicles is greater than or equal to a correlation threshold, then in the at least one vehicle, the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation is determined as the target vehicle.

[0197] For example, the correlation between the pending container and the containers currently on the first picking carrier in the picking area can be determined first. If there is at least one container on the current surface of the first picking carrier whose correlation with the pending container is greater than or equal to a correlation threshold, then the first picking carrier is directly identified as the target carrier. For example, the currently available storage location of the first picking carrier can be identified as the target storage location for the pending container.

[0198] In some examples, if the correlation between the containers currently on the first picking carrier and the pending containers is all less than a correlation threshold, then the correlation between the pending containers and the containers currently on the queuing area of ​​at least one picking carrier is determined. If there is a container on the current face of at least one picking carrier whose correlation with the pending containers is greater than or equal to the correlation threshold, then the picking carrier containing the container with the highest correlation can be determined as the target carrier. For example, the currently available storage location of the picking carrier containing the container with the highest correlation can be determined as the target storage location of the pending containers.

[0199] In some examples, if there are no containers on the current face of at least one picking vehicle that have a correlation with the pending container greater than or equal to a correlation threshold, the correlation between each container on the other face of each vehicle (including the first picking vehicle and at least one picking vehicle) and the pending container is further determined. If there are containers on the other face of each vehicle that have a correlation greater than or equal to the correlation threshold, the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation is determined as the target vehicle. For example, an empty storage location on the other face of the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation can be determined as the target storage location for the pending container.

[0200] In some examples, if there are still no containers on the other side of each vehicle with a correlation greater than or equal to the correlation threshold, the first picking vehicle can be identified as the target vehicle, and an empty location on the current side of the first picking vehicle can be identified as the target location for the container to be picked.

[0201] The order processing method provided in this application, when a container awaiting processing (such as a second container awaiting processing) is not picked by the first workstation or any other workstation (such as the second workstation), can determine the target carrier corresponding to the container awaiting processing based on the correlation between the container awaiting processing and the containers on the carriers corresponding to the first workstation. This allows the container to be processed onto the carrier containing containers with a high correlation to it, as much as possible. Because the correlation between the container awaiting processing and the target carrier is high, the probability of it being picked by the same workstation in the future is greater, thereby improving handling and picking efficiency.

[0202] Step 230: During the picking process of the target vehicle at the first workstation, control the first workstation to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle.

[0203] The target cache bit is the cache bit among the multiple cache bits of the first workstation used to store (or place) containers to be sorted.

[0204] In some examples, if the target location of the identified pending container is located on the current side of the target vehicle, then during the picking process of the first workstation on the current side of the target vehicle, the first workstation is controlled to move the pending container from the target buffer location to the current side of the target vehicle. If the target location of the identified pending container is located on the other side of the target vehicle, then during the picking process of the first workstation on the other side of the target vehicle, the first workstation is controlled to move the pending container from the target buffer location to the other side of the target vehicle.

[0205] It should be noted that before the first workstation picks the other side of the target carrier, the handling equipment can move the target carrier to a preset turning point for turning, and after turning the other side of the target carrier to the first workstation, the target carrier is moved to the picking area so that the first workstation can pick the other side of the target carrier and place the goods to be sorted onto the other side of the target carrier.

[0206] In some embodiments, if there is an available storage location on the current side of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the first workstation on the current side of the target vehicle, the first workstation is controlled to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer location of the first workstation to the available storage location on the current side of the target vehicle.

[0207] For example, if there is an available storage space on the current surface of the target vehicle, the container to be processed can be directly moved to that available storage space.

[0208] In some examples, if there are multiple available storage locations on the current surface of the target vehicle, any one of the multiple available storage locations can be designated as the target storage location for the container to be processed, and the container to be processed can be moved to that target storage location.

[0209] In other examples, the target storage location for the container to be processed can be determined from multiple available storage locations based on the center of gravity of the target vehicle and a preset center of gravity area. This target storage location ensures that after the container is placed there, the center of gravity of the target vehicle will not deviate from the preset center of gravity area, thereby improving the stability of the target vehicle.

[0210] In other examples, the target location for a pending container can be determined from among multiple available locations based on the correlation between the pending container and the containers on the current face of the target vehicle. For instance, the target location could be the location closest to the container with the highest correlation to the pending container among multiple available locations, thereby improving subsequent picking efficiency.

[0211] It should be noted that other methods may also be used to determine the target location of the containers to be sorted, and this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0212] In some embodiments, if there is no available storage location on the current face of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the current face of the target vehicle by the first workstation, the first workstation is controlled to exchange the exchange container on the current face of the target vehicle with the pending container on the target buffer position, so as to place the pending container in the original storage location of the exchange container.

[0213] In some examples, if there is no available storage location on the current face of the target vehicle, during the picking process on the current face of the target vehicle at the first workstation, after removing an exchange container from the target vehicle, the pending container on the target buffer location is placed in the original storage location of the exchange container, and then the exchange container is placed in the target buffer location.

[0214] In some examples, the exchange container can be a container that the first workstation hits on the current surface of the target vehicle, or the exchange container can be a container that the first workstation may hit in the future; or the exchange container can be a container with high heat on the current surface of the target vehicle; or the exchange container can be a container that has not been hit by other workstations, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0215] The order processing method provided in this application provides an example of setting up multiple cache slots at a workstation to hold multiple cache containers, identifying containers that meet the sorting conditions from among the multiple cache containers, and identifying the target carrier corresponding to the containers to be sorted from among the multiple carriers corresponding to the workstation. During the picking process of the target carrier at the workstation, the containers to be sorted are moved from the cache slots to the target carrier, thereby realizing the sorting operation of the containers to be sorted while picking the target carrier, which can improve the hit rate of the target carrier, reduce the number of times the target carrier is moved, and improve the picking efficiency of the warehousing system.

[0216] In some embodiments, after step 430 above, that is, after placing the container to be cached (such as the super A container) on the cache position, the method further includes: if the first workstation hits the super A container, the first workstation can take the super A container out of the cache position and pick the super A container.

[0217] In some examples, after picking the super A container, the picked super A container can be put back into the cache slot. If the super A container is empty after being picked, it can be released, meaning there is no need to put the super A container back into the cache slot, thus freeing up the cache slot to place other containers.

[0218] In some embodiments, after step 520 above, i.e., after placing the container to be cached (such as the container to be sown) in the cache position, the method further includes: associating the second order with the virtual sowing position on the virtual sowing wall corresponding to the first workstation; if there is an idle sowing position on the real sowing wall corresponding to the first workstation, generating a picking instruction based on the second order associated with the virtual sowing position.

[0219] Among them, the picking and sowing instruction is used to instruct the first workstation to pick the goods to be sown for the second order from the buffer container, and to instruct the sowing object to sow the goods to be sown into the order container of the empty sowing position on the real sowing wall.

[0220] In some examples, if there are no available seeding slots on the actual seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation, the container hit by the second order corresponding to the first workstation (i.e., the hit container) can be moved to the cache slot. After the hit container is moved to the cache slot, if there are available seeding slots on the actual seeding wall, the goods to be seeded in the hit container can be seeded.

[0221] For example, a virtual seeding wall can be added to the workstation. However, the virtual seeding wall cannot be used for seeding like a real seeding wall; that is, when an order is uploaded to the virtual seeding wall, it cannot be directly seeded.

[0222] In some examples, the second order corresponding to the first workstation can be associated with a virtual seeding position on the virtual seeding wall of the first workstation, and the second order can be treated as a pre-assigned order. The container that the pre-assigned order hits is cached in the cache. When there is an idle seeding position on the real seeding wall, the pre-assigned orders on the virtual seeding position can be retrieved first, that is, the pre-assigned orders can be seeded first.

[0223] For example, after the hit container is cached in the cache position, if there is an empty seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation, the first workstation (such as the box retrieval device) is controlled to perform a picking operation on the hit container of the second order placed in the cache position, and the goods to be seeded in the hit container are taken out; then the seeding object is controlled to seed the goods to be seeded into the order container of the empty seeding position.

[0224] In some examples, the seeding target can be a seeding worker or a seeding device. The seeding device can be the box-retrieving device of the first workstation or a robotic arm other than the box-retrieving device; this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0225] It should be noted that after the seeding container has finished seeding, it can be returned to the buffer position to continue as a sorting container for subsequent sorting operations.

[0226] The order processing method provided in this application embodiment can improve sowing efficiency by caching the containers to be sown to a cache position. When there is an empty sowing position on the actual sowing wall, the goods in the containers to be sown in the cache position are sown first.

[0227] Figure 11 A schematic diagram illustrating another order processing method provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 11 As shown, the order processing method includes steps 1101 to 1114 as shown below.

[0228] Step 1101: Move the super A container and / or the hit container of the first workstation to the cache location of the first workstation.

[0229] The hit containers of the first workstation include: the container to be sown corresponding to the first workstation when the actual sowing wall is full, and the picking container being picked when the picking vehicle is moved away from the first workstation.

[0230] Step 1102: Identify the container to be processed among the multiple cache containers of the first workstation.

[0231] If the container to be processed is a container that has been selected by another workstation (i.e., the first container to be processed in the above embodiment), then proceed to step 1103; if the container to be processed is a container that has not been selected by a workstation (i.e., the second container to be processed in the above embodiment), then proceed to step 1112.

[0232] Step 1103: Based on the first set of workstations that hit the pending container and the second set of workstations that hit the current face of the first picking vehicle, determine the overlap between the pending container and the first workstation on the current face of the first picking vehicle.

[0233] Step 1104: Determine whether the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold.

[0234] If the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then proceed to step 1105; if the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold, then proceed to step 1106.

[0235] Step 1105: Move the container to be picked to the front of the first picking carrier.

[0236] Step 1106: Based on the first set of workstations and the third set of workstations in front of each picking vehicle located in the queuing area, determine the overlap between the picking container and the second workstation in front of each picking vehicle.

[0237] Step 1107: Determine whether there is a second workstation that overlaps with the overlap threshold.

[0238] If it exists, proceed to step 1108; if it does not exist, proceed to step 1109.

[0239] Step 1108: Move the container to be picked to the front of the picking carrier with the largest overlap in the second workstation.

[0240] Step 1109: Based on the first set of workstations and the fourth set of workstations that hit the other side of each of the multiple vehicles, determine the overlap between the cargo container to be processed and the third workstation on the other side of each vehicle.

[0241] Step 1110: Determine whether there is a third workstation overlap degree greater than or equal to the overlap degree threshold.

[0242] If it exists, continue to step 1111; if it does not exist, continue to step 1105.

[0243] Step 1111: Move the container to be sorted to the other side of the vehicle with the greatest overlap at the third workstation.

[0244] Step 1112: Determine the correlation between the containers awaiting loading and the containers on each carrier.

[0245] Step 1113: Determine whether there are containers with a correlation greater than or equal to the correlation threshold.

[0246] If it exists, proceed to step 1114; if it does not exist, proceed to step 1105.

[0247] Step 1114: Move the containers to be sorted to the vehicle containing the container with the highest relevance.

[0248] It should be noted that steps 1101 to 1114 have been described in detail in the above embodiments, and the beneficial effects produced are similar to those of the order processing method in the above embodiments. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0249] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of an order processing apparatus provided in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 12 As shown, the order processing device 1200 includes an acquisition module 1210, a container determination module 11220, a vehicle determination module 1230, and a control module 1240.

[0250] in:

[0251] The acquisition module 1210 is configured to acquire orders to be processed.

[0252] The container determination module 1220 is configured to determine the container to be processed from multiple cache containers of the first workstation in the warehousing system based on the order to be processed; wherein the first workstation is provided with multiple cache slots for placing cache containers.

[0253] The vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine a target vehicle from among multiple vehicles corresponding to a first workstation based on the container to be sorted; wherein the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, and the multiple vehicles include a picking vehicle parked in the picking area and at least one vehicle to be picked parked in the queuing area.

[0254] The control module 1240 is configured to control the first workstation to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle during the picking process of the target vehicle at the first workstation; wherein the target buffer position is the buffer position used to store the container to be sorted among the multiple buffer positions of the first workstation.

[0255] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is configured to determine at least one cache container as a container to be processed if the order to be processed includes a first order corresponding to a second workstation in the warehousing system, and the first order hits at least one cache container among a plurality of cache containers of the first workstation; wherein the second workstation is different from the first workstation.

[0256] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine, based on multiple workstations in the warehousing system, a first set of workstations that will hit the container to be picked, and a second set of workstations that will hit the current face of the first picking vehicle; wherein the first picking vehicle is a vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; determine the overlap degree between the container to be picked and the first workstation facing the first picking vehicle based on the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations; and determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap degree of the first workstation.

[0257] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine the intersection of the workstations corresponding to the first workstation set and the second workstation set based on the first workstation set and the second workstation set; and to determine the overlap degree between the container to be sorted and the first workstation on the current face of the first picking vehicle based on the number of workstations in the workstation intersection.

[0258] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to: determine the first picking vehicle as the target vehicle if the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold; determine the set of third workstations in front of each vehicle to be picked located in the queuing area if the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold; determine the overlap of the container to be picked with the second workstation in front of each vehicle to be picked based on the first workstation set and the third workstation set; and determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the second workstation.

[0259] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to: if, in the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked in the queuing area, there is a vehicle to be picked with an overlap greater than or equal to an overlap threshold, then determine the vehicle to be picked with the largest overlap of the second workstations as the target vehicle; if the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one vehicle to be picked is less than the overlap threshold, then determine a fourth set of workstations that hit the other side of each of the multiple vehicles; determine the overlap of the third workstations between the container to be sorted and the other side of each vehicle based on the first set of workstations and the fourth set of workstations; and determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstations based on the overlap of the third workstations.

[0260] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine the vehicle with the largest overlap of the third workstations as the target vehicle if there is a vehicle with an overlap of greater than or equal to the overlap threshold among the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to multiple vehicles.

[0261] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is further configured to determine the first picking vehicle as the target vehicle if the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to the multiple vehicles is less than the overlap threshold.

[0262] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is configured to determine at least one cache container as a container to be processed if at least one cache container among a plurality of cache containers is not hit by the first order corresponding to the second workstation within a preset time period, and / or at least one cache container will not be hit by the second order corresponding to the first workstation within an estimated time period in the future; wherein, the order to be processed includes the first order and the second order, and the second workstation is any workstation in the warehousing system that is different from the first workstation.

[0263] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine the correlation between the cargo container to be processed and each container on each of the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation; and to determine the target vehicle among the multiple vehicles based on the correlation between the cargo container to be processed and each container on each vehicle.

[0264] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to acquire historical orders and, based on the historical orders, determine the correlation between each minimum inventory unit (SKU) in the warehousing system; and, based on the correlation between each SKU, determine the correlation between the container to be sorted and each container on each vehicle.

[0265] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order based on historical orders; and to determine the correlation between any two SKUs based on the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order.

[0266] In some embodiments, the vehicle determination module 1230 is configured to determine the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation as the target vehicle if the correlation between the container to be loaded and at least one container on at least one of the plurality of vehicles is greater than or equal to a correlation threshold.

[0267] In some embodiments, the control module 1240 is configured to, if there is an available storage location on the current face of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the first workstation on the current face of the target vehicle, control the first workstation to move the pending container from the target buffer position of the first workstation to the available storage location on the current face of the target vehicle; if there is no available storage location on the current face of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the first workstation on the current face of the target vehicle, control the first workstation to exchange the exchange container on the current face of the target vehicle with the pending container on the target buffer position, so as to place the pending container in the original storage location of the exchange container.

[0268] In some embodiments, the acquisition module 1210 is further configured to acquire order information and, based on the order information, determine a container to be cached from among a plurality of containers on the current face of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation; wherein the second picking carrier is a carrier that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation. The control module 1240 is further configured to move the container to be cached from the current face of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation.

[0269] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is configured to determine multiple SKUs required by the order information based on the order information; wherein the order information includes multiple pending orders and multiple historical orders in the order pool; based on the number of inventory containers used to place each SKU in the warehousing system, the target SKU is determined among the multiple SKUs, and the inventory container for placing the target SKU is determined as the target container; if there is a target container for placing the target SKU on the current surface of the second picking carrier, and there is no cache container for placing the target SKU on the multiple cache slots of the first workstation, then the target container is determined as the cache container.

[0270] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is configured to determine the first SKU as the target SKU if the number of inventory containers in the warehousing system containing the first SKU is greater than or equal to a preset quantity threshold; wherein the first SKU is any SKU among a plurality of SKUs.

[0271] In some embodiments, the preset quantity threshold is related to the number of workstations included in the warehousing system.

[0272] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is configured to determine the hit container on the current face of the second picking vehicle based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information; if there is no free seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation when the second picking vehicle arrives at the picking area of ​​the first workstation, the hit container is determined as a container to be cached.

[0273] In some embodiments, the order processing device 1200 further includes an instruction generation module, which is configured to associate the second order with a virtual seeding position on the virtual seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation; if there is an empty seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation, a picking instruction is generated based on the second order associated with the virtual seeding position; wherein the picking instruction is used to instruct the first workstation to pick the goods to be seeded required for the second order from the buffer container, and to instruct the seeding object to seed the goods to be seeded into the order container of the empty seeding position on the real seeding wall.

[0274] In some embodiments, the container determination module 1220 is further configured to determine the container to be picked on the current surface of the third picking carrier based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information; wherein the third picking carrier is the carrier currently picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation. The control module 1240 is further configured to, during the picking process of the container to be picked by the first workstation, if the third picking carrier is moved away from the picking area of ​​the first workstation, control the first workstation to move the container to be picked to the buffer position of the first workstation after the first workstation completes the picking of the container to be picked.

[0275] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of an electronic device provided for some embodiments of this application. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes one or more processors and a memory. The memory is used to store 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 order processing method in the above embodiments.

[0276] like Figure 13 As shown, the electronic device 1000 includes a processor 1001 and a memory 1002. Exemplarily, the electronic device 1000 may also include a communications interface 1003 and a communications bus 1004.

[0277] The processor 1001, memory 1002, and communication interface 1003 communicate with each other via communication bus 1004. Communication interface 1003 is used to communicate with other network elements such as clients or other servers.

[0278] In some embodiments, the processor 1001 is used to execute program 1005, specifically performing the relevant steps in the above-described order processing method embodiments. Specifically, program 1005 may include program code, which includes computer-executable instructions.

[0279] For example, processor 1001 may be a central processing unit (CPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of this application. Electronic device 1000 may include one or more processors, which may be processors of the same type, such as one or more CPUs; or they may be processors of different types, such as one or more CPUs and one or more ASICs.

[0280] In some embodiments, memory 1002 is used to store program 1005. Memory 1002 may include high-speed RAM memory, and may also include non-volatile memory (NVM), such as at least one disk storage device.

[0281] Specifically, program 1005 can be called by processor 1001 to cause electronic device 1000 to execute the order processing method.

[0282] This application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one executable instruction that, when executed on an electronic device 1000, causes the electronic device 1000 to perform the order processing method described in the above embodiments.

[0283] The executable instructions can be used to cause the electronic device 1000 to perform the order processing method.

[0284] For example, the computer-readable storage medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, and optical data storage device, etc.

[0285] In some embodiments, this application provides a computer program product including a computing program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program includes program instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the order processing method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0286] In some embodiments, this application also provides a computer program that, when executed by a processor, can implement the order processing method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0287] The beneficial effects that the order processing apparatus, electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, computer program product, and computer program provided in this application embodiment can achieve can be referred to the beneficial effects of the corresponding order processing methods provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0288] It should be noted that in this application, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes the element.

[0289] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a related manner. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to mutually. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments. In particular, the apparatus embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple; relevant parts can be referred to the descriptions of the method embodiments.

[0290] The logic and / or steps represented in the flowchart or otherwise described herein, for example, can be considered as a sequenced list of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, and can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by, or in conjunction with, an instruction execution system, apparatus or device (such as a computer-based system, a processor-included system or other system that can fetch and execute instructions from, an instruction execution system, apparatus or device).

[0291] For the purposes of this specification, "computer-readable medium" can mean any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transmit programs for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0292] More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of computer-readable media include the following: electrical connections having one or more wires (electronic devices), portable computer disks (magnetic devices), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable and editable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), fiber optic devices, and portable optical disc read-only memory (CDROM).

[0293] Furthermore, the computer-readable medium can even be paper or other suitable media on which the program can be printed, because the program can be obtained electronically, for example, by optically scanning the paper or other medium, followed by editing, interpreting, or otherwise processing as necessary, and then stored in computer memory. It should be understood that various parts of this application can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0294] In the above embodiments, multiple steps or methods can be implemented using software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, it can be implemented using any one or a combination of the following techniques known in the art: discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing logical functions on data signals, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) having suitable combinational logic gates, programmable gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.

[0295] The embodiments described above do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. An order processing method, characterized in that, include: Obtain pending orders, and determine the containers to be sorted from multiple cache containers in the first workstation of the warehousing system based on the pending orders; wherein, the first workstation is provided with multiple cache slots, and the cache slots are used to place the cache containers; Based on the container to be sorted, a target vehicle is determined from among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation; wherein, the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, and the multiple vehicles include a picking vehicle parked in the picking area and at least one vehicle to be picked parked in the queuing area. During the picking process of the target vehicle by the first workstation, the first workstation is controlled to move the cargo container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle; wherein, the target buffer position is the buffer position among the multiple buffer positions of the first workstation used to store the cargo container to be sorted; The step of determining the target vehicle from among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be processed includes: Based on the multiple workstations of the warehousing system, a first set of workstations that hit the container to be sorted, and a second set of workstations that hit the first picking vehicle are determined; wherein, the first picking vehicle is the vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; Based on the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations, determine the degree of overlap between the container to be sorted and the first workstation facing the first picking vehicle. If the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of determining the container to be sorted from multiple cache containers of the first workstation in the warehousing system based on the pending order includes: If the pending order includes a first order corresponding to a second workstation in the warehousing system, and the first order hits at least one of the plurality of cache containers of the first workstation, then the at least one cache container is determined as the container to be sorted; wherein the second workstation is different from the first workstation.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Determining the overlap between the container to be sorted and the first workstation currently facing the first picking carrier, based on the first workstation set and the second workstation set, includes: Based on the first workstation set and the second workstation set, determine the intersection of the workstations corresponding to the first workstation set and the second workstation set; Based on the number of workstations in the intersection of the workstations, the overlap degree between the container to be sorted and the first workstation in front of the first picking carrier is determined.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: If the overlap of the first workstation is less than the overlap threshold, then the set of the third workstations in front of each of the vehicles to be picked in the queuing area is determined to be the target. Based on the first set of workstations and the third set of workstations, determine the overlap degree between the container to be sorted and the second workstation facing each of the picking carriers; Based on the overlap of the second workstation, the target vehicle is determined among the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the target vehicle among the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the second workstation includes: If, in the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one of the vehicles to be picked in the queuing area, there is a vehicle to be picked that is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then the vehicle to be picked with the largest overlap of the second workstations is determined as the target vehicle. If the overlap of the second workstations corresponding to at least one of the vehicles to be picked is less than the overlap threshold, then a set of fourth workstations that hit the other side of each of the multiple vehicles is determined. Based on the first set of workstations and the fourth set of workstations, determine the degree of overlap between the cargo container to be sorted and the third workstation on the other side of each of the carriers; Based on the overlap of the third workstation, the target vehicle is determined among the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The step of determining the target vehicle among the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the overlap of the third workstation includes: If, among the overlap degrees of the third workstations corresponding to the plurality of vehicles, there is a vehicle with an overlap degree greater than or equal to the overlap degree threshold, then the vehicle with the largest overlap degree of the third workstation is determined as the target vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: If the overlap of the third workstations corresponding to the multiple vehicles is less than the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of determining the container to be sorted from multiple cache containers of the first workstation in the warehousing system based on the pending order includes: If at least one of the multiple cache containers is not hit by the first order corresponding to the second workstation within a preset time period, and / or the at least one cache container will not be hit by the second order corresponding to the first workstation within an estimated future time period, then the at least one cache container is determined as the container to be processed; wherein, the order to be processed includes the first order and the second order, and the second workstation is any workstation in the warehousing system that is different from the first workstation.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of determining the target vehicle from among the multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be processed includes: Determine the correlation between the cargo container to be processed and each container on each of the plurality of carriers corresponding to the first workstation; The target vehicle is determined from the plurality of vehicles based on the correlation between the cargo container to be loaded and the containers on each of the vehicles.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, Determining the correlation between the container to be processed and each container on each of the plurality of carriers corresponding to the first workstation includes: Obtain historical orders and, based on these historical orders, determine the correlation between the smallest SKUs in the warehousing system; Based on the correlation between each SKU, the correlation between the container to be sorted and each container on each of the carriers is determined.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The step of determining the correlation between the smallest inventory unit (SKU) in the warehousing system based on the historical orders includes: Based on the historical orders, determine the probability that any two SKUs are matched by the same historical order; The correlation between any two SKUs is determined by the probability that any two SKUs are hit by the same historical order.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The step of determining the target vehicle among the plurality of vehicles based on the correlation between the container to be loaded and the containers on each of the vehicles includes: If the correlation between the container to be loaded and at least one container on at least one of the multiple vehicles is greater than or equal to a correlation threshold, then the vehicle containing the container with the highest correlation among the at least one vehicles is determined as the target vehicle.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that, During the picking process of the target vehicle at the first workstation, controlling the first workstation to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle includes: If there is an available storage space in front of the target vehicle, then during the picking process of the first workstation in front of the target vehicle, the first workstation is controlled to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer position of the first workstation to the available storage space in front of the target vehicle. If there is no available storage space on the current face of the target vehicle, during the picking process of the current face of the target vehicle by the first workstation, the first workstation is controlled to exchange the exchange container on the current face of the target vehicle with the pending cargo container on the target buffer position, so as to place the pending cargo container in the original storage space of the exchange container.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtain order information, and based on the order information, determine the container to be cached from among multiple containers on the current surface of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation; wherein, the second picking carrier is the carrier that is currently picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; The first workstation is controlled to move the container to be cached from the front of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The step of determining the container to be cached from multiple containers on the current surface of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation based on the order information includes: Based on the order information, determine the multiple SKUs required for the order information; wherein, the order information includes multiple pending orders in the order pool and multiple historical orders; Based on the number of inventory containers used to place each SKU in the warehousing system, a target SKU is determined from the plurality of SKUs, and the inventory container holding the target SKU is determined as the target container; If there is a target container on the current surface of the second picking carrier that holds the target SKU, and there is no cache container on the plurality of cache slots of the first workstation that holds the target SKU, then the target container is determined as the cache container.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The step of determining the target SKU from the plurality of SKUs based on the number of inventory containers used to hold each SKU in the warehousing system includes: If the number of inventory containers holding the first SKU in the warehousing system is greater than or equal to a preset quantity threshold, then the first SKU is determined as the target SKU; wherein, the first SKU is any one of the plurality of SKUs.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The preset quantity threshold is related to the number of workstations included in the warehousing system.

18. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The step of determining the container to be cached from multiple containers on the current surface of the second picking carrier corresponding to the first workstation based on the order information includes: Based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information, determine the hit container on the current surface of the second picking carrier; If there is no available seeding position on the real seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation when the second picking vehicle arrives at the picking area of ​​the first workstation, then the hit container is identified as the container to be cached.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, After controlling the first workstation to move the container to be cached from the front of the second picking carrier to the cache position of the first workstation, the method further includes: Associate the second order with the virtual seeding position on the virtual seeding wall corresponding to the first workstation; If there is an empty sowing position on the real sowing wall corresponding to the first workstation, a picking instruction is generated according to the second order associated with the virtual sowing position; wherein, the picking instruction is used to instruct the first workstation to pick the goods to be sown required by the second order from the buffer container, and instruct the sowing object to sow the goods to be sown into the order container of the empty sowing position on the real sowing wall.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the second order corresponding to the first workstation in the order information, a container to be picked is determined on the current surface of the third picking carrier; wherein, the third picking carrier is the carrier that is currently picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; If the third picking carrier is moved away from the picking area of ​​the first workstation during the picking process of the container to be picked at the first workstation, then after the first workstation completes the picking of the container to be picked, the first workstation is controlled to move the container to be picked to the buffer position of the first workstation.

21. An order processing device, characterized in that, include: The acquisition module is configured to acquire orders pending processing. The container determination module is configured to determine the container to be sorted from multiple cache containers of a first workstation in the warehousing system based on the order to be processed; wherein the first workstation is provided with multiple cache slots, and the cache slots are used to place the cache container; The vehicle determination module is configured to determine a target vehicle from among a plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be sorted; wherein the first workstation is provided with a picking area and a queuing area, and the plurality of vehicles includes a picking vehicle parked in the picking area and at least one vehicle to be picked parked in the queuing area. The control module is configured to control the first workstation to move the container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle during the picking process of the target vehicle by the first workstation; wherein the target buffer position is a buffer position among a plurality of buffer positions of the first workstation used to store the container to be sorted. The vehicle determination module is specifically configured as follows: Based on the multiple workstations of the warehousing system, a first set of workstations that hit the container to be sorted, and a second set of workstations that hit the first picking vehicle are determined; wherein, the first picking vehicle is the vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; Based on the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations, determine the degree of overlap between the container to be sorted and the first workstation facing the first picking vehicle. If the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

22. A warehousing system, characterized in that, include: Multiple vehicles, each of which includes multiple cargo positions, each of which is used to place containers for storing goods; Multiple workstations are provided, each workstation is provided with multiple buffer slots, each buffer slot is used to place a buffer container; each workstation is also provided with a picking area and a queuing area, the picking area is used to dock picking vehicles, and the queuing area is used to dock at least one vehicle to be picked; The control device is configured as follows: Obtain pending orders, and determine the sorting container from multiple cache containers of the first workstation among the multiple workstations based on the pending orders; Based on the container to be sorted, a target vehicle is determined from among a plurality of vehicles corresponding to the first workstation; wherein, the plurality of vehicles includes a picking vehicle docked in the picking area of ​​the first workstation, and at least one vehicle to be picked docked in the queuing area of ​​the first workstation; During the picking process of the target vehicle by the first workstation, the first workstation is controlled to move the cargo container to be sorted from the target buffer position to the target vehicle; wherein, the target buffer position is the buffer position among the multiple buffer positions of the first workstation used to store the cargo container to be sorted; The control device performs the following action: determining a target vehicle from among multiple vehicles corresponding to the first workstation based on the container to be processed; specifically, it is configured as follows: Based on the multiple workstations of the warehousing system, a first set of workstations that hit the container to be sorted, and a second set of workstations that hit the first picking vehicle are determined; wherein, the first picking vehicle is the vehicle that is picking in the picking area of ​​the first workstation; Based on the first set of workstations and the second set of workstations, determine the degree of overlap between the container to be sorted and the first workstation facing the first picking vehicle. If the overlap of the first workstation is greater than or equal to the overlap threshold, then the first picking vehicle is determined as the target vehicle.

23. An electronic device, characterized in that, include: One or more processors; and Memory, used to store 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 order processing method according to any one of claims 1-20.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It stores a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the order processing method according to any one of claims 1-20.

25. A computer program product, characterized in that, Includes a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the order processing method as described in any one of claims 1-20.

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