Goods picking and placing scheduling method and device and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a goods taking and placing scheduling method and device and a storage medium, the method is applied to a goods elevator, and the method comprises the steps that under the condition that the goods elevator has multiple storage positions, a currently available door of the goods elevator serves as a target door; determining a first current goods placing storage location of the target door and a corresponding associated goods storage location from multiple storage locations; selecting a first goods placing device which enables the first current goods placing storage location to have no conflict with the subsequent goods taking path associated with the goods storage location from a plurality of goods placing devices corresponding to the target door; and the first goods placing equipment is controlled to move from the target door to the first current goods placing storage location for goods placing. In this way, the transportation efficiency can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of scheduling management technology, specifically to a method, device and storage medium for picking up and releasing goods. Background Technology

[0002] With economic development and the gradual maturation of artificial intelligence technology, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have become the mainstream choice for material handling in smart manufacturing plants. Currently, AGVs are widely used in core processes such as material transfer between production lines and warehouses, and finished product delivery, effectively replacing manual labor in repetitive handling tasks and improving factory operational efficiency.

[0003] However, most factories adopt a multi-story layout, with production lines, raw material warehouses, and finished product warehouses often scattered across different floors. This necessitates the use of freight elevators to create "vertical transport channels" for AGV cross-floor transport, enabling task scheduling across floors. Under current technology, AGVs can autonomously interact with freight elevators, automatically entering and exiting elevators and switching floors by following them, thus initially addressing the automation requirements for cross-floor transport.

[0004] However, the AGV-following-the-freight-elevator transportation method has disadvantages such as low space utilization. In addition, the limited space inside the freight elevator makes scheduling more complicated when transporting multiple goods, which in turn significantly restricts the efficiency of freight transportation. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the technical solution adopted in this application is to provide a cargo pick-up and drop-off scheduling method, equipment and storage medium to improve the transportation efficiency of freight.

[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a goods retrieval and placement scheduling method is provided, the method being applied to a freight elevator, comprising:

[0007] If the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, the currently available door of the freight elevator will be used as the target door.

[0008] From the multiple storage locations, determine the first current storage location and the corresponding associated storage location with goods at the target door, wherein the first current storage location has storage space and there is a passable path from the target door to the first current storage location, and the associated storage location with goods contains goods and is located outside the passable path;

[0009] From a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to the target door, select a first delivery device that ensures no conflict between the first current delivery location and the subsequent retrieval path of the associated in-stock location, wherein the subsequent retrieval path is determined by the retrieval door of the goods in the corresponding location.

[0010] Control the first delivery device to deliver goods from the target door to the first current delivery location.

[0011] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, one technical solution adopted in this application is to provide an electronic device, including a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it is used to implement the retrieval and release scheduling method in the above-mentioned technical solution.

[0012] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, one technical solution adopted in this application is to provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, is used to implement the cargo retrieval and release scheduling method in the above-mentioned technical solution.

[0013] Through the above scheme, the retrieval and release scheduling method provided in this application, when the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, takes the currently available door of the freight elevator as the target door, determines the first current release storage location and the corresponding associated storage location with goods from the multiple storage locations, and selects a first release device from a number of release devices corresponding to the target door so that the subsequent retrieval paths of the first current release storage location and the associated storage location with goods do not conflict, thereby controlling the first release device to go from the target door to the first current release storage location to release goods; in this way, this application can avoid interlocking conflicts when scheduling multiple devices when the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, ensuring that retrieval and release are carried out efficiently and orderly, thereby improving transportation efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0014] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort. Wherein:

[0015] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the pickup and delivery scheduling method provided in this application;

[0016] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the depth of a freight elevator storage location provided in this application;

[0017] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of the pickup and delivery scheduling method provided in this application;

[0018] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the electronic device provided in this application;

[0019] Figure 5This is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the computer-readable storage medium provided in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The present application will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be particularly noted that the following embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of the application. Similarly, the following embodiments are only some, not all, embodiments of the present application, and all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0021] In this application, the reference to "embodiment" means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of this application. The appearance of this phrase in various places throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it a separate or alternative embodiment mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It will be explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0022] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., used in this application are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Therefore, a feature defined with "first," "second," etc., may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In the description of this application, "multiple" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products, or apparatuses.

[0023] In existing technologies, freight transportation typically involves the transport equipment and the goods to be transported entering the freight elevator together, moving up and down the floors together. Once the freight elevator reaches the target floor, the transport equipment, carrying the goods, exits the elevator simultaneously to continue the subsequent transport tasks. However, the joint entry of transport equipment and goods into the freight elevator requires the use of some of the elevator's space, including the passage space for the transport equipment and the parking area, resulting in low utilization of the elevator's internal space. Furthermore, during the process, the elevator's bumps and starting / stopping inertia can easily cause the transport equipment to shift or collide. Weak signals within the freight elevator may also trigger the transport equipment to stop, affecting the normal operation of the freight elevator.

[0024] The goods retrieval and placement scheduling method provided in this case can be applied not only to scenarios where transport equipment travels with the elevator, but also to scenarios where transport equipment does not travel with the elevator, ensuring efficient and orderly goods retrieval and placement, thereby improving transportation efficiency. Specifically, "transport equipment not traveling with the elevator" means that the transport equipment only delivers the goods to be transported to the designated storage location within the elevator or enters the elevator to retrieve the goods. After placing or retrieving the goods, the equipment leaves the elevator and does not move with the elevator to the target floor; only the goods move with the elevator to the target floor.

[0025] In scenarios where transport equipment does not accompany the elevator, the key attributes of a freight elevator include a pickup entry point, a drop-off entry point, an exit point, and an internal storage location. Each of these points corresponds one-to-one with a freight elevator door to ensure precise equipment interaction. In some scenarios, the pickup, drop-off, and exit points corresponding to the freight elevator door may be the same location; this is not a limitation here. The process of transport equipment entering the freight elevator from its entry point to its exit point is called the handover with the freight elevator.

[0026] The pickup entry point refers to the preset waiting position before the equipment enters the freight elevator to pick up goods. The equipment needs to complete the signal interaction and status confirmation with the freight elevator at the pickup entry point to avoid blindly entering the freight elevator.

[0027] The loading / unloading entry point refers to the preset waiting position before the equipment enters the freight elevator to load goods. Its function is the same as the unloading entry point, and it is suitable for loading / unloading operation scenarios.

[0028] The exit point refers to the positioning point after the equipment has completely left the freight elevator. Its core function is to confirm that the equipment has completely left the freight elevator area through the equipment arrival detection, thereby safely releasing freight elevator resources and avoiding scheduling conflicts.

[0029] The storage location inside a freight elevator refers to the space inside the freight elevator used to place or store goods (or AGVs and goods in elevator-accompanying mode). The number of storage locations can be determined according to the actual application scenario and transportation needs. There may be only one storage location or there may be multiple storage locations. Its capacity directly determines the amount of goods transported in a single trip.

[0030] In the mode where the transport equipment does not accompany the elevator, the freight elevator only carries goods and there is no need to reserve space or passage for the transport equipment. This mode can maximize the loading capacity of a single shipment, but it may also lead to problems such as unreasonable storage locations of goods resulting in low efficiency in goods dispatching.

[0031] Based on this, the retrieval and release scheduling method proposed in this application, when the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, takes the currently available door of the freight elevator as the target door, determines the first current release storage location and the corresponding associated storage location with goods from the multiple storage locations, and selects a first release device from a number of release devices corresponding to the target door so that the subsequent retrieval paths of the first current release storage location and the associated storage location with goods do not conflict, thereby controlling the first release device to go from the target door to the first current release storage location to release goods; in this way, this application can avoid interlocking conflicts when scheduling multiple devices when the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, ensuring that retrieval and release are carried out efficiently and orderly, thereby improving transportation efficiency.

[0032] Please see Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the cargo pickup and delivery scheduling method provided in this application. It should be noted that if substantially the same result is achieved, this embodiment does not necessarily reflect that outcome. Figure 1 The illustrated process sequence is limited. For example... Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment includes:

[0033] S110: When there are multiple storage locations in a freight elevator, the currently available door of the freight elevator will be used as the target door.

[0034] Freight elevators can be categorized based on the number of storage locations and the number of elevator entrances and exits into single-door single-storage-location freight elevators, single-door multi-storage-location freight elevators, double-door single-storage-location freight elevators, double-door multi-storage-location freight elevators, multi-door single-storage-location freight elevators, and multi-door multi-storage-location freight elevators. Different types of freight elevators can adapt to different factory or workshop layouts and transportation needs.

[0035] In this embodiment, when the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, the currently available door is selected as the target door. In another embodiment, when the freight elevator has multiple doors and multiple storage locations, the currently available door is selected as the target door. That is, when the freight elevator has two or more storage locations, if the current freight elevator has a single door, its availability is checked to determine whether to select it as the target door. If the freight elevator has two or more doors, the currently available door is selected as the target door from among the multiple doors. For example, doors that are faulty due to reasons such as damaged door control motors or door lock malfunctions, doors occupied by transport equipment performing transport tasks, and invalid doors whose corresponding storage locations are occupied and cannot be used to retrieve or place goods are excluded. Only doors that are in normal condition and can connect to storage locations are retained as currently available doors. If there are multiple currently available doors, the door closest to the current location of the transport equipment with the highest task priority can be selected as the target door.

[0036] S120: From multiple storage locations, determine the first currently released storage location and the corresponding associated storage location with goods for the target door.

[0037] After determining the target door of the multi-location freight elevator, the first currently releasing storage location and its corresponding associated storage location with goods are identified from the multiple storage locations. The first currently releasing storage location refers to the storage location where it needs to be determined whether to release goods, and the associated storage location with goods refers to the storage location adjacent to the first currently releasing storage location. The first currently releasing storage location has storage space, and there is a passable path from the target door to the first currently releasing storage location. The associated storage location with goods contains goods and is located outside the passable path. Specifically, for inner storage locations, the passable path may pass through at least one other storage location of the freight elevator; for outer storage locations, the passable path may not pass through any other storage locations.

[0038] In one embodiment, the first current storage location of the target door is determined based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door. For example, the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door is obtained, and based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door, the storage location that is deepest from the target door is selected from the storage locations with storage space, and is used as the first current storage location.

[0039] The storage location depth information corresponding to the target door includes the storage location depth of each storage location from the target door. The storage location depth is calculated by using the A* search algorithm to plan the path from the pick-up / placement entrance point corresponding to each door to each storage location within the freight elevator, calculating the path length, and determining the storage location depth corresponding to each door based on the path length. Please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 2 , Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the storage depth of a freight elevator provided in this application. The freight elevator includes two doors and four storage points. Each door corresponds to a pick-up / placement entrance point and an exit point. Taking the pick-up entrance point as the starting point for calculation, the path length from the pick-up entrance point to each storage point is calculated sequentially to determine the storage depth corresponding to each door. For door A, the storage depths from near to far are 1, 2, 3, and 4. For door B, the storage depths from near to far are 4, 3, 2, and 1. It should be noted that the storage depth corresponding to a door can also be directly determined by the path length from each storage point to the door. Using the door as the reference or the pick-up / placement entrance point as the reference does not affect the calculation result of the storage depth corresponding to the door. This method is also applicable to storage locations of other shapes.

[0040] In one embodiment, the associated in-stock location corresponding to the first currently placed storage location is determined based on the storage depth information corresponding to the target door. An in-stock location with a depth one storage space greater than the first currently placed storage location is designated as the associated in-stock location. For example, using... Figure 2 For example, if the target door is door A, the first current storage location is storage location 3. If storage location 4 is a storage location with goods, then the associated storage location with goods corresponding to the first current storage location is storage location 4.

[0041] S130: Select the first delivery device from among several delivery devices corresponding to the target door, ensuring that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location.

[0042] During the cargo pick-up and drop-off scheduling process, the system can locate the cargo elevator doors and / or the corresponding cargo drop-off devices and / or cargo pick-up devices in real time. Furthermore, it can calculate the cargo drop-off device list and / or cargo pick-up device list for each cargo elevator door, so as to schedule each cargo drop-off device sequentially based on the cargo drop-off device list.

[0043] In one embodiment, the number of pickup / dispatch devices corresponding to the doors of the freight elevator is determined based on the remaining path cost from each pickup / dispatch device to the corresponding door. For example, for each pickup / dispatch device, the remaining path cost from its current position to the corresponding door is calculated. Based on the length of the remaining path cost for each pickup / dispatch device, a list of delivery devices and / or a list of pickup devices corresponding to the currently calculated door is determined. In the list of delivery devices and / or pickup devices, they are arranged from closest to furthest from the door. The remaining path cost refers to the "quantified comprehensive cost" incurred by the pickup / dispatch device from its current real-time position to the specified target door (the currently available door of the freight elevator), which can be calculated comprehensively based on factors such as path length and waiting time.

[0044] Locate all delivery devices that need to perform delivery operations to the target door, and determine a list of delivery devices corresponding to the target door. From this list, select the delivery device that ensures no conflict between the subsequent retrieval paths of the first currently delivered storage location and its associated in-stock storage location as the first delivery device. The subsequent retrieval paths are determined by the retrieval doors of the goods in the corresponding storage location.

[0045] The essence of a path without conflict is that there is no interlock between the first current storage location and the associated storage location with goods. That is, there will be no blocking relationship between the storage and retrieval operations of the first current storage location and the existing storage and subsequent retrieval operations of the associated storage location with goods, where "one operation restricts the feasibility of the other operation".

[0046] In one example, under the non-elevator-following mode, the delivery process of the first currently available storage location and the subsequent retrieval process of the associated storage location will not encounter a blocking state where "one process is not completed and the other process cannot start". It is important to note that the step of selecting the first delivery device from among several delivery devices corresponding to the target door to ensure that the subsequent retrieval paths of the first currently available storage location and the associated storage location do not conflict is executed when the associated storage location is set to retrieve goods from the pre-assigned retrieval door, to avoid discrepancies between the analysis results and reality.

[0047] In one embodiment, the retrieval door of the first current retrieval location and the retrieval door of the associated retrieval location, as well as the positional relationship between the first current retrieval location and the associated retrieval location, are used to determine whether the retrieval device ensures that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval paths of the first current retrieval location and the associated retrieval location.

[0048] From the perspective of the correspondence between the picking door and the storage location, if the picking door of the first current storage location and the picking door of the associated storage location with goods are different doors, and the two doors are respectively connected to the dedicated entry and exit channels of the corresponding storage locations (such as the west door of a double-door multi-storage elevator connecting to the north storage location and the east door connecting to the south storage location), the equipment can directly enter and exit from the corresponding door when picking up goods, without having to avoid the elevator, thus naturally eliminating the interlocking of entry and exit within the elevator.

[0049] If the two doors are the same retrieval door, such as the main entrance of a single-door multi-position freight elevator, then the decision needs to be made based on the layout of the warehouse positions inside the elevator. For example, if the warehouse positions are distributed side by side and each has an independent entrance and exit channel, the equipment can directly reach the target warehouse position along the dedicated channel without interlocking; if the warehouse positions are distributed front and back, retrieving goods from the rear warehouse position requires crossing the front warehouse position area, which can easily cause blockage due to the operation of the equipment in the front warehouse position, thus indicating a conflict.

[0050] In one implementation, please refer to Figure 2 Assuming the freight elevator is a double-door, multi-position freight elevator with four positions: positions 1, 2, 3, and 4, position 4 contains goods, while positions 1, 2, and 3 are empty and awaiting storage. The retrieval / placement equipment's path passes through each position. In this embodiment, position 3 is the first currently placed position, and position 4 is the associated filled position. Assuming left door A is the currently available door and is used as the target door, a list of placement equipment for door A is obtained. It is then determined whether the goods awaiting placement on each placement equipment in the list will conflict with the goods in the associated filled positions in the subsequent retrieval paths. If the target exit door for the goods awaiting placement on the currently determined placement equipment is right door B, while the target exit door for the goods in the associated filled positions is door A, and assuming the goods awaiting placement are stored in position 3, then regardless of whether the goods in position 3 or position 4 are retrieved first, a conflict will occur in the retrieval paths. If the target exit door of the goods to be delivered on the current delivery equipment and the target exit door of the goods in the associated warehouse location are both right-side door B, then the goods in warehouse location 4 can be retrieved first, and then the goods in warehouse location 3 can be retrieved in sequence. That is, there is no conflict between the two retrieval paths.

[0051] In one embodiment, a delivery device is selected as a candidate delivery device according to the priority of several delivery devices corresponding to the target door. It is then determined whether the candidate delivery device ensures that the subsequent retrieval path between the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location does not conflict. If the determination result is yes, the candidate delivery device is determined as the first delivery device; if the determination result is no, the delivery task for the target door is stopped, or the process of selecting a delivery device as a candidate delivery device according to the priority of several delivery devices corresponding to the target door and subsequent steps is executed until the latest candidate delivery device ensures that the subsequent retrieval path between the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location does not conflict, or all delivery devices corresponding to the target door have been selected as candidate delivery devices.

[0052] The priority of the delivery equipment can be determined based on at least one of the following: distance from the freight elevator, priority of the current delivery task, and time requirement of the current delivery task. For example, the closer the delivery equipment is to the target door of the freight elevator, the higher its priority; the more important the current delivery task, the higher its priority; and the closer the time requirement of the current delivery task, the higher its priority.

[0053] S140: Control the first delivery device to deliver goods from the target door to the first current delivery location.

[0054] After selecting the first delivery device that ensures no conflict between the current delivery location and the subsequent retrieval path of the associated in-stock location, the first delivery device is controlled to proceed from the target door to the current delivery location to deliver the goods. If multiple delivery devices meet the criteria, a sorted list of the first delivery devices is obtained, and then the first delivery devices are controlled sequentially to proceed from the target door to the current delivery location to deliver the goods.

[0055] In a freight elevator with multiple doors and storage locations, where each storage location has a storage space, in one embodiment, the storage information for each door of the freight elevator is determined based on the priority of the storage devices and the storage door of each device. The storage information for each door includes the second storage device entering through the door, the storage location it proceeds to, and the order in which the second storage devices perform their storage tasks. Finally, according to the storage information for each door of the freight elevator, each second storage device is sequentially controlled to proceed from its corresponding door to its corresponding storage location to release goods.

[0056] In one example, the first delivery location is defined. For instance, if only the delivery equipment list corresponding to one target door of the freight elevator needs to be calculated, the location with the largest storage depth corresponding to that target door is preset as the first delivery location. If there are other target doors of the freight elevator that need to be calculated to correspond to the delivery equipment list, any storage location with a larger storage depth among the current target doors can also be preset as the first delivery location. Subsequently, the first delivery location during scheduling can be dynamically adjusted according to the delivery quantity of the current target door and the delivery quantity of other target doors.

[0057] Based on the priority of the delivery equipment, a second delivery equipment is selected from multiple delivery equipment, and the delivery door of the second delivery equipment in the freight elevator is obtained. It is determined that the second delivery equipment can make its first delivery through the delivery door. The second delivery equipment is associated with the first delivery location, and the current delivery count of the retrieval door is recorded. The first delivery location is then updated to a location with goods. Based on the priority of the delivery equipment, the delivery equipment for this delivery is selected from multiple delivery equipment, and the delivery door of this delivery equipment is obtained as the target door. The delivery door of this delivery equipment is selected as the target door if it is currently capable of delivery.

[0058] In one embodiment, the first currently available storage location and the corresponding associated available storage location of the target door are determined from multiple storage locations. It is then determined whether the current delivery device ensures that the subsequent retrieval paths of the first currently available storage location and the associated available storage location do not conflict. If the determination result is negative, it is determined that the target door cannot be delivered to subsequently. If the determination result is positive, the current delivery device is determined as the second delivery device capable of delivering goods from the target door. The second delivery device is associated with the first currently available storage location, and the current delivery count of the target door is recorded. The first currently available storage location is updated to an available storage location. The process of selecting the current delivery device and its subsequent steps from multiple delivery devices according to the priority of the delivery devices is repeated until all doors of the freight elevator are unable to deliver goods, all multiple delivery devices have been selected, or all storage locations have been updated to available storage locations.

[0059] Due to the variety of types of freight elevators, the corresponding retrieval and delivery scheduling methods are also diverse, with different retrieval and delivery scheduling methods for single-door single-location, single-door multi-location, multi-door single-location, and multi-door multi-location.

[0060] In one embodiment, when the freight elevator has a single door, based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the single door, the second current storage location for the single door is determined from the storage locations with available storage space on the freight elevator. From a plurality of storage devices corresponding to the single door, a third storage device is selected and associated with the second current storage location. After determining that other storage devices are associated with storage locations and / or with single doors, and waiting for the associated other storage devices to complete their storage tasks and exit the single door, the third storage device is controlled to proceed from the single door to the second current storage location to release goods.

[0061] In one embodiment, when the freight elevator is a multi-door single-position system, a fourth delivery device for each door is selected from a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to each door. According to the delivery task priority of each door's fourth delivery device, the fourth delivery devices for each door are sequentially controlled to enter from the corresponding door to deliver goods. The delivery task priority of the delivery device is related to at least one of the task score and the task generation time. For example, different levels of tasks have different scores; the more important the task, the higher the score. The earlier the task generation time, the higher the priority. If two delivery devices have the same total score (including both task score and task generation time), the delivery device with the earlier task generation time has a higher priority. In other cases, the delivery device with the higher total task score has a higher priority.

[0062] In one embodiment, when the freight elevator has multiple doors, each available door of the freight elevator is sequentially designated as the current door, the current retrieval location of the freight elevator is determined for the current door, and a first retrieval device is determined from a plurality of retrieval devices corresponding to the current door, and the first retrieval device is controlled to go from the current door to the current retrieval location to retrieve goods.

[0063] In one embodiment, after determining the current pickup location of the freight elevator for the current door and identifying a first pickup device from among several pickup devices corresponding to the current door, in response to the fact that the target floor of the goods corresponding to the current pickup location is not the current floor where the freight elevator is currently located, it is determined that the current door has completed pickup; in response to the fact that the target floor of the goods corresponding to the current pickup location is the current floor where the freight elevator is currently located and the pickup door of the current pickup location is the current door, the first pickup device is identified from among several pickup devices corresponding to the current door, and the first pickup device is controlled to go from the current door to the current pickup location to pick up the goods; in response to the fact that there is no corresponding pickup device for the current door and the freight elevator has multiple doors, a second pickup device is selected from the pickup devices of other doors besides the current door, and the second pickup device is controlled to go from other doors to the current pickup location to pick up the goods and exit from the current door.

[0064] For each freight elevator or each freight elevator's target door, the retrieval task is performed first, followed by the delivery task; that is, the freight elevator will perform the delivery task only after the retrieval task is completed. In one embodiment, after the freight elevator completes retrieval and delivery at its current floor, in response to the availability of delivery space in each storage location of the freight elevator, the freight elevator is dispatched to the floor with the longest waiting time for delivery. In response to the freight elevator being a single-door unit, the freight elevator is dispatched to the target floor with the nearest available storage location to the single-door unit for retrieval. In response to the freight elevator being a multi-door unit with a single storage location, the freight elevator is dispatched to the target floor with the single storage location for retrieval. In response to the freight elevator being a multi-door unit with multiple storage locations, the target floor with the nearest available storage location for each door is determined, and from the target floors corresponding to each door, the floor with the lowest cost to travel from the current floor is selected, and the freight elevator is dispatched to the floor with the lowest cost for retrieval.

[0065] It is important to note that freight elevators have both capacity and time-limited limitations in their loading and unloading operations, and cannot accept unlimited loading tasks. This limitation is particularly critical in multi-position freight elevator scenarios. It is crucial to prevent the accumulation of goods in inner positions due to the convenience and high frequency of retrieval and unloading at outer positions, thus exceeding the preset time limit. For example, when the storage time of goods in any position within the freight elevator reaches or exceeds the system's set timeout threshold, the floor containing that position must immediately cease assigning "incidental loading" tasks to that freight elevator. That is, no additional loading requests should be made when the freight elevator passes through that floor. Simultaneously, the scheduling system must prioritize generating new instructions to arrange for the freight elevator to move to other floors with retrieval needs to perform the retrieval task. By dynamically adjusting the freight elevator's operating route, the risk of goods exceeding the time limit in inner positions can be reduced, ensuring the overall timeliness of material flow.

[0066] Please see Figure 3 , Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of the pickup and delivery scheduling method provided in this application. It should be noted that if substantially the same result is achieved, this embodiment does not necessarily reflect that outcome. Figure 3 The illustrated process sequence is limited. For example... Figure 3 As shown, this embodiment includes:

[0067] S201: Obtain target freight elevator information.

[0068] The freight elevator's attribute information includes its elevator number, the floors it can reach, the entry / exit points for each door on each floor, and the storage location information inside the elevator. Based on the elevator's attribute information and hardware parameters, the time cost of moving the freight elevator from each floor to other floors is calculated and recorded.

[0069] Identify the target freight elevator that needs to be scheduled for picking up and placing goods, obtain the attribute information of the target freight elevator, and obtain the time cost of moving the target freight elevator from each floor to other floors.

[0070] S202: Obtain the storage depth information of the target freight elevator.

[0071] Based on the attribute information of the target freight elevator, the storage depth information corresponding to each door of the target freight elevator is further obtained. If the target freight elevator is a single storage location, the storage depth does not need to be considered, regardless of whether it is a single door or multiple doors. If the target freight elevator is a single door with multiple storage locations, the path from either the entry / exit point or the exit point corresponding to a single door of the target freight elevator to each storage location within the elevator is obtained, and the storage depth corresponding to that door is determined according to the calculated path length. If the target freight elevator is a multi-door multi-storage location, the storage depth corresponding to each door of the target freight elevator is calculated to obtain the storage depth of each door.

[0072] S203: Obtain the list of picking / placing equipment corresponding to each door of the target freight elevator.

[0073] Based on the elevator attribute information, determine the pickup devices corresponding to each door of the target elevator that need to travel to the corresponding pickup entrance point on the current floor. Calculate the remaining path cost for each pickup device from its current location to the corresponding door, including factors such as the pickup device's waiting time. Determine the pickup device list for each door based on the length of the remaining path cost to the corresponding pickup devices, and arrange the devices in the pickup device list in ascending order of their distance from the corresponding door. The method for obtaining the delivery device list is similar to that for the pickup device list, and will not be elaborated here.

[0074] S204: Obtain the storage location information of the target freight elevator and allocate goods for pickup and delivery.

[0075] Based on the pick-up and drop-off tasks corresponding to each storage location within the target freight elevator, obtain the storage location information corresponding to each storage location, including the target arrival floor and target exit door of the goods in that storage location, as well as the pick-up and drop-off information already assigned to that storage location.

[0076] Based on the target freight elevator's attribute information, storage location information, and the list of picking and placing devices for each door, picking and placing orders are assigned to each available door of the target freight elevator. Before assigning orders, the current status of the target freight elevator is checked. If the target freight elevator is not operating normally, it is waited for it to return to normal before assignment. If the target freight elevator is operating normally, the current floor of the target freight elevator is obtained, and it is checked whether there are any picking tasks on the current floor. If there are picking tasks, picking is assigned and the picking tasks are executed. If there are no picking tasks, it is determined whether there are any vacant storage locations within the target freight elevator, as well as the number and location of each vacant storage location. If there are vacant storage locations, order placement can be assigned to the target freight elevator.

[0077] In response to the target freight elevator, the system can assign goods to picking or placing equipment, following the principle of performing picking assignment first and then placing assignment. For example, it iterates through each storage location within the target freight elevator to check if there are any goods to be retrieved. If so, the picking assignment is performed first. Next, it iterates through the currently available doors of the target freight elevator, identifies a target door, and obtains the list of picking equipment and storage location depth corresponding to the target door. Based on the storage location depth corresponding to the target door, it iterates through each storage location sequentially. It is important to note that if a storage location is currently being used for picking or placing goods, the iteration of that door is stopped, and the process waits for the assigned equipment to complete its task. If the target floor corresponding to the goods in that storage location is not the current floor, the iteration stops, and the target door is considered to have completed its picking assignment. Conversely, if the target floor corresponding to the goods in a target storage location is the current floor, and the target exit point corresponding to the goods is the exit point corresponding to the current target door, the first picking equipment in the list of picking equipment corresponding to the current target door is assigned to the target storage location to perform the picking task and retrieve the goods from the target storage location.

[0078] In some scenarios, if the transport equipment uses a trolley lift, which can pass through shelves, for multi-door freight elevators, if the target door currently lacks a picking device in its list (meaning the assigned picking device is far from the elevator and not yet added to the list), to prevent long waiting times, one can try entering through another available door to retrieve the goods. It's important to note that before attempting to retrieve from another door, if the assigned device is already performing a picking task, wait for it to exit before assigning another device. This prevents two transport devices from being assigned to one door, causing interlocking conflicts and impacting handling efficiency. If the other door is currently free, assign the first picking device from its corresponding list to the target storage location to perform the picking task and exit through the target exit door corresponding to the goods in the target storage location. The picking device performing this task does not occupy the entry door, meaning it is not continuously bound to the entry door and will not affect other transport tasks.

[0079] The goods in the outer storage positions of the target elevator's target door on the current floor that can be retrieved have all been assigned for retrieval, and can now be distributed. For example, after obtaining the retrieval assignment, assuming the target elevator performs the retrieval task and the storage position information for each position is obtained, it is checked whether there are any vacant storage positions within the target elevator. If no vacant storage positions exist, no distribution is required; if vacant storage positions exist, different distribution methods can be used depending on the type of elevator.

[0080] For a single-door freight elevator that includes both single-location and multi-location options, obtain the list of delivery devices for that door. If no delivery device is listed, do not assign delivery to that door initially. If the list contains at least one delivery device, traverse the storage locations from nearest to farthest according to their depth, find the furthest unassigned empty storage location, bind the first delivery device in the list to this empty location, and then bind it to the door, outputting "Ready to Deliver". Note that if the door is already bound to another device, wait for the other device to unbind before binding the currently assigned delivery device to that door.

[0081] For a target freight elevator with two doors and only one storage location, if the storage location is idle and needs to be filled, obtain the list of filling devices for both doors. If only one door has a filling device, the filling device for that door will execute the filling task first. If both doors have filling devices in their lists, the task will be allocated according to priority. Calculate the priority score for each filling device, including the task score and the task creation time. The higher the priority score, the higher the task priority, and the higher the priority. If multiple filling devices have the same priority score, the filling device with the earlier task creation time will be selected for priority. Based on the priority of each filling device, bind the highest priority filling device to the storage location and output the filling allocation result.

[0082] For a target freight elevator with two doors and multiple storage locations, the system first determines whether each door can be used for delivery based on the current status of each door and whether the outer storage locations within the elevator are available. If one of the target doors can be used, delivery allocation is performed. Based on the depth storage location information corresponding to the target door, the farthest target storage location that can be used for delivery is found. The first delivery device in the delivery device list of the target door is pre-bound to the target storage location. It is then determined whether the target storage location has an associated storage location with goods. The associated storage location with goods is the next deep storage location of the target storage location.

[0083] If the target storage location has an associated storage location with goods, and the goods in the associated storage location are taken out according to the pre-assigned target exit door, then it is determined whether there is a conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the goods to be stored in the target storage location and the goods in the associated storage location. If there is a conflict, then the subsequent delivery devices in the delivery device list are checked in turn. If there is no conflict, the target storage location can be bound to the current delivery device.

[0084] If both doors of the target freight elevator are available and the loading equipment can enter through both doors, it can be determined whether the goods can be placed at the deepest part of the freight elevator. The two doors of the target freight elevator are traversed to find the farthest storage location where the goods can be stored and the corresponding associated storage location with goods. Then, the steps of determining whether there is a conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the goods to be stored in the target storage location and the goods in the associated storage location with goods, as well as subsequent steps, are executed.

[0085] If all storage locations within the target freight elevator are vacant, the delivery information for each door of the target freight elevator can be compiled. Following the principle of prioritizing depth, the first delivery location is calculated, and the remaining delivery locations are then confirmed. First, the delivery device closest to the door is found based on its priority score. Then, the target door for that delivery device is about to be delivered to is identified, and a conflict is checked. If no conflict exists, delivery can continue. In subsequent processes, if delivery can continue, the device with the highest priority score is repeatedly assigned to a storage location. If delivery is successfully made, the number of doors to which the delivery was made is recorded, and the delivery device for that attempt is cleared. If the goods on the delivery device conflict with the subsequent retrieval path of goods in an associated storage location, subsequent deliveries to that door cannot be made, and the delivery device list for the current door is cleared. This process continues until all delivery devices or storage locations have been attempted, ending the delivery allocation. Finally, based on the delivery allocation result—the quantity of goods delivered to each delivery device—the required storage location for each device is determined.

[0086] S205: Schedule pickup / dispatch equipment according to the pickup / dispatch allocation results.

[0087] After the target doors of the target freight elevator are assigned to pick-up, the pick-up task can be executed first and then the delivery task can be assigned, or the pick-up task can be executed after the pick-up assignment information is determined and the delivery task is executed, or the dispatch task can be executed in a unified manner after both the pick-up assignment information and the delivery assignment information are determined. The timing of the pick-up and delivery assignment and dispatch is not explicitly limited and can be set according to the actual application scenario.

[0088] After obtaining the picking and dispensing allocation results of the target freight elevator based on the above step S204, the picking equipment bound to each storage location is scheduled to perform picking tasks and the dispensing equipment to perform dispensing tasks in sequence according to the picking and dispensing allocation results.

[0089] S206: Schedule the target freight elevator based on the storage location information within the target freight elevator.

[0090] For the target freight elevator, if it has already completed both picking and placing tasks, it can be dispatched to the next target floor to continue picking and placing goods based on the storage location information within the elevator. For example, if all storage locations within the target freight elevator are vacant and none of the placing devices on the current floor have been added to the placing device list, the target freight elevator can be dispatched to the floor with the longest waiting time for placing goods.

[0091] Different scheduling strategies can be adopted for different types of freight elevators. If the target freight elevator is a single-door elevator, retrieve the target floor corresponding to the outermost storage location with goods at that door and retrieve the goods. If the target freight elevator is a double-door elevator with a single storage location, retrieve the target floor corresponding to the goods at that storage location and retrieve the goods. If the target freight elevator is a double-door elevator with multiple storage locations, retrieve the target floors corresponding to the goods at the outermost storage locations of both doors, determine the floor with the lowest cost from the current floor to the target floor, and schedule the target freight elevator to the floor with the lowest cost to retrieve the goods.

[0092] This application enables the orderly scheduling of picking and unloading equipment to perform picking and unloading tasks even when the freight elevator has multiple doors and storage locations, ensuring efficient and orderly freight elevator transportation and improving the efficiency of cargo transportation.

[0093] Please see Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the electronic device provided in this application. The electronic device 60 includes a memory 61 and a processor 62 that are interconnected. The memory 61 is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor 62, it is used to implement the retrieval and release scheduling method in the above embodiment.

[0094] The methods described in the above embodiments can exist in the form of a computer program; therefore, this application proposes a computer-readable storage medium. Please refer to [link / reference needed]. Figure 5 , Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a computer-readable storage medium provided in this application. The computer-readable storage medium 80 is used to store a computer program 81, which can be executed to implement the cargo pick-up and drop-off scheduling method in the above embodiment.

[0095] The computer-readable storage medium 80 can be any medium capable of storing program code, such as a server, USB flash drive, portable hard drive, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0096] The above description is merely an embodiment of this application and does not limit the patent scope of this application. Any equivalent structural or procedural transformations made using the content of this application's specification and drawings, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the patent protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling the pickup and delivery of goods, characterized in that, The method is applied to a freight elevator, and the method includes: If the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, the currently available door of the freight elevator will be used as the target door. From the multiple storage locations, determine the first current storage location and the corresponding associated storage location with goods at the target door, wherein the first current storage location has storage space and there is a passable path from the target door to the first current storage location, and the associated storage location with goods contains goods and is located outside the passable path; From a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to the target door, select a first delivery device that ensures no conflict between the first current delivery location and the subsequent retrieval path of the associated in-stock location, wherein the subsequent retrieval path is determined by the retrieval door of the goods in the corresponding location. Control the first delivery device to deliver goods from the target door to the first current delivery location.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Whether the delivery device ensures that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location is determined based on the retrieval door of the first current delivery location and the retrieval door of the associated in-stock location, as well as the positional relationship between the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location. And / or, the step of selecting a first delivery device from among a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to the target door so that there is no conflict between the first current delivery location and the subsequent retrieval path of the associated in-stock location is performed when the associated in-stock location is set to retrieve goods from a pre-assigned retrieval door; And / or, selecting a first delivery device from among a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to the target door such that there is no conflict between the first current delivery location and the subsequent retrieval path of the associated in-stock location, includes: Based on the priority of the several delivery devices corresponding to the target door, one delivery device is selected as a candidate delivery device; Determine whether the candidate delivery device ensures that the subsequent retrieval path between the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location does not conflict; In response to a yes determination result, the candidate delivery device is identified as the first delivery device; In response to a negative judgment result, the delivery task for the target door is stopped; or, the following steps are performed: selecting a delivery device as a candidate delivery device according to the priority of several delivery devices corresponding to the target door, and so on, until the latest candidate delivery device ensures that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location, or all delivery devices corresponding to the target door have been selected as candidate delivery devices.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The steps for determining the first current storage location of the target door include: Obtain the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door, wherein the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door includes the storage location depth of each storage location from the target door; Based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door, the storage location that is deepest from the target door is selected from the storage locations with available storage space and used as the first current storage location. And / or, the steps for determining the associated in-stock location corresponding to the first currently placed storage location include: Based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the target door, a storage location with goods that is one storage location depth greater than the first current storage location is used as the associated storage location with goods. And / or, in the case that the freight elevator has multiple storage locations, using the currently available door of the freight elevator as the target door includes: If the freight elevator has multiple doors and multiple storage locations, the currently available door of the freight elevator will be used as the target door.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the freight elevator has multiple doors and multiple storage locations, and each storage location of the freight elevator has a storage space, the storage information of each door of the freight elevator is determined according to the priority of the storage equipment and the storage door of the storage equipment. The storage information of each door includes the second storage equipment that enters from the door and the storage location it goes to, as well as the order in which the second storage equipment performs the storage task. According to the delivery information of each door of the freight elevator, the second delivery equipment is sequentially controlled to go from the corresponding door to the corresponding delivery location to deliver goods.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the delivery information for each door of the freight elevator based on the priority of the delivery equipment and the delivery door of the delivery equipment includes: Define the first storage location; According to the priority of the delivery equipment, the second delivery equipment is selected from multiple delivery equipment, and the delivery door of the second delivery equipment in the freight elevator is obtained. It is determined that the second delivery equipment can make the first delivery from the delivery door. The second delivery equipment is associated with the first delivery location, and the current delivery number of the delivery door is recorded. The first delivery location is updated to a location with goods. According to the priority of the delivery equipment, select the delivery equipment for this delivery from the plurality of delivery equipment, and obtain the delivery door of the delivery equipment for this delivery as the target door; From the multiple storage locations, determine the first currently stored storage location and the corresponding associated stored storage location of the target door; Determine whether the current delivery device ensures that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location; In response to the judgment result being yes, the current delivery device is identified as a second delivery device capable of delivering goods from the target door. The second delivery device is associated with the first current delivery location, the current delivery count of the target door is recorded, and the first current delivery location is updated to a location with goods. The process of selecting the current delivery device from the plurality of delivery devices according to the priority of the delivery devices and subsequent steps is repeated until all doors of the freight elevator can no longer deliver goods, all the plurality of delivery devices have been selected, or all storage locations have been updated to storage locations with goods.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The delivery door of the current delivery device is used as the target door when delivery is currently possible; after determining whether the current delivery device ensures that there is no conflict between the subsequent retrieval path of the first current delivery location and the associated in-stock location, the method further includes: If the judgment result is negative, it is determined that the target door cannot be used for further goods. And / or, the priority of the delivery device is determined based on at least one of the following: distance from the freight elevator, priority of the current delivery task, and time requirement of the current delivery task.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the freight elevator has a single door, based on the storage location depth information corresponding to the single door, a second current storage location for the single door is determined from the storage locations with available storage space on the freight elevator; a third storage device is selected from a plurality of storage devices corresponding to the single door, and the third storage device is associated with the second current storage location; after determining that there are other storage devices associated with storage locations and / or other storage devices associated with the single door, and waiting for the associated other storage devices to complete their storage tasks and exit the single door, the third storage device is controlled to proceed from the single door to the second current storage location to release goods; and / or, When the freight elevator is a multi-door single-position system, the fourth delivery device for each door is selected from a plurality of delivery devices corresponding to each door; according to the delivery task priority of the fourth delivery device for each door, the fourth delivery device for each door is sequentially controlled to enter from the corresponding door to deliver goods, wherein the delivery task priority of the delivery device is related to at least one of the task score and the task generation time; and / or, Each available door of the freight elevator is sequentially designated as the current door. The current retrieval location of the freight elevator is determined for the current door. A first retrieval device is selected from several retrieval devices corresponding to the current door. The first retrieval device is controlled to go from the current door to the current retrieval location to retrieve goods.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, After determining the current pickup location of the freight elevator for the current door, the method further includes at least one or more of the following steps: In response to the fact that the target floor of the goods corresponding to the current pickup location is not the floor where the freight elevator is currently located, it is determined that the goods have been picked up at the current door; In response to the fact that the target floor of the goods corresponding to the current pickup location is the floor where the freight elevator is currently stationary, and the pickup door of the current pickup location is the current door, the first pickup device is determined from a plurality of pickup devices corresponding to the current door, and the first pickup device is controlled to go from the current door to the current pickup location to pick up the goods; In response to the absence of a corresponding picking device at the current door and the presence of multiple doors in the freight elevator, a second picking device is selected from the picking devices at other doors. The second picking device is then controlled to proceed from the other doors to the current picking location to pick up the goods and exit from the current door.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The number of picking / placing devices corresponding to the doors of the freight elevator is determined based on the remaining path cost from each picking / placing device to the corresponding door; And / or, the freight elevator performs the delivery task only after the pickup task is completed; And / or, after the freight elevator has completed the pickup and drop-off of goods at the currently stopped floor, the method further includes at least one of the following steps: In response to the fact that there is space for loading goods in each storage location of the freight elevator, the freight elevator is dispatched to the floor with the longest waiting time for loading goods. In response to the fact that the freight elevator is a single-door elevator, the freight elevator is dispatched to the target floor with the nearest warehouse space to retrieve the goods; In response to the fact that the freight elevator is a multi-door single storage location, the freight elevator is dispatched to the target floor of the single storage location to retrieve the goods; In response to the fact that the freight elevator has multiple doors and multiple storage locations, the target floor with available storage locations for each door is determined. From the target floors corresponding to each door, the floor with the lowest cost to travel from the current floor is selected, and the freight elevator is dispatched to the floor with the lowest cost to retrieve the goods.

10. An electronic device, characterized in that, The electronic device includes a processor and a memory, the processor being coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute one or more steps of the pickup and delivery scheduling method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 based on instructions stored in the memory.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that is executed by a processor to implement the steps of the pickup and delivery scheduling method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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