Article sorting method, apparatus and system

Abstract

An article sorting method, apparatus and system, relating to the technical field of warehouse logistics. The article sorting method comprises: obtaining label information of an article to be sorted; according to the label information of said article, determining from a plurality of sorting areas a target sorting area allocated for said article, wherein at least one sorting area among the plurality of sorting areas comprises a plurality of lockers; and selecting a target locker from the lockers in the target sorting area; and outputting a sorting task, the sorting task being used for instructing to sort said article to the target locker.

Description

Article sorting method, device and system

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This disclosure is based on and claims priority to an application with CN application number 202310908849.8 and filing date July 24, 2023. The disclosure content of the CN application is hereby introduced into this disclosure as a whole. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of warehousing and logistics, and in particular to an item sorting method, device and system. Background Art

[0004] In the related art, in an item sorting operation scenario (such as a reverse sorting scenario), a method of randomly allocating slots for the items to be sorted is usually adopted.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for sorting items is provided, comprising: obtaining label information of items to be sorted; determining, based on the label information of the items to be sorted, a target sorting area to be assigned to the items to be sorted in a plurality of sorting areas, wherein at least one of the plurality of sorting areas includes a plurality of grid openings; selecting a target grid opening from the grid openings in the target sorting area; and outputting a sorting task, wherein the sorting task is used to instruct the items to be sorted to be sorted to the target grid opening.

[0007] In some embodiments, determining the target sorting area to be assigned to the item to be sorted among multiple sorting areas based on the label information of the item to be sorted includes: judging whether there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted among the multiple sorting areas; if there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted, judging whether there is an available grid in the associated sorting area based on the grid status information of the associated sorting area; if there is an available grid in the associated sorting area, determining the sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted as the target sorting area to be assigned to the item to be sorted.

[0008] In some embodiments, determining the target sorting area to be assigned to the item to be sorted in multiple sorting areas based on the label information of the item to be sorted also includes: when there is no available grid in the associated sorting area, obtaining the grid status information of the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area; judging whether there is an available grid in the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area based on the grid status information of the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area; when there is an available grid in the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area, determining the adjacent sorting area as the target sorting area to be assigned to the item to be sorted, and associating the label information of the item to be sorted with the target sorting area.

[0009] In some embodiments, determining a target sorting area to be assigned to the item to be sorted from multiple sorting areas based on the label information of the item to be sorted further includes: if there is no sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted among the multiple sorting areas, assigning a target sorting area to the item to be sorted, and associating the label information of the item to be sorted with the target sorting area.

[0010] In some embodiments, assigning a target sorting area to the items to be sorted includes: determining whether there is an idle sorting area among the multiple sorting areas, where the idle sorting area is a sorting area that is not associated with any item; if there is an idle sorting area, determining the target sorting area to be assigned to the items to be sorted from the idle sorting area.

[0011] In some embodiments, assigning a target sorting area to the items to be sorted further includes: in the absence of an idle sorting area, selecting a target sorting area to be assigned to the items to be sorted from the multiple sorting areas based on at least one of the number of labels associated with each of the multiple sorting areas and the number of available slots in each of the multiple sorting areas.

[0012] In some embodiments, the number of slots in each of the plurality of sorting areas is determined based on statistical data of historical sorted items.

[0013] In some embodiments, selecting a target grid from the grids in the target sorting area includes: when the sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted is used as the target sorting area, a grid in the target sorting area that has been allocated to a designated item but is not full, or an adjacent grid in the target sorting area that has been allocated to a designated item, is used as the target grid for the item to be sorted, and the designated item is an item having the same label information as the item to be sorted.

[0014] In some embodiments, the label information of the items to be sorted is the group information to which the items to be sorted belong, and obtaining the label information of the items to be sorted includes: receiving the identification of the items to be sorted from an item scanner; and obtaining the label information of the items to be sorted according to the identification of the items to be sorted and the association between the item identification and the label information.

[0015] In some embodiments, the plurality of sorting areas are obtained by dividing grids provided by a same sorting device, and the plurality of grids included in at least one of the plurality of sorting areas are spatially continuous.

[0016] In some embodiments, the sorting equipment includes a sorting cabinet or a distribution wall.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, an article sorting device is proposed, comprising: an acquisition module configured to acquire label information of an article to be sorted; a determination module configured to determine, based on the label information of the article to be sorted, a target sorting area to be assigned to the article to be sorted in a plurality of sorting areas, wherein at least one of the plurality of sorting areas includes a plurality of grid openings; a selection module configured to select a target grid opening from the grid openings in the target sorting area; and an output module configured to output a sorting task, wherein the sorting task is used to instruct the article to be sorted to be sorted to the target grid opening.

[0018] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, an article sorting system is proposed, comprising: a sorting device comprising a plurality of slots; and a controller configured to execute the article sorting method as described above.

[0019] In some embodiments, the sorting device is further configured to receive and display the sorting tasks output by the controller.

[0020] In some embodiments, the item sorting system further includes an item scanner, which is configured to send an identification of the item to be sorted to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to obtain label information of the item to be sorted based on the identification of the item to be sorted and an association between the item identification and the label information.

[0021] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is proposed, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the above-mentioned item sorting method based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0022] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which computer program instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the object sorting method as described above is implemented.

[0023] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program is proposed, comprising: instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the aforementioned article sorting method.

[0024] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0026] The present disclosure can be more clearly understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] FIG1 is a flow chart of an item sorting method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a process for allocating a target sorting area according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG3 is a flow chart of an item sorting method according to other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the layout of a sorting area according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0031] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of an article sorting device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of an item sorting system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computer system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement of components and steps, numerical expressions and numerical values ​​set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0036] At the same time, it should be understood that for the convenience of description, the sizes of the various parts shown in the drawings are not drawn according to the actual proportional relationship.

[0037] The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the present disclosure, its application, or uses.

[0038] Technologies, methods, and equipment known to ordinary technicians in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, the technologies, methods, and equipment should be considered part of the specification.

[0039] In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values ​​should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not limiting. Therefore, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

[0040] It should be noted that like reference numerals and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and therefore, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further discussed in subsequent figures.

[0041] It should be noted that the collection, collection, updating, analysis, processing, use, transmission, and storage of user personal information involved in the technical solutions disclosed herein all comply with relevant laws and regulations, are used for legitimate purposes, and do not violate public order and good morals. Necessary measures are taken with respect to user personal information to prevent unauthorized access to user personal information data and to safeguard the security of user personal information, network security, and national security.

[0042] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more clearly understood, the present disclosure is further described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] The inventors of the present disclosure have discovered that the grid allocation method in the related art easily causes the sorted items to be too scattered, making it difficult for on-site operators to collect the items.

[0044] In view of this, the present disclosure proposes an item sorting method, device and system, which adopts a two-level grid allocation method of first area and then grid, which can improve the concentration of items with the same label information sorted to the grid, thereby helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0045] Figure 1 is a flow chart of an article sorting method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1 , the article sorting method includes steps S110 to S140.

[0046] In step S110 , label information of the items to be sorted is obtained.

[0047] In some embodiments, the item sorting method is performed by an item sorting device.

[0048] In some embodiments, in a reverse sorting scenario (ie, a sorting scenario for returned items), the item sorting method shown in FIG. 1 is executed.

[0049] In some embodiments, the item sorting device obtains label information of the items to be sorted by querying the storage module.

[0050] In some examples, the label information of the items to be sorted is information about the group to which the items to be sorted belong. In these examples, step S110 includes: the item sorting device queries a data table that associates item identifiers with item label information based on the identifiers of the items to be sorted (e.g., the minimum inventory unit of the items) to determine the label information of the items to be sorted.

[0051] In step S120 , a target sorting area to be allocated to the item to be sorted is determined among multiple sorting areas according to the label information of the item to be sorted.

[0052] At least one of the plurality of sorting areas includes a plurality of slots, and the plurality of slots are continuous in space.

[0053] In some embodiments, the plurality of sorting areas are obtained by pre-dividing the grid openings of the sorting equipment.

[0054] In some embodiments, the sorting equipment includes a sorting cabinet or a put wall.

[0055] For example, the sorting device includes 10 rows of slots, and the 10 rows of slots are divided into 10 sorting areas, and each sorting area includes 1 row of slots.

[0056] For example, the sorting equipment includes 5 columns of grid openings, which are divided into 3 sorting areas, and each sorting area includes 1 column of grid openings, 2 column of grid openings, and 2 column of grid openings in sequence.

[0057] For example, the sorting equipment includes 50 slots, and these 50 slots are divided into three sorting areas. The number of slots in these three sorting areas is 10 consecutive slots, 20 consecutive slots, and 20 consecutive slots, respectively.

[0058] In some embodiments, step S120 includes: determining whether there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted among multiple sorting areas; if so, using the sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted as the target sorting area assigned to the item to be sorted; if not, assigning the target sorting area to the item to be sorted, and associating the target sorting area with the label information of the item to be sorted.

[0059] In some examples, a sorting area data table is set and maintained, and the sorting area data table includes identifiers of multiple sorting areas. In addition, if some of the multiple sorting areas have already been associated with label information, the sorting area data table also includes label information stored in association with the sorting area identifiers. In these examples, when executing step S120, the sorting area data table is queried based on the label information of the item to be sorted. If a sorting area identifier stored in association with the label information is found, indicating that a sorting area associated with the label information already exists, the sorting area associated with the label information is used as the target sorting area. If a sorting area identifier stored in association with the label information is not found, indicating that no sorting area is associated with the label information, a target sorting area is assigned to the item to be sorted, and the label information stored in association with the target sorting area identifier is added to the sorting area data table.

[0060] For example, assuming that the label information of the item to be sorted is AAA, if the sorting area data table contains associated storage data of "label information AAA-sorting area L1", then sorting area L1 is used as the target sorting area. If the sorting area data table does not contain a sorting area identifier associated with label information AAA, then a target sorting area is allocated to the item to be sorted (for example, sorting area L3 is used as the target sorting area), and the associated storage data of "label information AAA-sorting area L3" is added to the sorting area data table.

[0061] In other embodiments, the target sorting area assigned to the items to be sorted is determined according to the process shown in FIG. 2 .

[0062] In step S130 , a target slot is selected from the slots in the target sorting area.

[0063] In some embodiments, step S130 includes selecting a target slot based on slot status information within the target sorting area and tag information of items associated with the slot. For example, the slot status information includes whether the slot is full or available.

[0064] In some embodiments, step S130 includes: if there is a sorting area associated with the tag information of the item to be sorted, and the sorting area associated with the tag information of the item to be sorted is used as the target sorting area, a slot in the target sorting area that has been allocated to the designated item but is not full, or a slot in the target sorting area that is adjacent to the slot allocated to the designated item, as the target slot for the item to be sorted. The designated item is an item with the same tag information as the item to be sorted.

[0065] For example, suppose the tag information for item 1 to be sorted is AAA. If, during zone assignment for item 1, sorting zone L1 is found to be associated with this tag information, this indicates that some slots within this zone have already been allocated to other items with this tag information. In this case, if sorting zone L1 is selected as the target sorting zone for item 1, then, based on business rules, slots that are already allocated to items with tag information AAA but are not full will be prioritized, or slots adjacent to slots already allocated to a specific item will be prioritized.

[0066] In some embodiments, step S130 further includes: if there is no sorting area associated with the tag information of the item to be sorted and a target sorting area is assigned to the item to be sorted, selecting an unoccupied slot in the target sorting area as the target slot; if there is no unoccupied slot, selecting a target slot from among occupied slots. The unoccupied slot refers to a slot that has not yet been assigned.

[0067] In step S140 , the sorting task is output.

[0068] The sorting task is used to instruct the items to be sorted to be sorted to the target grid.

[0069] In some embodiments, step S140 includes: outputting the sorting task to a target slot on the sorting device, so as to display the sorting task at the target slot.

[0070] In some embodiments, step S140 includes: outputting the sorting task to the sorting execution mechanism so that the sorting execution mechanism executes the sorting task.

[0071] In the embodiment disclosed herein, by adopting a two-level grid allocation method of first allocating areas and then allocating grids, compared with the method of randomly allocating grids, items with the same label information can be allocated to grids in the same area or adjacent areas as much as possible, thereby improving the concentration of items with the same label information sorted to the grids, and thus helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0072] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a process for allocating a target sorting area according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG2 , the process for allocating a target sorting area includes steps S121 to S127.

[0073] In step S121 , it is determined whether there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted among the multiple sorting areas.

[0074] In some embodiments, step S121 includes: querying a sorting area data table based on the label information of the items to be sorted; if a sorting area identifier associated with the label information of the items to be sorted exists in the sorting area data table, then a sorting area associated with the label information of the items to be sorted exists; otherwise, there is no sorting area associated with the label information of the items to be sorted.

[0075] If the judgment result of step S121 is no, step S122 is executed; if the judgment result of step S121 is yes, step S123 is executed.

[0076] In step S122, a target sorting area is allocated to the items to be sorted, and the label information of the items to be sorted is associated with the target sorting area.

[0077] In some embodiments, step S122 includes determining whether there are any idle sorting areas among the plurality of sorting areas, and if there are idle sorting areas, determining a target sorting area from the idle sorting areas as a target sorting area for the items to be sorted. An idle sorting area is a sorting area that is not associated with any item.

[0078] For example, suppose the label information for item 1 to be sorted is AAA, and there are three sorting zones: L1, L2, and L3. Sorting zone L1 is associated with label information BBB, sorting zone L2 is associated with label information CCC, and sorting zone L3 is not associated with any label information. In step S122, sorting zone L3 is selected as the target sorting zone for item 1 to be sorted, and is associated with label information AAA.

[0079] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when allocating target sorting areas for items to be sorted, it is first determined whether there are idle sorting areas, and the idle sorting areas are preferentially allocated to the items to be sorted. This reserves space for items with label information associated with non-idle sorting areas, further improving the concentration of items with the same label information after sorting, thereby helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0080] In some embodiments, step S122 further includes: in the absence of an idle sorting area, selecting a target sorting area for assigning to the items to be sorted from the multiple sorting areas based on at least one of the number of tags associated with each of the multiple sorting areas and the number of available slots in each of the multiple sorting areas.

[0081] For example, when there are no idle sorting areas, the multiple sorting areas are sorted according to the number of tags associated with each of the multiple sorting areas, and the sorting area with the least number of associated tags is used as the target sorting area allocated to the items to be sorted.

[0082] For example, when there are no idle sorting areas, the multiple sorting areas are sorted according to the number of available slots in each of the multiple sorting areas, and the sorting area with the largest number of available slots is used as the target sorting area allocated to the items to be sorted.

[0083] For example, when there are no idle sorting areas, the multiple sorting areas are sorted according to the number of tags associated with each of the multiple sorting areas and the number of available slots in each of the multiple sorting areas, and the sorting area with the least number of associated tags and the largest number of available slots is used as the target sorting area to be allocated to the items to be sorted.

[0084] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when there are no idle sorting areas, by selecting a target sorting area for the items to be sorted based on the number of labels associated with each sorting area among multiple sorting areas and the number of available slots in each sorting area, it helps to further improve the concentration of items with the same label information after sorting, and thus helps to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0085] In step S123, based on the slot status information of the associated sorting area, it is determined whether there is an available slot in the associated sorting area.

[0086] In some embodiments, the bin status information for a sorting zone includes a status indicator indicating whether each bin is available. For example, when the bin status indicator is "A," the bin is available; when the bin status indicator is "N," the bin is unavailable. When all bin status indicators within an associated sorting zone are "N," there are no available bins within the associated sorting zone; when all bin status indicators within the associated sorting zone are not "N," there are available bins within the associated sorting zone.

[0087] In some embodiments, the slot status information for a sorting zone includes information about the number of available slots. When the number of available slots in an associated sorting zone is zero, it indicates that there are no available slots in the associated sorting zone. When the number of available slots in an associated sorting zone is an integer greater than or equal to 1, it indicates that there are available slots in the associated sorting zone.

[0088] If the judgment result of step S123 is yes, execute step S124; if the judgment result of step S123 is no, execute step S125.

[0089] In step S124, the sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted is determined as the target sorting area.

[0090] In step S125, based on the slot status information of the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area, it is determined whether there are available slots in the adjacent sorting area.

[0091] In some embodiments, when there is only one adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area, it is determined whether there are available slots in the adjacent sorting area according to the slot status information of the adjacent sorting area.

[0092] In some embodiments, when there are multiple adjacent sorting areas to an associated sorting area, one adjacent sorting area is first selected from the multiple adjacent sorting areas (e.g., an adjacent sorting area located above the associated sorting area), and then a determination is made as to whether there are available slots in the selected adjacent sorting area. If there are available slots, step S126 is executed; otherwise, another adjacent sorting area is selected (e.g., an adjacent sorting area located below the associated sorting area), and a determination is made as to whether there are available slots in the selected adjacent sorting area. This process continues until an area with available slots is found among the multiple adjacent sorting areas, or it is determined that none of the multiple adjacent sorting areas have available slots.

[0093] If the judgment result of step S125 is yes, execute step S126; if the judgment result of step S125 is no, execute step S127.

[0094] In step S126, the adjacent sorting area is determined as the target sorting area, and the label information of the items to be sorted is associated with the target sorting area.

[0095] In step S127, a target sorting area is determined from other sorting areas.

[0096] In some embodiments, when there are no available slots in the associated sorting area and the sorting areas adjacent to the associated sorting area, a sorting area is selected from other sorting areas as the target sorting area for the items to be sorted, and the target sorting area is associated with the label information of the items to be sorted.

[0097] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by preferentially allocating the sorting area associated with the label information of the items to be sorted to the items to be sorted, the items with the same label information can be gathered in the same sorting area as much as possible; further, when there are no available grids in the sorting area associated with the label information of the items to be sorted, by preferentially allocating the adjacent areas of the sorting area associated with the label information of the items to be sorted to the items to be sorted, the concentration of the items with the same label information after sorting can be further improved, which helps to improve the subsequent sorting efficiency of the items sorted to the grids.

[0098] FIG3 is a flow chart of an article sorting method according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG3 , the article sorting method includes steps S310 to S350.

[0099] In step S310 , the item scanner sends the identification of the item to be sorted.

[0100] In some embodiments, the identification of the items to be sorted is the bar code information of the items to be sorted. In these embodiments, the bar code information of the items to be sorted is scanned by an item scanner, and the bar code information of the items to be sorted is sent to the controller.

[0101] In some embodiments, the identifier of the item to be sorted is the QR code information of the item to be sorted. In these embodiments, the QR code information of the item to be sorted is scanned by an item scanner, and the QR code information of the item to be sorted is sent to the controller.

[0102] In some embodiments, the identification of the item to be sorted is the smallest stock keeping unit (SKU) of the item to be sorted. In these embodiments, the SKU of the item to be sorted is scanned by an item scanner, and the SKU of the item to be sorted is sent to the controller.

[0103] In some embodiments, the item sorting method further includes: the controller receiving a sorting plan sent by the user terminal, wherein the sorting plan includes an association between item identifiers (eg, SKUs) and labels.

[0104] In step S320, the controller determines the label information of the items to be sorted according to the identification of the items.

[0105] In some embodiments, the controller obtains the label information of the items to be sorted according to the identification of the items to be sorted and the association between the item identification and the label information.

[0106] For example, the identifier of the item to be sorted is the SKU of the item to be sorted. After the barcode information of the item to be sorted is scanned by an item scanner and sent to the controller, the controller extracts the SKU of the item from the barcode information and then searches for the association between the item SKU and the label information based on the SKU of the item to obtain the label information of the item to be sorted.

[0107] In step S330, the controller assigns a target sorting area.

[0108] In this step, the controller determines a target sorting area to be allocated to the items to be sorted from among the multiple sorting areas based on the label information of the items to be sorted, wherein at least one of the multiple sorting areas includes multiple slots.

[0109] In some embodiments, step S330 includes: the controller determines whether there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the item to be sorted; if there is an associated sorting area, the associated sorting area is used as the target sorting area; if there is no associated sorting area, the target sorting area is selected from multiple sorting areas, and the target sorting area is associated with the label information of the item to be sorted.

[0110] In some embodiments, the controller assigns target sorting areas to the items to be sorted based on the process shown in FIG. 2 .

[0111] In some embodiments, the item sorting method further includes: determining whether the grid opening of the sorting device has been divided into multiple sorting areas; if so, executing step S330; if not, first dividing the grid opening of the sorting device into multiple sorting areas, and then executing step S330.

[0112] In some embodiments, the item sorting method further includes determining the number of divided sorting areas and the number of slots within each of the plurality of divided sorting areas based on statistical data of historically sorted items. For example, the number of slots within each of the plurality of sorting areas may be determined based on one or more of the volume of the historically sorted items, the number of historically sorted items, the type of the historically sorted items, the shelf location of the historically sorted items, and label information of the historically sorted items.

[0113] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by determining the number of divided sorting areas and the number of grids in each sorting area based on statistical data of historically sorted items, the sorting areas can be divided more specifically, thereby further improving the concentration of items with the same label information after sorting.

[0114] In step S340 , the controller allocates a target slot.

[0115] In some embodiments, the controller assigns target slots to the items to be sorted according to the relevant allocation method in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 .

[0116] In step S350 , the controller sends the sorting task to the sorting device.

[0117] The sorting task is used to instruct the items to be sorted to be sorted to the target grid.

[0118] In some embodiments, the controller outputs the sorting task to a target slot on the sorting device to display the sorting task at the target slot.

[0119] In the disclosed embodiment, the above steps enable more efficient and intelligent slot allocation. Furthermore, by adopting a two-stage slot allocation method that first allocates areas and then allocates slots, compared to a random slot allocation method, items with the same tag information are more likely to be allocated to slots in the same area or adjacent areas, thereby increasing the concentration of items with the same tag information sorted to slots, thereby helping to improve overall warehouse operation efficiency.

[0120] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the layout of a sorting area according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the multiple slots of the sorting equipment are divided into multiple sorting areas, including sorting area L1 401, sorting area L2 402, sorting area L3 403, sorting area L4 404, sorting area L5 405, and sorting area L6 406.

[0121] In some embodiments, each sorting area includes the same number of slots.

[0122] In some embodiments, the number of slots included in each sorting area may be different, such as the sorting area shown in Figure 4. The number of slots in the sorting area may be one or more.

[0123] In some embodiments, different granularities (number of grids) of sorting areas are configured for different business scenarios.

[0124] In some embodiments, the slots of the sorting equipment are divided into sorting slots and spare slots. In these embodiments, the sorting slots are divided into multiple sorting areas. When assigning slots to items to be sorted, if no sorting slots are found, spare slots are assigned to the items to be sorted. This minimizes random placement of items and facilitates the next round of sorting.

[0125] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by dividing the multiple slots of the sorting equipment into multiple sorting areas, and adopting a two-level slot allocation method of first allocating areas and then allocating slots, compared with the random allocation method of slots, items with the same label information can be allocated to the slots in the same area or adjacent areas as much as possible, thereby improving the concentration of items with the same label information sorted to the slots, and thus helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0126] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an article sorting device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG5 , the article sorting device 500 includes an acquisition module 510 , a determination module 520 , a selection module 530 , and an output module 540 .

[0127] The acquisition module 510 is configured to acquire label information of the items to be sorted.

[0128] The determination module 520 is configured to determine a target sorting area to be allocated to the item to be sorted from among the multiple sorting areas according to the label information of the item to be sorted, wherein at least one of the multiple sorting areas includes multiple slots.

[0129] The selection module 530 is configured to select a target slot from the slots in the target sorting area.

[0130] The output module 540 is configured to output a sorting task, wherein the sorting task is used to instruct the items to be sorted to be sorted to a target slot.

[0131] In the device of the embodiment of the present disclosure, by adopting a two-level grid allocation method of first allocating areas and then allocating grids, compared with the random grid allocation method, items with the same label information can be allocated to grids in the same area or adjacent areas as much as possible, thereby improving the concentration of items with the same label information sorted to the grids, and thus helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0132] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an article sorting system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG6 , the article sorting system 600 includes a sorting device 610 and a controller 620 .

[0133] The sorting device 610 includes a plurality of slots.

[0134] The controller 620 is configured to execute the item sorting method as described above.

[0135] In some embodiments, the item sorting system further includes an item scanner. The item scanner is configured to transmit an identifier of an item to be sorted to the controller 620. The controller 620 is configured to obtain label information of the item to be sorted based on the identifier of the item to be sorted and the association between the identifier of the item and the label information. The controller 620 determines a target sorting area for the item to be sorted from among multiple sorting areas based on the label information of the item to be sorted. The controller 620 selects a target slot from the slots within the target sorting area. The controller 620 outputs a sorting task.

[0136] In some embodiments, the controller 620 is configured to output the sorting tasks to the sorting device 610 ; the sorting device 610 is further configured to receive and display the sorting tasks output by the controller 620 .

[0137] In the disclosed embodiments, the above system enables more efficient and intelligent slot allocation. Furthermore, by adopting a two-level slot allocation method that first allocates areas and then allocates slots, compared to a random slot allocation method, items with the same tag information are allocated to slots in the same area or adjacent areas as much as possible, thereby increasing the concentration of items with the same tag information sorted to slots, thereby helping to improve overall warehouse operation efficiency.

[0138] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0139] As shown in FIG7 , electronic device 700 includes memory 710 and processor 720 coupled to memory 710. Memory 710 is configured to store instructions for executing the object sorting method according to the embodiments. Processor 720 is configured to execute the object sorting method according to any of the embodiments of the present disclosure based on the instructions stored in memory 710.

[0140] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a computer system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0141] 8 , a computer system 800 may be implemented as a general-purpose computing device and includes a memory 810 , a processor 820 , and a bus 830 that connects various system components.

[0142] Memory 810 may include, for example, system memory, non-volatile storage media, and the like. System memory, for example, stores an operating system, application programs, a boot loader, and other programs. System memory may include volatile storage media, such as random access memory (RAM) and / or cache memory. Non-volatile storage media, for example, stores instructions corresponding to at least one embodiment of the item sorting method being executed. Non-volatile storage media include, but are not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and flash memory.

[0143] The processor 820 can be implemented using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, or discrete hardware components such as discrete gates or transistors. Accordingly, each module, such as the acquisition module and the determination module, can be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU) executing instructions in a memory that execute corresponding steps, or by dedicated circuits that execute corresponding steps.

[0144] The bus 830 may use any of a variety of bus architectures, including, but not limited to, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

[0145] The input / output interface 840, network interface 850, storage interface 860, memory 810, and processor 820 in computer system 800 can be connected via bus 830. The input / output interface 840 provides a connection interface for input / output devices such as a display, mouse, and keyboard. The network interface 850 provides a connection interface for various networked devices. The storage interface 860 provides a connection interface for external storage devices such as floppy disks, USB flash drives, and SD cards.

[0146] Here, various aspects of the present disclosure are described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices, and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each block of the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks, can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions.

[0147] These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable device to produce a machine, so that the processor executes the instructions to produce means for implementing the functions specified in one or more blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams.

[0148] These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory, which cause the computer to operate in a specific manner to produce an article of manufacture, including instructions for implementing the functions specified in one or more blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams.

[0149] The present disclosure can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects.

[0150] The article sorting method, device, and system in the above-mentioned embodiments can improve the concentration of sorted articles with the same label information, thereby helping to improve the overall warehousing operation efficiency.

[0151] The article sorting method, apparatus, and system according to the present disclosure have been described in detail. To avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure, some details known in the art have been omitted. Based on the above description, those skilled in the art will readily understand how to implement the technical solutions disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for sorting items, comprising: Get the label information of the items to be sorted; According to the label information of the to-be-sorted object, determine a target sorting area to be allocated to the to-be-sorted object in a plurality of sorting areas, wherein at least one of the plurality of sorting areas includes a plurality of grids; Selecting a target grid from the grids in the target sorting area; Output a sorting task, wherein the sorting task is used to instruct to sort the items to be sorted to the target grid.

2. The article sorting method according to claim 1, wherein: The step of determining a target sorting area to be allocated to the object to be sorted from among multiple sorting areas according to the label information of the object to be sorted comprises: Determine whether there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the object to be sorted among the multiple sorting areas; In the case where there is a sorting area associated with the label information of the to-be-sorted object, judging whether there is an available slot in the associated sorting area according to the slot state information of the associated sorting area; In the case that there are available slots in the associated sorting area, the sorting area associated with the tag information of the to-be-sorted object is determined as the target sorting area allocated to the to-be-sorted object.

3. The article sorting method according to claim 2, wherein: The step of determining a target sorting area to be allocated to the object to be sorted from among multiple sorting areas according to the label information of the object to be sorted further comprises: When there is no available slot in the associated sorting area, obtaining slot status information of an adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area; According to the slot status information of the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area, determining whether there is an available slot in the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area; In the case that there are available slots in the adjacent sorting area of ​​the associated sorting area, the adjacent sorting area is determined as the target sorting area assigned to the to-be-sorted object, and the label information of the to-be-sorted object is associated with the target sorting area.

4. The article sorting method according to claim 2, wherein: The step of determining a target sorting area to be allocated to the object to be sorted from a plurality of sorting areas according to the label information of the object to be sorted further comprises: In the case that there is no sorting area associated with the label information of the to-be-sorted object among the multiple sorting areas, a target sorting area is allocated to the to-be-sorted object, and the label information of the to-be-sorted object is associated with the target sorting area.

5. The article sorting method according to claim 4, wherein: The allocating a target sorting area for the items to be sorted comprises: Determine whether there is an idle sorting area among the multiple sorting areas, where the idle sorting area is a sorting area that is not associated with any item; In the case that there are free sorting areas, a target sorting area allocated to the to-be-sorted items is determined from the free sorting areas.

6. The article sorting method according to claim 5, wherein: The allocating a target sorting area for the items to be sorted also includes: In the case that there are no idle sorting areas, a target sorting area to be allocated to the items to be sorted is selected from the multiple sorting areas according to at least one of the number of labels associated with each of the multiple sorting areas and the number of available slots in each of the multiple sorting areas.

7. The article sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The number of slots in each of the plurality of sorting areas is determined according to statistical data of historical sorted items.

8. The article sorting method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein: The step of selecting a target grid from grids in the target sorting area comprises: In the case where the sorting area associated with the label information of the object to be sorted is used as the target sorting area, a grid in the target sorting area that has been allocated to a designated object but is not full, or an adjacent grid in the target sorting area that has been allocated to a designated object, is used as the target grid for the object to be sorted. The designated object is an object having the same label information as the object to be sorted.

9. The article sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The label information of the items to be sorted is the group information to which the items to be sorted belong, and the step of obtaining the label information of the items to be sorted includes: Receive identification of items to be sorted from an item scanner; The label information of the object to be sorted is obtained according to the identification of the object to be sorted and the association between the object identification and the label information.

10. The article sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: The plurality of sorting areas are obtained by dividing the grids provided by the same sorting device, and the plurality of grids included in at least one of the plurality of sorting areas are continuous in space.

11. The article sorting method according to claim 10, wherein: The sorting equipment includes a sorting cabinet or a distribution wall.

12. An article sorting device, comprising: An acquisition module, configured to acquire label information of items to be sorted; A determination module, configured to determine a target sorting area to be allocated to the object to be sorted from a plurality of sorting areas according to the label information of the object to be sorted, wherein at least one of the plurality of sorting areas includes a plurality of grids; A selection module is configured to select a target grid from grids in the target sorting area; The output module is configured to output a sorting task, wherein the sorting task is used to instruct the objects to be sorted to be sorted to the target grid.

13. An article sorting system, comprising: Sorting equipment, including a plurality of slots; A controller configured to execute the object sorting method described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

14. The article sorting system according to claim 13, wherein: The sorting device is also configured to: Receive and display the sorting tasks output by the controller.

15. The article sorting system according to claim 13, further comprising an article scanner, wherein the article scanner is configured to send an identification of the to-be-sorted article to the controller, wherein: The controller is configured to obtain the label information of the object to be sorted according to the identification of the object to be sorted and the association relationship between the object identification and the label information.

16. An electronic device, comprising: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the object sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 based on instructions stored in the memory.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the object sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

18. A computer program comprising: Instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the object sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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