JP2012224404A - Device and method for sorting and distributing articles - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for sorting and distributing articles, which prevent articles from circling around with a simple constitution.SOLUTION: A device 100 for sorting and distributing articles includes an article collection line 140 disposed in connection with an article sending line 120, a collection and transfer mechanism 121, an article recognition means 150 for recognizing articles sent on the article sending line 120 and a collection control unit for controlling the collection and transfer mechanism 121 and the article recognition means 150. The device 100 further includes: a characteristic data calculation means for extracting article data from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means 150; a data collation means for collating the article data and the article sending data to determine the presence or absence of corresponding article sending data and, when the corresponding article sending data is found, generating a signal indicating the presence of the article; a data rewriting means for writing the article sending data successively in a data storage means; and an article circulation determination means for instructing the collection of the article to the collection and transfer mechanism based on the signal indicating the presence of the article received from the data collation means.

Description

  The present invention includes one or a plurality of article loading stations and article dispensing stations around a circulation line of an article delivery line, and an article that streamlines the sorting operation of articles that sort a large number of types and a large number of articles according to delivery destinations. More specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic sorting machine for sorting mail such as parcels by delivery destination and a sorting and delivery apparatus for sorting a bundle of newspapers by delivery destination. is there.

  Conventionally, an article such as a bar code reader (BCR) provided at a desired location on an article delivery line is mounted on an article delivery line formed by a conveyor or the like that circulates and moves articles entered from an article entry station. An article sorting and delivery apparatus or article that reads a delivery destination described in a destination label affixed to an article by a delivery destination reading means constituted by a reading apparatus and transfers the article to an article dispensing station based on the read delivery destination. Delivery sorting methods are known.

In such a conventional article sorting and delivery apparatus, articles are introduced into the article delivery line directly from the carry-in process such as the pre-stage collection and delivery mechanism or the manufacturing process of the factory, or from the article input station via the automatic warehouse. The input destination data or the destination data displayed on the destination label affixed to the surface of the article to be transported on the article forwarding line by the delivery destination reading means provided at the desired location on the article forwarding line, or the article The delivery destination data printed on the front surface is automatically read, and the delivery article is delivered to a desired article dispensing station based on the read delivery destination data.
When this kind of article delivery sorter becomes large-scale, it will have a long process forwarding line equipped with a large number of article input stations and article delivery stations. The contents processed in the control unit, such as switching control of transfer means based on data, have become enormous.

  In order to reduce processing such as delivery destination reading by the delivery destination data reading means, the number of destination labels to which delivery destination data is attached is minimized, and destination labels are attached only to two types of fractional bundles W2 and W3. Affixed and the other constant bundle W1 is not attached with a destination label, and the subsequent constant bundle W1 is read only by the fractional bundle with the destination label for reading the delivery destination and controlling the sorting transfer mechanism based on this. There has also been proposed a method in which the calculation burden is simplified by sorting into the same destinations as the preceding fractional bundles W2 and W3 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-3-232618 (full text, FIG. 1)

However, in the conventional article sorting and delivery apparatus, sometimes an article that continues around the article forwarding line without being appropriately transferred to the sorting destination may be generated.
In an article forwarding line where a large number of articles are transferred, the articles may collide with each other or a string that binds the articles may be caught, and the sorting / transfer mechanism may not transfer the articles properly. The article that did not exist has continued to travel around the article delivery line many times, which has become a problem in the transfer and sorting of articles to be thrown in later.

For this reason, in the past, when the sorting work was temporarily suspended, such as when the delivery destination truck was changed, the articles remaining on the article forwarding line were manually removed. For example, when a truck is replaced at a certain time, or when a specific goods dispensing station is used for a long time because a truck is continuously replaced at one article dispensing station, it takes a long time until the dispensing operation is interrupted. Articles that have failed to be sorted will circulate around the article forwarding line over a long period of time, and it will take a long time to capture and re-sort the articles, or the circulating articles may interfere with the sorting of other articles. There was a problem.
In particular, in the sorting and conveying apparatus that sorts and conveys the fractional bundle and the constant bundle described above, if the constant bundle W1 fails to be sorted at the sorting position, the constant bundle W1 itself does not have destination data, and thus the sorting is temporarily lost. Then, there was a problem that the worker continued on the forwarding line for a long time until the worker noticed, that is, continued to circulate.

  In order to improve these, it is conceivable to attach the destination label to all articles so as to read the destination label every time. Then, the fraction bundles W2 and W3 and the constant bundle W1 exemplified above are used. This will further increase the problem of destination reading processing that has become a problem in the prior art used, and it should be considered as the original problem of reducing the processing load such as reading of the destination label, which was aimed at by the prior art. That was a problem.

In addition, it is conceivable that some kind of mark is given to the article W that circulates around the article forwarding line to help collect the article, but in this case, the dispensed article may be soiled by the given mark. It is never desirable, and such marks can cause misreading of destinations during re-sorting, which can cause other problems.
In addition, instead of attaching labels to individual articles W, it may be possible to put in and out each article W in a state where each article W is mounted on an identifiable tray, container or the like. This is a further problem because the work to be loaded and unloaded on trays, containers, etc. has increased, and the work load has increased significantly.

When such circulation of articles occurs, the transfer of articles to be introduced subsequently is hindered, and if the number of circulating articles increases due to the large scale of the apparatus, it will hinder the sorting and conveyance of articles. It was a problem.
In the case of a large-scale article sorting and delivery device, the number of article input stations, article delivery stations, and sort transfer units will increase, and the possibility of articles colliding with each other increases, and the sorting operation continues for a long time. Therefore, the reading at the delivery destination reading means and the sorting process in the transfer mechanism are not in time, and a sorting error occurs, or an expensive information processing apparatus having high processing capability is required to prevent such processing delay, and the apparatus itself is Since the cost is high and the opportunity for maintenance work is reduced, the problem of the circulation of the article as described above is a serious problem.

  Therefore, the present invention solves the above-described problem, that is, an object of the present invention is to provide an article sorting / delivery device and an article sorting / delivery method for detecting and collecting articles by a simple mechanism. That is.

  The invention according to claim 1 is provided with a plurality of article loading stations, a plurality of article dispensing stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between the article feeding station and the article dispensing station, and the article feeding line. An article collection line; a collection / transfer mechanism for transferring articles between the article delivery line and the article collection line; an article recognition means for recognizing an article transported through the article delivery line; and the collection / transfer mechanism And a collection control unit for controlling the article recognition means, wherein the collection control unit extracts article data representing the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means. Article data calculating means, and article data for storing and holding the article data extracted by the article data calculating means as forwarding article data Data storage means, the extracted article data and the forwarded article data are collated to determine the presence or absence of the corresponding forwarded article data, and when the corresponding forwarded article data is not found, the extracted article data is newly forwarded. When the corresponding forwarded article data is found as the article data, the data collating means for generating an existing article presence signal and the forwarded article data are sequentially received from the article data collating means, and the forwarded article data is stored in the article data storage means. Article data rewriting means for writing, and article circulation determining means for determining the circulation of the article based on the existing article presence signal received from the data collating means and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article. Thus, the above-mentioned problem is solved.

  In addition to the configuration of the invention according to claim 1, the article sorting and delivering device of the invention according to claim 2 calculates the article data together with the time when the article data calculating means recognizes the article, and the data collating means The above-mentioned problem is further solved by collating the article data with one or more forwarded article data stored in the article data storage means.

  In addition to the configuration of the invention according to claim 1 or claim 2, the article circulation device of the invention according to claim 3 is configured such that the article circulation determination means sets the number of times the existing article presence signal is received to a predetermined value. The above-described problem is further solved by determining the circulation of the article when it is reached and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article.

  In addition to the configuration of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the article sorting and delivery apparatus according to the invention according to claim 4 is a delivery in which the article forwarding line reads delivery data displayed on the article. The above-described problem is further solved by including data reading means and a sorting transfer mechanism for sorting the articles into a desired article dispensing station based on the delivery data read by the delivery data reading means. is there.

  The article sorting and delivery method of the invention according to claim 5 includes a plurality of article loading stations, a plurality of article dispensing stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between the article loading station and the article dispensing station, and the article forwarding An article collection line connected to the line, a collection / transfer mechanism for transferring articles between the article delivery line and the article collection line, an article recognition means for recognizing an article transferred through the article delivery line, and An article sorting / delivery method using an article sorting / delivery device including a collection / transfer mechanism and a collection control unit for controlling an article recognition means, wherein the collection control unit forwards article data relating to an article to be transferred through an article forwarding line. Article data representative of the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means When the article data calculation step to extract, the data collation step for comparing the article data with the forwarding article data stored in the storage means to determine the presence or absence of the corresponding forwarding article data, and when the corresponding forwarding article data is not found The article data rewriting step for sequentially writing the extracted article data as new forwarded article data in the article data storage means, and when the corresponding forwarded article data is found, it is determined that the existing article is present and the existence of the existing article is determined. The above-described problem is solved by providing an article circulation determination step of determining the circulation of the article based on the above and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article.

  According to the article sorting and delivering apparatus of the present invention according to claim 1, a plurality of article input stations, a plurality of article delivery stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between these article input stations and article delivery stations, and articles An article collection line connected to the forwarding line; a collection / transfer mechanism for transferring articles between the article forwarding line and the article collection line; an article recognition means for recognizing articles transferred through the article forwarding line; By including a collection control unit that controls the transfer mechanism and the article recognition means, it is possible to transfer and collect articles that circulate via the article collection line from the article forwarding line. In this case, it is automatically prevented that the articles continue to circulate, and sorting errors may occur due to contact between the articles, or the articles to be dispensed may be damaged. To or can be prevented without requiring human intervention.

  In the article sorting and delivering apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, the collection control unit further extracts article data representing the article data representing the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means. Means, article data storage means for storing / holding article data obtained by article data calculation means as forwarding article data, and the presence of corresponding forwarding article data by comparing the extracted article data with the forwarding article data. If the article data is determined and the corresponding forwarding article data is not found, the article data is set as new forwarding article data, and if the corresponding forwarding article data is found, the article data matching means for generating an existing article presence signal, and article data An article data rewriting means for sequentially receiving new forwarding article data from the collating means and writing the forwarding article data to the article data storage means; The destination is read for sorting the article by providing article rounding judgment means for judging the round of the article based on the existing article presence signal received from the means and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article. In order to specify the article to be transferred on the forwarding line without reading the destination data using the delivery destination reading means, the article is determined whether or not the destination data is attached. Thus, the collection and transfer mechanism can be reliably operated based on the determination result, and the circulating articles that continue to rotate around the forwarding line without being sorted can be reliably collected.

Therefore, even in the case of an article sorting / delivery apparatus that handles constant bundles and fractional bundles not attached with destination data as described above, an article sorting / delivery apparatus is formed by adding a collection mechanism as in the present invention. Thus, it is possible to reliably collect the circulating articles.
Further, only the article data representing the characteristics of the article is extracted from the data obtained from the article recognition means, and the comparison of the data is performed based on the extracted article data. For example, the comparison judgment is performed based on the captured two-dimensional data itself. Compared with the case where the process is executed, the calculation process is greatly simplified. Therefore, it is possible to respond appropriately to the processing of a large number of articles, and it is possible to reduce the cost by using an inexpensive calculation means.

  According to the article sorting / delivery device of the present invention according to claim 2, in addition to the effect achieved by the article sorting / delivery apparatus according to claim 1, the article data calculating means calculates the article data together with the time when the article data calculating means recognizes the article. The article data collating unit collates the article data with the one or a plurality of forwarded article data stored in the article data storage unit, thereby making it possible to compare the forwarding items to be compared from among a large number of the forwarding article data. Since the range of the article data can be greatly limited to only the forwarded article data of one or more previous cycles, the burden of data collation / contrast processing in the article data collating means can be greatly reduced, and an inexpensive computing means can be used. Even if it exists, it can collect | recover the articles | goods which circulate reliably.

  According to the article sorting / delivery device of the present invention according to claim 3, in addition to the effect exhibited by the article sorting / delivery apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the article rounding determination means receives the number of times the existing article presence signal is received. When the value reaches a predetermined value, it is determined that the product has been circulated and the collection and transfer mechanism is instructed to collect the product. For example, a large number of products are concentrated and transferred to a specific product delivery station. In cases where it takes time, the collection of the articles is performed after allowing the desired degree of laps and the sorting operation is performed again, so that unnecessary collection of articles due to misjudgment can be reduced. By setting the number of laps according to the actual situation of the sorting work, the sorting work can be smoothly performed without increasing the number of collected articles.

  According to the article sorting and delivering apparatus of the present invention according to claim 4, in addition to the effect achieved by the article sorting and delivering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, an article forwarding line is displayed on the article. Articles that circulate by providing delivery data reading means for reading the delivery data, and a sorting transfer mechanism for sorting the articles into a desired article dispensing station based on the delivery data read by the delivery data reading means Since the sorting or collection is performed by using the sorting by the sorting and transferring mechanism and the collecting by the collecting and transferring mechanism in combination, the articles that can be sorted can be collected by the collecting and transferring mechanism after the circulating articles are sorted again. With respect to the item, the collection operation can be performed while the sorting is performed, and the collected items can be reduced as much as possible to efficiently perform the item distribution operation.

  According to the article sorting and delivering method of the invention of claim 5, a plurality of article loading stations, a plurality of article dispensing stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between these article loading stations and the article dispensing station, and article forwarding An article collection line connected to the line, a collection / transfer mechanism for transferring articles between the article forwarding line and the article collection line, an article recognition means for recognizing articles transferred through the article forwarding line, and a collection transfer An article sorting / delivery method using an article sorting / delivery device having a collection mechanism and a collection control unit for controlling article recognition means, wherein the collection control unit stores forwarding article data relating to an article transferred through an article forwarding line. Article data comprising storage means and extracting article data representing the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means A calculation step, a data collating step for comparing the article data with the forwarded article data stored in the storage means to determine the presence or absence of the corresponding article data, and if no corresponding forwarded article data is found, the article data is updated. Article data rewriting step that sequentially writes the article data storage means as the article data storage means as the article data storage means, and the article based on the judgment of the existence of the base article by determining that the article is already present when the corresponding article data is found. And an article circulation determination step for determining the circulation of the article and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article, so that the delivery data can be transferred on the article forwarding line without using the delivery destination reading means to read the destination data. It is possible to identify an article to be circulated through the article collection line by identifying the article to be circulated through the article collection line. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the articles from continuing to circulate in the article sorting and delivery device, to prevent sorting mistakes or damage to the articles due to contact between the articles, and the destination data is stored in the articles. The circulating article can be discriminated regardless of whether it is attached, and the circulating article can be recovered by operating the recovery / transfer mechanism reliably based on the determination result.

  Further, only the article data representing the characteristics of the article is extracted from the data obtained from the article recognition means, and the comparison of the data is performed based on the extracted article data. For example, the comparison judgment is performed based on the captured two-dimensional data itself. Compared with the case where the process is executed, the calculation process is greatly simplified. Therefore, it is possible to respond appropriately to the processing of a large number of articles, and it is possible to reduce the cost by using an inexpensive calculation means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Schematic explaining the goods sorting delivery apparatus which is an Example of this invention. Schematic of the article recognition unit used for the article sorting and delivery apparatus shown in FIG. The functional block diagram of the collection | recovery control unit in the goods sorting delivery apparatus shown in FIG. The flowchart of the goods collection operation | movement in the goods sorting delivery apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a delivery destination reading unit that is additionally used in the article sorting and delivery apparatus shown in FIG. 1. Schematic of the prior art article sorting and delivery apparatus.

  The present invention relates to a plurality of input stations, a plurality of discharge stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and conveying articles between the article input station and the article delivery station, an article recovery line connected to the article delivery line, and an article delivery line. A transfer and transfer mechanism for transferring an article between the printer and the article collection line, an article recognition unit for recognizing an article transferred through the article forwarding line, and a collection control unit for controlling the collection and transfer mechanism and the article recognition unit. An article sorting / delivery device comprising: a collection control unit for extracting article data representing characteristics of the article from article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means; and the article data computing means. Article data storage means for storing / holding the obtained article data as forwarding article data, and the extracted article data and forwarding goods Check the data to determine the presence or absence of the corresponding forwarded article data. If the corresponding forwarded article data is not found, the relevant article data is used as new forwarded article data, and the corresponding forwarded article data is found. A data collating unit that generates an existing article presence signal, an article data rewriting unit that sequentially receives the forwarded article data from the data collating unit and writes it into the article data storage unit, and an article based on the existing article presence signal received from the data collating unit A specific embodiment of the present invention is provided as long as it includes an article circulation determination means for determining the circulation and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article, and detects and collects the circulation of the article by a simple mechanism. Can be anything.

  That is, the forwarding line used in the present invention is basically a belt-type conveyor, but may be a conveyor of a type that circulates and drives a tray.

  The article sorting and delivery apparatus may be applied to all articles with destination labels attached, or a mixture of articles with destination labels as described above and articles without destination labels. Then, the present invention may be applied to an article sorting / delivery device that is transported in this manner.

As the forwarding line, the article may be transferred two-dimensionally, or the article may be provided three-dimensionally with a three-dimensional transfer path.
In addition, it may be installed at a production location such as a factory where goods are delivered, or at a logistics site where goods carried into a warehouse are stored, or from an (automatic) warehouse at a logistics site to a store, etc. It may be installed at a sorting point when delivering goods, or it may be placed at a port, airport, etc. where a ship, aircraft, etc. is transshipped to a truck, mail, parcel, etc. is placed at a location where it is transshipped at a delivery base Good.

As the article recognition means, a CCD, a TV camera, a laser scanner, or the like can be used.
As representative values of articles, in addition to external dimensions such as vertical, horizontal, and height, shapes such as circles and rectangular parallelepipeds, shapes of specific parts such as colors and corners, etc. are classified into specific patterns and classified. By taking a method such as storing which pattern belongs to, it is possible to significantly reduce the data processing burden in storing, retrieving, and comparing forwarding article data.

  Also, considering the possibility that the articles will collide and partially deform, or the attitude of the article may change during transfer, give an appropriate width in the analogy judgment, or consider the rotation of the article. If the analogy determination is performed, the possibility that the article continues to circulate can be further reduced.

Hereinafter, an article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of an article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanation of an article recognition unit used in the article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a collection control unit in the article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an article collection operation in the article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a delivery destination reading unit 170 that is additionally used in the article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 shown in FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, an article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is provided with an article forwarding line 120 between an article input station 110 and an article dispensing station 130 and is input at the article input station 110. The articles W are configured to be sorted and delivered to a desired article dispensing station 130 through the article forwarding line 120.
The article loading station 110 located in the upper part of the figure carries two articles loading stations 111 for transferring and loading articles from an automatic warehouse to a forwarding line by a stacker crane, and carries articles produced on other production lines by a forklift or a cart. There are two article input stations 112 and 113 that can be inserted, and one article input station 114 that carries small articles by a cart or the like and inputs them manually.
Of course, the article input station 110 does not need to be such a kind of station and radix, and in the case of an automatic warehouse, the article is carried out from an automatic warehouse having a large number of fixed shelves or moving shelves by a manipulator or the like. However, it is also possible to transport items that are bundled and packed in a separate line of the factory with a conveyor, and when used at a large logistics base, postal collection and delivery office, etc. It may be an article loading station for unloading articles and loading articles.

Also, the article dispensing station 130 located in the lower part of the figure allocates, for example, a separate article dispensing station 132 for each destination truck to be dispensed, and sorts the articles input to each article dispensing station 132 for each destination. When the articles sorted in a truck placed next to each article dispensing station 132 are loaded and dispensed, the sorted articles W are temporarily stocked.
The stocked article W may be loaded on the truck by the truck driver, but may be automatically loaded on the truck bed by a conveyor or the like.
In the present embodiment, an article dispensing station 131 that can lie a cart sideways is installed on the downstream side of the forwarding line so that only one small package can be dispensed.

The article forwarding line 120 for transferring articles between the article input station 110 and the article delivery station 130 is composed of a belt conveyor that circulates between these stations 110 and 130.
The shape of the article forwarding line is not necessarily an elliptical track, and can be appropriately arranged according to the type, number, and layout of the article input station 110 and the article delivery station 130, but the concept will be described. In order to facilitate understanding, an elliptical orbit is shown in the drawing.
In the forwarding line 120, a delivery destination reading unit 170 as delivery destination reading means such as a BCR is installed at a desired location downstream of the article input station 110 and upstream of the article delivery station 130, and a plurality of article delivery stations 130 exist. The sorting transfer mechanism 122 for transferring the articles is arranged at a position corresponding to each of the items, and the destination data attached to the articles W transferred on the article forwarding line 120 is read by the delivery destination reading unit 170. Based on the read destination data, the sorting transfer mechanism 122 is driven to sort and deliver the articles W to the desired article dispensing station 130.

Accordingly, the articles W loaded from any of the article loading stations 110 are transferred on the article forwarding line 120, the destination data is read by the delivery destination reading unit 170, and the sorting / transferring mechanism is based on the read destination data. 122 is activated, and is sorted and delivered to each article dispensing station 130.
If there is an article W that continues to move around the article forwarding line 120 without being transferred, it is further moved on the circulation conveyor, the destination is read again by the delivery destination reading unit 170, and the sorting transfer mechanism is used. Sorted again.
The sorting / delivery destination reading unit 170 includes an optical reader 171 and a height detector 172 as described in the prior art, and sorts and distributes a constant bundle and a fractional bundle. It may be a read-ahead unit.

The above is the same as the conventional article sorting and delivery apparatus, but with such an apparatus, if the destination data cannot be read from the article, such as the destination label is peeled off or the destination data is soiled. The article will continue to be transported on the article forwarding line 120.
Further, as in the case of the constant bundle W1 in the prior art described above, when the article W does not have destination data, the sorting destination cannot be determined and the route continues as it is.

In the article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, an article collection line 140, a collection and transfer mechanism 121, and an article recognition unit 150 as article recognition means are further installed in the article forwarding line 120, and these are controlled. A collection control unit 160 is provided in the control unit so that the article W continues to rotate around the article delivery line 120, that is, the article W that circulates is detected, and the circulation article W is collected.
Specifically, an article recognition unit (CAM) 150 and a collection / transfer mechanism 121 are provided in this order on the downstream side of the article delivery station 130 disposed adjacent to the forwarding line 120, and the position of the collection / transfer mechanism 121 is determined. An article collection line 140 is connected and branched.

  The article recognition unit 150 includes a TV camera or a CCD, and detects and captures an article that passes through the forwarding line. The collected article transfer mechanism 121 outputs from the collection control unit 160. The product W is operated based on the recovery command signal, and is operated to transfer the product W transferred on the product forwarding line 120 to the product recovery line 140.

  The control unit incorporates a collection control unit 160 that executes a collection control for collecting the circulating article W. The collection control unit 160 includes an article data calculation unit 162, an article, as shown in FIG. Data collating means 163, article data rewriting means 164, article circulation determining means 165, and article data storage means 161 are provided.

The article data calculation means 162 analyzes the recognition data obtained by the article recognition unit 150 described above, and extracts the characteristic portion of each article W as article data.
This is because the captured data has an enormous amount of information as it is, so the processing load in the arithmetic processing such as the CPU is large, so only the feature points of each article are extracted as data, and stored, searched, By performing the processing such as comparison, the burden on the calculation means such as the CPU is greatly reduced.
The feature data that represents an item includes dimension data such as length, width, and height, shape data based on contours such as circles, ellipses, rectangles, squares, and rhombuses, colors, and shapes of attached labels. Although it is conceivable, an appropriate one may be selected and adopted according to the article to be handled.

  The article data collating unit 163 collates the article data X extracted by the article data calculating unit 162 with the forwarded article data Xi collected before that stored in the article data storage unit 161. If the similar forwarding article data Xi does not exist, the retrieved article data Xi is transferred to the article data rewriting means 164, and the similar forwarding article data Xi is searched. If Xi already exists, an existing article presence signal is generated.

When the newly extracted article data X is received, the article data rewriting unit 164 stores the newly extracted article data X as new article data Xi in the storage unit 161 together with the detection time Ti and the count value Ii = 1.
When the existing data presence signal indicating the existing article data Xi and the existing article data Xi are received, the count value I of the existing article data Xi is advanced by 1, and the time data Ti is detected at the current detection time T. And stored in the article data storage means 161.

  The article circulation determination unit 165 uses the existing data presence signal received from the article data collating unit 163 as a trigger to determine whether the count value I stored together with the forwarded article data Xi exceeds a predetermined number, and the count value Ii is When it is determined that the predetermined value has been exceeded, a collection command is transmitted to the collection / transfer mechanism 121.

Using the collection control unit 160 configured as described above, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is performed in detail.
Normally, each sort transfer mechanism 122 is driven based on the destination data read by the delivery destination reading unit 170 installed upstream of the article dispensing station 130 by the control unit, and the forwarding line is routed in the conventional manner. The articles to be transferred are sorted and delivered, but the explanation is omitted for this point.

When the sorting transfer mechanism 122 cannot sort the article W due to some trouble or the like and detects the article W passing through the article recognition unit provided downstream of the article dispensing station (S1), the article recognition unit is activated. Then, the article W to be passed is imaged to generate recognition data (S2).
The feature amount of the article is calculated from the generated recognition data, and the moving speed of the article is also calculated at the time of imaging, and the period T0 required for the article to make one round of the forwarding line is calculated. Is generated (S3).

Based on these data, the forwarded article data Xi written one cycle or about one to three periods before is read, and the read forwarded article data Xi is collated with the currently extracted article data X to obtain similar forwarded articles. The presence / absence of data is determined (S4, S5).
As a result of collating the article data X with the forwarded article data Xi, if similar forwarded article data Xi is not found, the article data X is set as new forwarded article data Xi, and the time T at the time of imaging and the count value I of the counter are set. These are stored together as a set as 1 (S6).
Thereafter, the old forwarded article data Xi of two cycles or earlier is identified from the stored set of forwarded article data Xi, and the old forwarded article data Xi is erased (S7).

If similar forwarding article data Xi is found, it is first determined whether or not the count value I of the counter exceeds the set number I0 (S8), and if it exceeds the set number I0, it is discharged. When the command is issued (S9), the counter I is reset (S10). If the count value does not exceed the set value, the count value is incremented by 1 (S11) and the time data Ti is updated to a new time point (S11). S12), the stored set of forwarding article data Xi is updated.
It should be noted that the reason for the round judgment is not limited to one time, but the condition of multiple times of detection is that the possibility of an erroneous collection operation due to a judgment error greatly increases at one time, thereby preventing unnecessary collection operation. However, if the number of times is increased, the number of articles that circulate may increase. Therefore, an appropriate number is appropriate.

In addition, when calculating the feature amount of the article, the length data of the forwarding line is held in advance, and the period for which the article goes around the forwarding line is obtained after detecting the recognized moving speed of the article.
By using the period T0 detected here, collation is performed by limiting the article data X to be searched to only the forwarded article data Xi in the vicinity of one cycle before, the vicinity of two cycles, or the vicinity of three cycles before the imaging time point. The target data is narrowed down to efficiently search and collate.

  In the case of the simple article sorting / delivery apparatus 100, the sorting / transfer mechanism may not be provided, and the worker may perform the picking work by himself / herself on the payout side. Since the missed article W goes around the forwarding line for a while, it is beneficial to increase the count value of the counter I without increasing useless collected articles W.

In the forwarded article data Xi, old data should be erased at an appropriate time. In this embodiment, the forwarded article data Xi that is two cycles before is erased. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the burden on the processing in the calculation means without unnecessarily increasing the stored information necessary for the circulation determination.
Note that the article data Xi for the collected article may be deleted together with the transmission of the collection command. However, the article data Xi may be deleted after confirming that the article has not been detected after one cycle. Alternatively, the data may not be erased at this stage, but may be erased when a predetermined period elapses, as in the case of handling the old data described above.
Further, at the time of the counter value initialization operation in S10, all the forwarded article data of articles determined to be circulated at this time may be erased, and in that case, the count data itself is also erased. .

  The present embodiment obtained as described above includes a plurality of article loading stations 110, a plurality of article dispensing stations 130, and an article forwarding line that circulates and conveys articles W between these article loading stations 110 and the article dispensing stations 130. 120, the article collection line 140 connected to the article forwarding line 120, the collection / transfer mechanism 121 for transferring the article W between the article forwarding line 120 and the article collection line 140, and the article forwarding line 120. The article sorting and delivery apparatus 100 includes an article recognition unit 150 that recognizes an article W to be collected, a collection transfer unit 121 and a collection control unit 160 that controls the article recognition unit 150. Extracting article data representing the characteristics of the article from the recognition data of the article W obtained Article data calculation means 162, article data storage means 161 for storing the extracted article data X obtained by the article data calculation means 162 as the forwarding article data Xi, and the extracted article data X and the forwarding article data Xi are collated. If the corresponding forwarded article data is not found and the corresponding forwarded article data is not found, the article data X is set as the new forwarded article data Xi. If the corresponding forwarded article data is found, the existing article is present. A data collating unit 163 that generates a signal, an article data rewriting unit 164 that sequentially receives new forwarded article data Xi from the article data collating unit 163, and writes the forwarded article data Xi in the article data storage unit 161, and a data collating unit 163 that receives the data. Based on the existing article presence signal, the circulation of the article is determined and the collection and transfer mechanism 121 determines the circulation of the article W. Article wrapping judgment means 165 for instructing the product, it is possible to automatically detect and collect the wraparound of the article by a simple mechanism, and reliably eliminate the article W that circulates on the forwarding line 120. can do.

In addition, by using data representing the article as the forwarding article data Xi, processing such as writing, searching, and comparison of the forwarding article data Xi can be performed quickly and easily without handling large-capacity two-dimensional data. This makes it possible to reliably collect the circulating articles W at low cost without requiring high-performance computing means.
In addition, the article recognition unit 150, the article collection line 140, the collection transfer mechanism 121, etc. can be driven independently without interlocking with the control of the delivery destination reading unit 170 used for normal sorting. The effect is enormous, such that the control circuit can be incorporated into an existing article sorting / delivery device without making it complicated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Article sorting and delivery apparatus 110 ... Article input station 111 ... Article input station (automatic warehouse)
112 ・ ・ ・ Article input station (forklift)
113 ・ ・ ・ Article input station (vehicle)
114 ・ ・ ・ Article input station (cart)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 120 ... Article forwarding line 121 ... Collection transfer mechanism 122 ... Sort transfer mechanism 130 ... Article delivery station 131 ... Article delivery station (cart)
132 ・ ・ ・ Article delivery station (vehicle)
140 ... Article collection line 150 ... Article recognition unit (CCD)
160 ... Collection control unit 161 ... Article data storage means 162 ... Article data calculation means 163 ... Article data collating means 164 ... Article data rewriting means 165 ... Article circulation determination means 170・ Delivery destination reading unit (BCR)
W ... Article 500 ... Article sorting and delivery device 510 ... Delivery destination reading unit 520 ... Height detector W1 ... Constant bundle W2 ... Fractions bundle A
W3 ... fractional bundle B
D ... Address label

Claims (5)

A plurality of article loading stations, a plurality of article dispensing stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between the article loading station and the article dispensing station, an article collection line connected to the article forwarding line, and the article forwarding line A recovery and transfer mechanism for transferring the article between the storage unit and the article recovery line; an article recognition means for recognizing an article transferred through the article forwarding line; and a recovery for controlling the recovery transfer mechanism and the article recognition means An article sorting and delivery device comprising a control unit,
The collection control unit is
Article data calculation means for extracting article data representing the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means;
Article data storage means for storing and holding article data extracted by the article data calculation means as forward article data;
The article data and the forwarding article data are collated to determine the presence or absence of the corresponding forwarding article data. When the corresponding forwarding article data is not found, the extracted article data is used as the forwarding article data, and the corresponding forwarding article data is Data matching means for generating an existing article presence signal if found,
Article data rewriting means for sequentially receiving the forwarding article data from the data collating means and writing the forwarding article data in the article data storage means;
Article sorting delivery characterized by comprising article rounding judgment means for judging rounding of an article based on an existing article presence signal received from the data collating means and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article. apparatus. The feature data calculation means calculates the extracted article data together with the time when the article is recognized,
2. The article sorting and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article data collating unit collates the article data with one or more forwarded article data stored in the article data storage unit.   The recovery command means determines that the product is circulating when the number of times the corresponding forwarded product data is found reaches a predetermined value, and instructs the recovery / transfer mechanism to recover the product. The article sorting and delivery apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   A delivery data reading means for reading the delivery data displayed on the article by the article forwarding line, and a sorting transfer mechanism for sorting the articles into a desired article dispensing station based on the delivery data read by the delivery data reading means. The article sorting and delivering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: A plurality of article loading stations, a plurality of article dispensing stations, an article forwarding line for circulating and transporting articles between the article loading station and the article dispensing station, an article collection line connected to the article forwarding line, and the article forwarding line A recovery transfer mechanism for transferring an article between an article recovery line, an article recognition means for recognizing an article transferred through the article forwarding line, and a recovery control for controlling the recovery transfer mechanism and the article recognition means An article sorting and delivery method using an article sorting and delivery device comprising a unit,
The collection control unit comprises storage means for storing forwarded article data relating to an article transferred through the article forwarding line,
An article data calculation step of extracting article data representing the characteristics of the article from the article recognition data obtained from the article recognition means;
A data collation step of collating the article data with the forwarding article data stored in the storage means to determine the presence or absence of corresponding forwarding article data;
An article data rewriting step for sequentially writing the extracted article data as new forwarded article data in the article data storage means when no corresponding forwarded article data is found;
A recovery command step of determining that the existing article is present when the corresponding forwarded article data is found, determining the circulation of the article based on the determination of the existing article, and instructing the collection and transfer mechanism to collect the article; An article sorting and delivery method comprising:

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