KR20060088356A - Apparatus for measuring box size automatically - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the dimensions of an object, and more particularly, to a logistics measurement technology that can automatically provide the user by measuring the size of the box mainly used in logistics management.

An automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a box automatic dimension measuring apparatus equipped with a conveyor belt for transferring a loaded object, the apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying dimension information of a box calculated by the apparatus; A horizontal angle adjusting unit which senses whether the box is loaded by the device and outputs a detection signal, and positions the horizontal angle of the loaded box at a predetermined angle for dimension measurement; A vertical angle adjusting unit for positioning a vertical angle of the stacked boxes at a predetermined angle for dimension measurement; A sensor unit for sensing the upper surface and one side of the box transferred by the conveyor belt and outputting the sensed numerical data; And a controller including a dimension calculator configured to control the overall apparatus and to calculate dimensions of the upper and both sides of the corresponding box and display the dimensions using the numerical data sensed and output from the sensor unit.

Logistics Management, Boxes, Freight, Conveyor Belt, Infrared Sensor

Description

Apparatus for measuring box size automatically}

1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a sensing process of a box of a sensor unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3B is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a process of generating an end point used in calculating dimensions according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3C is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a process of processing data sensed at a corner portion of a box according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3D is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating one surface of a box calculated by using an end point generated according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a process of processing data sensed at a corner by a two-step Least Square Fitting algorithm according to a characteristic aspect of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to the present invention in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the dimensions of an object, and more particularly, to a logistics measurement technology that can automatically provide the user by measuring the size of the box mainly used in logistics management.

With the development of mass media such as TVs and the Internet, commerce can be easily handled, and operators such as shopping malls are trying to provide faster and more convenient services to customers. This increase in commerce leads to an increase in the volume of logistics, such as courier and freight, and the operators in charge of managing the logistics aim to deliver goods to the place where the customer wants the fastest and safest. This is made possible by the introduction of the system.

In logistics management, dimension information on the size as well as the weight of the box should be taken into account when the product is shipped or when the warehouse is shipped. However, current logistics management systems measure and manage the weight and size of logistics by human resources. Logistics management system by such a manpower has a problem that can not accurately and systematically manage the waste of manpower and time.

Therefore, operators are demanding automated logistics management that can be processed precisely and quickly, rather than conventional logistics management.

The present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus capable of more systematic logistic management by measuring and providing a size of a conveyed box.

Furthermore, the present invention provides an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus that can accurately and quickly measure a box being transported through installation and a small installation cost that minimize space.

Furthermore, by providing an interface with an external device, it is possible to easily interoperate with the logistics management system without separate classification process and arrangement work, and to provide an automatic box dimension measuring device that can be computerized.

As described above, the automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is a box automatic dimension measuring apparatus having a conveyor belt for transferring a loaded object, the display unit displaying the calculated dimension information of the box, The device detects whether the box is loaded and outputs a detection signal, and a horizontal angle adjusting unit for positioning the horizontal angle of the loaded box at a predetermined angle for measuring the size, and a vertical angle of the loaded box at a predetermined angle for measuring the size. By using the vertical angle adjusting unit for positioning, the sensor unit for sensing the upper surface and one side of the box transported by the conveyor belt, and outputs the sensed data, and the overall control of the device, the data is sensed and output from the sensor unit Includes a dimension calculator that calculates the dimensions of the top and sides of the box and displays them on the display It is configured to include a control unit.

When the user loads the box into the automatic box dimensioning device for dimension measurement and inputs the driving signal of the conveyor belt, the horizontal angle adjusting unit detects the box being transported by the conveyor belt and outputs a detection signal to the controller, For accurate top dimension measurement of the box, the box is positioned at an angle, for example via a mechanical device such as a hydraulic rod.

In addition, the vertical angle adjuster adjusts the height of the conveyor belt in order to accurately measure the size of one side of the loaded box to position the box at a predetermined angle.

The boxes whose horizontal and vertical angles of dimension measurement are adjusted by the horizontal and vertical angle adjusting units are transferred by the conveyor belt to pass through the sensor unit. The sensor unit senses the upper surface and one side of the transported box at predetermined intervals, and transmits the sensed numerical information to the dimension calculation unit of the controller.

The dimension calculator receives the dimension information, calculates the dimensions of the corresponding box using the Least Square Fitting algorithm, and displays the calculated box dimensions on the display unit.

Therefore, the user can measure the size precisely and quickly without stopping the moving box on the conveyor belt, thereby providing the advantage that the user can easily use the logistics.

According to a characteristic aspect of the present invention, the dimension calculator according to the present invention selectively adds vertices by recombining the outermost components and short distance points calculated by the Least Square Fitting algorithm for more accurate measurement, thereby improving final accuracy. You can.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to the present invention may further include an interface unit for interfacing an external device and the box dimension information calculated by the dimension calculating unit. Therefore, it can be easily interlocked with the logistics management system without a separate classification process and arrangement work, and has the advantage of computerization.

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily understand and reproduce the present invention.

1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. . As shown, a box size measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a conveyor belt 110 for transferring a loaded box to a predetermined section, an operation unit 120 receiving an operation command from a user, and a calculated box. A display unit 130 for displaying dimension information, a horizontal angle adjusting unit 140 for detecting whether a box is loaded and outputting a detection signal, and positioning a horizontal angle of the stacked box at a predetermined angle for measuring dimensions; Vertical angle adjusting unit 150 for positioning the vertical angle of the box at a predetermined angle for dimension measurement, and a sensor unit for sensing the upper surface and one side of the box conveyed by the conveyor belt 110, and outputs the sensed numerical data And the overall control of the apparatus, and using the numerical data sensed and output from the sensor unit 160 to calculate the dimensions of the upper and both sides of the box and to the display unit 130. It is configured to include a control unit 170 including a dimension calculation unit 171 to display.

Conveyor belt 110 is a mechanical device mainly used in industrial sites for transporting the goods loaded on the belt by using a wide belt and a plurality of rollers. The conveyor belt 110 automatically moves continuously between the predetermined distances by moving the belt according to the driving of the motor.

The operation unit 120 is a well-known configuration including a plurality of input buttons. The user may drive the box dimension measuring device through the operation unit 120.

For example, the display unit 130 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and displays the operating state of the device and the dimensions of the box calculated by the dimension calculating unit 171 of the controller 170. According to another embodiment, the above-described operation unit 120 and the display unit 130 may be implemented as a touch panel capable of simultaneously inputting and displaying an operation command.

The horizontal angle adjustment unit 140 detects a box being transported on the conveyor belt 110 and outputs a detection signal to the control unit 170 and, for example, the hydraulic pressure so as to enable accurate measurement of the sensor unit 160. Adjust the position of the transport box using mechanical means such as a rod.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to measure the dimensions better when the box being measured is twisted 15 to 75 ° than when transported horizontally parallel to the sensor unit 160. Accordingly, the horizontal angle adjusting unit 140 physically adjusts the box loaded and transported on the conveyor belt 110 to be in an optimal measuring angle of 15 ° to 75 ° using a mechanical means such as a hydraulic rod.

The vertical angle adjusting unit 150 adjusts the optimal angle within the range of 15 ° to 30 ° for accurate box side measurement of the sensor unit 160. To this end, the vertical angle adjusting unit 150 adjusts the height of the conveyor belt 110 to adjust the vertical angle. Conveyor belt 110 according to the present invention is provided with a height adjusting means (111). The vertical angle adjusting unit 150 is adjusted by the horizontal angle adjusting unit 140 to adjust the height of the conveyor belt 110 to measure the vertical angle of the box being transported to maintain the entry angle within the range of 15 ° to 30 °. The above-described optimum angle range of the horizontal angle 15 ° ~ 75 ° and the vertical angle 15 ° ~ 30 ° is to know in advance that the angle is optimized for the calculation of the box dimensions implemented by the control unit 170 of the present invention.

The sensor unit 160 is composed of an infrared array sensor implemented by a plurality of infrared sensors spaced at regular intervals, each infrared sensor is transferred by the conveyor belt 110 at predetermined intervals so that the horizontal and vertical angle adjusting unit 150 The upper surface and the side surface of the box adjusted by the sensing are sensed, and numerical data necessary for calculating the size of the box is output to the dimension calculating unit 171 of the controller 170.

According to a characteristic aspect of the present invention, the sensor unit 160 according to the present invention senses at a predetermined interval to measure the size of the upper surface of the box to be transferred to the horizontal array sensor 161 to provide numerical data to the dimension calculation unit 171. ) And a vertical array sensor 162 sensing numerical values at predetermined intervals for measuring dimensions of one side of the box to be transferred to provide the numerical data to the dimension calculating unit 171.

In general, the box is formed into a cuboid. Therefore, the algorithm applied to the box dimension calculation of the present invention can calculate the overall dimensions of the box only by the dimensions of the top and side. The horizontal array sensor 161 is configured such that a plurality of infrared sensors are spaced at regular intervals, and each infrared sensor scans infrared rays at predetermined intervals, and when the infrared rays that are viewed by the box are covered with 'TRUE', Outputs the 'FALSE' to the dimension calculation unit 171 of the controller 170. Similar to the horizontal array sensor 161, the vertical array sensor 162 also senses the side of the box being transported, and if the infrared rays are covered by the box, 'TRUE' and if not, 'FALSE' the control unit 170. Output to the dimension calculation unit 171.

The controller 170 is implemented with a computing element such as, for example, a microcontroller, controls the entire apparatus according to an operation command input through the operation unit 120, and corresponds to a sensing value input from the sensor unit 160. And a dimension calculating unit 171 that calculates and outputs the dimensions of the box.

The dimension calculator 171 according to the present invention calculates the dimensions of the corresponding box using data input from horizontal and vertical sensors through a Least Square Fitting algorithm. Hereinafter, a least square fitting algorithm according to a characteristic aspect of the present invention will be described in detail.

과 같은 m개의 직선에 적용되는 Least Square Fitting 알고리즘을 수학적으로 표현하면 수학식 1과 같으며, 이를 행렬식으로 표현하면 수학식 2와 같다.

A mathematical expression of the Least Square Fitting algorithm applied to m straight lines, such as Equation 1, is represented by Equation 2.

        .

와

를 성분으로 갖는

는 수학식 4와 같다. In Equation 2, the unknown x has C and D as components. Optimal solution for minimizing error in operation as shown in equation (3)

Wow

Having as a component

Is the same as Equation 4.

가된다. The equation of the straight line is

Become

When the box transported on the conveyor belt 110 passes through the sensor unit 160, the horizontal and vertical array sensors 162 output 'TRUE' when the box is detected, otherwise output 'FALSE' and measure the dimensions of the controller 170. The calculator 171 acquires these data. These values will have x- and y-axis components. The x-axis component is determined by the speed of the motor driving the conveyor belt 110 and the sensing period of the infrared array sensor, and the y-axis component is determined by the interval at which the sensor is installed.

The data from the sensor unit 160 is displayed as points with secondary plane coordinates (x, y) in the virtual space implemented by the numerical calculator, and when only the outermost points of these points are collected, the conveyor The box being transported on the belt 110 is represented in the form of a rectangle.

The Least Square Fitting algorithm draws a straight line between two first points of each level, taking the first point where the points sensed by the first infrared array sensor are taken, parallel to the x-axis, that is, points with different y-axis values, and The end points of the points between the two points are obtained, and the obtained end points are used as data for dimension calculation.

For example, suppose P is the point at which the line segment AB connecting two points A (x1, y1) and B (x2, y2) on a straight line is m: n.

In general, boxes form a cuboid. The cuboid consists of six rectangles, each rectangular with two straight lines horizontal to each other and two straight lines perpendicular to each other. Therefore, a rectangle constituting one side of the box can be obtained by two horizontal straight lines and three straight lines perpendicular to the straight line. Therefore, the entire box may be calculated through two straight lines, the top and side surfaces of the box sensed by the sensor unit 160. When such a property is applied to four straight lines forming a rectangle instead of one straight line, it is expressed by Equation 6.

 As described above, the slopes and intercepts of the four straight lines may be calculated, but there is no guarantee that the resulting figure is a rectangle. To solve this problem, the four straight lines can be fitted at the same time without fitting them independently. To do this, it is important to note that the four straight lines share the slope information as (a or -1 / a). Must be converted together.

However, 'ad' or 'ae' can be represented as d or e since it is unknown. Now the four straight lines are a Least Squares fitting problem with unknowns, a, b, c, d, and e.

,

, ..... ,

라 하고

은 n1번째 성분을 의미한다. 수학식 9는 수학식 8에 포함되는 각 성분을 행렬식으로 나타낸 것이다. The equations of the four straight lines are redefined as in Equation 8 and the components of each equation are

,

, .....,

And

Means the n1 th component. Equation 9 represents each component included in Equation 8 in a matrix.

A process of calculating the dimensions of a box using the Least Squares fitting algorithm described above will be described below. When a user loads a box containing a product on the conveyor belt 110 and inputs a driving switch of the operation unit 120, the operation unit 120 transmits the input drive command to the control unit 170, and the control unit 170 transfers the conveyor. The belt 110 is driven.

The horizontal angle adjusting unit 140 detects the box being transferred through the conveyor belt 110 and transmits a detection signal to the control unit 170, and easily measures the size of the box by forcing the box by using a mechanical device such as a hydraulic rod. Adjust the angle from 15 ° to 75 °.

In addition, the vertical angle adjuster 150 is adjusted to an angle of 15 ° to 30 ° for easy dimension measurement of the side of the box through the height adjusting means of the conveyor belt 110 according to the detection signal detected by the horizontal angle adjuster 140. do.

The box whose horizontal and vertical angles are adjusted is transferred to the sensor unit 160 through the conveyor belt 110. The sensor unit 160 includes a horizontal array sensor 161 and a vertical array sensor 162 for measuring dimensions of the upper surface and one side of the box being transported. Each array sensor is provided with a plurality of infrared sensors spaced at predetermined intervals.

The horizontal and vertical array sensors 162 output 'TRUE' when the box is detected, otherwise 'FALSE', and the dimension calculator 171 of the controller 170 acquires these data. These values will have x- and y-axis components. The x-axis component is determined by the speed of the motor driving the conveyor belt 110 and the sensing period of the infrared array sensor, and the y-axis component is determined by the interval at which the sensor is installed.

3A is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a sensing process of a box of a sensor unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3B is a schematic view illustrating an end point generating process used to calculate dimensions according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. One schematic. FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a process of processing data sensed at a corner of a box according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3D is calculated using an end point generated according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram schematically showing one side of the box. As shown, the sensor unit 160 according to the present invention, when the box transported by the conveyor belt 110 passes the sensor unit 160, the infrared sensor of the sensor unit 160 is the upper surface of the box every predetermined period And sense the sides.

Since the sensing speed of the sensor unit 160 and the traveling speed of the conveyor belt 110 are very fast, only one infrared sensor senses a box entering the sensor unit 160 at first. The conveyor belt 110 advances the box, and the infrared sensor of the sensor unit 160 senses the top and side surfaces of the box at predetermined intervals, and then detects the first point of the box where dumbs having a different y value from the first sensed point are taken. Start by extracting the data. Take the first point where the points with different y values are taken, draw a straight line connecting the two first points of each level, and find the end point for the points between the two points. The internal points thus obtained are used as data when calculating the box dimensions of the dimension calculating unit 171.

Find all of the internal points for the points between the first points that are adjacent to each other and have different y values, except for the last point in the corner. Find all of the internal points for the points between the first points, which are also adjacent to each other and have different y values, except for the last point in the bottom corner. In the same way, except for the last point in the right corner, we find all the points for the points between the first points that are also adjacent to each other and have different y values. Using these calculated points and the first points of each y-value, we obtain the equation of four straight lines using the Least Square Fitting, assuming that the length is the length and the width is parallel to the width, and the length and the width are vertical. Calculate assuming that they meet and form a rectangle.

까지의 거리 d는 수학식 10과 같다. 4 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a process of processing data sensed at a corner by a two-step Least Square Fitting algorithm according to a characteristic aspect of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the distance between the two straight line equations and the corner points of the two straight lines, the excluded points of the two upper and lower corners, and the closest two points are respectively incorporated into the data of the two straight line equations. The end points described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3D are obtained and used as data. For the last points in the left corner, the first point is taken as the data of the nearest straight line by calculating the distance from two neighboring straight lines, and the remaining points are excluded from the calculation. The last point in the right corner is excluded from the calculation because it is meaningless because it does not fall into the category of Fitting. The newly obtained data are added to calculate a rectangle again using the Least Square Fitting as described above. Any straight line at any end point P (x1, y1)

The distance d to is equal to the following equation (10).

By using this, it is measured at the corner of the rectangle through the primary least square fitting and reflects the points closest to the straight line among the outermost points excluded in the calculation, enabling more accurate dimension measurement.

The dimension calculating unit 171 of the control unit 170 calculates a rectangle through the above-described process, and calculates the size of the box using the four vertex coordinates of the calculated rectangle. The unit length of the x-axis coordinate may be calculated by multiplying the sensing period of the infrared sensor by the advancing speed of the belt, and the unit length of the y-axis is calculated through the interval between the infrared sensors provided in the horizontal or vertical array sensor 162.

The traveling speed of the conveyor belt 110 and the sensing period of the sensor are set by an operating program mounted and driven in the controller 170, and the angle between the infrared sensors of the vertical and horizontal array sensors 161 is measured by the user and is measured in length. It is stored as a parameter for the measurement.

로 이루어진 직사각형의 길이의 단위는 mm이다. 상술한 4개의 꼭지점으로 이루어지는 각각의 직선의 길이의 산출은 일반적인 좌표상의 길이를 산출하는 방법과 동일하며, 이 방법은 주지관용의 기술이므로 그 상세한 설명은 생략한다. The dimensions of the box are calculated through the four vertices of the rectangle computed through the method described above. For example, if the unit length of the x-axis coordinate and the distance between the infrared sensor calculated by the product of the moving speed of the conveyor belt 110 and the sensing period of the sensor is mm, four vertices

The unit of length of the rectangle consisting of is mm. The calculation of the length of each straight line consisting of the four vertices described above is the same as the method of calculating the length in general coordinates, and this method is a technique for the main pipe, so the detailed description thereof is omitted.

5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an automatic box dimension measuring apparatus according to the present invention in accordance with another aspect of the present invention. As shown, according to an additional aspect of the present invention, the automatic box size measuring apparatus according to the present invention may further include an interface unit 180 for transmitting and receiving measured data with an external device. The interface unit 180 may be connected to, for example, a computer provided in the logistics management system or a logistics management system, and is connected to an external device such as a PDA possessed by the logistics manager to measure the dimension according to the control signal of the controller 170. The box dimension information calculated by 171 is transmitted. The interface unit 180 is a kind of communication modem. For example, RS-232, RS-485, TCP / IP, and Bluetooth communication methods used in a general network may be used.

Therefore, it can be easily interlocked with the logistics management system without a separate classification process and arrangement work, and has the advantage of computerization.

As described above, the automatic box size measuring apparatus according to the present invention has an advantage that it can be easily used for logistics management by automatically measuring and providing the size of the box moving quickly on the conveyor belt.

In addition, by selectively adding vertices by recombining short-distance points with the outermost component, there is an advantage of improving measurement accuracy.

 In addition, by having an interface unit for interfacing the external device and the dimension information, it can be easily interlocked with the logistics management system without a separate classification process and arrangement work, and has the advantage of computerization.

The present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, but is not limited thereto, and is interpreted by the appended claims, which are intended to cover many modifications that will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. Should be done.

Claims (4)

In the box automatic dimension measuring device equipped with a conveyor belt for transporting a loaded object, A display unit for displaying the dimension information of the box calculated by the apparatus; A horizontal angle adjusting unit which senses whether the box is loaded by the device and outputs a detection signal, and positions the horizontal angle of the loaded box at a predetermined angle for dimension measurement; A vertical angle adjusting unit for positioning a vertical angle of the stacked boxes at a predetermined angle for dimension measurement; A sensor unit for sensing the upper surface and one side of the box transferred by the conveyor belt and outputting the sensed numerical data; A control unit including a dimension calculating unit which controls the overall apparatus and calculates dimensions of the upper and both sides of the box and displays the dimensions using the numerical data sensed and output from the sensor unit; Automatic box dimension measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit: A horizontal array sensor which provides numerical data to the dimension calculating unit by sampling at predetermined intervals for measuring dimensions of the upper surface of the box to be transferred; A vertical array sensor which samples numerical values at predetermined intervals to measure dimensions of the side of the box to be transferred and provides numerical data to the dimension calculating unit; Automatic box dimension measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 2, wherein the dimension calculation unit: Calculating an internal point of integrating a line segment connecting a point sensed at a point parallel to the point first sensed by the sensor unit at a predetermined ratio, Four straight lines forming a rectangle are calculated from the equation of straight lines connecting the calculated end points. Automatic box dimension measuring apparatus for calculating the dimensions of the box using the calculated position information of the four vertices of the rectangle. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is: And an interface unit for interfacing an external device and box dimension information calculated by the dimension calculating unit.

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