CN111846735A

CN111846735A - Warehouse management, inventory management system and method

Info

Publication number: CN111846735A
Application number: CN201910364321.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘凯; 俞晓刚
Original assignee: Beijing Geekplus Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Geekplus Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-30
Filing date: 2019-04-30
Publication date: 2020-10-30
Also published as: WO2020220772A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a warehouse management and inventory management system and method. The warehouse management system is characterized in that a radio frequency reader is arranged on a sowing position and a container radio frequency tag is arranged on a picking container, when a picking person places the picking container on the sowing position, the container radio frequency tag of the picking container is automatically identified through the radio frequency reader, so that a management server automatically records the binding relationship between the container radio frequency tag and the picking container according to the container radio frequency tag, manual operation is not needed for code scanning by adopting the mode, and the manual operation time is greatly saved; meanwhile, the article radio frequency tags can be arranged on the articles, when the picking personnel put the articles to be picked into the picking container, the article radio frequency tags can be automatically read through the radio frequency reader, the read article radio frequency tags are sent to the management server, whether the existing target inventory articles in the picking container are consistent with the target inventory articles required by the order task or not can be automatically determined through the management server, and the manual picking efficiency is greatly improved.

Description

Warehouse management, inventory management system and method

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of warehousing, in particular to a warehousing management and inventory management system and method.

Background

In the warehouse logistics industry, the manual operation efficiency directly influences the overall warehouse efficiency. With the continuous development of robots, robots are gradually applied to the warehouse logistics industry so that the efficiency of manual operations can be improved by means of the robots.

Although the manual operation efficiency in the warehouse logistics industry can be improved by means of the robot, the manual walking time in each operation link of the warehouse logistics industry is only effectively saved, but the manual operation time in each operation link of the warehouse logistics industry cannot be effectively saved, so that the manual operation efficiency in the operation links of picking, checking, putting on shelves and the like is very low.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a warehouse management and inventory management system and method, which are used for improving the efficiency of picking operation in the picking operation link of the warehouse logistics industry.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a storage management system, including: at least one picking container, at least one sowing apparatus and a management server; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on an inventory article, a container radio frequency tag is arranged on the sorting container, at least one sowing position is arranged on the sowing equipment, and a first radio frequency reader is arranged on each sowing position; wherein,

The first radio frequency reader is configured to read a container radio frequency tag on a target picking container when the target picking container required by a target order task is placed at a target sowing position where the first radio frequency reader is located, and send the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container to the management server;

the management server is configured to determine container information of the target picking container according to the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and record a binding relationship among the target order task, the container information of the target picking container and the target sowing position;

the first radio frequency reader is further configured to, when a target inventory item required for a target order task is placed into the target picking container, read an item radio frequency tag on the target inventory item and send the read item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item to the management server;

the management server is further configured to associate an item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item with a container radio frequency tag of the target picking container and determine whether a target inventory item already in the target picking container is consistent with a target inventory item required for the target order task.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an inventory management system, including: the inventory system comprises a plurality of inventory supports, a plurality of storage positions and a plurality of inventory items, wherein any one of the inventory supports is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; a plurality of fourth radio frequency readers and a management server in communication connection with the fourth radio frequency readers; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory article; a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support;

the fourth radio frequency reader is configured to read the rack radio frequency tags on the inventory racks and the item radio frequency tags of the inventory items on the inventory racks and send the rack radio frequency tags and the item radio frequency tags to the management server;

the management server is configured to determine information of inventory holders and information of inventory items located on inventory holders based on the holder radio frequency tags and the item radio frequency tags.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for managing a warehouse, including:

when a target picking container required by a target order task is placed at a target sowing position where a first radio frequency reader is located, the first radio frequency reader reads a container radio frequency tag on the target picking container and sends the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container to the management server; the seeding equipment is provided with at least one seeding position, and each seeding position is provided with a first radio frequency reader;

The management server determines container information of the target picking container according to the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and records the binding relationship among the target order task, the container information of the target picking container and the target sowing position;

when a target inventory item required by a target order task is placed in the target picking container, the first radio frequency reader also reads an item radio frequency tag on the target inventory item and sends the read item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item to the management server;

the management server associates the item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item with the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container and determines whether the existing target inventory item in the target picking container is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an inventory management method, where the method includes:

a fourth radio frequency reader reads a support radio frequency tag on the inventory support and an article radio frequency tag of an inventory article on the inventory support, and sends the support radio frequency tag and the article radio frequency tag to a management server; wherein the fourth radio frequency reader is in communication connection with the management server; the inventory support is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory article; a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support;

And the management server determines the information of the inventory support and the information of the inventory item on the inventory support according to the support radio frequency tag and the item radio frequency tag.

The embodiment of the invention provides a warehouse management scheme, which can be characterized in that a radio frequency reader is arranged on a sowing position and a container radio frequency tag is arranged on a sorting container, when a sorting person places the sorting container on the sowing position, the container radio frequency tag of the sorting container is automatically identified through the radio frequency reader, so that a management server automatically records the binding relationship between the container radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag, and the mode does not need manual operation for code scanning, thereby greatly saving the manual operation time; meanwhile, an article radio frequency tag can be arranged on an article, when a picking person puts an article to be picked into a picking container, the article radio frequency tag can be automatically read through a radio frequency reader, the read article radio frequency tag is sent to a management server, whether existing target inventory articles in the picking container are consistent with target articles required by an order task or not can be automatically determined through the management server, searching and aligning actions of article bar codes are eliminated by adopting the mode, the picked article can be automatically identified only by putting the picked article on the picking container by the picking person, the placed article does not need to be confirmed again after the picked article is put into the picking container, and the manual picking efficiency is greatly improved.

The above summary of the present invention is merely an overview of the technical solutions of the present invention, and the present invention can be implemented in accordance with the content of the description in order to make the technical means of the present invention more clearly understood, and the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments thereof, made with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an article picking system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a seeding apparatus in a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of an actual scenario of a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory container provided in an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a transfer robot for transferring inventory containers according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a target transfer robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another warehouse management system provided in the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another warehouse management system provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a carrier for transporting racking inventory containers, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a carrier for carrying containers to be shelved in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of a location between an RF reader for inventory and an inventory holder, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow chart of a method for managing a warehouse provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an inventory management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not limiting of the invention. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.

In order to better understand the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention, an item picking system is provided in detail below. Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an item picking system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and referring to fig. 1, the system 100 includes: the robot 110, the control system 120, the inventory receptacle area 130, and the workstation 140, the inventory receptacle area 130 is provided with a plurality of inventory receptacles 131, various inventory items are placed on the inventory receptacles 131, for example, as with shelves found in supermarkets where various merchandise are placed, the plurality of inventory receptacles 131 are arranged in an array. Generally, a plurality of workstations 140 may be provided at one side of the inventory receptacle area 130, and the robot 110 may be a self-driven robot. In a picking scenario, the workstations 140 may also be referred to as order picking areas.

The control system 120 is in wireless communication with the robot 110, and the control system 120 is operable by an operator via the console 160, and the robot 110 performs a task of transporting the inventory receptacles under the control of the control system 120. The inventory receptacles may include, but are not limited to, racks and cages, among others. For example, the control system 120 plans a movement path for the robot 110 according to the task, and the robot 110 travels along an empty space (a part of a passage where the robot 110 passes) in the inventory receptacle array according to the movement path. In order to plan a moving path for the robot 110, a working area of the robot 110 (the working area at least includes the inventory container area 130 and the area where the workstation 140 is located) is divided into a plurality of sub-areas (i.e., cells) in advance, and the robot 110 moves from sub-area to form a moving track. In one example, the robot 110 can travel forward based on the two-dimensional code information captured by the camera and can travel to under the inventory receptacles 131 prompted by the control system 120 based on the route determined by the control system 120. The robot 110 carries the inventory receptacles 131 to the workstation 140, and a picker or picking robot at the workstation 140 picks items from the inventory receptacles 131.

The control system 120 is a software system with data storage and information processing capability running on a server, and can be connected with a robot, a hardware input system and other software systems through wireless or wired connection. The control system 120 may include one or more servers, which may be a centralized control architecture or a distributed computing architecture. The server has a processor 121 and a memory 122 with an order pool 123 in the memory 122.

Taking the item picking system shown in fig. 1 as an example, in the related art, in the case of picking items from an inventory container, a robot may be used to transport the inventory container to a workstation, although the travel time of a picker can be effectively saved by transporting the inventory container to the workstation by the robot, when the workstation picks items, manual operation is required to manually scan the containers containing the items and the items, so that the picking efficiency in the picking operation link is very low. Therefore, improvements in the manner in which items are picked are needed to improve the efficiency of picking operations in the picking operations segment of the warehouse logistics industry.

The warehouse management system and method provided in the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail through the embodiments below.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and the technical solution of this embodiment may be applied to the situation of each operation link such as picking, package review, and racking, so as to improve the manual work efficiency in each operation link. As shown in fig. 2, the warehouse management system 200 provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes: at least one picking container 210, at least one sowing apparatus 220, and a management server 230; each inventory item is provided with an item radio frequency tag, each picking container 210 is provided with a container radio frequency tag, each sowing device 220 is provided with at least one sowing position, and each sowing position is provided with a first radio frequency reader; wherein:

the first radio frequency reader is configured to, when a target picking container 210 required for a target order task is placed at a target sowing position at which the first radio frequency reader on the target sowing device 220 is located, read a container radio frequency tag on the target picking container 210 and send the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container 210 to the management server 230;

The management server 230 is configured to determine container information of the target picking container 210 according to the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container 210 read by the first radio frequency reader, and record a binding relationship among the container information of the target picking container 210, the target sowing position and the target order task;

the first radio frequency reader is further configured to, when a target inventory item required for the target order task is placed in the target picking container 210, read an item radio frequency tag carried on the target inventory item, and send the read item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item to the management server 230;

management server 230 is further configured to associate the item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item with the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container and determine whether the target inventory item already in target picking container 210 is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task.

In this embodiment, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a sowing apparatus in a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, for each seeding device 220 of the warehouse management system, each seeding device 220 may include a plurality of seeding sites 240 thereon, and a corresponding second rf reader 250 may be disposed on each seeding site 240. Optionally, the sowing apparatus 220 is a sowing wall. For each seeding device 220, a picking receptacle 210 may be placed at each seeding site 240 of the seeding device 220, and a receptacle radio frequency tag 260 may be disposed on each picking receptacle 210. Alternatively, the container rf tag 260 may be an RFID rf tag, and the second rf reader 250 may be an RFID rf code reader.

In this embodiment, item picking information may be included in the target order task, the item picking information indicating items that need to be picked. The target inventory item is the item indicated by the target order task that needs to be picked. The target picking container is used to hold a target inventory item indicated by the target order task.

In the present embodiment, the target sowing device refers to a sowing device for placing the target picking container, and the target sowing position refers to a sowing position on the target sowing device for placing the target picking container. The target sowing device and the target sowing position on the target sowing device can be determined according to the distribution position of the target order task, for example, after the target order task is distributed to a certain sowing device, the sowing device distributed with the target order task can be used as the target sowing device, and the sowing position of the target order task on the target sowing device can be used as the target sowing position.

It should be noted that the "target sowing device", "target sowing position", "target inventory item" and "target picking container" in the present embodiment may be understood as a kind of reference, which refers to the "sowing device", "sowing position", "inventory item" and "picking container" respectively, which have an association relationship with the "target order task", and the "sowing device", "sowing position", "inventory item" and "picking container" which have no association relationship with the "target order task" may be distinguished from each other through the above description, so as to avoid logical confusion.

In this embodiment, the sowing device 220 is disposed in an order picking area for performing an item picking task, such as the order picking area being a picking workstation, to facilitate a picking person or picking robot to place picked inventory items onto the sowing device. Fig. 4 is a schematic view of an actual scenario of a warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4, a picker or picking robot may randomly pick a target picking receptacle 210 from a plurality of picking receptacles and place the randomly selected target picking receptacle 210 onto a target planting position 240 of a target planting device 220. After the picking personnel or the picking robot places the target picking container 210 on the target sowing position 240, the first radio frequency reader 250 disposed on the target sowing position 240 may read the container radio frequency tag 260 carried on the target picking container 210 and transmit the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container 210 to the management server 230. Alternatively, the first radio frequency reader 250 provided on the target seeding site 240 may transmit the read tag information contained in the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container 210 to the management server 230.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the management server 230 is communicatively connected with a first rf reader 250 provided on a target seeding site 240 of a target seeding device 220. Optionally, the communication connection between the first rf reader 250 and the management server 230 is a wired communication connection or a wireless communication connection. The management server 230 may receive the container rf tag information of the target picking container 210 read and sent by the first rf reader 250, and determine the container information of the target picking container 210 by querying a mapping relationship between preset tag information and container information according to the container rf tag information of the target picking container 210. Optionally, the container information may refer to a container number corresponding to the target picking container, and each picking container corresponds to a unique container number.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the management server 230 may automatically record the binding relationship among the container information of the target picking container 210, the position information of the target seeding site 240 and the target order task, so that data query and subsequent inventory data correctness verification may be performed according to the recorded binding relationship. By adopting the mode, the binding relationship among the container information of the target picking container, the position information of the target sowing position and the target order task can be automatically recorded as long as the target picking container is placed on the target sowing position, so that no picking personnel or picking robot is required to perform extra manual code scanning operation for operation, and the time spent on manual code scanning is saved.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, in an alternative example, when the first radio frequency reader 250 on the target seeding site 240 only allows reading radio frequency tags within a preset radio frequency signal reading range of the target seeding site 240, the management server 230 may determine whether the picker or the picking robot correctly places the target picking container 210 to the target seeding site 240 according to whether the first radio frequency reader 250 on the target seeding site 240 can read the container radio frequency tag 260 on the target picking container 210. If the first radio frequency reader 250 at the target seeding site 240 identifies the container radio frequency tag 260, it indicates that the target picking container 210 has been properly placed at the target seeding site 240. At this time, the management server 230 may automatically record the binding relationship between the container information of the target picking container 210, the position information of the target seeding site 240, and the target order task when it is determined that the picker or the picking robot correctly places the target picking container 260. If the first rf reader 250 at the target seeding site 240 does not recognize the container rf tag 260, it indicates that the target picking container 210 is not properly placed at the target seeding site 240, at which time the picker or picking robot needs to be alerted to perform a proper check in order to reposition the target picking container 210.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 4, after the target inventory items required for the target order task are placed to the target picking container 210 located on the target sowing location 240 of the target sowing device 220 by the picker or picking robot, the first radio frequency reader 250 disposed on the target sowing location 240 may also read item radio frequency tags carried on the target inventory items. Meanwhile, the first rf reader 250 disposed at the target seeding site 240 may transmit the item rf tag carried on the read target inventory item to the management server 230.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, management server 230 receives item radio frequency tag information for a target inventory item sent by first radio frequency reader 250 at target seeding site 240 and associates the received item radio frequency tag for the target inventory item with the container radio frequency tag received for target picking container 210. At the same time, management server 230 may also determine, based on item radio frequency tag information for the target inventory item, whether the target inventory item already held in target picking container 210 is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task. If so, indicating that the target inventory items in target picking container 210 that are required for the target order task have been aggregated; if not, it is indicated that the target inventory items required for the target order task are not collected in target picking container 210. Optionally, reconciling the target inventory item already in the target picking container with the target inventory item required for the target order task comprises: the SKU information for the target inventory item existing in the target picking container is consistent with the SKU information for the target inventory item required for the target order task, and the quantity of the target inventory item existing in the target picking container is consistent with the quantity of the target inventory item required for the target order task. By adopting the mode, as long as the target inventory items are sequentially placed into the target picking container, the item radio frequency tags of the target inventory items can be automatically identified through the radio frequency readers positioned at the target sowing positions, and the placing condition of the target inventory items in the target picking container is determined through the management server, so that whether the target inventory items required by the target order task are collected in the target picking container or not is automatically determined, the action of manually confirming whether the target inventory items are collected or not after the target inventory items are placed can be avoided, and the time spent on manually confirming is saved.

The embodiment of the invention provides a warehouse management scheme, which can be characterized in that a radio frequency reader is arranged on a sowing position and a container radio frequency tag is arranged on a sorting container, when a sorting person places the sorting container on the sowing position, the container radio frequency tag of the sorting container is automatically identified through the radio frequency reader, so that a management server automatically records the binding relationship between the container radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag, and the mode does not need manual operation for code scanning, thereby greatly saving the manual operation time; meanwhile, an article radio frequency tag can be arranged on an article, when a picking person puts an article to be picked into a picking container, the article radio frequency tag can be automatically read through a radio frequency reader, the read article radio frequency tag is sent to a management server, whether the existing target inventory article in the picking container is consistent with the target inventory article required by an order task or not can be automatically determined through the management server, the searching and aligning actions of article bar codes are eliminated by adopting the mode, the picked article can be automatically identified only by putting the picked article on the picking container by the picking person, and the placed article does not need to be confirmed again after the picked article is put into the picking container, so that the manual picking efficiency is greatly improved.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 4, when a picker or picking robot places a target picking receptacle 210 at a target seeding site 240 of a target seeding device 220, a receptacle radio frequency tag 260 disposed on the target picking receptacle 210 at least partially coincides in position with a first radio frequency reader 250 disposed on the target seeding site 240 of the target seeding device 220.

In this embodiment, the sowing apparatus may include a plurality of sowing positions, and each sowing position may be provided with a corresponding first rf reader 250. In an alternative example, to ensure that the first radio frequency reader 250 of the target seeding site 240 successfully reads the container radio frequency tag 260 located on the target picking container 210, a positional correspondence between the first radio frequency reader 250 and the container radio frequency tag 260 on the target picking container 210 may be set. Optionally, the container rf tag disposed on the target picking container 210 and the first rf reader 250 disposed on the target sowing location 240 are at least partially overlapped in position, which ensures that the first rf reader 250 is as close to the container rf tag on the target picking container 210 as possible in position, thereby ensuring that the first rf reader 250 can read the rf tag smoothly.

In this embodiment, optionally, the container bottom of the target picking container 210 is provided with a container rf tag, and the container rf tag located at the container bottom of the target picking container 210 is proximate to the first rf reader on the target seeding site 240, thereby ensuring that the container rf tag 260 at the container bottom of the target picking container is as close as possible to the first rf reader 250 on the target seeding site 240. By adopting the arrangement mode, the first radio frequency reader on any sowing position can be ensured to be close to the container radio frequency tags of the picking containers on the sowing position as much as possible, so that the first radio frequency reader can smoothly and accurately read the container radio frequency tags on the picking containers on the sowing position, and read a small amount of container radio frequency tags or not read the container radio frequency tags of the picking containers on other sowing positions as much as possible.

In this embodiment, in another optional example, in order to ensure that the first rf reader 250 of the target seeding position 240 only reads the rf tags located on the target seeding position 240 as much as possible, the rf signal reading range of each first rf reader 250 may be limited, and by setting the rf signal reading range, it may be avoided that the first rf reader on the seeding position reads the rf tags on other seeding positions without limitation due to the large rf signal reading range of the first rf reader. Optionally, the radio frequency signal reading area of the first radio frequency reader 250 on the target seeding site 240 is the area on the target seeding site 240 for placement of the target picking container 210. The radio frequency signal reading range of the first radio frequency reader 250 may be specifically defined according to the size of the area on the target seeding site 240 for placing the target picking container 210. By adopting the mode, the radio frequency signal reading range of the first radio frequency reader can be selectively set, so that the first radio frequency reader can only read the container radio frequency tags in the target sorting containers positioned on the target sowing positions, and the container radio frequency tags on other sowing positions are prevented from being identified by mistake.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 3 and 4, management server 230 is further specifically configured to determine whether the target inventory item has been properly placed in the target picking container 210 based on whether the item radio frequency tag is readable by the first radio frequency reader 250 at the target seeding site 240.

In the present embodiment, the first rf reader 250 located on the target seeding site 240 has a certain rf signal reading range. If the first radio frequency reader 250 can read the item radio frequency tag, it indicates that the inventory item is placed within the radio frequency signal reading range of the first radio frequency reader 250; if the first RF reader 250 fails to read the item RF tag, it indicates that no inventory item is placed within the RF signal reading range of the first RF reader 250. For the first radio frequency reader 250 to read the item radio frequency tag, if it can be ensured that the radio frequency signal reading range of the first radio frequency reader 250 is accurate to the area where the target picking container 210 on the target sowing position is located, that is, it is ensured that the first radio frequency reader 250 does not read the radio frequency tags in other picking containers or other picking containers, as long as the first radio frequency reader 250 reads the item radio frequency tag, the management server 230 may directly determine that the target inventory item is correctly placed in the target picking container 210; otherwise, it indicates that the target inventory item was not properly placed.

In the present embodiment, for the most part, the radio frequency signal read range of first radio frequency reader 230 may include a fractional area of picking containers adjacent to target picking container 210, considering that the spacing between picking containers cannot be too large for space-saving purposes. For this reason, when the first rf reader 250 reads the article rf tag, the management server 230 may calculate the distance between the read article rf tag and the first rf reader 250 according to the rf signal strength of the article rf tag read by the first rf reader 250 and the rf signal strength of the article rf tag. Further, management server 230 may determine whether the item radio frequency tag is within the area of target picking container 210 based on the calculated distance between the item radio frequency tag and first radio frequency reader 250. Determining that the target inventory item has been properly placed in the target picking container 210 if it is determined that the first radio frequency reader 250 is capable of reading item radio frequency tags and is within the area of the target picking container 210; otherwise, it indicates that the placement is not correct.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 3 and 4, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention further includes: a target seeding position prompting device 270, wherein the target seeding position prompting device 270 is in communication connection with the management server 230; wherein:

The management server 230 is further configured to assign the target order task to the target seeding site 240 of the target seeding equipment 220 and send a seeding site prompt message to the target seeding site prompt 270;

the target sowing position prompting device 270 is configured to prompt the specific position of the target sowing position 240 on the target sowing device 220 according to the sowing position prompting information to instruct the picking person or the picking robot to place the target picking container 210 on the target sowing position.

In this embodiment, after the target order task is issued to the warehouse management system 200, the management server 230 may process the received target order task to select a suitable seeding device from a plurality of seeding devices located in the order picking area. And, the management server 230 can also determine an appropriate seed position from the plurality of seed positions included in the target seed sowing device 220 so as to assign the target order task to the appropriate target seed position 240 of the target seed sowing device 220. Referring to fig. 3 and 4, the management server 230 assigns the target order task to the target planting site 240 and may also transmit a planting site prompting message to the target planting site prompting device 270. Target seeding position prompting device 270 can indicate the position of the target seeding position on the target seeding equipment according to the seeding position prompting information, and indicate the picking personnel or the picking robot to place the target picking container on the target seeding position through the seeding position prompting information.

In this embodiment, in an alternative example, referring to fig. 3 and 4, the management server 230 is further configured to, after allocating a target order task to a target sowing position 240 of a target sowing device 220, select a picking receptacle satisfying a condition from a plurality of picking receptacles as the target picking receptacle 210 according to a target inventory item required by the target order task, so as to place the selected target picking receptacle 210 on the target sowing position and hold the target inventory item required by the target order task, that is, the system may give a suggested picking receptacle type (picking receptacles have different types or sizes, for example, the picking receptacles are divided into a plurality of storage areas by partitions) according to a situation of an order, and the picker or the picking robot selects one of the corresponding receptacle types as the target picking receptacle according to the suggestion given by the system. Specifically, management server 230 selects a satisfactory picking container from the plurality of picking containers as a target picking container for storing the target inventory item, based on item basic information of each target inventory item required for the target order task. Wherein item basis information may be used to indicate the type of picking container needed to hold the target inventory item. Optionally, item basic information may include item type, quantity demanded, item volume, weight, e.g., type of picking container divided into small size picking container, medium size picking container, and large size picking container. The basic information of the article can comprise the type of the article, the required quantity, the volume and the weight of the article.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 2 and 4, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention further includes: a target transfer robot 290 for transferring the target inventory container 280; wherein:

the management server 230 determines a target inventory receptacle 280 according to the target order task and transmits an inventory receptacle transfer instruction to the target transfer robot 290; the target inventory receptacle 280 contains the target inventory items needed for the target order task;

the target transfer robot 290 responds to the inventory receptacle transfer instruction to transfer the target inventory receptacle 280 to the preset location of the target picking receptacle 210 at the target seeding site 240 for placing the target inventory item required for the target order task onto the target picking receptacle 210.

In this embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the target inventory container refers to an inventory container 131 located in the inventory container region 130 and used for placing a target inventory item, such as a target inventory container, specifically a movable shelf or a movable tray, an item box, a cage, and the like for holding the target inventory item. Additionally, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory receptacle provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and referring to fig. 5, a picked item 501 may be placed directly on inventory receptacle 280; of course, item container 502 may be placed first and then item container 502 may be used to hold pick items 503. In an alternative example, inventory receptacle 280 may include multiple vertically stacked compartments upon each of which multiple pick items 501 may be placed, or multiple item receptacles 502 for holding pick items may be placed, or multiple pick items 501 may be placed and multiple item receptacles 502 for holding pick items may be placed, for example, an inventory receptacle may be a removable shelf. The item containers 502 may also be hung within the inventory receptacles 280 or on hooks or rods on the inventory receptacles 280. The item container 502 may be an item case for containing items. The item container 502 may be placed on the inventory container 280 on the interior or exterior surface of the inventory container 280 in any suitable manner. The inventory receptacle 280 may also include one or more supports 505.

In the present embodiment, the target transfer robot is a self-driven robot for transferring the target inventory container. Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a transfer robot for transferring inventory containers according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4 and 6, the transfer robot 290 may include a driving mechanism 601 by which the transfer robot 290 can move within the work space, the transfer robot 290 may further include a lifting mechanism 602 for transferring the target inventory receptacle 280, the transfer robot 290 may move to below the target inventory receptacle 280, and the transfer robot may lift and transfer the target inventory receptacle 280 using the lifting mechanism 602. The entire target inventory receptacle 280 is lifted from the ground when the lifting mechanism 602 is raised so that the transfer robot 290 transfers the target inventory receptacle 280, and the target inventory receptacle 280 may be placed on the ground when the lifting mechanism 602 is lowered. The target identification component 603 on the transfer robot 290 is capable of effectively identifying the target inventory receptacle 280 when the transfer robot 290 lifts the target inventory receptacle 280 to ensure that the transfer robot travels directly below the target inventory receptacle 280.

In addition, if based on visual navigation, transfer robot 290 may also include a navigation recognition component (not shown in fig. 6) for recognizing navigation markers (e.g., two-dimensional codes) on the paved surface. Of course, the transfer robot 290 may also include a control module (not shown in fig. 6) that controls the entire robot to perform movement, navigation, and the like. In one example, the transfer robot 290 may include at least two upward and downward cameras, and may be capable of driving forward according to the downward camera shooting a pre-laid two-dimensional code (or other ground marks), and driving to the bottom of the inventory container and then shooting a docking mark at the bottom of the inventory container according to the upward camera, so as to dock with the inventory container according to the docking mark.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the management server 230 may determine a target inventory container 280 from the inventory container zone according to the target order task, and may transmit an inventory container transfer instruction to the target transfer robot 290. The target transfer robot 290 may transfer the target inventory receptacle 280 to a preset position of the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240 in response to the inventory receptacle transfer instruction transmitted by the management server 230. At this point, the picker or picking robot may remove the target inventory item from the target inventory receptacle 280 and place the removed target inventory item into the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240.

In the present embodiment, in an optional example, referring to fig. 4, a radio frequency reader for picking reminders is further provided on the target sowing device 220; in the process of taking out a target inventory item from the target inventory receptacle 280 and putting the taken out target inventory item into the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240, the radio frequency reader for picking reminder may read an item radio frequency tag carried on the target inventory item taken by the picker or the picking robot and transmit the read item radio frequency tag to the management server 230. The management server 230 may determine, according to the item radio frequency tag, whether the inventory item corresponding to the item radio frequency tag taken by the picker is an inventory item required for the target order task and required to be put into the target picking container 210, so as to remind the picker or the picking robot in case of a wrong picking, and take again. By adopting the mode, the target inventory item can be automatically identified through the radio frequency reader and the management server for picking reminding in the process of taking out and putting in the target inventory item from the target inventory container, the manual scanning action that a picker or a picking robot needs to search the bar code of the target inventory item and scan the bar code of the target inventory item in the picking process is eliminated, the picking operation time of the picker or the picking robot is saved, whether the picker or the picking robot takes the wrong inventory item or not can be automatically prompted, and the time consumed for taking out the wrong inventory item again after putting the wrong inventory item in the target picking container is reduced.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 2 and 4, management server 230 is further specifically configured to, upon determining that the target inventory item already in target picking container 210 is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task, send a picking container transfer instruction instructing transfer of target picking container 210 to the to-be-wrapped cache location for wrapping the target inventory item held in target picking container 210.

In an alternative example of the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention further includes: a target transfer robot 2110, the target transfer robot 2110 for transferring the target picking container 210 located at the target sowing site 240; wherein: the management server 230 is to send picking receptacle transfer instructions to the target transfer robot 2110 upon detecting that the target inventory items in the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240 have been collected; target transfer robot 2110, in response to the picking container transfer instruction, transfers target picking container 210 to the to-be-packaged buffer location, such that the packager or packaging robot performs packaging processing on the target inventory item in target picking container 210 transferred to the to-be-packaged buffer location.

In this embodiment, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a target transfer robot provided in an embodiment of the present invention, so as to better transfer the target picking container 210 at the target sowing position 240 by the target transfer robot. Referring to fig. 4 and 7, the target transfer robot may have a clamping mechanism that may include a telescoping assembly 710, the telescoping assembly 710 may be used to clamp a target picking receptacle 210 from a target planting position 240 of a target planting device 220. The clamping mechanism may further include a lifting assembly 720, and the lifting assembly 720 may lift or lower the telescopic assembly 710 to a predetermined height, so that the height of the clamping mechanism may be adjusted to enable the clamping mechanism to reach the target sowing position 240 of the target sowing device 220, and clamp the target picking container 210 from the target sowing position 240. Optionally, the clipping mechanism may further include anti-slip pads respectively disposed inside the telescopic assemblies 710, the anti-slip pads being foldable when not clipping the target picking container and unfolded when clipping the target picking container.

In the present embodiment, referring to fig. 4, management server 230 may detect in real-time whether a target picking receptacle 210 located at target seeding site 240 has collected the target inventory items needed for the target order task, and determine target transfer robot 2110 upon detecting that target picking receptacle 210 has collected the target inventory items. At the same time, the management server 230 may send pick container transfer instructions to the target transfer robot 2110, ensuring that the target transfer robot 2110 may transfer the target pick container 210 to a to-be-packaged cache location in response to the pick container transfer instructions.

In another alternative example of the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention further includes: a container transfer device disposed between the location of the target sowing device 220 and the buffer location to be packaged; wherein: the management server 230 is to send a picking receptacle transfer instruction to the receptacle transport upon detecting that the target inventory items in the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240 are collected; the container transfer device transfers the target picking container 210 to the to-be-wrapped cache location in response to the picking container transfer instruction sent by the management server 230 for packaging of the target inventory item in the target picking container 210 at the to-be-wrapped cache location.

In yet another alternative example of the present embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 4, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention further includes: a manual transfer area between the target sowing device 220 and the buffer location to be packaged; wherein: the management server 230 is operable to, upon detecting that the target inventory items in the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target seeding site 240 are collected, send a picking receptacle transfer order to an operator located at the manual transfer area for the operator to transfer the target picking receptacle 210 to the pending buffer storage location in accordance with the picking receptacle transfer order.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 2 and 4, the types of target sowing devices 220 in the embodiment of the present invention can be classified into fixed sowing devices and movable sowing devices. In an alternative example, where the type of target planting device 220 is a fixed planting device, when it is detected that the target inventory items in the target picking receptacle 210 located at the target planting position 240 are collected, a manual transfer, transfer robot, or receptacle transfer device may be employed, simply to transfer the target picking receptacle 210 to the to-be-packaged buffer location. In another alternative example, in the case where the type of target planting device 220 is a mobile planting device, when it is detected that the target inventory items in the target picking receptacle 210 at each target planting position 240 of the target planting device 220 have all been collected, the entire target planting device 220 is transferred to the to-be-packaged buffer location in its entirety by means of a manual transfer or transfer robot. In yet another alternative example, where the type of target seeding device 220 is a mobile seeding device, when the presence of a target inventory item of at least one target picking receptacle 210 at each target seeding site 240 of the target seeding device 220 is detected, the target picking receptacles 210 may be sequentially transferred to the to-be-wrapped buffer location in accordance with the priority associated with the target picking receptacle 210 for each of the collected target inventory items. Wherein the priority with which target picking container 210 is associated may be determined in accordance with the priority of the target order task.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment is optimized based on the above embodiment, and may be combined with various alternatives in one or more embodiments. As shown in fig. 8, the warehouse management system 200 provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes: in addition to the at least one picking container 210, the at least one sowing device 220, and the management server 230 located in the order picking area, further include: a second rf reader 2120 disposed at the cache location to be packaged; wherein:

the second radio frequency reader 2120 is configured to, after the target picking container 210 in which the target inventory item has been collected is ready to be packaged and cached, read the item radio frequency tag contained in the target picking container 210 and the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container 210, and transmit the read item radio frequency tag and container radio frequency tag to the management server 230;

the management server 230 is further configured to recheck the target inventory items contained in the target picking container 210 according to the item radio frequency tags and the container radio frequency tags read by the second radio frequency reader 2120 to recheck whether the target picking container 210 already contains all the target inventory items required for the target order task.

In this embodiment, a second rf reader 2120 is disposed at the to-be-packaged buffering position, for example, the second rf reader 2120 may be installed on the packaging station at the to-be-packaged buffering position, and the second rf reader 2120 may employ an RFID rf code reader. After transferring the target picking container 210 to a to-be-wrapped buffer location of the to-be-wrapped buffer area, the second radio-frequency reader 2120 may identify a container radio-frequency tag carried in the target picking container 210 and an item radio-frequency tag carried by each of the target inventory items included in the target picking container 210.

In this embodiment, management server 230 may determine the container information for target picking container 210 and the item information for each target inventory item contained in target picking container 210 based on the container radio frequency tag and item radio frequency tag read by second radio frequency reader 2120, such as may determine the container ID number or SKU information for target picking container 210 and determine the item ID number and item quantity for each target inventory item in target picking container 210.

In this embodiment, the management server 230 has recorded the binding relationship between the container information of the target picking container and the target seed position and the target order task. Furthermore, the management server 230 may perform data comparison according to the binding relationship among the recorded container information of the target picking container, the target seeding position, and the target order task, so as to determine whether the target inventory item included in the target picking container meets the picking requirement of the target order task. If the comparison is successful, the target picking container is indicated to contain each target inventory item required by the target order task, and each target inventory item in the target picking container meets the picking requirement, and at the moment, the order rechecking can be prompted to be completed; if the comparison is unsuccessful, it is indicated that each target inventory item in the target picking container does not meet the picking requirement of the target order task, and at this time, difference data can be generated to prompt the rechecker in the order rechecking area to transfer the target picking container and perform exception handling.

The embodiment of the invention provides a warehouse management scheme, which can be characterized in that a second radio frequency reader is arranged at a to-be-packaged caching position, each target stock article in a target picking container can be automatically rechecked through the second radio frequency reader, and the complex operation caused by the fact that a packer needs to scan the container number of the target picking container at the to-be-packaged caching position firstly and then scan the target stock article bar codes in the target picking container one by one to recheck the manual article bar codes and the quantity is avoided, so that a large amount of order rechecking time is saved, and the order rechecking efficiency of the packer is improved; in addition, considering that the inventory items in other picking containers may be identified as the inventory items stored in the target picking container due to identification errors, when detecting that the target picking container may mistakenly assume that the target picking container has already collected the target inventory items required for the target order task, and when the target picking container is transferred to the cache location to be packaged, the target inventory items may be lost, and at this time, if the order is not rechecked, the packaged target inventory items may actually be unsatisfactory, so that the occurrence of the two situations can be reduced by rechecking the order at the cache location to be packaged.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another warehouse management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment is optimized based on the above embodiment, and may be combined with various alternatives in one or more embodiments. As shown in fig. 9, the warehouse management system 200 provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically further includes: the article shelf loading system comprises a container to be shelved 2130, a warehousing container to be shelved 2140 and a third radio frequency reader 2150 located in an article shelving area, wherein articles to be shelved are placed in the container to be shelved 2130, and article radio frequency tags are arranged on the articles to be shelved; wherein:

the third rf reader 2150 is configured to, when an article to be shelved in the container to be shelved 2130 is placed in the shelving inventory container 2140, read an article rf tag on the article to be shelved, and send the read article rf tag on the article to be shelved to the management server 230;

the management server 230 is further configured to determine the item information of the to-be-shelved item according to the item radio frequency tag on the to-be-shelved item read by the third radio frequency reader 2150, and record the binding relationship between the item information of the to-be-shelved item and the container position of the shelved inventory container.

In this embodiment, the container to be shelved 2130 refers to a container for containing articles to be shelved that need to be stored in a warehouse, and for example, the container to be shelved may be a movable shelf or a fixed shelf, or may also be an article box, a tray, or a cage for containing articles to be shelved. The upper rack inventory container 2140 refers to an inventory container to be used for storing articles to be loaded in the inventory container region, for example, the upper rack inventory container may specifically be a movable rack or a fixed rack, or a box, a tray, or a cage, etc. to be loaded with articles to be loaded.

In this embodiment, the management server 230 may select an appropriate inventory container from the inventory container area where the inventory container is placed, for example, select an inventory container with storage space as the inventory container to be shelved, so as to conveniently use the inventory container to be shelved to store the items to be shelved. The article racking personnel or the article racking robot may take out each article to be racked from the container to be racked 2130 and put the taken out each article to be racked into the racking storage container 2140. Correspondingly, in the process of taking out each article to be shelved from the container to be shelved 2130 or putting the article to be shelved into the shelving inventory container 2140, the article radio frequency tag on the article to be shelved, which is read by the third radio frequency reader 2150, is sent to the management server 230. The management server 230 may determine the item information of the to-be-shelved item according to the item radio frequency tag on the to-be-shelved item read by the third radio frequency reader 2150, and record the binding relationship between the item information of the to-be-shelved item and the container position of the shelved inventory container.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 9, the third rf reader 2150 may be disposed at a preset position above the container to be shelved 2130, and the article information of the article to be shelved includes: SKU information of the items to be shelved taken out of the containers to be shelved 2130 and the number of the taken out items to be shelved.

In this embodiment, when an article racking person or an article racking robot takes out each article to be racked from the container to be racked 2130, the third rf reader 2150 located above the container to be racked 2130 may read the article rf tag carried on each taken article to be racked and transmit the article rf tag to the management server 230. Further, the management server 230 may determine container information (such as an ID of the container to be shelved) of the container to be shelved 2130 according to the read article radio frequency tag to determine a reduction amount of the article radio frequency tag in the container to be shelved 2130. At this time, the management server 230 may obtain the SKU information of the articles to be shelved taken out from the containers to be shelved by the shelving personnel or the shelving robots and the number of the taken-out articles to be shelved according to the decrease amount of the rf tags of the articles in the containers to be shelved 213. Accordingly, the management server 230 may record the binding relationship between the item information of the above-mentioned items to be shelved and the container position of the shelved inventory container 2140.

In this embodiment, since the container to be shelved may include a plurality of containers to be shelved, the third rf reader 2150 located above the container to be shelved 2130 may also read the container rf tag carried on the container to be shelved 2130, so that the management server may determine the container information (such as the ID of the container to be shelved) of the container to be shelved 2130 according to the container rf tag read by the third rf reader 2150, and further know from which container to be shelved the shelved person or the shelving robot takes out the object to be shelved.

In an alternative embodiment of this embodiment, this embodiment may be combined with each of the alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Referring to fig. 9, the third rf reader 2150 may be disposed at a predetermined position above the shelving inventory receptacle 2140, and the item information of the item to be shelved may specifically include: SKU information of the items to be shelved that are placed in the shelved inventory containers 2140 and the number of items to be shelved that are placed in the shelved inventory containers.

In this embodiment, when an article shelving person or an article shelving robot puts an article to be shelved into the shelving inventory container 2140, the third rf reader 2150 located above the shelving inventory container 2140 may read the article rf tag carried by each put article to be shelved, so that the management server 230 determines the increment of the article rf tag in the shelving inventory container 2140 according to the article rf tag read by the third rf reader 2150. Further, the management server 230 may obtain the SKUs of the articles to be shelved that have been placed into the shelving inventory container 2140 by the shelving personnel or the shelving robots and the number of the articles to be shelved according to the increment of the rf tags of the articles contained in the shelving inventory container 2140. Accordingly, the management server 230 may record the binding relationship between the item information of the above-mentioned items to be shelved and the container position of the shelved inventory container 2140.

By adopting the two optional implementation modes, the shelving personnel or the shelving robot do not need to manually acquire the article shelving information of the article to be shelved, the article information of the article to be shelved can be automatically identified and determined through the preset third radio frequency reader, the shelving personnel or the shelving robot only need to scan and know the container position of the shelving inventory container, and the management server can automatically record the binding relationship between the article shelving information of the shelving article and the container position of the shelving inventory container, so that the article shelving time is effectively saved, and the article shelving speed is increased.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Fig. 10 is a schematic view of a carrier for transporting an on-shelf inventory container according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 10, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention may further include: a rack transfer robot 2160 for transferring the rack inventory receptacles 2140; wherein:

the management server 230 determines the shelving inventory container 2140 according to the to-be-shelved task information, and sends a shelving transporting instruction to the shelving transporting robot 2160;

The racking transfer robot 2160 transfers the racking inventory 2140 to a predetermined position of the to-be-racked container 2130 in response to the racking transfer command, so that a racking person or racking robot takes out the to-be-racked items from the to-be-racked container 2130 at the predetermined position of the to-be-racked container 2130 and puts the to-be-racked items into the racking inventory 2140.

In this embodiment, the management server 230 may select an on-shelf inventory container 2140 having a storage space from the inventory container region according to the to-be-put task information. Meanwhile, the management server 230 may further select an on-shelf transfer robot 2160 in an idle state meeting the conditions from the plurality of on-shelf transfer robots located in the on-shelf transfer robot area, and transfer the on-shelf stocker 2140 having a storage space in the inventory container area to a preset position of the to-be-shelved container 2130 by scheduling the on-shelf transfer robot 2160. By adopting the mode, the whole racking inventory container with the storage space can be conveyed to the position of the container to be racked, so that racking personnel or racking robots can uniformly place a large quantity of articles to be racked into the racking inventory container for storage.

In an alternative implementation of this embodiment, this implementation may be combined with the various alternatives of one or more of the embodiments described above. Fig. 11 is a schematic view of a carrier for carrying containers to be shelved according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 11, the warehouse management system 200 in the embodiment of the present invention may further include: a to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170 for transferring the to-be-shelved container 2130;

The management server 230 sends a to-be-shelved transport instruction for the to-be-shelved container 2130 to the to-be-shelved transport robot 2170 according to the to-be-shelved task information;

the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170 transfers the to-be-shelved container 2130 to a preset position of the to-be-shelved container 2140 in response to the to-be-shelved transfer command, so as to take out the to-be-shelved item from the to-be-shelved container 2130 at the preset position of the to-be-shelved container 2170 and put it into the to-be-shelved container 2140. Alternatively, when the to-be-shelved transfer instruction is sent to the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170, it is also possible to send following instruction information to the shelved person to instruct the shelved person to move to the preset position of the shelved stock container 2140 following the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170 and to prompt the shelved person to take out the to-be-shelved item from the to-be-shelved container 2130 and put it into the shelved stock container 2140. Alternatively, in transmitting a to-be-shelved transfer instruction to the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170, an instruction may also be transmitted to the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170 instructing the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170 to take out an article to be shelved from the to-be-shelved container 2130 and put it into the shelved stock container 2140 by its own gripper assembly. Alternatively, when the to-be-shelved transfer command is sent to the to-be-shelved transfer robot 2170, a command may also be sent to the shelving robot instructing the shelving robot to take out the to-be-shelved item from the to-be-shelved container 2130 by its own gripper assembly and put it into the shelving inventory container 2140.

By adopting the mode, when a small amount of articles to be placed on the shelf are placed on the shelf, the containers to be placed on the shelf can be directly conveyed to the containers to be stored on the shelf, so that the whole containers to be stored on the shelf can be prevented from being conveyed, and unnecessary conveying cost is increased.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an inventory management system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment is optimized based on the above embodiment, and may be combined with various alternatives in one or more embodiments. As shown in fig. 12, the inventory management system 1200 provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes: a plurality of inventory holders 1201, wherein any one of the plurality of inventory holders 1201 is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the plurality of inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; the inventory management system 1200 further includes a plurality of fourth radio frequency readers 1202 and a management server 1203 communicatively connected to the fourth radio frequency readers 1202; the inventory item is provided with an item radio frequency tag; a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support;

the fourth rf reader 1202 is configured to read the rack rf tag on the inventory rack 1201 and the item rf tag of the inventory item located on the inventory rack, and send the read tags to the management server 1203;

The management server 1203 is configured to determine information of the inventory holder and information of the inventory item located on the inventory holder based on the holder rf tag and the item rf tag.

In this embodiment, optionally, at least one inventory holder 1201 constitutes a unit, and a fourth rf reader 1202 is disposed above the unit, and the fourth rf reader 1202 is configured to read the holder rf tag and the item rf tag in the unit. Specifically, optionally, one inventory holder 1201 constitutes a unit, which may ensure that each inventory holder 1201 has a unique corresponding rf reader.

In this embodiment, fig. 13 is a schematic position diagram between an rf reader for inventory and an inventory holder according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 13, a plurality of inventory holders 1201 may be included in the inventory area, and each inventory holder 1201 may include a plurality of inventory items that may be received in the inventory location. Optionally, a fourth rf reader 1202 may be installed above the location of each inventory holder 1201, and the fourth rf reader 1202 may read the holder rf tag of the inventory holder 1201 below and the item rf tag of the inventory item on the inventory holder 1201. The fourth rf reader 1202 may send the read rack rf tag and the item rf tag of the inventory item to the management server 1203. The management server 230 may query a mapping relationship between a preset support radio frequency tag and support information and a mapping relationship between an article radio frequency tag and article information according to the support radio frequency tag and the article radio frequency tag, so as to obtain information of the inventory support and information of the inventory article located on the inventory support. Further, the management server 1203 may perform inventory comparison with the item information and rack information of each inventory item in the inventory rack 1201 recorded in the inventory data according to the determined information of the inventory rack and information of the inventory item. If the difference is found, the management server 1203 generates a carrying task of the inventory support, the scheduling robot carries the inventory support 1201 to an operation station for manual checking, and the inventory difference of each inventory support 1201 is confirmed and recorded; if there is no difference, no handling of the inventory holders is required.

In this embodiment, in an optional example, inventory containers are placed on the inventory positions of the inventory holder 1201, each inventory container may contain at least one inventory item therein, and each inventory container is provided with a container radio frequency tag. Optionally, on the basis of the above setting, the fourth rf reader 1202 is further configured to read the container rf tag on the inventory container and send the container rf tag to the management server 1203. The management server 1203 is further configured to query the mapping relationship between the container radio frequency tag and the container information according to the container radio frequency tag, and determine the container information of the inventory container.

In this embodiment, in an optional example, the management server 1203 is configured to determine whether the acquired inventory information coincides with the recorded inventory information. Optionally, at least some inventory racks of the plurality of inventory racks have rf antennas disposed thereon.

In this embodiment, referring to fig. 13, optionally, the fourth rf reader 1202 orients a container rf tag that identifies an inventory container placed on an inventory location of a corresponding inventory holder 1201. Wherein the fourth rf reader 1202 has a unique identifier and is matched with the corresponding inventory holder 1201 below, and the fourth rf reader 1202 can only read the container rf tag of the inventory container on the inventory holder 1201 at the position corresponding to the fourth rf reader 1202, but cannot read the container rf tag and the item rf tag of the inventory container on other inventory holders. For example, the fourth radio frequency reader 1202 at location (X1, Y1) only reads the container radio frequency tags and item radio frequency tags of inventory containers on the inventory holder at location (X1, Y1), but does not read radio frequency tags at other locations.

In this embodiment, optionally, the fourth rf reader 1202 may automatically start an inventory function of the fourth rf reader 1202 according to a preset inventory cycle or a preset inventory rule to inventory the item information of the inventory items contained in the respective inventory holders. For example, according to a preset inventory cycle, the automatic inventory function of the fourth rf reader 1202 is turned on, and when the automatic inventory operation is completed once, the automatic inventory function of the fourth rf reader 1202 is turned off, and the next preset inventory cycle is waited to arrive. For another example, according to a preset inventory rule, when an article newly put in storage is detected, the inventory function of the fourth radio frequency reader 1202 is turned on for automatic inventory, and when no article newly put in storage is detected, the automatic inventory function of the fourth radio frequency reader 1202 is turned off. For another example, when the item information is found to be incorrect when the item is picked, the fourth rf reader 1202 may be turned on for automatic inventory. It will be appreciated that the inventory management system of the present embodiment may be integrated with the inventory management system of the previous embodiment, existing as part of the inventory management system.

By adopting the mode, the article information of all articles on the inventory support can be automatically identified under the condition that the inventory support does not need to be moved, the whole process does not need manual operation for inventory checking, and the inventory articles in the inventory container can be automatically checked as long as the inventory support is placed at the corresponding position, so that the time wasted by manual inventory checking is saved.

Fig. 14 is a schematic flow chart of a warehouse management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the technical solution of this embodiment may be applied to the cases of each operation link, such as picking, package review, and racking, to improve the manual work efficiency in each operation link, and the method may be executed by a warehouse management system. As shown in fig. 14, the warehouse management method provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps:

s1410, when a target picking container required by a target order task is placed in a target sowing position where a first radio frequency reader is located, reading a container radio frequency tag on the target picking container by the first radio frequency reader, and sending the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container to the management server; wherein, the sowing equipment is provided with at least one sowing position, and each sowing position is provided with a first radio frequency reader.

And S1420, the management server determines container information of the target picking container according to the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and records the binding relationship among the target order task, the container information of the target picking container and the target sowing position.

And S1430, when the target inventory item required by the target order task is placed in the target picking container, the first radio frequency reader also reads an item radio frequency tag on the target inventory item, and sends the read item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item to the management server.

S1440, the management server associates the item radio frequency tag of the target inventory item with the container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and determines whether the existing target inventory item in the target picking container is consistent with the target inventory item required by the target order task.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the container radio frequency tag provided on the target picking container and the first radio frequency reader provided on the target sowing location at least partially coincide in position.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, a container radio frequency tag is disposed at the container bottom of the target picking container, and the container radio frequency tag located at the container bottom of the target picking container is proximate to the first radio frequency reader on the target sowing position.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the radio frequency signal reading area of the first radio frequency reader on the target sowing location is an area for placing the target picking container on the target sowing location.

Based on the above embodiments, optionally, the reconciling of the existing target inventory items in the target picking container with the target inventory items required for the target order task comprises: the SKU information for the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the SKU information for the target inventory items required for the target order task, and the quantity of the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the quantity of the target inventory items required for the target order task.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, the method further includes:

the management server also determines whether the target inventory item has been correctly placed on the target picking container based on whether the first radio frequency reader on the target seeding site can read an item radio frequency tag.

the management server also distributes the target order task to a target sowing position of the target sowing equipment and sends sowing position prompt information to the target sowing position prompt device; the target sowing position prompting device is in communication connection with the management server;

The target sowing position prompting device prompts the position of the target sowing position on the target sowing equipment according to the sowing position prompting information so as to indicate that the target sorting container is placed on the target sowing position.

after the target order task is distributed to the target sowing position of the target sowing device, the management server selects a picking container meeting the containing condition from a plurality of picking containers according to the target inventory item required by the target order task to serve as a target picking container, so that the selected target picking container is placed on the target sowing position and contains the target inventory item required by the target order task.

upon determining that the target inventory item already in the target picking container is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task, the management server also sends a picking container transfer instruction instructing transfer of the target picking container to the to-be-wrapped cache location for wrapping processing of the target inventory item held in the target picking container.

after the target picking container is transferred to the to-be-packaged caching position, a second radio frequency reader reads an article radio frequency tag and a container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, wherein the article radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag are contained in the target picking container, and the article radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag are sent to the management server; wherein the second radio frequency reader is arranged at a cache position to be packaged;

the management server also rechecks the target inventory item contained in the target picking container according to the item radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag read by the second radio frequency reader, so as to determine whether the target picking container contains the target inventory item required by the target order task again.

when the articles to be shelved in the containers to be shelved are placed in the shelving inventory containers, the third radio frequency reader reads the article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved and sends the read article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved to the management server; wherein the container to be shelved is provided with an article to be shelved, and the article to be shelved is provided with an article radio frequency tag;

The management server also determines the article information of the articles to be shelved according to the article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved read by the third radio frequency reader, and records the binding relationship between the article information of the articles to be shelved and the container position of the shelved inventory container.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the third rf reader is disposed at a preset position above the container to be shelved; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the SKU information of the articles to be shelved taken out of the containers to be shelved and the number of the taken-out articles to be shelved.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the third rf reader is disposed at a preset position above the overhead inventory receptacle; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the number of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container and the SKU information of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container.

The warehousing management method provided in the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to the warehousing management system provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and has corresponding functions and advantages of the warehousing management system.

Fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an inventory management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the technical solution of this embodiment is applicable to a situation in an inventory checking operation link to improve manual work efficiency in the inventory checking operation link, and the method can be executed by an inventory management system. As shown in fig. 14, the inventory management method provided in the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps:

s1510, reading a support radio frequency tag on an inventory support and an article radio frequency tag of an inventory article positioned on the inventory support by a fourth radio frequency reader, and sending the support radio frequency tag and the article radio frequency tag to a management server; wherein the fourth radio frequency reader is in communication connection with the management server; the inventory support is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory article; and a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support.

S1520, the management server determines the information of the inventory support and the information of the inventory item on the inventory support according to the support radio frequency tag and the item radio frequency tag.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, at least one inventory holder constitutes a unit, and one of the radio frequency readers is disposed above one of the units, and is configured to read a holder radio frequency tag and an item radio frequency tag in the unit.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, the one inventory holder constitutes one unit.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, an inventory container is placed on the inventory position, the inventory container contains at least one inventory item therein, and a container radio frequency tag is disposed on the inventory container.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, the radio frequency reader is further configured to read a container radio frequency tag on the inventory container, and send the container radio frequency tag to the management server;

the management server is further configured to determine information for an inventory container from the container radio frequency tag.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiment, optionally, the method further includes: the management server also determines whether the acquired stock information coincides with the recorded stock information.

On the basis of the above embodiment, optionally, at least some inventory holders of the inventory holders are provided with radio frequency antennas.

The inventory management method provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the inventory management system provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and has corresponding functions and advantages of the inventory management system.

Further, the embodiment of the invention also discloses the following contents:

a1, a warehouse management system, comprising: at least one picking container, at least one sowing apparatus and a management server; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on an inventory article, a container radio frequency tag is arranged on the sorting container, at least one sowing position is arranged on the sowing equipment, and a first radio frequency reader is arranged on each sowing position; wherein,

the management server is configured to determine container information of the target picking container according to a container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and record a binding relationship among the target order task, the container information of the target picking container and the target sowing position;

a2, the system of a1, the container radio frequency tag disposed on the target picking container and the first radio frequency reader disposed on the target planting site being at least partially coincident in position.

a3, the system of a2, the container bottom of the target picking container being provided with a container radio frequency tag, and the container radio frequency tag located at the container bottom of the target picking container being proximate to the first radio frequency reader at the target seeding site.

a4, according to the system of a2, the radio frequency signal reading area of the first radio frequency reader on the target seeding site is the area on the target seeding site for placement of the target picking container.

a5, the system of a1, wherein reconciling existing target inventory items in the target picking container with target inventory items required for the target order task comprises: the SKU information for the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the SKU information for the target inventory items required for the target order task, and the quantity of the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the quantity of the target inventory items required for the target order task.

a6, the system of a1, the management server further configured to determine whether the target inventory item has been properly placed in the target picking container, depending on whether the first radio frequency reader at the target seeding site is able to read an item radio frequency tag.

a7, the system of a1, the system further comprising: the target sowing position prompting device is in communication connection with the management server;

the management server is also configured to send sowing position prompting information to the target sowing position prompting device after the target order task is distributed to the target sowing position of the target sowing equipment;

the target sowing position prompting device is configured to prompt the position of the target sowing position on the target sowing equipment according to the sowing position prompting information so as to indicate that the target picking container is placed on the target sowing position.

a8, according to the system of a7, the management server is further configured to, after allocating the target order task to the target seeding site of the target seeding device, select a picking container satisfying the condition from a plurality of picking containers as the target picking container according to the target inventory item required by the target order task, so as to place the selected target picking container on the target seeding site and hold the target inventory item required by the target order task.

a9, the system of a1, the management server further configured to, upon determining that the target inventory item already in the target pick container is consistent with the target inventory item required for the target order task, send a pick container transfer instruction instructing transfer of the target pick container to the to-be-wrapped cache location for wrapping the target inventory item held in the target pick container.

a10, the system of a9, the system further comprising: the second radio frequency reader is arranged at the position of the cache to be packaged;

the second radio frequency reader is configured to read the item radio frequency tags and the container radio frequency tags of the target picking containers contained in the target picking containers after transferring the target picking containers to the to-be-packaged caching position, and send the read item radio frequency tags and container radio frequency tags to the management server;

the management server is further configured to recheck the target inventory item included in the target picking container according to the item radio frequency tag and the container radio frequency tag read by the second radio frequency reader, so as to determine again whether the target picking container already includes the target inventory item required by the target order task.

a11, the system of a1, the system further comprising: the system comprises a container to be shelved, a shelving inventory container and a third radio frequency reader, wherein articles to be shelved are placed in the container to be shelved, and article radio frequency tags are arranged on the articles to be shelved;

the third radio frequency reader is configured to read the article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved when the articles to be shelved in the containers to be shelved are placed in the shelving inventory containers, and send the read article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved to the management server;

the management server is further configured to determine the article information of the articles to be shelved according to the article radio frequency tags on the articles to be shelved read by the third radio frequency reader, and record the binding relationship between the article information of the articles to be shelved and the container position of the shelved inventory container.

a12, the system according to a11, the third radio frequency reader being disposed at a preset position above a container to be shelved; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the SKU information of the articles to be shelved taken out of the containers to be shelved and the number of the taken-out articles to be shelved.

a13, the system of a11, the third rf reader being positioned at a preset location above an overhead inventory receptacle; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the number of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container and the SKU information of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container.

a14, an inventory management system, the system comprising: the inventory system comprises a plurality of inventory supports, a plurality of storage positions and a plurality of inventory items, wherein any one of the inventory supports is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; a plurality of fourth radio frequency readers and a management server in communication connection with the fourth radio frequency readers; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory article; a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support;

a15, the system of a14, wherein at least one inventory holder constitutes a unit, and the fourth rf reader is configured to read a holder rf tag and an item rf tag in the unit.

a16, the system according to a15, said one inventory holder constituting one unit.

a17, the system of a14, wherein said inventory location has an inventory receptacle disposed thereon, said inventory receptacle having at least one inventory item contained therein, said inventory receptacle having a receptacle radio frequency tag disposed thereon.

a18, the system according to a17, the fourth rf reader further configured to read container rf tags on inventory containers and send to a management server;

a19, the system of any one of a14-a18, the management server configured to determine whether the obtained inventory information is consistent with the recorded inventory information.

a20, the system of any one of a14-a18, wherein at least some of said plurality of inventory holders have radio frequency antennas disposed thereon.

a21, a method for managing a warehouse, comprising

The management server determines container information of the target picking container according to the read container radio frequency tag of the target picking container, and records a binding relationship among the target order task, the container information of the target picking container and the target sowing position;

a22, the method of a21, wherein the container radio frequency tag disposed on the target picking container at least partially coincides in position with the first radio frequency reader disposed on the target planting site.

a23, the method of a22, wherein the container bottom of the target picking container is provided with a container radio frequency tag, and the container radio frequency tag at the container bottom of the target picking container is proximate to the first radio frequency reader at the target seeding site.

a24, according to the method of a22, the radio frequency signal reading area of the first radio frequency reader on the target seeding site is the area on the target seeding site for placement of the target picking container.

a25, the method of a21, wherein reconciling existing target inventory items in the target picking container with target inventory items required for the target order task comprises: the SKU information for the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the SKU information for the target inventory items required for the target order task, and the quantity of the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the quantity of the target inventory items required for the target order task.

a26, the method of a21, the method further comprising:

the management server also determines whether the target inventory item has been properly placed on the target picking container based on whether a first radio frequency reader on the target seeding site can read an item radio frequency tag.

a27, the method of a21, the method further comprising:

a28, the method of a21, the method further comprising:

after the target order task is distributed to the target sowing position of the target sowing device, the management server selects a picking container meeting the conditions from a plurality of picking containers according to the target inventory items required by the target order task to serve as a target picking container, so that the selected target picking container is placed on the target sowing position and the target inventory items required by the target order task are contained.

a29, the method of a21, the method further comprising:

a30, the system of a29, the method further comprising:

a31, the method of a21, the method further comprising:

a32, the third RF reader being positioned at a preset location above a container to be shelved according to the method of a 31; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the SKU information of the articles to be shelved taken out of the containers to be shelved and the number of the taken-out articles to be shelved.

33. The method of claim 31, the third rf reader being disposed at a preset location above an overhead inventory receptacle; the article information of the article to be shelved comprises: the number of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container and the SKU information of the articles to be shelved which are placed in the shelved inventory container.

a34, an inventory management method, the method comprising:

a35, the method of a34, wherein at least one inventory holder constitutes a unit, and the fourth radio frequency reader is configured to read the holder radio frequency tag and the item radio frequency tag in the unit.

a36, said one inventory holder constituting a unit according to the method of a 35.

a37, the method of a34, wherein said inventory location has an inventory receptacle disposed thereon, said inventory receptacle containing at least one inventory item therein, said inventory receptacle having a container radio frequency tag disposed thereon.

a38, the method according to a37, the radio frequency reader is further configured to read container radio frequency tags on inventory containers and send to a management server;

a39, the method of any one of a34-a38, the method further comprising:

the management server also determines whether the acquired stock information coincides with the recorded stock information.

a40, the method of any one of a34-a38, wherein at least some of said plurality of inventory racks have radio frequency antennas disposed thereon.

From the above description of the embodiments, it is obvious for those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by software and necessary general hardware, and certainly can be implemented by hardware, but the former is a better implementation in many cases. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a FLASH Memory (FLASH), a hard disk or an optical disk of a computer, and includes several instructions to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) execute the methods according to the embodiments of the present invention.

It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A warehouse management system, comprising: at least one picking container, at least one sowing apparatus and a management server; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on an inventory article, a container radio frequency tag is arranged on the sorting container, at least one sowing position is arranged on the sowing equipment, and a first radio frequency reader is arranged on each sowing position; wherein,

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a container radio frequency tag disposed on the target picking container is at least partially positionally coincident with a first radio frequency reader disposed on the target planting site.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the container bottom of the target picking container is provided with a container radio frequency tag, and the container radio frequency tag located at the container bottom of the target picking container is proximate to the first radio frequency reader at the target seeding site.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the radio frequency signal reading area of the first radio frequency reader on the target seeding site is an area on the target seeding site for placement of the target picking receptacle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein reconciling the existing target inventory items in the target picking container with the target inventory items required for the target order task comprises: the SKU information for the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the SKU information for the target inventory items required for the target order task, and the quantity of the existing target inventory items in the target picking container is consistent with the quantity of the target inventory items required for the target order task.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising: the system comprises a container to be shelved, a shelving inventory container and a third radio frequency reader, wherein articles to be shelved are placed in the container to be shelved, and article radio frequency tags are arranged on the articles to be shelved;

7. An inventory management system, the system comprising: the inventory system comprises a plurality of inventory supports, a plurality of storage positions and a plurality of inventory items, wherein any one of the inventory supports is provided with a plurality of inventory positions, and any one of the inventory positions contains a plurality of inventory items; a plurality of fourth radio frequency readers and a management server in communication connection with the fourth radio frequency readers; an article radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory article; a support radio frequency tag is arranged on the inventory support;

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one inventory holder comprises a unit, and wherein the fourth radio frequency reader is configured to read a holder radio frequency tag and an item radio frequency tag in the unit.

9. A method for managing a warehouse, characterized by comprising

10. An inventory management method, the method comprising: