CN113723891A

CN113723891A - Method for sorting articles, sorting control device, sorting device, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN113723891A
Application number: CN202111055588.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邵国富; 肖军; 胡金星
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-09
Filing date: 2021-09-09
Publication date: 2021-11-30

Abstract

The disclosure provides an article sorting method, a sorting control device, a sorting device and a storage medium, and relates to the technical field of intelligent storage. An item picking method of the present disclosure includes: determining items to be picked at a picking area at which a picking device is located; determining an order to which the picked item belongs in the case of receiving information of the picked item; opening a bearing mechanism on a picking device, which is associated with an order to which the picked item belongs, so that the picked item is put into the bearing mechanism, wherein the picking device comprises a plurality of bearing mechanisms; after determining that the items to be picked in the current picking area are picked completely, the picking device leaves the current picking area according to the travel route and goes to the next picking area or finishes picking. By the method, the walking burden of workers can be reduced, secondary sorting and rechecking operations are not needed, and the sorting efficiency is improved.

Description

Method for sorting articles, sorting control device, sorting device, and storage medium

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of intelligent warehousing, in particular to an article sorting method, a sorting control device, a sorting device and a storage medium.

Background

The traditional WMS (Warehouse Management System) ex-Warehouse production operation includes several links such as order receiving, order positioning, picking task order, picking, rechecking and packaging. In the storage of the goods, most of the bins adopt a mixed mode, that is, the same storage can store a plurality of different goods. In order to facilitate operation and management, the physical area in the warehouse is usually split into different functional areas according to actual needs, such as a storage area, a zero picking area, an office area, a rechecking and packaging area, a goods receiving area, a goods dispatching area, an explosive product production area, and the like.

Since there may be multiple items for the same customer order, distributed across different areas. In order to reduce the distance the picker travels back and forth, and to reduce the labor burden, each picker may be assigned a portion of the area. The same order is divided into a plurality of task lists according to the required articles, the task lists of the orders are combined into an aggregate list, and each order picker can complete picking of the aggregate list. And after the collection list is sorted, the articles arrive at the rechecking area to be sorted for the second time, the articles belonging to different orders in the collection list are sorted, and the articles belonging to the same order in different collection lists are combined to obtain the articles required by the complete order.

Disclosure of Invention

One object of the present disclosure is to improve the picking efficiency and reduce the manpower burden.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an item picking method, including: determining items to be picked at a picking area at which a picking device is located; determining an order to which the picked item belongs in the case of receiving information of the picked item; opening a bearing mechanism on a picking device, which is associated with an order to which the picked item belongs, so that the picked item is put into the bearing mechanism, wherein the picking device comprises a plurality of bearing mechanisms; after determining that the items to be picked in the current picking area are picked completely, the picking device leaves the current picking area according to the travel route and goes to the next picking area or finishes picking.

In some embodiments, each carrier on the picking device is associated with an order.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: receiving a first order from a server; in the case of a carrier not associated with an order being present on the picking device, one carrier is selected from the remaining carriers to be associated with the first order.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: in the event that the carriers on the picking device are all associated with an order, the first order is rejected.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: planning or updating a travel route of the picking device according to the orders accepted by the picking device and the picking areas where the storage positions of the articles are located; or receiving a travel route from the server, the travel route being generated by the server based on the items on the order accepted by the picking device, the items in the picking area, and the current location of the picking device.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: in the event that the picking is determined to be finished based on the travel route, travel is made to an order packing area for packing the items in each carrier as a single order.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: in the case of the end of picking determined from the travel route, the order packing area is approached and all the carriers are unloaded as a whole.

In some embodiments, determining items to be picked for a picking area at which a picking device is located includes: determining unsoiled items for orders that have been accepted by the unmanned picking device; determining a picking area to which a bin of an unsorted item belongs; and determining the unsorted items of which the picking area of the storage position is the picking area of the picking device as the items to be picked.

In some embodiments, determining that items to be picked for the current picking area are finished picking comprises: determining that the picked item is picked under the condition that a bearing mechanism associated with an order to which the picked item belongs is closed; judging whether all the articles to be sorted are sorted; and if all the items to be picked are picked, finishing picking the items to be picked.

In some embodiments, the item picking method further comprises: and if the goods to be picked have goods which are not picked completely, waiting to acquire the information of the next picked goods.

In some embodiments, information is received for the item being picked, and determining the order to which the item being picked belongs comprises: acquiring information of a picked article through a scanning mechanism, wherein a worker searches the article to be picked in a picking area according to the information of the article to be picked and takes the searched article as the picked article to be scanned by the scanning mechanism; in the event that the item being picked belongs to an item to be picked, it is determined that the remaining demand of an order includes the order of the item being picked as the order to which the item being picked belongs.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a picking control apparatus including: an item to be picked determination unit configured to determine an item to be picked at a picking area where a picking device is located; an order determination unit configured to determine an order to which the picked item belongs, in a case where information of the picked item is received; the goods receiving unit is configured to open the bearing mechanism on the picking device, which is associated with the order to which the picked goods belong, so that the picked goods are put into the bearing mechanism, wherein the picking device comprises a plurality of bearing mechanisms; and the picking continuing unit is configured to drive the picking device to leave the current picking area according to the traveling route and go to the next picking area or finish picking after determining that the items to be picked in the current picking area are picked completely.

In some embodiments, the picking control apparatus further comprises: an order receiving unit configured to receive a first order from a server; an order association unit configured to select one carrier from the remaining carriers to be associated with the first order in case there are carriers on the picking device that are not associated with the order.

In some embodiments, the picking control apparatus further comprises a travel route determination unit configured to: planning or updating a travel route of the picking device according to the orders accepted by the picking device and the picking areas where the storage positions of the articles are located; or receiving a travel route from the server, the travel route being generated by the server based on the items on the order accepted by the picking device, the items in the picking area, and the current location of the picking device.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a picking control apparatus including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform any of the above item picking methods based on the instructions stored in the memory.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is proposed, on which computer program instructions are stored, which instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of any one of the above item picking methods.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a sorting apparatus including: any one of the above sorting control devices; a plurality of carrier mechanisms configured to carry items to be picked; and a movement mechanism configured to move according to the travel route under the drive of the picking control device.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure and not to limit the disclosure. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a flow chart of some embodiments of an item picking method of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of further embodiments of the item picking method of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of further embodiments of the item picking method of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a pick control apparatus of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of further embodiments of the pick control apparatus of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of still other embodiments of the picking control apparatus of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of some embodiments of a sorting apparatus of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8A-8C are schematic views illustrating the operation of other embodiments of the sorting apparatus of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present disclosure is further described in detail by the accompanying drawings and examples.

The inventor found that in the related art, the labor intensity of the picker was very high. The picking personnel need to push the picking vehicle to move back and forth in each channel, goods shelf and storage position piece in the warehouse, the picking travel distance in the warehouse is very much, and the labor intensity is very high. And because a plurality of orders are combined and selected, subsequent rechecking operation is needed, errors are easy to make, and customer complaints are easy to cause. In addition, after picking of different task orders under the same collection order is completed, the operation of converging according to the collection order is also required to be executed.

A flow diagram of some embodiments of an item picking method of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 1.

In step 120, items to be picked at a picking area at which a picking device is located are determined. In some embodiments, the picking device may be an unmanned Vehicle or an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle), among others. In some embodiments, a picking control device, comprised of a memory and a processor, located on the picking device retrieves items required in an order by querying stored orders that have been assigned to the current picking device. In some embodiments, items in the order that have not been picked may be considered items needed for the current order, given that a portion of the items of the order have completed picking. Further, the item located in the picking area where the picking device is currently located or is heading for, among all items required for the order, is determined as the item to be picked.

In some embodiments, the order that has been accepted by the unmanned picking device may be determined first for unsoiled items, and then the picking area to which the bin for the unsoiled item belongs. And determining the unsorted items of which the picking area of the storage position is the picking area of the picking device as the items to be picked.

In some embodiments, information for each item to be picked (all items to be picked may be displayed in a list) is presented for viewing to personnel located at the picking area. In some embodiments, the display may be displayed to the worker through a display area on the picking device, or sent to the worker's handheld terminal.

In step 130, upon receipt of information for the item being picked, an order to which the item being picked belongs is determined.

In some embodiments, the worker may locate, remove, and provide the corresponding item in the picking area to the picking device as the item to be picked based on the information about the item to be picked. In some embodiments, the picking device may be provided with information about the item being picked by placing the item being picked in an image acquisition area of the picking device, or by placing an identification (e.g., a bar code, two-dimensional code) of the item being picked in an identification scan area of the picking device.

In some embodiments, the picking control apparatus may perform data matching based on the stored information, match information of the picked item among items yet to be ordered, and determine one of the orders (or the number of orders matching the number of the picked item) that is successfully matched as the order to which the item belongs.

In step 140, the carrier associated with the order to which the picked item belongs on the picking device is opened so that the picked item is placed on the carrier. The picking device includes a plurality of carriers thereon, each carrier being associated with an order. In some embodiments, each load bearing mechanism has a separate compartment that can be opened under the control of the picking control device; when the carrying mechanism is closed, closing information can be fed back to the picking control device. If the carrier is closed, it is determined that the placement of the currently picked item is complete, step 150 is performed.

In some embodiments, when placement of a picked item is completed, the corresponding item information is deleted from the information for the item to be picked. When a plurality of items to be picked are present among the items to be picked, but only partial picking is currently completed, information on the items corresponding to the number of items whose picking is completed is deleted from the information on the items to be picked.

In step 150, the picking control device determines whether the items to be picked in the current picking zone have all been picked based on the stored information. If it is completed, i.e., the list of items to be picked is empty, go to step 160; otherwise, step 130 is executed to wait for the next time information for the item being picked is obtained.

In step 160, the picking device leaves the current picking area, proceeds to the next picking area or finishes picking according to the travel route, thereby realizing the continuous execution of the item picking work.

In some embodiments, step 160 may specifically include steps 161-163.

In step 161, it is determined whether the picking operation in each picking area is completed according to the travel route. In some embodiments, if there are other picking areas on the route of travel, then picking has not been completed, step 162 is performed; if there are no additional picking areas on the route of travel, indicating that the order assigned to the current picking device has completed picking, step 163 is performed.

In step 162, the picking device is driven away from the current picking area to the next picking area according to the travel route.

In step 163, the picking device is driven to the order packing area for the staff to pack the items in each carrier as an order. In some embodiments, in order to facilitate the circulation work and further improve the efficiency, the picking device can be controlled to lift all the bearing mechanisms as a whole, so that the picking device can be configured with empty bearing mechanisms to continue working, and the packing work is prevented from occupying the picking device to influence the picking efficiency.

By the method, the picking device can be used for walking and picking in different picking areas, so that the walking burden of workers is reduced; through the mode that bearing mechanism and the order of selecting the device are correlated, make every bearing mechanism bear the weight of corresponding all article of order, reduced the burden of secondary letter sorting recheck operation, further reduced the human cost, improved and selected efficiency.

In some embodiments, each carrying mechanism is only associated with one order, so that secondary sorting composite operation is avoided, article sorting links are reduced, sorting efficiency is further improved, and labor cost is reduced.

In some embodiments, a flow diagram of some embodiments of the item picking method of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 2 after the picking device reaches a picking zone.

In step 231, the staff member selects an item to be picked based on the information of the item to be picked presented by the picking device, removes the item from the storage location, and scans the scanning area of the picking device. The picking control device obtains information of a picked article through a scanning mechanism on the picking device.

In step 232, the items to be picked are matched among the remaining items to be picked in the current picking area. If the matching is successful, determining that the currently picked item belongs to the item to be picked, and executing step 233; otherwise, an alarm message may be sent to inform the staff of the picking error, and the process returns to step 231 to wait for the next information acquisition, so as to avoid the picking error in the operation of unloading, improve the reliability, avoid the subsequent unnecessary picking and transporting operation, and reduce the resource waste.

In step 233, an order including the picked item is selected from the orders as the order to which the picked item belongs according to the remaining demand of each order, and the carrier associated with the order is opened for the staff to put the picked item in.

In step 241, it is determined whether the carrier associated with the order to which the picked item belongs is closed. If closed, determining that the article is placed in the carrying mechanism, and executing step 242; otherwise, keeping the current state and waiting for the closing of the bearing mechanism. In some embodiments, if the time that the carrying mechanism is kept open exceeds the predetermined first time, an alarm message is sent to the staff to remind the staff to close the carrying mechanism, so as to avoid affecting the picking efficiency.

In step 242, it is determined that the items being picked are picked, and one of the items to be picked is deleted.

In step 251, it is determined whether all of the items to be picked have been picked. In some embodiments, it may be determined whether all items have been picked by determining whether the items to be picked are empty.

If all of the items to be picked have been picked, go to step 252; otherwise, step 231 is executed to wait for the next information acquisition.

In step 252, it is determined that the item to be picked is picked complete, and an operation is performed to go to the next picking area or to a packing area.

By the method, workers only need to work in the preset picking area and do not need to walk for a long distance to work across areas, so that the walking time is shortened, and the labor cost is also reduced; in addition, the order can be divided to place articles, secondary picking is not needed, and picking efficiency is improved. In addition, whether the order is the required item or not is determined by obtaining the information of the picked item, and the required item is determined by which order, and then the carrying mechanism corresponding to the order is opened, so that the condition that the item is picked or placed wrongly can be avoided, and the picking reliability is improved.

In some embodiments, the picking apparatus may begin the picking operation upon being configured with one or a predetermined number of orders, without having to wait for all carriers to be associated with an order, increasing picking efficiency. In some embodiments, during the movement of the picking device, orders from the WMS server may be received at any time, and the driving route thereof may be updated.

In some embodiments, a flow chart of still other embodiments of the item picking method of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 3 when the WMS server places an order during picking by the picking device.

In step 311, a first order is received from a server. In some embodiments, the first order may include items required for the order and may also include a picking area in which each item is located.

In step 312, the picking control device determines whether there are any carriers on the current picking device that are not associated with the order. If there is no carrier not associated with the order, go to step 315; otherwise, step 313 is performed.

In step 313, one carrier is selected from the remaining carriers to be associated with the first order.

In step 314, the picking device travel route is updated. In some embodiments, the existing travel routes may be summarized, and based on the principle that the total path is shortest, the picking area where the items in the newly added order are located is increased, and the driving route is re-planned. In some embodiments, the travel route may be updated by the WMS server and sent to the picking device.

In step 315, the first order is rejected.

In the related technology, after the task list is established, the order picking detail of each task list is fixed, a new order is placed at the moment, and the new order can not be added under the condition that the order forming condition of the task list is met in time.

By the method in the embodiment of the disclosure, the bearing mechanism on the picking device can be fully utilized, picking can be carried out at any time along with the arrival of an order, and batch picking is not required to wait; and the newly arrived orders can be picked in parallel with the previous orders, so that the picking efficiency is further improved.

In some embodiments, the WMS server may determine whether there is a carrier on the picking device that is not associated with the order according to the order that has been issued to the picking device, and further determine whether to issue the order to the picking device, thereby reducing the probability of rejection by the picking device and improving the success rate and efficiency of order issuance.

In some embodiments, the WMS server may designate an order-associated bearer to each picking device, and the picking device associates the order with the corresponding bearer according to the order information and the bearer identifier issued by the WMS server, thereby reducing the requirement for the processing capability of the picking device and improving the centralized processing capability.

A schematic diagram of some embodiments of the pick control apparatus of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 4.

Item to pick determination unit 401 is capable of determining items to pick at a picking area where a picking device is located. In some embodiments, the order that has been accepted by the picking device may be determined first for the unsoiled items, and then the picking area to which the bin for the unsoiled item belongs. And determining a picking area to which the storage position belongs as a part where the picking device is positioned from the unsorted articles as the articles to be picked.

The order determination unit 402 can determine the order to which the picked item belongs, in case information of the picked item is received.

In some embodiments, the worker may locate, remove, and provide the corresponding item in the picking area to the picking device as the item to be picked based on the information about the item to be picked. In some embodiments, the order determination unit 402 may obtain information about the items to be picked by identifying the items in the image standby area or obtaining an identifier (e.g., a bar code, a two-dimensional code) identifying the items collected by the scanning device.

In some embodiments, the order determination unit 402 may match the information of the picked items among the items still needed in the order, and determine one of the orders successfully matched (or the number of orders matching the number of the picked items) as the order to which the item belongs.

Item receiving unit 403 may be capable of opening a carrier associated with an order on the picking device to which the picked item belongs so that the picked item is placed on the carrier.

The picking continuation unit 404 can drive the picking device to leave the current picking area according to the travel route and go to the next picking area or finish picking when the items to be picked in the current picking area are picked completely, thereby realizing the continuous execution of the item picking work.

The picking control device can drive the picking device to walk and pick in different picking areas, so that the walking burden of workers is reduced; through the mode that bearing mechanisms of the picking device are in one-to-one correlation with the orders, each bearing mechanism bears all articles of the corresponding orders and only bears the articles of the orders, secondary sorting and rechecking operations are not needed, the labor cost is further reduced, and the picking efficiency is improved.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 4, the picking control apparatus further includes an order receiving unit 405 and an order associating unit 406.

The order receiving unit 405 is capable of receiving a first order from a server. In some embodiments, the first order may include items required for the order and may also include a picking area in which each item is located.

The order association unit 406 is capable of determining whether there are any carriers on the current picking device that are not associated with an order. If the bearing mechanism which is not associated with the order does not exist, rejecting the first order; otherwise, one carrier is selected from the remaining carriers to be associated with the first order. In some embodiments, the carrying mechanisms may be randomly assigned; in other embodiments, a carrier may be determined to be associated with the first order based on the size of each empty carrier based on the quantity of items required for the first order.

The picking control device can fully utilize the bearing mechanism on the picking device, and picking can be carried out at any time along with the arrival of an order without waiting for batch picking; and the newly arrived orders can be picked in parallel with the previous orders, so that the picking efficiency is further improved.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the picking control apparatus further includes a traveling route determining unit 407, which is capable of planning or updating the traveling route of the picking apparatus according to the orders received by the picking apparatus and the picking areas where the storage locations of the items are located, so as to ensure that the orders are picked in parallel and improve the picking efficiency.

In other embodiments, the travel route determination unit 407 can receive a travel route from a server, the travel route being generated by the server based on items on orders that have been accepted by the picking device, items in the picking area, and the current location of the picking device, thereby reducing functional, performance requirements for control devices located on the picking device and increasing centralized processing capacity.

A schematic structural diagram of one embodiment of the picking control apparatus of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 5. The picking control means comprises a memory 501 and a processor 502. Wherein: the memory 501 may be a magnetic disk, flash memory, or any other non-volatile storage medium. The memory is for storing instructions in the corresponding embodiments of the item picking method above. The processor 502 is coupled to the memory 501 and may be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor or microcontroller. The processor 502 is used for executing instructions stored in the memory, so that the walking burden of workers can be reduced, secondary sorting and rechecking operations are not needed, and the sorting efficiency is improved.

In one embodiment, the picking control apparatus 600 may also include a memory 601 and a processor 602, as shown in FIG. 6. The processor 602 is coupled to the memory 601 by a BUS 603. The pick control apparatus 600 may also be connected to an external storage 605 via a storage interface 604 for invoking external data, and may also be connected to a network or another computer system (not shown) via a network interface 606. And will not be described in detail herein.

In the embodiment, the data instructions are stored in the memory, and then the instructions are processed by the processor, so that the walking burden of workers can be reduced, secondary sorting and rechecking operation is not needed, and the sorting efficiency is improved.

In another embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium has stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method in the corresponding embodiment of the item picking method. As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a method, apparatus, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable non-transitory storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

A schematic view of some embodiments of the sorting apparatus of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 7. The picking device may be in the form of an unmanned vehicle, or an AGV carrying container.

The picking control device 701 may be any of those mentioned above, located within the picking device, and capable of controlling the action of other parts of the picking device.

A plurality of carrying mechanisms 702 may have a control interface with the picking control device 701. Each support mechanism 702 has a space, such as a shelf, therein. The internal space of each carrier may be the same or different in size, for example, n1 carriers of a first size, n2 carriers of a second size, etc. may be provided for association with orders of different needs.

The moving mechanism 703 can drive the whole picking device to move under the driving of the picking control device 701.

The picking device can walk and pick in different picking areas, and the walking burden of workers is reduced; the bearing mechanisms of the picking device are in one-to-one association with the orders, so that each bearing mechanism bears all articles of the corresponding order and only bears the articles of the order, secondary sorting and rechecking operations are not needed, the labor cost is further reduced, and the picking efficiency is improved.

In some embodiments, schematic views of the operating conditions of other embodiments of the sorting apparatus of the present disclosure may be as shown in fig. 8A-8C.

The picking apparatus 80 shuttles between different picking areas, each having a plurality of shelves. The extent of the picking zone, the number of items within, can be adjusted as required in use. Each picking area is provided with a position for parking the picking device. Picking area 81 may be as shown in fig. 8A. A predetermined number of workers, such as 1-3, may be located in each picking zone 81.

When the picking device has finished picking all of its currently bound orders, it proceeds to the packing area 82. The picking device 80 moves its carrier 802 onto the baling area 82. In some embodiments, the picking device 80 is provided with a fixing mechanism of the carrying mechanism 802, and when the picking device 80 moves to a predetermined relative position (e.g., a side) of the packing area 82, the carrying mechanism 802 moves onto the packing area 82 under the pushing of the fixing mechanism, so that a part (e.g., an unmanned vehicle including the picking control device 801 and the moving mechanism 803) of the carrying mechanism 802 is vacated for carrying other carrying mechanisms, thereby improving the picking efficiency, reducing the requirement for the number of unmanned vehicles in the warehousing system, and reducing the system cost.

The picking device is matched with the WMS system, so that on one hand, the distance of a picker running back and forth is reduced, and the labor intensity of personnel is reduced; on the other hand, the picking and sorting effects are achieved in the picking process, the picking and sorting effects can be achieved, the picking and sorting effects can be directly sent to be packaged according to orders after the picking is finished, the most complicated rechecking link of a warehouse is omitted, and the picking production efficiency is greatly improved. In addition, the picking mechanism can shuttle in a plurality of picking areas (such as zero picking areas), and the operation of combining the traditional collection sheet according to the task sheet is avoided. And as long as the remaining goods grids exist in the picking process, the order to be picked can be issued to the picking vehicle at any time, and a continuous adding mode is adopted, so that the picking efficiency is further improved.

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Thus far, the present disclosure has been described in detail. Some details that are well known in the art have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure. It will be fully apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description how to practice the presently disclosed embodiments.

The methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented in a number of ways. For example, the methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above-described order for the steps of the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above unless specifically stated otherwise. Further, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be embodied as programs recorded in a recording medium, the programs including machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are intended only to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure and not to limit them; although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: modifications to the specific embodiments of the disclosure or equivalent substitutions for parts of the technical features may still be made; all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims of this disclosure without departing from the spirit thereof.

Claims

1. A method of item picking comprising:

determining items to be picked at a picking area at which a picking device is located;

determining an order to which the picked item belongs in the case of receiving information of the picked item;

opening a carrying mechanism on a picking device, wherein the carrying mechanism is associated with an order to which the picked item belongs, so that the picked item is put into the carrying mechanism, and the picking device comprises a plurality of carrying mechanisms;

after determining that the items to be picked at the current picking area are picked, the picking device leaves the current picking area according to the travel route, and goes to the next picking area or finishes picking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the carriers on the picking apparatus is associated with an order.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first order from a server;

in the event that there are the carriers on the picking device that are not associated with an order, selecting one carrier from the remaining carriers to be associated with the first order.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

rejecting the first order if the carriers on the picking device are all associated with an order.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

planning or updating a travel route of the picking device according to the orders accepted by the picking device and picking areas where storage positions of the items are located;

or

Receiving a travel route from a server, the travel route being generated by the server based on items on orders accepted by the picking device, items in a picking area, and a current location of the picking device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

in the case of determining to finish picking according to the travel route, going to an order packing area so as to pack the items in each carrying mechanism as a single order; or

And in the case of determining to finish picking according to the travel route, going to an order packing area, and unloading all the bearing mechanisms as a whole.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining items to pick for a picking area at which a picking device is located comprises:

determining unsoiled items of the order that the unmanned picking device has accepted;

determining a picking area to which a bin of the unsorted item belongs;

determining the unsorted item of which the picking area of the storage position is the picking area of the picking device as the item to be picked.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining that said item to pick for a current picking area is finished comprises:

determining that the picked item is picked completely when a carrying mechanism associated with an order to which the picked item belongs is closed;

judging whether all the articles to be picked are picked or not;

and if all the items to be picked are picked, finishing picking of the items to be picked.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: and if the goods to be picked have goods which are not picked completely, waiting to acquire the information of the next picked goods.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information for the picked item, determining an order to which the picked item belongs comprises:

acquiring information of a picked article through a scanning mechanism, wherein the staff searches the picked article in the picking area according to the information of the picked article, and the searched article is used as the picked article to be scanned by the scanning mechanism;

and determining that the order of the selected item is included in the residual demand of one order as the order to which the selected item belongs in the condition that the selected item belongs to the item to be selected.

11. A pick control apparatus comprising:

an item to be picked determination unit configured to determine an item to be picked at a picking area where a picking device is located;

an order determination unit configured to determine an order to which the picked item belongs, in a case where information of the picked item is received;

an item receiving unit configured to open a carrying mechanism on a picking device associated with an order to which the picked item belongs so that the picked item is put into the carrying mechanism, wherein the picking device includes a plurality of carrying mechanisms thereon;

a picking continuation unit configured to, after determining that the items to be picked of the current picking area are picked, drive the picking device to leave the current picking area, go to the next picking area or end picking according to the travel route.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

an order receiving unit configured to receive a first order from a server;

an order association unit configured to select one carrier from the remaining carriers to associate with the first order if there are carriers on the picking apparatus that are not associated with an order.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a travel route determination unit configured to:

or

14. A pick control apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-10 based on instructions stored in the memory.

15. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

16. A sorting apparatus comprising:

the sorting control apparatus of any one of claims 11 to 14;

a plurality of carrier mechanisms configured to carry items to be picked; and

a moving mechanism configured to move according to a travel route under the drive of the picking control device.