CN114620387A

CN114620387A - Empty cell container handling method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN114620387A
Application number: CN202210190009.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨文祥
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Zhenshi Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Zhenshi Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-28
Filing date: 2022-02-28
Publication date: 2022-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2042-02-28
Also published as: CN114620387B

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for processing an empty unit container, and relates to the technical field of computers. One embodiment of the method comprises: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and the returning distance of the empty unit containers of each roadway; acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of an empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions in the front row and the rear row of the target roadway; and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of the unit shelves, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves. This embodiment designs the process flow for empty unit containers for a goods-to-people warehouse system that employs dual deep shelves.

Description

Empty cell container handling method and apparatus

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of logistics, in particular to a method and a device for processing an empty unit container.

Background

In an automated warehouse-to-human system, the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers after completion of the picking of the goods, and then the empty unit containers need to be transported to storage locations in the shelves for storage or to an on-shelf workstation to assist in the completion of the warehousing of the goods.

In the process of implementing the invention, the inventor finds that the prior art has at least the following problems: first, the ex-warehouse workstation and the loading workstation in the conventional system are isolated from each other, and an empty unit container generated by the ex-warehouse workstation needs to be transported to the loading workstation by a transport unit such as an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV), so that AGV resources need to be occupied, and overall operation efficiency and cost are affected. In addition, since each of the plurality of ex-warehouse workstations has only a small number of buffer slots, and the AGVs are generally capable of handling a plurality of unit containers at a time, the AGVs often need to travel between the plurality of ex-warehouse workstations to collect empty unit containers, resulting in further reduction in work efficiency. Secondly, the existing system mostly adopts a single-depth shelf to store goods and designs an empty unit container warehouse returning process aiming at the single-depth shelf, and has no related process aiming at a double-depth shelf.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for processing an empty unit container, which are designed for a goods-to-person warehouse system using dual deep shelves.

To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an empty cell container processing method.

The empty unit container processing method provided by the embodiment of the invention is applied to a goods-to-person warehouse system comprising an ex-warehouse workstation, an shelving workstation and unit shelves; wherein each unit shelf is provided with a front row storage position and a rear row storage position; a plurality of unit goods shelves are arranged in a row and are positioned at one side of the roadway; the method comprises the following steps: when empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the warehouse returning distance of each roadway; acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in front and back rows; and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

Optionally, the out-of-warehouse workstation and the racking station are connected by a pre-established conveyor line, each racking station having a empty-unit container racking replenishment buffer lane comprising at least one buffer location; and, the method further comprises: after the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, judging whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache channel of each empty unit container: if yes, transporting the generated empty unit container to the idle buffer position through the conveying line; and when no free buffer position exists in each empty unit container overhead replenishment buffer channel and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining the empty unit container as the empty unit container to be restored.

Optionally, the transmission line is connected with at least one warehouse returning cache way; and determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and the return distance of each roadway, wherein the target roadway comprises: calculating the comprehensive cost of each roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the ex-warehouse distance of the roadway; the warehouse-out rate of any real box unit container is the ratio of the warehouse-out times of the real box unit container to the warehouse-out total number of the real box unit containers of the goods-to-people warehouse system in a preset historical time; the warehouse returning distance of the roadway is the minimum value of the distance between the initial position of the roadway and each warehouse returning cache way; and determining the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost as the target roadway.

Optionally, the method further comprises: after the target roadway is determined, determining a storage returning cache way closest to the target roadway as a target cache way of the empty unit container to be returned; wherein the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse is to be handled by a handling unit in the ship to man warehouse system at the target cache way.

Optionally, the obtaining, according to the distribution of the empty storage locations of the unit shelf in the target roadway in the front row and the rear row, a storage location type of the empty storage location for storing the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse includes: judging whether a first type of empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the first type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a second type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the second type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a third type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining a third type as the storage bit type; wherein, the first type empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the first type empty storage position is also an empty storage position; the second type empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the second type empty storage position is occupied; the third type of empty storage location is a front row storage location, and the storage location directly behind the storage location is occupied.

Optionally, the determining, according to the storage quantity of empty unit containers and the delivery distance of each unit shelf, a target unit shelf for storing the empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse includes: calculating the comprehensive cost of each unit shelf with the empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of the empty unit containers of the unit shelf and the ex-warehouse distance of the unit shelf; the ex-warehouse distance is the distance between the initial position of the unit shelf and the target cache way; the unit shelf with the lowest overall cost is determined as the target unit shelf.

Optionally, the unit shelves are multi-tier shelves, each tier having a plurality of front-row storage locations and a plurality of rear-row storage locations; and, said determining a target bin in said target unit shelf for storing said empty unit container to be returned to said warehouse, comprising: when the target unit shelf is provided with a plurality of empty storage positions of the storage position types, determining the empty storage position with the minimum layer number as an initial selection storage position; and when the primary selected storage positions are multiple, determining the primary selected storage position with the minimum storage position number as a target storage position.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and controlling the conveying line to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target cache way, and instructing the conveying unit to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target storage position from the target cache way.

To achieve the above objects, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an empty cell container processing apparatus.

The empty unit container processing device provided by the embodiment of the invention is applied to a goods-to-person warehouse system comprising a delivery workstation, an racking workstation and unit shelves; wherein each unit shelf is provided with a front row storage position and a rear row storage position; a plurality of unit goods shelves are arranged in a row and are positioned at one side of the roadway; the apparatus may include: a roadway positioning unit for: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the returning distance of the empty unit containers of each roadway; a bin type discrimination unit for: acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in front and back rows; a storage location positioning unit for: and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

Optionally, the out-of-warehouse workstation and the racking station are connected by a pre-established conveyor line, each racking station having a empty-unit container racking replenishment buffer lane comprising at least one buffer location; and, the apparatus further comprises: a pre-allocation unit to: after the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, judging whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache channel of each empty unit container: if yes, transporting the generated empty unit container to the idle buffer position through the conveying line; and when no free buffer position exists in the on-shelf replenishment buffer passage of each empty unit container and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining the empty unit container as the empty unit container to be restored.

To achieve the above object, according to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus.

An electronic device of the present invention includes: one or more processors; and the storage device is used for storing one or more programs, and when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors realize the empty unit container processing method provided by the invention.

To achieve the above object, according to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium.

A computer-readable storage medium of the present invention has stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the empty cell container processing method provided by the present invention.

According to the technical scheme of the invention, the embodiment of the invention has the following advantages or beneficial effects:

a conveying line is established to connect each ex-warehouse workstation and each racking workstation, and empty unit containers generated by ex-warehouse are automatically supplied to the racking workstations through the conveying line, so that AGV resources are prevented from being occupied; and meanwhile, at least one warehouse returning buffer channel is arranged to be connected with the conveying line, and the AGV can collect empty unit containers to be conveyed only by waiting at one warehouse returning buffer channel, so that the AGV is prevented from running among a plurality of workstations. In addition, the warehouse returning process of the empty unit containers is designed for the goods-to-people warehouse system adopting the double deep shelves, the roadway, the storage location type, the unit shelves and the storage location which are most suitable for storing the current empty unit containers can be determined according to the current storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and other factors, and the circulation of the empty unit containers in the goods-to-people warehouse system is facilitated to be realized at high efficiency.

Further effects of the above-mentioned non-conventional alternatives will be described below in connection with the embodiments.

Drawings

The drawings are included to provide a better understanding of the invention and are not to be construed as unduly limiting the invention. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main steps of a method for processing empty unit containers according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a goods-to-persons warehouse system architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view of portion I of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view of portion II of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the steps performed in an embodiment of the present invention for processing empty cell containers;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a control system for the empty cell container handling method in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the components of an empty cell container handling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary system architecture diagram in which embodiments of the present invention may be employed;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device for implementing the empty cell container processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the reference numerals:

10: a work station for delivery; 20: a racking station; 30: a conveying line; 40: returning to the library for caching; 50: a unit shelf; 60: a roadway; 70: a carrying unit; 21: an empty unit container is put on the shelf to supply a cache way; 51: a unit container; 52: front row storage positions; 53: a rear row of storage positions; 41: jacking and transferring equipment; 42: the warehouse-returning position of the warehouse-returning cache way; 80: a cache way of the warehouse-out; 54: emptying the storage position; 55: then emptying the storage position; 56: the shelves are spaced back-to-back.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various details of embodiments of the invention are included to assist understanding, and which are to be considered as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted in the following description for clarity and conciseness.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention and the technical features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main steps of an empty unit container handling method according to an embodiment of the present invention, which may be applied to a goods-to-persons warehouse system. Goods-to-people (Goods to Person or Goods to Man, G2P or G2M) pick, i.e. during logistic picking, Goods are automatically transported to the pickers for picking before the pickers. Fig. 2, 3 and 4 are schematic structural diagrams of a cargo-to-person warehouse system according to an embodiment of the present invention, where fig. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a portion i in fig. 2, and fig. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a portion ii in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 2 to 4, the goods-to-person warehouse system according to the embodiment of the present invention may include a storage section, a conveying section, and a sorting section, where the sorting section includes at least one empty unit container 10 in the delivery workstation and at least one racking station 20 (i.e., a warehousing workstation), after the goods sorting is completed in the delivery workstation 10, an empty unit container (e.g., a turnover box, in the embodiment of the present invention, a unit container 51 is used to store goods) is generated, and the racking station 20 needs the empty unit container to store goods to be warehoused. In the prior art, the empty unit containers are generally transported to the racking station 20 from the ex-warehouse workstation 10 by using the transporting unit 70 (such as an AGV, a shuttle car, etc.), which has a disadvantage that resources of the transporting unit 70 need to be occupied, and for this disadvantage, the embodiment of the present invention uses the transporting line 30 to connect each ex-warehouse workstation 10 and the racking station 20, and automatically transports the empty unit containers generated by the ex-warehouse workstation 10 to the racking station 20 by using the transporting line 30, thereby improving the operation efficiency and avoiding the occupation of the resources of the transporting unit 70. The racking station 20 has an empty unit container racking supply buffer 21 for receiving empty unit containers, the empty unit container racking supply buffer 21 having a plurality of buffer locations, each buffer location capable of holding an empty unit container.

As shown in fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of stocker buffer lanes 40 may be provided at a plurality of positions of the conveyor line 30 to transfer the goods or unit containers 51 on the conveyor line 30 to the transfer unit 70, and then the goods or unit containers are transferred to the storage area by the transfer unit 70 to be stored. Similarly, a plurality of outbound buffer lanes 80 may also be connected at various locations on the conveyor line 30 for transferring goods or unit containers 51 carried by the transfer units 70 from the storage area to the conveyor line 30 for transfer from the conveyor line 30 to the outbound workstation 10 for outbound. Referring to fig. 3, the retrieval buffer lane 40 and the delivery buffer lane 80 are connected to the conveyor line 30 by the lift-up transfer device 41, and the transport unit 70 transports the goods or unit containers 51 at the retrieval position 42 of the retrieval buffer lane. The delivery section of the goods-to-persons warehouse system mainly includes the above handling units 70, and the storage section is a storage area made up of unit shelves 50.

Referring to fig. 4, in the embodiment of the present invention, the storage area includes a plurality of unit shelves 50, each unit shelf 50 may be a multi-level double deep shelf, that is, the unit shelf 50 has multiple levels in the height direction (in terms of a rectangular plane coordinate system, that is, has multiple values in the Z direction), and has a plurality of front-row storage locations 52 and rear-row storage locations 53, and generally, the number of the front-row storage locations 52 and the rear-row storage locations 53 in any one level of one unit shelf 50 is equal, that is, any one unit shelf 50 has two values in the Y direction, one corresponding to the front-row storage location 52 and one corresponding to the rear-row storage location 53. For the front storage locations 52 or the rear storage locations 53 on any layer of any unit shelf 50, the storage locations may be sequentially marked by using the storage location numbers to realize differentiation, for example, if any layer of a certain unit shelf has 4 front storage locations and 4 rear storage locations, the storage locations 1, 2, 3, and 4 are sequentially marked, that is, the unit shelf has four values in the X direction. For example, a certain unit shelf has 3 values (i.e., 3 layers) in the Z direction, two values (i.e., belonging to a double-deep shelf) in the Y direction, and 4 values (i.e., four storage location numbers) in the X direction, so that each layer of the shelf has 8 storage locations, and the three layers have 24 storage locations in total.

In an actual scene, the plurality of unit shelves 50 are arranged in a row, the two rows of unit shelves are placed back to form a group of unit shelves, a shelf back-to-back gap 56 (the carrying unit cannot enter) is formed in the middle of the two rows of shelves, a roadway 60 is formed between the two groups of unit shelves, the unit shelves 50 corresponding to any roadway 60 are the two rows of unit shelves on two sides of the roadway 60, and the storage positions in any roadway 60 are the storage positions in the two rows of unit shelves on two sides of the roadway 60. Each storage position can be used for placing an empty unit container or a full box unit container (namely, the unit container 51 currently storing goods), the storage position where no unit container 51 is placed is an empty storage position, and the empty storage position is divided into a front emptying storage position 54 and a rear emptying storage position 55. In particular, the front storage location 52 refers to a storage location adjacent to a roadway, the carrying unit can carry goods directly from the front storage location 52 or can carry goods directly to the front storage location 52, the front storage location 52 (the front storage location is located right in front of the rear storage location, and the rear storage location is located right behind the front storage location) exists between the rear storage location 53 and the roadway 60, and if a unit container is placed on the front storage location, the carrying unit needs to firstly carry away the unit container on the front storage location to place goods on the rear storage location or carry goods from the rear storage location.

It can be understood that the application scenario of the empty unit container processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the goods-to-person warehouse system with the above structure, but may also be applied to other applicable warehouse systems that employ double deep racks, for example, warehouse systems that employ single-layer double deep racks and shuttle vehicles as transporting units. Furthermore, the empty unit container handling method of an embodiment of the present invention may be performed by a control system of a goods-to-people warehouse system, which is capable of controlling the handling units and the conveyor lines, and at the same time, of calculating a target lane, a target unit shelf and a target storage location suitable for storing empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse.

As shown in fig. 1, the empty cell container processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be specifically performed according to the following steps:

step S101: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and the returning distance of the empty unit containers of each roadway.

In an actual scene, after an out-of-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, firstly, whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache way of each empty unit container is judged: if yes, automatically transporting the generated empty unit container to an idle buffer position through a conveying line; otherwise, the empty unit container generated by the ex-warehouse workstation is determined as the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse. If no free buffer position exists in the on-shelf replenishment buffer channel of each empty unit container and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, the empty unit container can be determined as the empty unit container to be restored to the warehouse to execute the empty unit container restoration operation flow.

In step S101, the control system of the cargo-to-person warehouse system may select a target lane most suitable for storing an empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse by calculating a comprehensive cost for each lane. Specifically, the comprehensive cost of any roadway is the weighted sum of the current empty unit container storage quantity, the real box unit container ex-warehouse rate, the congestion time and the warehouse returning distance of the roadway. The warehouse-out rate of the real box unit containers in the roadway is the sum of the warehouse-out rates of all the real box unit containers in the roadway at present, and the warehouse-out rate of any real box unit container is the ratio of the warehouse-out times of the real box unit container to the warehouse-out total number of the real box unit containers in the goods-to-people warehouse system within a preset historical time (for example, the last week). The congestion time of the roadway may be the sum of waiting time for all the conveying units of the roadway to be queued in front of the roadway and waiting for other conveying units to be sorted in the roadway to be finished within a certain historical period. The warehouse returning distance of the roadway is the minimum value of the distance between the initial position of the roadway (which can be the middle position of the transporting unit entering the roadway) and each warehouse returning buffer channel. And finally, determining the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost as a target roadway.

The principle of the step is as follows: preferably selecting the lanes with fewer current empty unit containers, low ex-warehouse rate (which indicates that corresponding lanes are not ex-warehouse frequently), no congestion and short distance from the back-warehouse buffer lane to store the empty unit containers, and selecting the lanes with fewer current empty unit containers to enable the empty unit containers stored in each lane to be more average, so that the carrying units are prevented from being concentrated in partial lanes; the roadway with lower delivery rate is selected to facilitate the empty unit container to be delivered into the warehouse and the later-stage transportation of the empty unit container (for example, the empty unit container is transported to an overhead work station to finish the warehousing of goods); the selection of the relatively non-blocked roadway is also beneficial to the current warehousing and later-stage transportation of the empty unit container; and the roadway which is closer to the back-warehouse cache way is selected, so that the driving distance of the carrying unit is reduced.

After determining the target lane, the control system of the goods-to-people warehouse system may determine the closest storage-returning cache lane to the target lane as the target cache lane of the empty unit container to be returned, and the empty unit container to be returned is subsequently conveyed by the conveying unit in the goods-to-people warehouse system at the target cache lane to complete the storage returning.

Step S102: and acquiring the storage type of the empty storage positions of the empty unit containers to be stored back according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in the front row and the back row.

In this step, the control system of the goods-to-person warehouse system judges whether a first type of empty storage location exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the first type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a second type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the second type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a third type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, the third type is determined as the storage bit type. Wherein, the first type empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the first type empty storage position is also an empty storage position; the second type of empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the storage position is occupied; the third type of empty storage location is a front row storage location, and the storage location directly behind the storage location is occupied.

The principle of the step is that the first type of empty storage position is preferably selected, the type of empty storage position is positioned at the back row, the front row is also an empty storage position, and the empty storage position is convenient for warehousing of empty unit containers and later-stage transportation. If the first type of empty storage position is empty, a second type of empty storage position is preferred, the first type of empty storage position is also positioned at the rear row, but the front row is occupied by unit containers (possibly solid box unit containers), the empty storage position needs to move away the unit containers at the front row when the empty unit containers are put in storage, but the solid box unit containers at the front row can be directly moved when the solid box unit containers are taken out of storage, and therefore the goods delivery efficiency is improved. If the second type of empty storage position is vacant, a third type of empty storage position is selected, the type of empty storage position is positioned at the front row, the rear row is occupied by unit containers (possibly solid box unit containers), the empty storage position is convenient when the empty unit containers are put into the warehouse, the empty unit containers can be directly placed, but when the solid box unit containers at the rear row are taken out of the warehouse, the empty unit containers at the front row need to be moved away firstly, and therefore the goods delivery efficiency is influenced.

Step S103: and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

After determining that the target bin type is a first type empty bin, a second type empty bin, or a third type empty bin, the control system of the goods-to-people warehouse system may determine the target unit shelf in the following manner. Specifically, if only one unit shelf in the target lane has the above bin type, it is directly determined as the target unit shelf. If a plurality of unit shelves exist in the target roadway and have the storage position types, the comprehensive cost of each unit shelf is calculated, and the unit shelf with the minimum comprehensive cost is determined as the target unit shelf. In specific application, the comprehensive cost of the unit shelf is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of the empty unit containers of the unit shelf and the ex-warehouse distance of the unit shelf, and the ex-warehouse distance is the distance between the initial position of the unit shelf and the target cache way. The principle of the steps is as follows: on the premise of meeting the requirement of being in a target roadway and having a determined storage position type, unit shelves with a small storage quantity of empty unit containers and a small ex-warehouse distance are preferably selected, the former is favorable for realizing the balance of the storage quantity of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and the carrying units are prevented from being crowded in front of part of the unit shelves; the latter facilitates reducing the handling time of the handling unit.

After determining the target unit shelf, the control system of the goods-to-people warehouse system may determine the target reserve in the following manner. Specifically, if only one empty bin of more than bin types exists in the target shelf, it is directly determined as the target bin; if the target shelf has a plurality of empty storage positions with the storage position types, continuously judging whether the empty storage positions are distributed on different layers: if so, determining the empty storage bit with the minimum layer number as the initial selection storage bit; if only one primary selected reserve bit is available, directly determining the primary selected reserve bit as a target reserve bit; and if the primary selected bin is multiple, determining the primary selected bin with the smallest bin number as the target bin. If a plurality of empty memory bits having the above memory bit types are distributed on the same layer, the empty memory bit with the smallest memory bit number is directly determined as the target memory bit. Therefore, the empty storage positions with the lowest layer number and the lowest storage position number are selected in the steps, the lowest layer number is beneficial to placing the empty unit containers in the storage positions by the carrying units so as to improve the returning efficiency of the empty unit containers, and the lowest storage position number is beneficial to orderly placing and managing the unit containers according to the sequence of the storage position numbers from small to large.

Thus, the target storage location most suitable for placing the empty unit container can be determined, and then the control system of the cargo-to-person warehouse system can control the conveying line to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target cache way and instruct the conveying unit to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target storage location from the target cache way. It will be appreciated that the act of "controlling the transfer line to transport the empty cell container to be returned to the library to the target cache way" may be performed upon determining the target cache way.

An embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 5.

With the rapid development of electronic commerce, the automation and intelligence degree of warehouse logistics is higher and higher at present, the investment of large-scale automation equipment is increased, and meanwhile, with the continuous increase of practical application scenes, various intelligent systems and decision strategies in the automation equipment are also synchronously deepened into each link; aiming at the scheme of the novel multi-layer material box goods-to-human automation equipment which is put into use in recent years, the automatic multi-layer material box goods-to-human automation equipment adopts a carrying AGV (multi-layer material box AGV) capable of carrying a plurality of material boxes, synchronously matches with a plurality of warehousing workstations, stores all goods in unit containers (such as turnover boxes), and realizes the automatic operation of putting on shelves of corresponding goods through the multi-layer material box AGV. This kind of AGV can carry a plurality of unit container simultaneously, realize the unit container of putting on shelf in batches, this automation scheme can be under construction fast, the installation and debugging, put into use, also conveniently adapt to current storage storehouse and move fast and carry out redesign and the construction that corresponds the automation scheme simultaneously, consequently the present application scene is also more and more, especially to the storage of a lot of short-term leases (the storage of lease probably because the storage is expired or the storage area of lease is less and need enlarge and lease etc. again lead to the storage to move), also make things convenient for multiple extension etc. of automation scheme design simultaneously.

In recent years, with the fact that multiple layers of AGV goods are more widely put into human automation equipment, in order to further improve the storage efficiency of the whole system, the original single-deep-position shelves (each shelf only has one row of storage positions on each layer) are used for storing and upgrading the shelves to double deep positions (each shelf has front and rear rows of storage positions on each layer, see fig. 2 to 4), so that corresponding system processes need to be designed according to the warehouse returning and automatic supply of the hollow unit containers in the scenes, and particularly the design needs to be carried out according to the preferential allocation of the front and rear rows of storage positions.

In addition, a plurality of delivery workstations are generally arranged in the conventional system, each delivery workstation only has a small number of buffer positions, and each multi-level bin AGV needs to go to the plurality of delivery workstations to carry in the process of carrying an empty unit container each time. In addition, in the existing system, empty unit containers are conveyed to the upper work station from the warehouse-out work station through the AGVs, the resources of the AGVs need to be occupied, and the AGV resources in the whole goods-to-people warehouse system are the key influencing the whole operation efficiency and cost, so that more AGVs are needed, and further the cost is increased.

Aiming at the problems, aiming at the condition of double deep position goods shelves in a multi-layer material box goods-to-human automatic warehouse system, a set of empty unit container processing system of the goods-to-human warehouse system is designed, all workstations are connected through a conveying line, empty unit containers generated in warehouse-out can be automatically supplied to an upper-shelf workstation through the conveying line, and meanwhile, corresponding strategies and algorithms are designed aiming at the positioning of a roadway, front and back row positions, goods shelves, storage positions and the like corresponding to empty unit containers in warehouse-back, so that the efficiency of transferring the empty unit containers in the goods-to-human warehouse system is improved.

The specific operation and method of the cargo-to-human-empty unit container handling system of the embodiment of the invention are as follows:

first, an empty unit container processing task is obtained: after the solid unit containers with the goods are sorted at the delivery station, the solid unit containers are called empty unit containers, and an empty unit container processing task is generated.

Then, aiming at the processing task of the empty unit container generated by the ex-warehouse workstation, firstly, judging whether the empty unit container needs to be automatically replenished to an empty unit container on-shelf replenishment cache way according to an empty unit container on-shelf replenishment matching strategy: if yes, automatic supply is carried out through a conveying line; otherwise, triggering the empty unit container roadway matching strategy.

The empty cell container on-shelf replenishment matching strategy is calculated by the following function:

Case When B＞0&H_i＝1

P(i，B) (1)

Case When B＝0&H_i＝1

P(i，u) (2)

ELSE Then NULL (3)

wherein B represents the number of free cache bits of the empty cell container on-shelf replenishment cache way; i represents an empty cell container; h_i1 represents the task of acquiring the processing of the empty unit container i; p (i, B) represents the matching of an empty cell container i to a free cache bit of an on-shelf replenishment cache way; p (i, u) represents triggering an empty unit container lane matching strategy for an empty unit container i. The formula (1) shows that when the number of idle cache bits of the on-shelf replenishment cache way of the empty unit container is greater than zero and the empty unit container at the moment processes tasks, the empty unit container i is automatically matched to the corresponding on-shelf replenishment cache way; the formula (2) shows that when the number of idle cache bits of the on-shelf replenishment cache way is zero and an empty unit container warehouse returning task exists at the time, an empty unit container roadway matching strategy is automatically triggered to perform subsequent steps; the above equation (3) indicates that the system does not operate in other cases.

And then, determining a roadway to be returned to the warehouse, namely a target roadway, corresponding to the empty unit container through an empty unit container roadway matching strategy. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

1) calculating the cost of the storage quantity of each empty unit container of each roadway: counting the number of the empty unit containers stored in the roadway u and recording as n_uThe storage quantity cost of empty unit container is recorded as N_u＝α₁*n_uIn which α is₁Storing a weight of the quantity for the empty cell container;

2) calculating the warehouse-out rate cost of the roadway real box unit container: the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit container j is the number of ex-warehouse times of the real box unit container in a period of historical time (for example, 1 to 7 days) divided by the total number of ex-warehouse times of all real box unit containers in the warehouse in the period of time.

Is marked as

The warehouse-out rate cost of all real box unit containers in the roadway is recorded as P_u＝α₂*∑p_ju。

Wherein Q_juRepresenting the times of ex-warehouse of the container unit j of the real box unit in the roadway u within a certain time t;

wherein Q_tuRepresenting the total times of all real box unit containers in the warehouse to be delivered within a certain time t;

wherein p is_juRepresenting the ex-warehouse rate of the container unit j in the real box unit in the roadway u;

wherein P is_uRepresenting the warehouse-out rate cost of the real box unit container of the roadway u;

wherein alpha is₂Representing the weight of the ex-warehouse rate of the roadway u;

3) calculating the AGV congestion time cost of the roadway: counting the sum of waiting time of all AGVs in the roadway in a queuing manner in front of the roadway and waiting for other AGVs in the roadway to finish picking within a period of historical time (preferably 1-7 days), and recording the sum as t_uAnd the congestion time cost of the AGV in the roadway is recorded as T_u＝α₃*t_uIn which α is₃A weight representing a congestion time cost for the roadway u;

4) and (3) calculating the distance cost of returning the tunnel to the warehouse: the AGV of each tunnel enters the middle of the tunnelThe position is recorded as the initial position of the roadway, the minimum distance between each warehouse returning cache way and the initial position of the roadway is recorded as the warehouse returning distance l of the roadway_uAnd the warehouse-out distance cost of the roadway is recorded as L_u＝α₄*l_uIn which α is₄Representing the outbound distance cost weight of the roadway;

5) and (3) calculating the comprehensive cost of the tunnel: the comprehensive cost of the roadway is equal to the sum of the storage quantity cost of empty unit containers of the roadway, the ex-warehouse rate cost of real box unit containers of the roadway, the AGV blocking time cost of the roadway and the distance cost of returning the AGV to the warehouse of the roadway, the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost of the roadway is matched through calculation, and the calculation is carried out through the following functions:

Min Z_u＝N_u+P_u+T_u+L_u

and calculating the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost as a target roadway through the function, and preferentially matching the corresponding roadway according to the mode of the minimum roadway number if the same roadway exists.

Then, a backyard cache way corresponding to the empty unit container can be determined through a backyard cache way matching strategy, that is, a backyard cache way closest to the target roadway is determined as a target cache way, and calculation is performed through the following functions:

Min D_ku

wherein k represents a back-to-library cache way k;

wherein D_kuRepresenting the distance between the backlog cache track k and the target roadway u;

and calculating a warehouse returning cache way closest to the target roadway u through the function, matching the empty unit container i to be warehoused to the target cache way, and then automatically conveying the empty unit container to the target cache way through the conveying line.

Thereafter, the front-row or rear-row position of the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse can be determined through the front-row and rear-row matching strategy of the empty unit container (namely, the storage position type is determined): the front-back row matching strategy of the empty unit container comprises a first front-back row matching strategy, a second front-back row matching strategy and a third front-back row matching strategy, and the calculation is carried out through the following functions:

1) the first front-rear row matching strategy preferentially screens the condition that the front row in the roadway is an empty storage position and the rear row is also an empty storage position, and preferentially records the corresponding rear emptying storage position into a preferentially matched set:

Case When w₁＝0&w₂＝0

wherein w₁Representing a front bank of storage bits, w₂Indicating a rear row of storage locations, w₁And w₂In front and rear rows at the same position (i.e. same X and Z values) on the same layer, i.e. w₁And w₂The storage positions are double deep storage positions at the same position; w is a₁0 denotes the front bank bit w₁Is an empty storage location, w₂0 denotes the back row bit w₂Empty storage position, v denotes unit shelf, (v, w)₂) Indicating rear row of storage locations w on unit shelves v₂。

Representing a set of back-empty storage slots (containing shelves) that are screened out for availability (empty front row) by a first front-back row matching strategy.

The function represents that when the front row reservoir at the same position is empty and the rear row reservoir at that position is empty, the rear empty reservoir w at that position is emptied₂And the corresponding shelf v, thereby avoiding placing empty unit containers in the front row, which would require repeated handling of unit containers in the front row when later stored in a back-emptying storage bay.

2) And a second front-rear row matching strategy, wherein the corresponding rear emptying storage positions are recorded into a corresponding set by screening the condition that the front row storage positions in the roadway are occupied and the rear row storage positions are empty:

Case When w₁＝1&w₂＝0

wherein w₁1 denotes the front bank bit w₁Is occupied.

Representing the set of back-emptying storage positions (containing shelves) which can be positioned (the front row is occupied) screened out by the second front-back row matching strategy.

The function represents that when the front row storage bit of the same position is occupied (other unit containers are already stored) and the rear row storage bit of the position is empty, the rear row storage bit w of the position is emptied₂Recorded in the collection together with the corresponding shelf v.

3) And a third front-rear row matching strategy, wherein corresponding front-row empty storage positions are recorded into corresponding sets by screening the conditions that the front-row storage positions in the roadway are empty and the rear-row storage positions are occupied:

Case When w₁＝0&w₂＝1

wherein w₂1 denotes the rear row bit w₂Is occupied.

The set of front-row empty storage positions (containing shelves) which can be positioned (occupied by the back row) is screened out through a third front-row and back-row matching strategy.

The function represents that when the rear row storage bit of the same position is occupied (other unit containers are already stored) and the front row storage bit of the position is empty, the front row storage bit w of the position is emptied₁Recorded in the collection together with the corresponding shelf v.

Thereafter, the target unit shelf is determined by the unit shelf matching strategy: namely, the comprehensive cost of each unit shelf in the roadway is calculated through a unit shelf matching strategy, and the unit shelves are preferentially matched

Lowest overall cost for unit shelves in the collection; if it is

Matching when the set is empty

Lowest overall cost of aggregated unit shelves; if it is

And

if the set is empty, the matching is performed finally

The lowest aggregate cost of the unit shelves within the collection, thereby identifying the target unit shelf. Wherein the unit shelf comprehensive cost Z_vIncluding, a shelf empty unit container storage quantity cost N_vAnd shelf warehouse-out distance cost L_vThe calculation is performed by the following function:

Else Then NULL (7)

the constraints of the above function are as follows:

Z_v＝β₁*n_v+β₂*l_v (8)

wherein Z_vRepresents the overall cost of the unit shelf v; n is a radical of_vCost, N, of empty unit container storage quantity for shelf v_v＝β₁*n_v，n_vIndicating the number of empty unit containers, beta, stored on the shelf v₁A weight representing a cost of storing the number of empty unit containers on the corresponding shelf; l is_vIndicating shelf-to-warehouse distance cost, L_v＝β₂*l_vRecording the middle position of the AGV entering the rack of each unit rack as the initial position of the rack, and recording the distance from the initial position of each rack to the target buffer lane as the warehouse-back distance l of the rack_v；β₂And recording the weight of the distance cost of returning the shelf to the warehouse.

The above formula (4) shows that

Preferentially computing the set when the set is not empty

The unit shelf with the minimum inner comprehensive cost is used as a target unit shelf; the above formula (5) is as follows

The aggregate is empty and

computing the set when the set is not empty

The unit shelf with the minimum inner comprehensive cost is used as a target unit shelf; the above formula (6) is as follows

The aggregate is empty and

computing the set when the set is not empty

The unit shelf with the minimum inner comprehensive cost is used as a target unit shelf; when the formula (7) expresses other conditions, the system does not perform automatic calculation; the above formula (8) is a constraint condition, and represents a method for calculating the unit shelf total cost.

Through the method, the target unit shelf can be calculated, and if a plurality of target unit shelves are calculated, the only target unit shelf is determined according to the principle that the unit shelf number is the minimum.

Then, determining a target reserve bit through a reserve bit matching strategy, specifically as follows:

1) and (3) a matching strategy with the lowest layer number, preferentially selecting the empty storage positions with the lowest shelf layer number and containing the storage position types, and calculating by the following functions when the conditions are met in multiple layers:

Min(w，Z_vw＞0)

wherein Z_vwIndicating the number of empty slots on shelf v with the above slot type on the w-th floor.

The function can calculate the number of empty bins with the lowest number of bins of the above bin type.

2) And selecting the storage bit with the minimum number of the lowest layer as a target storage bit according to the storage bit number minimum matching strategy.

And finally, automatically conveying the empty unit container to a target storage position through the AGV. And repeating the steps to complete the processing flow of all the empty unit containers.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a control system of the empty unit container processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the empty unit container processing system may interact with a cargo-to-human control system to implement a processing flow of empty unit containers, and the cargo-to-human control system is a central control system of a cargo-to-human warehouse system, and may control a conveyor line by interacting with a conveyor line control system and a handling unit by interacting with a handling unit control system. It will be appreciated that the above empty unit container handling system may also be a subsystem of a goods-to-human control system, and that the empty unit container handling method of embodiments of the present invention may also be performed by a goods-to-human control system.

Therefore, aiming at the acquired empty unit container processing task, an empty unit container on-shelf supply matching strategy is designed, whether an empty unit container on-shelf supply cache channel has an idle cache position or not is judged at first, and if the empty unit container on-shelf supply cache channel has the idle cache position, the empty unit container on-shelf supply cache channel is automatically conveyed to the cache position through a conveying line, so that the empty unit container can be quickly and automatically conveyed to an on-shelf workstation, the empty unit container is prevented from being returned to a warehouse again for storage and then conveyed to the on-shelf workstation, a large amount of time is saved, and the operation efficiency is improved; and meanwhile, at least one warehouse returning buffer channel is arranged to be connected with the conveying line, and the AGV can collect empty unit containers to be conveyed only by waiting at one warehouse returning buffer channel, so that the AGV is prevented from running among a plurality of workstations. In addition, front-rear row matching strategies of the empty unit containers are designed, the front-rear row matching strategies comprise a first front-rear row matching strategy, a second front-rear row matching strategy and a third front-rear row matching strategy, the priority order of the empty unit containers is optimized for the unit shelf with double deep storage positions, and the subsequent quick ex-warehouse operation of the empty unit containers and the real box unit containers is facilitated; in addition, the target unit shelf and the target storage position of the empty unit container are finally determined through the unit shelf matching strategy and the storage position matching strategy, so that a reasonable warehouse returning process of the empty unit container is realized, and the circulation of the empty unit container in a goods-to-person warehouse system is facilitated to be realized at higher efficiency.

It should be noted that, for the convenience of description, the foregoing method embodiments are described as a series of acts, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited by the order of acts described, and that some steps may in fact be performed in other orders or concurrently. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are presently preferred and that no acts or modules are necessarily required to implement the invention.

To facilitate a better implementation of the above-described aspects of embodiments of the present invention, the following also provides relevant means for implementing the above-described aspects.

Referring to fig. 7, an empty unit container handling apparatus 700 according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a goods-to-people warehouse system including an ex-warehouse workstation, an on-shelf workstation, and a unit shelf; wherein each unit shelf is provided with a front row storage position and a rear row storage position; a plurality of unit goods shelves are arranged in a row and are positioned at one side of the roadway; the apparatus 700 may include: a roadway positioning unit 701, a storage position type distinguishing unit 702 and a storage position positioning unit 703.

Wherein, the roadway positioning unit 701 is operable to: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the returning distance of the empty unit containers of each roadway; the bin type determining unit 702 can be configured to: acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in front and back rows; the bin positioning unit 703 may be configured to: and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the outbound workstations and the racking stations are connected by a pre-established transport line, each racking station having a empty-unit container racking replenishment buffer lane including at least one buffer location; and, the apparatus 700 may further include a pre-allocation unit to: after the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, judging whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache channel of each empty unit container: if yes, transporting the generated empty unit container to the idle buffer position through the conveying line; and when no free buffer position exists in each empty unit container overhead replenishment buffer channel and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining the empty unit container as the empty unit container to be restored.

As a preferred scheme, the transmission line is connected with at least one warehouse returning cache way; and, the lane positioning unit 701 may be further configured to: calculating the comprehensive cost of each roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the ex-warehouse distance of the roadway; the warehouse-out rate of any real box unit container is the ratio of the warehouse-out times of the real box unit container to the warehouse-out total number of the real box unit containers of the goods-to-people warehouse system in a preset historical time; the warehouse returning distance of the roadway is the minimum value of the distance between the initial position of the roadway and each warehouse returning cache way; and determining the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost as the target roadway.

In a specific application, the roadway positioning unit 701 may further be configured to: after the target roadway is determined, determining a storage returning cache way closest to the target roadway as a target cache way of the empty unit container to be returned; wherein the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse is to be handled by a handling unit in the ship to man warehouse system at the target cache way.

Preferably, the bin type determining unit 702 is further configured to: judging whether a first type of empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the first type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a second type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the second type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a third type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining a third type as the storage bit type; wherein, the first type empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the first type empty storage position is also an empty storage position; the second type of empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the storage position is occupied; the third type of empty storage location is a front row storage location, and the storage location directly behind the storage location is occupied.

In practical applications, the bin positioning unit 703 can be further configured to: calculating the comprehensive cost of each unit shelf with the empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of the empty unit containers of the unit shelf and the ex-warehouse distance of the unit shelf; the ex-warehouse distance is the distance between the initial position of the unit shelf and the target cache way; the unit shelf with the lowest overall cost is determined as the target unit shelf.

In an optional technical scheme, the unit shelf is a multi-layer shelf, and each layer is provided with a plurality of front-row storage positions and a plurality of rear-row storage positions; and, the bin positioning unit 703 may be further configured to: when the target unit shelf is provided with a plurality of empty storage positions of the storage position types, determining the empty storage position with the minimum layer number as an initial selection storage position; and when the primary selection reserve position is multiple, determining the primary selection reserve position with the minimum reserve position number as the target reserve position.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus 700 may further include an execution unit configured to: and controlling the conveying line to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target cache way, and instructing the conveying unit to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target storage position from the target cache way.

According to the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, a conveying line is established to connect each ex-warehouse workstation and each racking workstation, and empty unit containers generated by ex-warehouse are automatically supplied to the racking workstations through the conveying line, so that AGV resources are prevented from being occupied; and meanwhile, at least one warehouse returning buffer channel is arranged to be connected with the conveying line, and the AGV can collect empty unit containers to be conveyed only by waiting at one warehouse returning buffer channel, so that the AGV is prevented from running among a plurality of workstations. In addition, the warehouse returning process of the empty unit containers is designed for the goods-to-people warehouse system adopting the double deep shelves, the roadway, the storage location type, the unit shelves and the storage location which are most suitable for storing the current empty unit containers can be determined according to the current storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and other factors, and the circulation of the empty unit containers in the goods-to-people warehouse system is facilitated to be realized at high efficiency.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary system architecture 800 of an empty cell container processing method or an empty cell container processing apparatus to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied.

As shown in fig. 8, the system architecture 800 may include

terminal devices

801, 802, 803, a network 804 and a server 805 (this architecture is merely an example, and the components included in a particular architecture may be adapted according to the application specific circumstances). The network 804 serves to provide a medium for communication links between the

terminal devices

801, 802, 803 and the server 805. Network 804 may include various connection types, such as wired, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables, to name a few.

A user may use the

terminal devices

801, 802, 803 to interact with a server 805 over a network 804 to receive or send messages or the like. Various client applications, such as an empty cell container recall location application (for example only), may be installed on the

terminal devices

801, 802, 803.

The

terminal devices

801, 802, 803 may be various electronic devices having a display screen and supporting web browsing, including but not limited to smart phones, tablet computers, laptop portable computers, desktop computers, and the like.

The server 805 may be a server that provides various services, such as a logistics server (for example only) that provides support for empty cell container retrieval location applications operated by users with the

terminal devices

801, 802, 803. The logistics server may process the received target reserve acquisition request and feed back the processing result (e.g., the calculated target reserve, for example only) to the

terminal devices

801, 802, 803. The server 805 may also control the AGV806, delivery line 807, etc. equipment.

It should be noted that the empty cell container processing method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is generally executed by the server 805, and accordingly, the empty cell container processing apparatus is generally disposed in the server 805.

It should be understood that the number of terminal devices, networks, and servers in fig. 8 are merely illustrative. There may be any number of terminal devices, networks, and servers, as desired for implementation.

The invention also provides the electronic equipment. The electronic device of the embodiment of the invention comprises: one or more processors; and the storage device is used for storing one or more programs, and when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors realize the empty unit container processing method provided by the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 9, shown is a block diagram of a computer system 900 suitable for use in implementing an electronic device of an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device shown in fig. 9 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 9, the computer system 900 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)901 that can perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM)902 or a program loaded from a storage section 908 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 903. In the RAM903, various programs and data necessary for the operation of the computer system 900 are also stored. The CPU901, ROM 902, and RAM903 are connected to each other via a bus 904. An input/output (I/O) interface 905 is also connected to bus 904.

The following components are connected to the I/O interface 905: an input portion 906 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like; an output portion 907 including a display such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, and a speaker; a storage portion 908 including a hard disk and the like; and a communication section 909 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, or the like. The communication section 909 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet. The drive 910 is also connected to the I/O interface 905 as necessary. A removable medium 911 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is mounted on the drive 910 as necessary, so that a computer program read out therefrom is mounted into the storage section 908 as necessary.

In particular, the processes described in the main step diagrams above may be implemented as computer software programs, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, embodiments of the invention include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for performing the method illustrated in the main step diagram. In the above-described embodiment, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from the network via the communication section 909, and/or installed from the removable medium 911. The computer program, when executed by the central processing unit 901, performs the above-described functions defined in the system of the present invention.

It should be noted that the computer readable medium shown in the present invention can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium or any combination of the two. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the present invention, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the present invention, a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wire, fiber optic cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The units described in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software or hardware. The described units may also be provided in a processor, and may be described as: a processor comprises a roadway positioning unit, a storage position type judging unit and a storage position positioning unit. Where the names of these units do not constitute a limitation on the unit itself in some cases, for example, the lane positioning unit may also be described as "a unit that provides a target lane to the stock rank type discrimination unit".

As another aspect, the present invention also provides a computer-readable medium that may be contained in the apparatus described in the above embodiments; or may be separate and not incorporated into the device. The computer readable medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform steps comprising: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in a warehouse-out workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the warehouse-out rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the warehouse-returning distance of each roadway; acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in front and back rows; and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

In the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, a conveying line is established to connect each ex-warehouse workstation and each racking workstation, and empty unit containers generated by ex-warehouse are automatically supplied to the racking workstations through the conveying line, so that AGV resources are prevented from being occupied; and meanwhile, at least one warehouse returning buffer channel is arranged to be connected with the conveying line, and the AGV can collect empty unit containers to be conveyed only by waiting at one warehouse returning buffer channel, so that the AGV is prevented from running among a plurality of workstations. In addition, the warehouse returning process of the empty unit containers is designed for the goods-to-people warehouse system adopting the double deep shelves, the roadway, the storage location type, the unit shelves and the storage location which are most suitable for storing the current empty unit containers can be determined according to the current storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and other factors, and the circulation of the empty unit containers in the goods-to-people warehouse system is facilitated to be realized at high efficiency.

The above-described embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions can occur, depending on design requirements and other factors. Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The empty unit container processing method is characterized by being applied to a goods-to-person warehouse system comprising an ex-warehouse workstation, an shelving workstation and unit shelves; wherein each unit shelf is provided with a front row storage position and a rear row storage position; a plurality of unit goods shelves are arranged in a row and are positioned at one side of the roadway; the method comprises the following steps:

when empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned to the warehouse by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the warehouse returning distance of each roadway;

acquiring a storage position type of an empty storage position of the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in front and back rows;

and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the outbound workstations and the racking stations are connected by a pre-established conveyor line, each racking station having an empty unit container racking supply buffer lane including at least one buffer location; and, the method further comprises:

after the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, judging whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache channel of each empty unit container: if yes, transporting the generated empty unit container to the idle buffer position through the conveying line;

and when no free buffer position exists in each empty unit container overhead replenishment buffer channel and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining the empty unit container as the empty unit container to be restored.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the delivery line is connected to at least one return buffer lane; and determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of the real box unit containers, the congestion time and the return distance of each roadway, wherein the target roadway comprises:

calculating the comprehensive cost of each roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the ex-warehouse distance of the roadway; the warehouse-out rate of any real box unit container is the ratio of the warehouse-out times of the real box unit container to the warehouse-out total number of the real box unit containers of the goods-to-people warehouse system in a preset historical time; the warehouse returning distance of the roadway is the minimum value of the distance between the initial position of the roadway and each warehouse returning cache way;

and determining the roadway with the minimum comprehensive cost as the target roadway.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

after the target roadway is determined, determining a storage returning cache way closest to the target roadway as a target cache way of the empty unit container to be returned; wherein the empty unit container to be returned to the warehouse is to be handled by a handling unit in the ship to man warehouse system at the target cache way.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the obtaining of the bin type of the empty bin for storing the empty unit container to be returned according to the distribution of the empty bins of the unit shelves in the target roadway in the front row and the rear row comprises:

judging whether a first type of empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the first type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a second type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining the second type as the storage bit type; otherwise, judging whether a third type empty storage position exists in the target roadway: if yes, determining a third type as the storage bit type; wherein,

the first type of empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the first type of empty storage position is also an empty storage position;

the second type of empty storage position is a rear row storage position, and the storage position right in front of the storage position is occupied;

the third type of empty storage location is a front row storage location, and the storage location directly behind the storage location is occupied.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining a target unit shelf for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the empty unit container storage quantity and the ex-warehouse distance of each unit shelf comprises:

calculating the comprehensive cost of each unit shelf with the empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, wherein the comprehensive cost is the weighted sum of the storage quantity of the empty unit containers of the unit shelf and the ex-warehouse distance of the unit shelf; the ex-warehouse distance is the distance between the initial position of the unit shelf and the target cache way;

the unit shelf with the lowest overall cost is determined as the target unit shelf.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the unit shelves are multi-level shelves, each level having a plurality of front-level storage locations and a plurality of rear-level storage locations; and, said determining a target bin in said target unit shelf for storing said empty unit container to be returned to said warehouse, comprising:

when the target unit shelf is provided with a plurality of empty storage positions of the storage position types, determining the empty storage position with the minimum layer number as an initial selection storage position;

and when the primary selection reserve position is multiple, determining the primary selection reserve position with the minimum reserve position number as the target reserve position.

8. The method according to any one of claims 4-7, wherein the method further comprises:

and controlling the conveying line to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target cache way, and instructing the conveying unit to convey the empty unit container to be returned to the target storage position from the target cache way.

9. An empty unit container handling apparatus, characterized by being applied to a goods-to-human warehouse system including an ex-warehouse workstation, a racking workstation, and unit racks; wherein each unit shelf is provided with a front row storage position and a rear row storage position; a plurality of unit goods shelves are arranged in a row and positioned at one side of the roadway; the device comprises:

a roadway positioning unit for: when empty unit containers to be returned exist in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining a target roadway for storing the empty unit containers to be returned by using the storage quantity of the empty unit containers, the ex-warehouse rate of real box unit containers, the congestion time and the returning distance of the empty unit containers of each roadway;

a bin type discrimination unit for: acquiring storage position types of the empty storage positions of the empty unit containers to be restored according to the distribution condition of the empty storage positions of the unit shelf in the target roadway in the front row and the rear row;

a storage location positioning unit for: and for a plurality of unit shelves with empty storage positions of the storage position types in the target roadway, judging target unit shelves for storing the empty unit containers to be returned according to the storage quantity and the delivery distance of the empty unit containers of each unit shelf, and determining the target storage positions for storing the empty unit containers to be returned in the target unit shelves.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said outbound workstations and said racking stations are connected by a pre-established conveyor line, each racking station having an empty unit container racking supply buffer lane including at least one buffer location; and, the apparatus further comprises:

a pre-allocation unit to: after the ex-warehouse workstation generates empty unit containers, judging whether an idle cache bit exists in an overhead replenishment cache channel of each empty unit container: if yes, transporting the generated empty unit container to the idle buffer position through the conveying line; and when no free buffer position exists in each empty unit container overhead replenishment buffer channel and an empty unit container still exists in the ex-warehouse workstation, determining the empty unit container as the empty unit container to be restored.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a storage device to store one or more programs,

when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of any one of claims 1-8.

12. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1-8.