CN116022495A - Warehouse system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides warehousing systems and methods, wherein the warehousing systems include: the system comprises a workstation, a sorting station and a sorting station, wherein the workstation comprises at least one sorting station and at least one sorting station, and the sorting station are used for processing containers; a movable carrier docking area for docking a handling device carrying a movable carrier and deployed with a container handling device; the carrying equipment is responsible for carrying the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, and the movable carrier is used for carrying the container; a container handling apparatus responsible for moving the container between the workstation and the movable carrier. The picking station and the sub-sowing station are simultaneously arranged at the workstation, so that the moving distance from the picking station to the sub-sowing station of an operator or an automation device can be reduced, and the picking efficiency is effectively improved.

Description

Warehouse system and method

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a warehousing system and a warehousing method.

Background

Most of picking operations in the prior art are completed by robots matched with operators, and the robots can reduce the workload of the operators, but after the materials are picked by the workstations, the operators are required to carry the materials to a sowing wall; the sowing wall is usually arranged at a position far away from the workstation, so that operators also need to drive target materials from the workstation to move to the sowing wall for sowing separately, and the operators walk back to the goods shelf for picking the subsequent articles after sowing separately. In the process, the affinity of operators is also required in the sub-sowing link, so that not only the rapidity of the sub-sowing process cannot be ensured, but also the picking efficiency can be influenced, and therefore, an effective scheme is needed to solve the problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a warehousing system to solve the technical defects existing in the prior art. The embodiment of the disclosure also provides another warehousing system and a picking method.

According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a warehousing system, comprising:

the system comprises a workstation, a sorting station and a sorting station, wherein the workstation comprises at least one sorting station and at least one sorting station, and the sorting station are used for processing containers;

a movable carrier docking area for docking a handling device carrying a movable carrier and deployed with a container handling device;

the carrying equipment is responsible for carrying the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, and the movable carrier is used for carrying the container;

a container handling apparatus responsible for moving the container between the workstation and the movable carrier.

Optionally, the movable carrier comprises at least one cargo space for storing the container; wherein the container is a picking container or an order container.

Optionally, the movable carrier docking area includes at least one movable carrier docking sub-area, and one container handling apparatus corresponds to the at least one movable carrier docking sub-area.

Optionally, the workstation comprises a guiding device for presenting information guiding an operator or an automation device.

Optionally, the workstation includes a buffer location for temporarily storing the picking container or the order container.

Optionally, there is a replacement relationship between the target pick container and the target order container; taking the target picking container as the target order container based on the replacement relation under the condition that the attribute of the articles contained in the target picking container is the same as the attribute of the articles to be placed in the target order container; correspondingly, the picking station corresponding to the target picking container is converted into a distributing station.

Optionally, the container handling apparatus comprises a handling assembly responsible for moving the container between the picking/dispensing station and the movable carrier, or between the cargo space of the movable carrier, or between the movable carrier and a target movable carrier, or between the picking station and the docking port outside the workstation, or between the dispensing station and the docking port outside the workstation, or between the movable carrier and the docking port outside the workstation.

Optionally, the picking station is adjacent to the dispensing station, and the picking station and the dispensing station are docked by at least one operator or automated equipment.

According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided another warehousing system comprising a control end, at least one workstation, at least one movable carrier docking area, at least one handling apparatus, at least one container handling apparatus, and at least one movable carrier storing containers, the workstation comprising at least one picking station and at least one dispensing station;

the control end is configured to send a conveying instruction to the conveying equipment according to the picking instruction and send a loading and unloading instruction to the container loading and unloading equipment under the condition that the picking instruction is received;

the handling device is configured to move to the movable carrier based on the handling instruction and handle the movable carrier to the movable carrier docking area;

the container handling apparatus is configured to pick and place containers on at least one of the movable carrier, the picking station, and the dispensing station based on the handling instructions, and to move the containers between the movable carrier and the picking station or the dispensing station of the workstations.

Optionally, in the case that the handling instruction is a pick handling instruction, the container handling apparatus is further configured to determine coordinate information of a target cargo space of the container on the movable carrier based on the pick handling instruction; and taking and placing the container based on the coordinate information of the target cargo space, and placing the container to the picking station or the distributing station.

Optionally, the container handling apparatus is further configured to take and place the container placed at the picking station or the dispensing station according to the container replacement instruction, and place the container to the target cargo space of the movable carrier, when receiving the container replacement instruction issued by the control end.

Optionally, the container handling device is further configured to take and place containers to be moved located at a buffer location in the workstation, and place the containers to be moved to the picking station, the dispensing station, the movable carrier, or a docking port outside the workstation.

Optionally, the control end is further configured to receive a station replacement instruction, and take the picking station as the sub-sowing station or take the sub-sowing station as the picking station according to the work replacement instruction.

Optionally, the container handling device is further configured to determine, by using the identification device and/or the instruction issued by the control end, the item in the container on the movable carrier, and if the attribute of the item to be picked corresponding to the handling instruction is the same, take the container as a target order container, and place the target order container in the dispensing station.

Optionally, the container handling device is further configured to determine, by the identification device and/or the instruction issued by the control end, an item in the container on the picking station, and take the container as a target order container and take the picking station as the distributing station when the attribute of the item to be picked corresponding to the handling instruction is the same.

Optionally, the container handling apparatus is further configured to queue, based on the handling instruction, the containers to a buffer location included in the workstation in case it is determined by the identifying device that the picking station or the dispensing station cannot place a container.

Optionally, the handling device is further configured to generate a travel path based on the movable carrier position information included in the handling instruction, and move to the movable carrier according to the travel path, so as to drive the movable carrier to move to the movable carrier parking area.

Optionally, the handling device is further configured to send the movable carrier back to the movable carrier parking position corresponding to the movable carrier position information when the picking task corresponding to the picking instruction is completed.

According to a third aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a picking method comprising:

the control end receives a picking instruction, and the carrying equipment drives the movable carrier to move to a movable carrier stopping area according to the carrying instruction in the picking instruction;

the container handling equipment picks and places containers on at least one of the movable carrier, the picking station and the distributing station according to the handling instruction in the picking instruction, and moves the containers between the movable carrier and the picking station or the distributing station in the working station.

The warehouse system provided by the disclosure is provided with a workstation, a movable carrier parking area, carrying equipment and container loading and unloading equipment, and at least one picking station and at least one sub-sowing station are arranged on the workstation at the same time, so that the distance from a picking point to a sub-sowing point is reduced, and the picking speed is influenced while the sub-sowing efficiency is improved. Further, the movable carrier stopping area is used for carrying the carrying equipment of the movable carrier, and the container loading and unloading equipment is deployed in the movable carrier stopping area, so that after the carrying equipment carries the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, the container loading and unloading equipment deployed in the movable carrier stopping area can move the container between a distributing station or a selecting station in the workstation and the movable carrier; the system has the advantages that the system is realized in a picking link and a distributing link, the participation of operators or automatic equipment can be reduced, the picking and distributing efficiency is improved through the mutual cooperation of container loading and unloading equipment and carrying equipment and the deployment relation of a picking station and a distributing station, and meanwhile, the consumption of human resources can be reduced to a great extent.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a warehousing system according to one embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a container handling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a retrieval box assembly in a container handling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a warehousing system according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a picking method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

the one-to-one correspondence between component names and reference numerals in fig. 2 to 4 is as follows:

400. a warehousing system; 410. a control end; 420. a workstation; 430. a movable carrier docking area; 440. a handling device; 450. container handling equipment; 460. a movable carrier; 4202. a picking station; 4204. a sub-sowing station; 4501. a base; 4502. assembling and disassembling the assembly; 4503. a pick-up assembly; 4504. a frame body; 45041. an X-axis track; 45042. a Y-axis track; 45022. a carrier assembly; 45011. a bracket; 45021. and (3) a conveyor belt.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. The present disclosure may be embodied in many other forms than described herein and similarly generalized to the state of the art may be made by the person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the disclosure and, therefore, the disclosure is not limited to the specific implementations disclosed below.

The terminology used in the one or more embodiments of the disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the one or more embodiments of the disclosure. As used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure to describe various information, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, a first may also be referred to as a second, and similarly, a second may also be referred to as a first, without departing from the scope of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "responsive to a determination", depending on the context.

First, terms related to one or more embodiments of the present invention will be explained.

A movable carrier: refers to objects handled by handling equipment, consisting of one or more cargo areas.

Cargo space: the position on the carrier can be moved to either store the container or empty, i.e. not store the container.

A container: a cargo-carrying container stored at a cargo space on the movable carrier.

Carrying equipment: for handling mobile carriers including, but not limited to, backpack, jack-up, pull-in, fork-type handling equipment.

Picking container: containers that are hit by a system order task but have not yet performed a picking operation.

Target picking container: picking containers which need to be taken and placed on the movable carrier based on order tasks are placed on a picking station to wait for processing, to be processed or to be processed, or are already processed on the picking station to wait for a container loading and unloading device to take and place are taken as target picking containers.

Order container: located at the workstation, the system order task hits containers for holding items hit by the order, but does not yet hold containers for items hit by the order.

Target order container: the order container to be fetched to the seeding wall by the container loading and unloading equipment is taken as a target order container.

In a conventional workstation, a picking station is spaced apart from a target order container for placing a picked item, typically, the workstation is provided with at least one seeding wall for placing the order container, the seeding wall is provided with a plurality of storage positions for storing the order containers, the seeding wall can adopt a structure form such as a movable shelf, an operator or an automation device picks the corresponding item from the target picking container of the picking station, and the operator or the automation device needs to move the target order container placed on the seeding wall by a certain distance, so that a certain time is wasted.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present application provides a warehousing system, and the present application relates to another warehousing system, and the following embodiments are described in detail one by one.

The application provides a warehousing system, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, which comprises a workstation, wherein the workstation comprises at least one picking station and at least one distributing station, and the picking station and the distributing station are used for processing containers; a movable carrier docking area for docking a handling device carrying a movable carrier and deployed with a container handling device; the carrying equipment is responsible for carrying the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, and the movable carrier is used for carrying the container; a container handling apparatus responsible for moving the container between the workstation and the movable carrier. It will be appreciated that the container handling apparatus may also take and position containers on or between the mobile carriers themselves.

Specifically, the picking station and the sorting station are positioned on the same side of an operator or an automation device for executing an operation task, and when the task is executed, the container loading and unloading device places a picking container to be picked into the picking station, and the picking container placed into the picking station automatically becomes a target picking container; the container loading and unloading equipment can place the target order container matched with the target picking container on the distributing station, and an operator or an automation equipment can pick out the corresponding commodity from the target picking container according to the order information and directly deliver the commodity into the target order container without turning or walking. If the target picking container corresponds to only one target order container, after the target picking container is subjected to the picking operation, the target order container can be moved away from the picking station through the container handling equipment, the target order container can also be moved away from the sorting station through the container handling equipment, the container handling equipment can place the next picking container to be picked into the picking station, and the target order container corresponding to the picking container is placed into the sorting station; if the target picking container corresponds to more than one target order container, after the object picking of one target order container is completed, the container loading and unloading equipment moves the target order container at the moment from the separating station, and places the next corresponding target order container until the target picking container completes all the picking.

Specifically, the workstation specifically refers to an operation area provided with one or more picking stations or distributing stations, an operator or an automation device is supported to complete picking links at the picking stations of the workstation, then the distributing links of the butt-joint picking links can also be completed at the distributing stations of the workstation, and the picking and distributing operations can be completed in a shorter time without the need of the operator or the automation device to travel a long distance so as to improve the picking and distributing efficiency; correspondingly, the container specifically refers to a container for storing materials or commodities, including but not limited to a material box, a paper box, a plastic box, a metal box, a packing box of the commodities, and the like, and the container is stored in a movable carrier, or placed in a picking station for picking the commodities, or placed in a distributing station for distributing the commodities; correspondingly, the movable carrier refers to a carrier which is placed in a storage area and can store containers, such as a goods shelf or a tray, when the movable carrier is a goods shelf, the movable carrier can comprise one or more goods shelf layers, each goods shelf layer comprises one or more goods places, each goods place is used for storing one container, and the movable carrier supports the movement of the carrying equipment; handling equipment particularly refers to equipment for handling movable carriers, including but not limited to, backpack, jack-up, pull-down, fork-type, etc.; the movable carrier parking areas specifically refer to areas for parking carrying equipment for carrying the movable carriers, and each movable carrier parking area is provided with container loading and unloading equipment for taking and placing containers on the movable carriers carried by the carrying equipment; correspondingly, the container loading and unloading equipment specifically refers to equipment for moving the container, and can realize that the container is taken out from the movable carrier and placed in a picking station or a distributing station in a workstation, or the container in the picking station or the distributing station in the workstation is taken out and then placed in an empty cargo space on the movable carrier; and then or the container on the movable carrier is taken out and placed at the docking interface outside the workstation.

When a container is placed in the picking station, indicating that an article needs to be taken out of the container during picking, the container is taken as a target picking container at the moment; when placed at the dispensing station, the container is then a target order container for holding items selected from the matched target pick containers, which may correspond to items in one or more of the target pick containers. In addition, the movable carrier stopping area can be set to one or more, so that one or more movable carriers can be supported to stop, task processing operations for completing different orders in parallel are realized, and one container loading and unloading device can correspond to at least one movable carrier stopping area subarea, so that the container can be conveniently operated. In addition, container loading and unloading equipment can be arranged between the sub-sowing station and the picking station or respectively arranged between the sub-sowing station and the picking station, so that the picking efficiency is improved while the picking task can be smoothly completed.

Furthermore, in order to improve the sowing efficiency and save the operation time of operators or automation equipment, the sowing wall corresponding to the sowing station can be arranged on the same side of the movable equipment parking area or on the other side forming an angle of 90 degrees with the movable carrier parked in the movable carrier parking area, so that the operators and the automation equipment can face the sowing wall without rotating an excessive angle to support the sowing operation. In practical application, the arrangement position of the sowing wall can be set according to practical requirements, and the embodiment is not limited in any way.

Based on this, when it is necessary to place the articles in the containers to a workstation including a picking station and a sorting station for picking and sorting, the movable carrier to which the picked containers to be operated belong can be carried to the movable carrier docking area by controlling the carrying apparatus, and then the picked containers placed on the movable carrier are picked up by the container handling apparatus disposed in the area, and are placed in the picking station in the workstation, at which time the picked containers will be targeted to be picked containers; and then, operators or automation equipment performs commodity picking operation on a picking station, and drives commodities to be delivered to a target order container on a distributing station in the workstation after picking is completed, so that picking and distributing integration is realized, and the consumption of manpower resources is reduced.

For example, when it is desired to pick an item a, it is possible to first determine the picking container a in which the item a is placed, and then determine the movable carrier S in which the picking container a is stored; secondly, sending a carrying instruction to carrying equipment P, carrying the movable carrier S for storing the picking container A to a movable carrier parking area by the carrying equipment, then taking out the picking container A on the movable carrier S by the container loading and unloading equipment, placing the picking container A at a picking station of a workstation, and taking the container A as a target picking container A; at this time, the operator or the automation equipment starts to perform the picking operation on the article a, the article a is scanned, it is determined that the article a needs to be placed in the target order container a located in the sowing wall of the dispensing station, and because the picking station and the dispensing station are located on the same side where the operator or the automation equipment performs the operation, the operator or the automation equipment can directly deliver the article a from the picking position a to the target order container a after the scanning of the article a is completed, so as to complete the operation of the picking order corresponding to the article a, finally, the container handling equipment re-places the target picking container a located in the picking station on the movable carrier S, and the placing position can be the original position or another position, and then the movable carrier S is transported back to the warehouse by the transporting equipment P, or transported to the next workstation for the picking processing.

It should be noted that, when the handling device carries the movable carrier to the parking area of the movable carrier, the container handling device will begin to operate the picking container, in this process, the handling device may wait for the picking to be completed and then directly carry the movable carrier to the storage area, or place the movable carrier in the parking area to execute other tasks, and the workstation may consume more time when carrying out replenishment or picking; the handling device can receive new handling instructions at this time to move other movable carriers according to the new handling instructions. When the container handling apparatus is completed, the movable carrier may be moved back to the storage area by the original handling apparatus or other handling apparatus. In practical application, a suitable manner may be selected for processing according to a practical application scenario, and the embodiment is not limited in any way.

In this embodiment, to enable the storage of more containers, the mobile carrier includes at least one cargo space for storing the containers; wherein the container is a picking container or an order container.

Based on the above, different items are needed in consideration of different picking orders, so when the number of the items contained in the container is larger than the number of the items to be picked, the container is the picking container, and the container needs to be placed in a picking station for picking operation; after being placed in the picking station, the picking station can be used as a target picking container for subsequent picking operation; when the number of the objects contained in the container is equal to or smaller than the number of the objects to be picked, the container is an order container and can be directly placed into a distributing station for distributing operation; and the target picking container matched in a butt joint mode is used as the target order container when the order container is finished and the storage of the articles is finished. The containers stored on the cargo space of the movable carrier will thus decide on the basis of the picking order whether they are picking containers or order containers and in different orders correspond to different container types.

In this embodiment, in order to support the execution operation of multiple picking tasks at the same time, the movable carrier docking area includes at least one movable carrier docking area, and one container handling device corresponds to the at least one movable carrier docking area.

Specifically, the movable carrier parking subarea specifically refers to an area in the movable carrier parking area for parking each carrying device driving the movable carrier, and considering that each workstation comprises at least one picking station and at least one distributing station, in order to support each workstation to simultaneously operate a plurality of picking tasks, one or more movable carrier parking subareas can be arranged in the movable carrier parking area corresponding to the workstation; meanwhile, in order to facilitate operation and improve resource utilization, one or more movable carrier docking subareas may be deployed with a container handling device, i.e., one container handling device corresponds to one or more movable carrier docking subareas; after the carrying equipment driving the movable carrier is stopped at the movable carrier stopping subarea, the container loading and unloading equipment can be used for carrying out the container taking and placing operation, so that the container can be taken and placed without the participation of operators or automation equipment.

Referring to the schematic diagram shown in fig. 1, a plurality of movable carrier docking areas are included in the movable carrier docking areas corresponding to the workstations, and each movable carrier docking area can dock a carrying device for driving the movable carrier; correspondingly, the workstation comprises a plurality of picking stations and distributing stations, so that picking and distributing operations can be finished simultaneously under the condition that an operator or automatic equipment does not need to walk, and the picking efficiency is effectively improved.

In this embodiment, in order to facilitate the picking and distributing operations of the operator or the automation device in the workstation, the workstation further includes a guiding device, and specifically, the guiding device may be a display or a reminding device, etc., and the embodiment is not limited in any way, and the guiding device is used for displaying information for guiding the operator or the automation device.

For example, when the containers are placed in the picking station or the sorting station, a reminding message can be sent to an operator or an automation device; or after scanning the article to be picked, reminding information of the position where the article is placed can be sent to an operator or an automation device; or when the picking container or the order container cannot store more articles, overload reminding information and the like can be sent to operators or automation equipment; in practical application, the information sent to the user by the guiding device may be configured according to the practical application scenario, and the embodiment is not limited in any way.

In this embodiment, considering that there is an upper limit in the processing of the picking order by the workstation, if a picking container is carried to the picking station or the sorting station, it may result in backlog of the picking task, and the picking efficiency cannot be ensured, so the workstation is further provided with a buffer storage position for temporarily storing the picking container or the order container. That is, when the picking tasks of the sub-sowing station or the picking station in the workstation are saturated, in order to ensure that the subsequent picking tasks can be orderly performed, after the movable carrier is driven to the movable carrier stopping area by the carrying equipment, the container corresponding to the new picking task can be temporarily placed in the buffer storage position by the container loading and unloading equipment, and the container can be a picking container and/or the order container; queuing is sequentially carried out until the picking station or the distributing station can pick and distribute, and then the containers are transported to the corresponding stations for processing through container loading and unloading equipment or operators or automation equipment.

In specific implementation, the workstation can set one or more buffer bits, the number of the buffer bits can be determined according to the picking task quantity of the workstation, if the picking task quantity is high, more buffer bits can be set, otherwise, fewer buffer bits are set. Meanwhile, the buffer bits may be dynamically increased or decreased, which is not limited in this embodiment. Meanwhile, the buffer storage positions can be set for each picking station or each distributing station, namely, each picking station corresponds to at least one buffer storage position or each distributing station corresponds to at least one buffer storage position, and the buffer storage positions are used for providing more convenient picking and distributing operations.

In this embodiment, in order to make more full use of each working position (picking station or sorting station) in the workstation, so as to improve efficiency of processing picking tasks, a replacement relationship between the target picking container and the target order container may be pre-established; taking the target picking container as the target order container based on the replacement relation under the condition that the attribute of the articles contained in the target picking container is the same as the attribute of the articles to be placed in the target order container; correspondingly, the picking station corresponding to the target picking container is converted into a distributing station.

Specifically, the displacement relationship specifically refers to a relationship that can be displaced between the target picking container and the target order container; that is, when the number and types of the items contained in the target picking container are consistent with those of the items to be placed in the target container, it is stated that all the items in the target picking container need to be transferred to the target order container during picking, in order to be able to improve the picking efficiency, the target picking container may be taken as the target order container directly based on the replacement relationship, so as to avoid time wasted by the transfer operation of the items. While the target order container pre-assigned by the system will also be reassigned by the system for depositing other orders for corresponding items.

Furthermore, in order to further improve the picking efficiency, the picking station and the sorting station can be replaced, that is, the picking station can be used as a sorting station or the sorting station can be used as a picking station. In order to save operators or automation equipment, the picking station where the container is placed can be replaced directly with a dispensing station for subsequent dispensing processing, because of this, after the target picking container is taken as the target order container.

In addition, the replacement process of taking the target order container as the target picking container and taking the distributing station as the picking station is similar to that described above, and the embodiment will not be repeated here. In addition, when the picking station or the distributing station is tense, any one type of station can be temporarily used as another type of station for assisting in completing picking tasks.

In this embodiment, the container handling device is actually completed by the handling assembly configured to handle the container, that is, the container handling device includes a handling assembly, and the handling assembly is responsible for moving the container between the picking station/dispensing station and the movable carrier, or moving the container between the movable carrier and the target movable carrier, or moving the container between the picking station and the docking port outside the workstation, or moving the container between the dispensing station and the docking port outside the workstation, or moving the container between the movable carrier and the docking port outside the workstation.

Specifically, the docking area outside the workstation specifically refers to an area deployed outside the workstation and used for storing and interacting with other devices; after the picking task is completed by the picking station or the distributing station, the containers which are not needed to be used can be placed to the butt joint interfaces outside the working station through the container loading and unloading equipment, and the containers are taken away by other picking stations or distributing stations, corresponding operators or automatic equipment or container loading and unloading equipment so as to complete other picking tasks. Correspondingly, the loading and unloading assembly specifically refers to an assembly capable of taking and placing the container, and the assembly comprises, but is not limited to, a sucker type assembly, a hook-and-pull type assembly, a grabbing type assembly or a manipulator type assembly.

Based on this, in the picking order process, the containers can be moved by the handling assembly between the picking/dispensing station and the movable carrier, or between the cargo space of the movable carrier, or between the movable carrier and the target movable carrier, wherein the target movable carrier particularly refers to another movable carrier capable of storing containers; after the picking task is completed, the container may be moved between the picking station and the docking port outside the workstation, or between the dispensing station and the docking port outside the workstation, or between the movable carrier and the docking port outside the workstation. In the implementation, the container moving operation of the loading and unloading assembly is affected by the actual application scenario, and may be completed according to the instruction in the implementation, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In practice, for convenience in handling containers, referring to fig. 2 and 3, the container handling apparatus 450 may be configured as a mechanism as shown in fig. 2, wherein the container handling apparatus 450 is preceded by a movable carrier 460. Based on this, the container handling apparatus 450 includes a frame body 4504, and the frame body 4504 includes an X-axis rail 45041 and a Y-axis rail 45042 perpendicular to each other, and the X-axis rail 45041 and the Y-axis rail 45042 are disposed on a vertical plane. Specifically, the Y-axis track is configured to move along the X-axis track, and the handling assembly 4502 is configured to move along the Y-axis track.

Further, referring to the container handling apparatus 450 shown in fig. 2, if it is desired to perform picking and placing operations on the movable carrier 460, this is accomplished by the handling assembly 4502. That is, the handling assembly 4502 will move up and down along the Y-axis track 45042, while the Y-axis track 45042 will also move left and right along the X-axis track 45041, so that the handling assembly 4502 can be aligned with the place where the containers are placed, completing the pick and place operation.

Further, if it is desired to complete the picking and placing operation of the picking container, the handling assembly 4502 may be configured as the mechanism shown in fig. 3, wherein the handling assembly 4502 is supported by the base 4501, and the base 4501 may be configured as any structure such as a flat plate shape, a frame shape, etc., which may be disposed at the bottom or around the carrying assembly 45022, and the structure and position of the base may be selected by those skilled in the art. In an alternative embodiment, the base 4501 is configured as a frame-shaped structure and may be disposed below the carrier assembly 45022 to support the carrier assembly 45022. The bearing assembly 45022 is provided with a bearing surface for supporting the container, and a containing space for containing the container is arranged above the bearing surface.

In addition, the container handling apparatus 450 is deviated from the cargo space on the movable carrier in consideration of the ground unevenness or the movable carrier mounting error. To improve positional accuracy, the handling assembly 4502 further includes a positioning system configured to position the relative position between the handling assembly 4502 and the movable carrier. The positioning system needs to adjust the position of the handling assembly 4502 when it detects that the positional deviation between the handling assembly 4502 and the cargo space of the movable carrier reaches a preset range. The positioning system can be a visual scanning module, a laser scanning module or an infrared scanning module, and can acquire the position information of the container or the goods space by identifying the corresponding position on the movable carrier. As shown in fig. 3, the positioning system may be disposed on the base 4501, and the base 4501 may be provided with a bracket 45011, where the bracket 45011 is located above the carrier assembly 45022 and avoids the accommodating space, so as not to interfere with the movement of the container. The support 45011 may be configured as a door structure, the bottom end of the support 45011 is fixedly connected to two sides of the first opening end of the bearing assembly 45022, and the positioning system is installed on the top of the support 45011 and located above the bearing assembly 45022.

In an alternative embodiment, to enable the containers on the movable carriers to be moved to the docking port outside the picking, dispensing or work station by the handling assembly 4502, the carrying assembly 45022 on the handling assembly 4502 further includes a conveyor 45021, the upper surface of the conveyor 45021 is a carrying surface for supporting the containers, the conveyor 45021 is capable of carrying the containers in a horizontal direction, and the transport direction of the conveyor 45021 is determined according to the pick-and-place instruction, and when the containers are required to be placed on the movable carriers, the containers can be rotated in the direction of the place of the movable carriers, whereas when the containers are required to be placed on the docking port outside the picking, dispensing or work station, the containers taken from the movable carriers can be rotated in the opposite direction of the place of the movable carriers.

Further, to enable the container to be pulled onto the conveyor 45021 and placed into a target location by the conveyor 45021, the handling assembly 4502 further includes a pick-up assembly 4503 thereon, the pick-up assembly 4503 includes a suction cup mechanism to suck the container through the suction cup mechanism, and then the container is pulled into the handling assembly 4502 by a guide mechanism coupled to the pick-up assembly 4503, and the container pick-and-place operation is completed by the conveyor 45021.

In this process, in order to improve the picking efficiency, after the handling component 4502 grabs the container, the direction of the handling component 4502 may be adjusted at the same time when moving along the track, so that the handling component 4502 may make fine adjustment in the direction to align with the picking station, the distributing station or the docking station where the container needs to be placed, where the adjustment of the direction of the handling component 4502 may be accomplished by rotating, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In an alternative embodiment, the docking ports outside the picking station, the distributing station and/or the working station may be directly arranged on the other side of the container handling device 450, so that after the container handling device 450 picks and places the container, the docking ports outside the picking station, the distributing station and/or the working station may be directly turned to dock to the docking ports outside the picking station, the distributing station and/or the working station, so as to improve the picking efficiency.

In this embodiment, in order to improve picking and the quick butt joint of branch broadcasting link to guarantee picking efficiency, pick the station with branch broadcasting station can be located adjacently, just pick the station with branch broadcasting station is by at least one operating personnel or automation equipment butt joint. That is, the picking station and the distributing station with corresponding relation in the same workstation can be adjacent in position, so that the picking operation and the distributing operation can be completed without moving an operator or an automation device by an excessive distance, and the picking efficiency is ensured.

The warehouse system provided by the disclosure is provided with a workstation, a movable carrier parking area, carrying equipment and container loading and unloading equipment, and at least one picking station and at least one sub-sowing station are arranged on the workstation at the same time, so that the distance from a picking point to a sub-sowing point is reduced, the sub-sowing efficiency is improved, and meanwhile, the picking speed is positively influenced. Further, the movable carrier stopping area is used for carrying the carrying equipment of the movable carrier, and the container loading and unloading equipment is deployed in the movable carrier stopping area, so that after the carrying equipment carries the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, the container loading and unloading equipment deployed in the movable carrier stopping area can move the container between a distributing station or a selecting station in the workstation and the movable carrier; the system has the advantages that the system is realized in a picking link and a distributing link, the participation of operators or automatic equipment can be reduced, the picking and distributing efficiency is improved through the mutual cooperation of container loading and unloading equipment and carrying equipment and the deployment relation of a picking station and a distributing station, and meanwhile, the consumption of human resources can be reduced to a great extent.

Corresponding to the system embodiment, the present disclosure further provides a warehousing system embodiment, and fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a warehousing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4:

The warehouse system 400 includes a control end 410, at least one workstation 420, at least one movable carrier dock 430, at least one handling device 440, at least one container handling device 450, and at least one movable carrier 460 storing containers, the workstation 420 including at least one picking station 4202 and at least one sorting station 4204;

the control end 410 is configured to send a handling instruction to the handling device 440 according to the picking instruction and to send a loading instruction to the container loading device 450 in case of receiving a picking instruction;

the handling device 440 is configured to move to the movable carrier 460 based on the handling instruction and to handle the movable carrier 460 to the movable carrier docking area 430;

the container handling apparatus 450 is configured to pick and place containers on at least one of the movable carrier 460, the picking station 4202, the dispensing station 4204 based on the handling instructions, and to move the containers between the movable carrier 460 and the picking station 4202 or the dispensing station 4204 in the workstation 420.

In another warehousing system provided in this embodiment, the same or corresponding description contents as those of the warehousing system can be referred to the above embodiment, and this embodiment is convenient for description and will not be repeated here.

Specifically, the control end 410 specifically refers to a service end for processing picking tasks, and is configured to send picking instructions of containers to the handling device 440 and the container handling device 450. In this case, when the control end 410 receives a picking command, it is described that a picking task is required at this time, and in order to improve the picking efficiency, a conveying command may be sent to the conveying device 440 based on the picking command, and a loading and unloading command may be sent to the container loading and unloading device 450. The picking instruction includes information of the movable carrier, cargo space information and container information, so that the handling device 440 can move the movable carrier to a movable carrier parking area corresponding to the task, and the container handling device 450 can accurately pick and place the container; correspondingly, the carrying instruction can guide the carrying equipment to determine and carry the movable carrier, that is, the carrying instruction carries the moving track information of the carrying equipment; the loading and unloading instruction can guide the container loading and unloading equipment to finish the taking or placing of the container, that is, the loading and unloading instruction carries the position information of the container and the moving track information of the container loading and unloading equipment.

Further, after receiving the handling instruction, the handling device 440 indicates that the movable carrier needs to be moved to the target position for picking, then the movable carrier to be handled may be determined according to the handling instruction, and then the movable carrier 460 is moved to the movable carrier docking area 430; at this point the container handling apparatus 450 receives the handling instructions and, in accordance with the handling instructions, fetches at least one container located on the movable carrier 460, the picking station 4202 or the dispensing station 4204 for moving the container between the movable carrier 460 and the picking station 4202 or the dispensing station 4204 in the workstation 420.

For example, the control end receives a picking instruction corresponding to a picking task, determines that a set number of articles a need to be picked in a picking container A on a movable carrier S, and distributes the articles a to an order container A in a distributing station; at this time, the control end transmits a transport command to the transport facility P according to the container adjustment command, and simultaneously transmits a loading and unloading command to the container loading and unloading facility. After receiving the handling instruction, the handling equipment P determines the position of the movable carrier S in the storage area, moves the movable carrier S to the position, then carries the movable carrier S to the movable carrier parking area, at this time, the container handling equipment performs container picking operation on the picked container a on the movable carrier S according to the handling instruction, places the picked container a at a picking station a in the workstation, at this time, the picked container a is a target picked container, and then an operator or an automation equipment can pick a set number of articles a in the target picked container and distribute the articles a to a target order container a in the distribution station to complete the picking task. In addition, when the article a contained in the container A corresponds to the article to be separated, the picking container A can be directly placed at the separating station through the container loading and unloading equipment to serve as the target order container A, or after the picking station is placed, the picking station is replaced by the separating station, and the original separating station is replaced by the picking station correspondingly, so that the task processing efficiency is improved. Further, after picking is completed, the container handling device may take the picked container a at the picking station again and return it to the original position of the movable carrier S or to another position on the movable carrier, or to another movable carrier; and then the movable carrier for storing the picking container A is transported to the original position or other positions of the warehouse by the transporting equipment S, so that the movable carrier for storing the container A is reset.

In summary, by simultaneously providing at least one picking station and at least one sorting station at the workstation for reducing the distance from the picking point to the sorting point, the sorting efficiency is improved while the sorting speed is positively influenced.

In this embodiment, since the container handling apparatus supports movement of the container, when it is necessary to remove the picked container from the cargo space of the movable carrier, the container handling apparatus 450 is required to perform different operations according to a handling instruction, and in this embodiment, in a case where the handling instruction is a picking handling instruction, the container handling apparatus 450 is further configured to determine coordinate information of a target cargo space of the container on the movable carrier based on the picking handling instruction; and taking and placing the container based on the coordinate information of the target cargo space, and placing the container to the picking station or the distributing station.

In particular, the picking handling order refers in particular to an order for placing a picking container on a movable carrier to a picking station or a dispensing station. Based on the above, when the container handling equipment determines that the picked container on the movable carrier needs to be carried to the picking station or the distributing station, firstly, the position information of the target goods position of the picked container on the movable carrier can be determined based on the picking handling instruction, then the handling component is moved to the position to pick and place the picked container on the goods position, and finally, the picked container is placed to the picking station or the distributing station according to the picking task.

It should be noted that, the process of moving the picking container by the container handling apparatus 450 may be the same as or similar to the above embodiments, and will not be described in detail herein.

In this embodiment, after the picking station or the distributing station completes the current picking task, in order to avoid that the picking operation of the current task affects the subsequent picking process, the container may be returned after the picking is completed, and the movable carrier may also be returned, where the container handling device 450 is further configured to take and place the container placed at the picking station or the distributing station according to the container returning instruction when receiving the container returning instruction issued by the control end, and place the container to the target cargo space of the movable carrier. That is, when the picking task is completed, the container handling apparatus 450 will receive the container return instruction sent by the control end 410 again, at which time the container handling apparatus 450 will take and place the container in the picking station 4202 or the dispensing station 4204 based on the instruction, and return it to the target cargo space of the movable carrier; wherein the target cargo space is the original position of the container.

In this embodiment, in order to ensure sorting order, at least one buffer position may be set in the workstation, and when the containers in the buffer position need to be moved, the container handling device 450 needs to be completed, that is, the container handling device 450 is further configured to pick and place the containers to be moved in the buffer position in the workstation, and place the containers to be moved to the picking station, the distributing station, the movable carrier, or the docking station outside the workstation.

Specifically, the container to be moved specifically refers to a container in the buffer storage position, which needs to be moved to a picking station, a distributing station, a movable carrier or a docking port outside the workstation, and the container can be a picking container, an order container, a target picking container or a target order container. Based on this, when the picking container to be picked is sequentially ordered to one container in the buffer storage position, at this time, the picking container is determined to be the container to be moved, then the container to be moved is taken and placed by the container handling device 450, and then is placed to the picking station or the distributing station corresponding to the picking task, or is put back to the movable carrier, or is placed to the docking station outside the workstation, so that the subsequent operations of picking, distributing or processing by other devices are facilitated, and the picking task can be sequentially executed.

In this embodiment, in order to cope with a complex picking scenario, the picking station and the distributing station may be dynamically switched based on the instruction of the control end 410, where the control end 410 is further configured to receive a station replacement instruction, and use the picking station 4202 as the distributing station 4204 or use the distributing station 4204 as the picking station 4202 according to the work replacement instruction.

That is, the picking station and the sub-sowing station can be dynamically switched, so that picking efficiency is improved by conveniently executing picking tasks, and any one or more sub-sowing stations in the workstation can be used as picking stations, or one or more picking stations are used as sub-sowing stations, so that different picking tasks are adapted in a manner of dynamically adjusting the number of each type of stations, and picking efficiency is improved.

In this embodiment, in order to improve the picking efficiency, a container meeting the requirement may be directly used as the target order container, and the container handling device 450 is further configured to determine, by using the identifying device and/or the instruction issued by the control end, the item in the container on the movable carrier, and in the case that the attribute of the item to be picked corresponding to the handling instruction is the same, use the container as the target order container, and place the container in the dispensing station.

Specifically, the identifying device specifically refers to a device capable of identifying the articles in the container, and the device can be a sensor or an image pickup device; correspondingly, the item to be picked specifically refers to the item corresponding to the picking task. Based on the above, when the container handling equipment scans the number and the kind of the articles in the target picking container through the identification device and the number and the kind of the articles are the same as those required to be picked by the picking task, and/or determines the number and the kind of the articles in the container according to the instruction fed back by the control end and the articles required to be picked by the picking task, the condition that all the articles in the container are moved into the target order container is required to be described later is indicated, and in order to facilitate the operation of operators or automatic equipment, the target picking container can be directly used as the target order container and can be placed at the distributing station. That is, after the container handling apparatus 450 determines the target picking container as the target order container, it is not necessary to place the container to the picking station for picking by the operator or the automated apparatus, but directly to the dispensing station as the target order container, thereby saving time consumed by the operator or the automated apparatus to move the item.

In addition, after taking the target picking container as the target order container, the process still needs a picking and placing operation of the container handling device 450 from the picking station to the distributing station, so in order to improve the picking efficiency, the picking station can also be directly taken as the distributing station, and the container handling device 450 is further configured to determine the articles in the containers on the picking station through the identification device and/or the instruction issued by the control end, and take the containers as the target order containers and take the picking station as the distributing station when the properties of the articles to be picked corresponding to the handling instruction are the same. That is, the containers located on the picking station need not be moved to the sorting station, and the picking station is directly used as the sorting station for subsequent sorting processing.

For example, determining that the picking task is to pick n articles a, at this time, the container handling equipment identifies a target picking container a for storing the articles a in the station to be picked, and determines that the target picking container a contains n articles according to the identification result; in this case, if the container handling device places the target picking container a at the picking station, an operator or an automation device is required to move the articles in the target picking container a at the picking station to the sorting station, which greatly reduces the picking efficiency. Therefore, the container A can be directly used as the target order container, and the picking station for placing the target picking container A is used as the distributing station, so that the distributing operation is not required to be performed by an operator or an automation device.

In this embodiment, in order to ensure that the picking tasks can be sequentially executed without affecting execution of other parallel picking tasks, the container that cannot be placed may be temporarily placed in a buffer position, that is, the pick-and-place mechanism 450 is further configured to, when it is determined by the identifying device that the picking station or the distributing station cannot place the container, place the container to the buffer position included in the workstation based on the loading and unloading instruction for queuing.

That is, when the identifying device determines that the picking station or the distributing station cannot place a new picking container, it indicates that the picking station or the distributing station is in a task saturation state at this time, and in order to ensure that subsequent picking tasks are performed sequentially, the container handling device 450 may place the container handling device in the buffer position for queuing based on waiting information in the handling instruction until the corresponding picking task is executed, and then picking and distributing operations may be performed on the articles in the container.

In this embodiment, when the handling device performs handling of the movable carrier, since the movable carrier is disposed in the warehouse area, and a lot of containers may be included in the warehouse area, in order to ensure that the correct containers are driven, the handling device 440 is further configured to generate a driving path based on the position information of the movable carrier included in the handling instruction, and move to the movable carrier according to the driving path, to drive the movable carrier to move to the movable carrier parking area. Correspondingly, the handling device 440 is further configured to return the movable carrier to the movable carrier docking position corresponding to the movable carrier position information when the picking task corresponding to the picking order is completed.

Specifically, the position information of the movable carrier specifically refers to position information corresponding to the movable carrier storing the container associated with the picking task, and the corresponding parking position of the movable carrier specifically refers to the position for parking the movable carrier, and the position is located in a storage area of the movable carrier and is a certain area position in the storage area; accordingly, the travel path specifically refers to a path along which the transporting apparatus moves from the current position to the movable carrier position.

Based on this, when the handling apparatus receives the handling instruction, in order to ensure that the subsequent picking is accurately completed, the handling apparatus may generate a travel path according to the movable carrier position information carried in the handling instruction, and move to the movable carrier position according to the travel path to perform the handling process of the movable carrier. After the picking order is completed, the handling device also needs to return the mobile carrier to the home position in order to select containers on the mobile carrier without affecting the subsequent picking order.

According to the warehousing system provided by the embodiment, at least one picking station and at least one distributing station are arranged on the workstation, so that the distance from a picking point to a distributing point is reduced, the distributing efficiency is improved, and meanwhile, the picking speed is positively influenced. Further, the movable carrier stopping area is used for carrying the carrying equipment of the movable carrier, and the container loading and unloading equipment is deployed in the movable carrier stopping area, so that after the carrying equipment carries the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, the container loading and unloading equipment deployed in the movable carrier stopping area can move the container between a distributing station or a selecting station in the workstation and the movable carrier; the system has the advantages that the system is realized in a picking link and a distributing link, the participation of operators or automatic equipment can be reduced, the picking and distributing efficiency is improved through the mutual cooperation of container loading and unloading equipment and carrying equipment and the deployment relation of a picking station and a distributing station, and meanwhile, the consumption of human resources can be reduced to a great extent.

The implementation also provides a sorting method applied to the warehousing system, which comprises the following steps:

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a picking method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the picking method being applied to the warehouse system, the method including the steps of:

step S502, a control end receives a picking instruction, and a carrying device drives a movable carrier to move to a movable carrier parking area according to the carrying instruction in the picking instruction;

in step S504, the container handling apparatus picks and places containers on at least one of the movable carrier, the picking station, and the distributing station according to the handling instruction in the picking instruction, and moves the containers between the movable carrier and the picking station or the distributing station in the work station.

In specific implementation, the picking method provided in this embodiment is applied to the warehousing system, and the descriptions of the picking method provided in this embodiment that are the same as or corresponding to the warehousing system may be referred to the descriptions in the foregoing embodiment, which is not repeated here.

In summary, at least one picking station and at least one sorting station are arranged at the workstation, so that the distance from a picking point to a sorting point is reduced, the sorting efficiency is improved, and meanwhile, the picking speed is positively influenced. Further, the movable carrier stopping area is used for carrying the carrying equipment of the movable carrier, and the container loading and unloading equipment is deployed in the movable carrier stopping area, so that after the carrying equipment carries the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, the container loading and unloading equipment deployed in the movable carrier stopping area can move the container between a distributing station or a selecting station in the workstation and the movable carrier; the system has the advantages that the system is realized in a picking link and a distributing link, the participation of operators or automatic equipment can be reduced, the picking and distributing efficiency is improved through the mutual cooperation of container loading and unloading equipment and carrying equipment and the deployment relation of a picking station and a distributing station, and meanwhile, the consumption of human resources can be reduced to a great extent.

It should be noted that, for the sake of simplicity of description, the foregoing method embodiments are all expressed as a series of combinations of actions, but it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited by the order of actions described, as some steps may be performed in other order or simultaneously in accordance with the present disclosure. Further, those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and that the acts and modules referred to are not necessarily all necessary for the present disclosure.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the embodiments are emphasized, and for parts of one embodiment that are not described in detail, reference may be made to the related descriptions of other embodiments.

The above disclosed preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are merely used to help illustrate the present disclosure. Alternative embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best understand and utilize the disclosure. The present disclosure is limited only by the claims and the full scope and equivalents thereof.

Claims (10)

1. A warehousing system, comprising:

the system comprises a workstation, a sorting station and a sorting station, wherein the workstation comprises at least one sorting station and at least one sorting station, and the sorting station are used for processing containers;

a movable carrier docking area for docking a handling device carrying a movable carrier and deployed with a container handling device;

the carrying equipment is responsible for carrying the movable carrier to the movable carrier stopping area, and the movable carrier is used for carrying the container;

a container handling apparatus responsible for moving the container between the workstation and the movable carrier.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the movable carrier comprises at least one cargo space for storing the container; wherein the container is a picking container or an order container.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the movable carrier docking area comprises at least one movable carrier docking sub-area and one container handling apparatus corresponds to the at least one movable carrier docking sub-area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the workstation comprises a guidance device for presenting information that guides an operator or an automation device.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the workstation includes a buffer bit for temporarily depositing the picking container or the order container.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein there is a replacement relationship between the target pick container and the target order container; taking the target picking container as the target order container based on the replacement relation under the condition that the attribute of the articles contained in the target picking container is the same as the attribute of the articles to be placed in the target order container; correspondingly, the picking station corresponding to the target picking container is converted into a distributing station.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the container handling apparatus comprises a handling assembly responsible for moving the container between the picking station/dispensing station and the movable carrier, or between the movable carrier and the destination movable carrier, or between the picking station and the docking port outside the workstation, or between the dispensing station and the docking port outside the workstation.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the picking station is adjacent to the dispensing station, and the picking station and the dispensing station are docked by at least one operator or automated equipment.

9. A warehousing system, the system comprising a control end, at least one workstation, at least one movable carrier docking area, at least one handling device, at least one container handling device, and at least one movable carrier storing containers, the workstation comprising at least one picking station and at least one dispensing station;

the control end is configured to send a conveying instruction to the conveying equipment according to the picking instruction and send a loading and unloading instruction to the container loading and unloading equipment under the condition that the picking instruction is received;

the handling device is configured to move to the movable carrier based on the handling instruction and handle the movable carrier to the movable carrier docking area;

the container handling apparatus is configured to pick and place containers on at least one of the movable carrier, the picking station, and the dispensing station based on the handling instructions, and to move the containers between the movable carrier and the picking station or the dispensing station of the workstations.

10. A picking method applied to the warehousing system of any one of claims 1-8, comprising:

the control end receives a picking instruction, and the carrying equipment drives the movable carrier to move to a movable carrier stopping area according to the carrying instruction in the picking instruction;

the container handling equipment picks and places containers on at least one of the movable carrier, the picking station and the distributing station according to the handling instruction in the picking instruction, and moves the containers between the movable carrier and the picking station or the distributing station in the working station.

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