JP2015227249A - Automatic storing and receiving system of reserved article, and method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic storing and receiving system of a reserved article which is not limited in business hours and a method for the system, that reduce manpower requirement and effectively utilize a storage space while satisfying convenience of a user in reading a reserved article, in a market.SOLUTION: Provided is an automatic storing and receiving system of a reserved article that includes: controlling means having a shelf-in mode, a receiving mode, and a shelf-out mode; and transporting means controlled by the controlling means. In the shelf-in mode, the controlling means reads reserved article information, allocates a storage location, drives the transporting means, and transports a reserved article from a shelf-in location to the storage location. In the receiving mode, the controlling means drives the transporting means and transports a corresponding reserved article from its storage location to a receiving location, on the basis of reserver information. In the shelf-out mode, the controlling means drives the transporting means and transports a reserved article satisfying a shelf-out condition from its storage location to a shelf-out location.

Description

The present invention relates to a storage and receiving system, and more particularly to an automatic storage and receiving system for reserved articles.

In order to cope with the busy lifestyle rhythms of modern people, the system for receiving reserved items is becoming increasingly popular. Receiving many items, such as borrowed books, merchandise purchased online, borrowed DVDs, medicines, passports, car license plates, etc., can be conveniently received by reservation. Bases that provide reservation goods receiving services include convenience stores near the reservations' residences or workplaces, various railway station stores, supermarkets, mass retailers, community centers, airports, city centers, government agencies, medical institutions, etc. Is possible. As a receiving place for the reserved article, a building installed independently or a counter / corner attached to the building is possible.

In general, the procedure for receiving a reserved item is as follows: (1) The reserved item is delivered to a designated service location; (2) The employee reads and shelves the reserved item; (3 ) The service system notifies the reservation person that it can be received (for example, telephone, SMS or e-mail); (4) The reservation person must pick up the goods at the designated service location within a certain period of time. ; (5) Employees must not verify / verify the recipient's identity to deliver the item to the recipient; (6) If the reservation is not picked up after a certain period of time, the employee Puts the reserved items on the shelf.

The greatest advantage of receiving a reserved item is that it saves the user's waiting time and adapts to the convenience of the user. From the user's point of view, the receipt of reserved items is most preferably a 24/7 service. However, for a trader, 24 hours a day, 24 hours a day, means that the labor cost will increase, so the trader tends to pass the cost to the user. Furthermore, 24/7 service hours are not currently feasible for public or non-profit organizations.

If the volume or quantity of reserved items becomes enormous, the reserved item receiving service provider must provide a sufficiently large storage space. Moreover, in order to deliver it by convenient means of transportation for the convenience of the user, the preferred storage location is near various railway stations or city centres, which causes high place rents. As a result, management costs will rise.

Therefore, in the market, the labor can be reduced, the storage space can be used effectively, and at the same time, the convenience that the user can read the reserved items can be satisfied, and the automatic storage and receipt of the reserved items that are not limited by the business hours. A system is needed.

In view of the above market needs, the present invention provides the following embodiments.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides an automatic storage and receiving system for reserved articles comprising control means and transport means controlled by the control means, the control means comprising a shelf mode, It has a receiving mode and a shelf mode. In the shelving mode, the control means reads the reserved article information, assigns a storage position, drives the transportation means, transports the reserved article from the shelving position to the storage position; in the receiving mode, the control means displays the reservation information. Based on this, the transportation means is driven, and the reserved article corresponding to the reservation person information is transported from the storage position to the receiving position; in the shelf mode, the control means drives the transportation device and selects the reserved article that satisfies the shelf condition. Transport from storage position to shelf position.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides an automatic storage and receiving method for reserved articles using the system provided in the above embodiment, and the shelf mode is executed only once in the first cycle. Thereafter, executing the receiving mode a plurality of times; and executing the shelf taking-out mode only once in the second cycle.

In summary, in the automatic storage and receiving system and method for reserved articles provided by the present invention, it is possible to provide a flexible time arrangement to the user while at the same time reducing the management cost of the service provider. it can.

It is the external appearance schematic of the automatic storage and receipt system of the reservation goods in one Example of this invention. It is a system structure figure in one example of the present invention.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in each step included in the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the execution order does not have to be the order shown in the embodiment. The present invention does not limit the execution order between the steps as long as there is no specially described dependency relationship. In addition to this, other steps may be inserted between the respective steps in a situation that does not affect the technical idea provided by the present invention. Even examples derived in this way fall within the scope of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. In one embodiment of the present invention, a control means (not shown), a storage rack 20 that provides a plurality of storage locations 201, a user interface for staff 30, a customer interface (user interface). (for guest) 40 and a transportation means 10 for automatically storing and receiving a reserved article 1 and this transportation means 10 is controlled by the control means, and the employee operation interface 30 and the customer operation interface 40 are respectively control means. It is connected to the.

The control means has a shelving mode, a receiving mode, and a shelving mode. In the shelf mode, when the control means reads the reserved article information and assigns the storage position 201, the control means drives the transportation means 10 to move the reserved article from the shelf position 301 adjacent to the employee operation interface 30 to the storage position 201. Transport to. In one embodiment of the present invention, only one reserved article is stored in each storage location 201, and this design simplifies the structure of the vehicle 10 and reduces the cost of the vehicle 10. However, more storage locations 201 need to be arranged. In another embodiment of the present invention, each accommodation location can accommodate a plurality of reserved articles, for example, a reservationr can simultaneously reserve a plurality of articles, and the system can accommodate a plurality of the same reservation persons. By storing the point article in the same storage position, it is possible to save the reception time of the reservation person.

In the shelf mode, the control means determines a corresponding storage position according to the current state of the system. There are various determination methods, and can be considered from the viewpoint of energy saving, for example. Even if the same reserved article is transported to a distant storage location 201, more energy is consumed than the transport means 10. Moreover, the weight of reserved items can also affect energy consumption. In one reasonable method, the control means determines the corresponding storage position 201 according to the weight of the reserved article, and for lightweight reserved articles, the control means causes the transport means 10 to move the reserved article closer to the shelf position 301. To the storage location 201 for storage.

In another method of determining the corresponding storage location, a plurality of reserved items can be carried in order from near to far, starting from a closer storage location 201. Alternatively, a method for determining the corresponding storage position may be selected at random, and all the storage positions 201 may be used on average.

In the case of shelving a plurality of reserved articles, the control means can determine the corresponding storage positions at one time and then sequentially shelve the plurality of reserved articles. Alternatively, the control means can calculate the optimum corresponding storage position again in consideration of factors including the weight of the reserved article, the transport distance, etc., when transporting each individual reserved article every time.

In the shelf insertion mode, the control means (1) first assigns a storage position after reading the reserved article information. Or (2) First, after assigning the storage position, the reserved article information is read. The embodiment of the situation (1) is as follows. The employee sequentially reads the reserved articles by the barcode or RFID in the employee operation interface 30 and, based on the read information on the reserved articles, the control means assigns the reserved articles to correspond to the storage positions. As a method of assigning, it is possible to assign after the reading of all reserved articles is completed, or to assign a storage position corresponding to each reserved article.

The embodiment of the situation (2) is as follows. Each storage position is provided with at least one RFID reader for sensing an RFID tag fixed in advance on the reserved article, and transmits the data of the reserved article read by the RFID reader to the control means. To do. In one embodiment of the present invention, each storage position is further provided with at least one motion sensor, and is electrically connected to the RFID reader to detect the storage state of the reserved article and activate the RFID reader. Let This motion sensor may be an infrared sensor.

In the receiving mode, the control means drives the transportation means 10 based on the reservation person information and transports the corresponding reserved article from the storage position 201 to the receiving position 401 adjacent to the customer operation interface 40. The reservation person can operate and receive the customer operation interface 40 by himself / herself, for example, by inputting an account password. Significantly reduce labor demand and hours of work by eliminating the need to place employees to verify / verify the recipient's identity and the need for labor to deliver the corresponding reserved items can do.

In the shelf mode, the control unit drives the transportation unit 10 to transport the reserved article satisfying the shelf condition from the storage position 201 to the shelf position. The shelf position may be the same as the shelf position 301, or the shelf position may be different from the shelf position 301. The shelving conditions include expiration of storage, cancellation of the reservation person, violation of the rules of the reservation person, and the like.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control means is connected to the information center via a network to acquire the reserved article information and the reservation person information. The reserved article information may further include a name of the reserved article, a storage deadline, a correspondence relationship with the reservation person information, and the like. All or part of the reservation article information and the reservation person information can be acquired via a barcode reader or RFID. Further, the shelving conditions may be obtained by calculation of the control means, or the control means may obtain all or part of the shelving conditions from the information center via the network.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the transport means 10 transports reserved articles one by one in a shelf mode. This method can greatly simplify the employee's shelving work. After the reserved items are delivered to the service base, it is not necessary for the employee to select and arrange a plurality of reserved items of the same reservation person. There are the following two types of processing modes frequently used. (1) It is possible to store a plurality of reserved articles at different storage positions. In the receiving mode, the transportation means executes the transportation procedure a plurality of times, and the corresponding reserved articles are received from the different storage positions 201. (2) Even a plurality of reserved items can be stored in the same storage position, and in the shelf mode, the transportation means executes the transportation procedure a plurality of times, The reserved article is transported from a different shelf position 301 to the storage position 201. In the receiving mode, the transport means need only execute the transport procedure once.

Please refer to FIG. This is a system structure diagram according to one embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates the relationship between a reservation person, an employee, an information center, and the system. The general flow of receiving reserved items is as follows. (1) Reserved items are delivered to designated service locations; (2) Employees operate the system at the shelf position to read the reserved items and put them in the storage position; (3) The information center informs the reservation that it can be received (for example, by telephone, SMS or e-mail); (4) The reservation must pick up the goods at the designated service location within a certain period of time. (5) The system reads the account PIN entered by the reservation person and confirms it, and then transports the reserved item from the storage position to the receiving position; (6) If the shelf condition is met, the employee must The system is operated at the unloading position to perform the unloading operation (the unloading position may be the same as or different from the racking position).

In one embodiment of the present invention, there is a method for automatically storing and receiving a reserved article applied to the automatic storage and receiving system for reserved articles, and the method includes the following steps. In the first cycle, the shelf mode is executed only once; after the shelf mode is executed, the receiving mode is executed a plurality of times; in the second cycle, the shelf mode is executed only once. Of these, the length of the second cycle is greater than or equal to the length of the first cycle. In other embodiments, the length of the second cycle is an integer multiple of the length of the first cycle.

For example, assuming that the first cycle is a day, an employee can execute a first shelf operation at 7 am of the day, and leave the place after the shelf operation is completed. Until the second shelf operation is executed again at 7:00 am the next day, a plurality of reservation persons are allowed to execute the receiving operation a plurality of times during this period. The shelving work may be performed after the second morning shelving work is completed (in this case, the second cycle is equal to the first cycle), or the third or fourth shelf. It can also be assigned to work after the filling operation (in this case, the second cycle is twice or three times the first cycle). The frequency with which employees enter and leave the service base can be reduced, and work efficiency can be increased.

The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention, not for limiting the present invention, and any equivalent changes or additions that can be completed without departing from the technical idea disclosed in the present invention will be described later. Should be included in the scope of the following claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic storage and receiving system of reserved goods 10 Transportation means 20 Storage rack 201 Storage position 30 Employee operation interface 301 Shelf position 40 Customer operation interface 401 Reception position

Claims (10)

An automatic storage and receiving system for reserved items,
Shelf position,
A receiving position different from the shelf position;
Shelf position,
Control means having a shelving mode, a receiving mode and a shelving mode;
Transportation means controlled by the control means;
With
In the shelf mode, the control means reads reserved article information, assigns a storage position, drives the transportation means, transports the reserved article from the shelf position to the storage position,
In the receiving mode, the control means drives the transportation means based on the reservation information, and transports the reserved article corresponding to the reservation information from the storage position to the reception position,
An automatic storage and receiving system for reserved articles, wherein the control means drives the transportation device in the shelf mode and transports the reserved articles satisfying a shelf condition from the storage position to the shelf position. The system according to claim 1, wherein the transporting means transports the reserved articles one by one in the shelf mode. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control means determines the corresponding storage position according to the current state of the system. The system according to claim 1, wherein, in the shelf mode, the storage unit is assigned the storage position after reading the reserved article information. The system according to claim 1, wherein the reserved article information is read after the control means assigns the storage position in the shelving mode. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control means is connected to an information center via a network to acquire the reservation article information and the reservation person information. The system of claim 1, wherein the shelf position is the same as the shelf position. The system of claim 1, wherein the shelf position is different from the shelf position. The system of claim 1, wherein only one reserved article is stored at each storage location. A method for automatically storing and receiving reserved articles using the system according to claim 1,
In the first cycle, after executing the shelf mode only once, executing the receiving mode multiple times;
Performing the shelf mode only once in a second cycle;
Including automatic storage and receipt of reserved items.