JP3245261B2 - Dynamic type automatic dispatching apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dynamic type automatic distribution system provided at a distribution center or the like, which can automatically organize the operation schedule of a vehicle and improve the efficiency of delivery when the cargo of a shipper is delivered to a destination under predetermined delivery conditions. The present invention relates to a vehicle allocation device and method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art To improve the efficiency of logistics (all operations related to goods from sales to procurement), energy saving,
First, it is necessary to deal with environmental and traffic problems. Specifically, measures to improve loading efficiency and effectively use vehicles (reduce the number of empty vehicles) are needed. For this reason, there is a need for the development of a delivery system for promoting joint delivery and improving operation efficiency. Furthermore, in order to reduce logistics costs, it is necessary to realize low-cost operations using advanced logistics technology and know-how. To do so requires significant logistics investment.

As described above, in order to efficiently develop a joint delivery system, it is desired to realize a low-cost delivery plan and reduce logistics costs through the maintenance of an information system.

[0004] At present, a distribution center (a luggage storage location), which is a distribution base, receives delivery requests from a plurality of shippers and picks up corresponding luggage from a warehouse. For example, a cooperative delivery mode is adopted in which the same vehicle is mixed and delivered for each area, and the delivery plan is processed by a vehicle allocation device (computer).

[0005] By the way, in the delivery plan by the conventional vehicle dispatching apparatus, package information (item, quantity, destination, etc. of the package) periodically transmitted from a plurality of shippers is used as the processing timing of the vehicle dispatch plan. For this reason, the work of allocating vehicles according to the direction of the distribution center is performed in a batch process.

That is, such a delivery plan includes, in addition to the package information, distance information (distance-price system table by shipper, etc.), vehicle information (transport company, type of vehicle, etc.), and destination information (destination side). , Etc.) are all processed on the basis of static (presumable and unique) static information. At present, in the above-mentioned vehicle dispatching apparatus, on the input side, the line between the shipper and the distribution center is online and the baggage information is connected by data transmission, and the processing result is specifically assigned to each vehicle. The package information, the destination, the approximate delivery order, etc. are printed out and passed to the driver.

[0007]

For this reason, in the conventional delivery plan, the delivery plan cannot be changed even if the situation changes after the delivery plan is determined. This change in the situation is due to dynamic (variable which cannot be assumed in advance) dynamic information. Specifically, there are road congestion, vehicle, ship, airplane timetable changes, etc. I have.

Conventionally, the change of the situation due to the dynamic information has always fluctuated, but the distribution center has not considered the dynamic information, and there is no means for reflecting the processing of the dynamic information in the vehicle allocation plan. Was. Therefore, when a problem arises in the delivery plan in accordance with the change of the situation, it has to be processed manually, which takes time and reduces the delivery efficiency. Since the change of the delivery plan is performed by a skilled person based on his / her own know-how, the delivery plan after the change is likely to be uniform, and the method of changing the delivery plan is easily transmitted. It could not be generalized because it could not be done.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can automatically and easily realize a delivery plan which has required sophisticated judgment and time, and minimizes all destinations when a plurality of delivery requests are made. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dynamic type automatic dispatching apparatus and method which can obtain one delivery route linked by time and can flexibly perform dispatching correction and the like due to dynamic changes after creation of a delivery plan.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention receives a delivery request for a package from a plurality of shippers and dispatches a vehicle to a destination of the package starting from a distribution base such as a warehouse. A static information processing means in an automatic dispatcher, which has a master file of a shipper, an item, and a destination in advance, and receives a package information requested for delivery from the shipper and creates a shipping instruction file integrating the items and the destination of each shipper. (3)
And extracting map information in a range in which each of the plurality of destinations created in the shipping instruction file is described from the road map and the map information indicating the location of the destination stored and held in the map information search device (5) in advance. Means, means for converting a road in the extracted map information into an equivalent route of a set of links having intersections as nodes, distance information and change information input means stored in the map information search device for each link 12
Calculating means for calculating the consumption time spent for movement between links set in advance from the speed information input from the user, and referring to the calculated consumption time, connect any two destinations to the link. Means for searching for the shortest route that minimizes the travel time between the two points at that time, and referring to the obtained shortest route between the two points, and setting a static constraint condition such as preset distance information. A delivery plan editing means (9) having means for determining a delivery route by reconnecting links so that all destinations are connected by one delivery route and the travel time of the delivery is minimized; , Are provided.

In addition, the present invention further includes a dynamic information processing means (5) for receiving dynamic change information that changes with time, such as road conditions, and outputting a corresponding change request. The editing means (9) adds the dynamic constraints added according to the contents of the change request when the change request is input, and sequentially executes the processing of each of the internal means again to determine the shortest route. It may be configured to re-create. Further, the dynamic information processing means (5) outputs the change request only when the input change information is a significant change such as a road condition exceeding a preset condition. You may. Further, as set forth in claim 4, the delivery plan editing means (9) includes the number of destinations, the total distance,
The delivery time, the designated delivery time, the garden time at the destination, the road conditions of the delivery vehicle, the intersection information, and the like may be set. In addition, the delivery plan editing means (9) may be configured such that the specified delivery time changed as a dynamic constraint condition, the presence or absence of a change in the destination order when the delivery plan is changed, and the changed road condition. Alternatively, a changed intersection condition or the like may be set. Further, as in claim 6, the road conditions as the static and dynamic constraints are:
An identifier indicating a vehicle traffic restriction may be set for each node on the equivalent route, and may be referred to when a delivery route is created.

Further, the method of the present invention is an automatic dispatching method for receiving a package delivery request from a plurality of shippers and dispatching a vehicle to a destination of the package starting from a distribution base such as a warehouse. Based on each master file of the destination,
Receiving a shipment request from each shipper to create a shipping instruction file that integrates each shipper's items and destination;
Extracting map information in a range in which each of the plurality of destinations created in the shipping instruction file is described, from the road map and the map information indicating the location of the destination stored and held in the map information search device (5) in advance; Converting the road in the extracted map information into an equivalent route of a set of a plurality of links having intersections as nodes, and inputting distance information and change information input means (12) for each link stored in the map information search device. ), Calculating the consumption time spent for moving between the links set in advance from the speed information input from step (a), and connecting the links to any two destinations with reference to the calculated consumption time. Searching for the shortest route that minimizes the travel time between the two points at that time, and referring to the obtained shortest route between the two points, to obtain static information such as preset distance information. And determining the delivery route by relinking the links so that all destinations are connected by one delivery route and the travel time of the delivery is minimized with additional constraint conditions. .

According to the present invention, when a change request based on dynamic change information that changes with time, such as a road condition, is input, the change request is input at the time the change request is input in accordance with the content of the change request. The processing of each of the above steps may be performed again sequentially with the added dynamic constraints added to re-create the delivery route.

[0014]

When the package information is input from the shipper, the static information processing means 3 creates a shipping instruction file in which the items and destinations of each shipper are integrated. Next, the delivery plan editing means 9 simulates, based on the shipping instruction file, an assignment to delivery vehicles to be loaded and a delivery plan connecting each destination by one route. This simulation result is output from the display output means 30, and the driver of each vehicle delivers the package to the destination according to the delivery plan. When dynamic change information such as a change in road conditions is input, a change request to change the delivery plan is output from the dynamic information processing means 5, and the delivery plan editing means 9 responds to this change request. A simulation is performed in which each destination in the vehicle allocation plan created accordingly is connected again by one route. As described above, a new delivery plan is created in response to a dynamic change, so that the reliability of the delivery plan can be improved.

[0015]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a dynamic type automatic vehicle dispatching apparatus according to the present invention. This automatic dispatching device is installed in the distribution center. To explain each part, first, the delivery plan creating means 1 constituting the central portion of the automatic dispatching device is constituted by a microcomputer such as a CPU and a memory. It roughly comprises a static information processing means 3 for processing the static information, a dynamic information processing means 5 for processing the dynamic information, and an operation monitoring means 7 for monitoring an actual operation state.

A delivery request from each shipper at a plurality of locations is sent online in a predetermined data format in the package information input means 10.
And output to the static information processing means 3. The static information input means 3 includes an inventory management device 20 (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-41).
No. 320) is connected to obtain inventory information.

The output of the static information processing means 3 is output to the delivery plan editing means 9 to edit the delivery plan. A map information search device 25 (disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-184474) is connected to the delivery plan editing means 9 to obtain map information of a destination. The output of the delivery plan editing means 9 is
It is output to a display output means 30 such as a CRT or a printer.

The change information input means 12 receives online or operationally input change information such as road conditions, operation schedules, etc., which changes every time.
Output to the dynamic information processing means 5. Dynamic information processing means 5
Outputs a change request to the delivery plan edited by the delivery plan editing means 9 according to the type of information and the degree of change.

The delivery service is actually operated in accordance with the delivery plan created by the delivery plan creation means 1. The operation status is determined by the fact that the position of the vehicle is always operated by the satellite communication device mounted on the vehicle. The information is input to the operation information input unit 14 as information. Therefore, the operation monitoring means 7
Then, the actual operation status of the delivery plan created by the delivery plan editing means 9 is monitored, and the display output means 30
Output.

Next, details of each of the above components will be described. The data input to the package information input means 10 as a delivery request from the shipper includes a shipper code, an item code of the package, a destination code, and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the static information processing means 3 has a master file of a shipper, an item, and a destination, and uses the shipper code shown in FIG. Obtainable. Further, information such as an item name, a volume, a capacity, a unit price, and a packing style can be obtained from the item file by using the item code shown in FIG. Similarly, information such as a district code, a destination name, an address, a designated time, and notes can be obtained from the destination code shown in FIG.

Although not shown, similar master files include a delivery distance-transportation fee file, a transportation company,
There are files about vehicles and drivers. These pieces of information are used each time there is a business request (such as inventory management, freight calculation, time management, and delivery order calculation, which will be described later). These codes and master files are sequentially updated for new shippers, destinations, and items.

The static information processing means 3 outputs a shipping instruction to the inventory management device 20 to pick up articles of the corresponding item based on the item code. at the same time,
The inventory management device 20 updates the inventory information. The picked-up article is sent to a designated vehicle based on the delivery plan created by the delivery plan editing means 9.

The shipping instruction in the static information processing means 3 is:
As shown in FIG. 3, it is created on a shipping instruction file as an updatable data file. This shipping instruction file includes destination data which is a parent file of FIG. 7A and item data as a child file of FIG.
The destination data includes a shipping date, a shipper code, a destination code, a designated time, a shipping company, notes, and the like. The item data includes a shipping date, a shipper code, a destination code, an item code, a packing category, a quantity, and the like. The destination data and the item data have a hierarchical structure corresponding to each other as shown in FIG. 3C, and convenience for each operation such as confirmation, collation, and readout of required item contents is obtained. .

Next, the following change information shown in FIG. When there is a change in the vehicle information such as a regular flight truck or the schedule such as the departure time of a ship or an aircraft, the change data is input to the schedule information input means 12a. In addition, information on traffic signals indicating the degree of congestion of road traffic in the city, and information on traffic signal switching timing (beacon) used by police,
It is input to the traffic light information input means 12b. Further, road information of the Ministry of Construction used on the expressway is input to the road-to-vehicle information input means 12c. Each time such information is input, the dynamic information processing means 5 is switched via the switching output means 12d.
Is output to

The dynamic information processing means 5 integrates the change information clocked from the change information input means 12,
A change request is output to the delivery plan editing means with a priority order given according to the degree of change of each information.

After the static information processing means 3 processes the data of each shipper's item for each destination, the processed data is output to the delivery plan editing means 9.
Similarly, change information from the dynamic information processing means 5 is also output to the delivery plan editing means 9.

The delivery plan editing means 9 creates a delivery plan for efficiently distributing items of each shipper to each destination. For this reason, the delivery plan editing means 9 first edits the destination for each district predetermined in the district master file. As shown in FIG. 5, the district file includes a district code, a district name, district coordinates XY, a standard time for traveling to the district (standard time for entering the district from the distribution center), an average traveling speed in the district, and a basic shipping charge for the district. Etc., and are created in advance.

The configuration of the district coordinates XY indicating the destination in the district file is based on the map information search device 25 described above.
As described in the specification, the delivery point is defined as an XY coordinate point on a map, and a map number for each region and an XY point in the map number are used. Is not stored in the form of a map, but is obtained by using the data of the XY points, so that the load on the calculation process can be reduced and the calculation can be performed at high speed.

The information of this district file is processed on a shipping instruction sorting file which is a data file. The shipping instruction sorting file has a hierarchical structure of course data as a parent file in FIG. 6A, destination data in FIG. 6B, and item data in FIG. 6C. The course data consists of the course number, the route order of this course number, the number of stopover destinations and the estimated total distance, the departure time and end time of this course, the total weight, loading rate, amount of money, vehicle number, vehicle belonging code, driver code, etc. It is configured. The destination data includes the shipping date, shipper code, course number, in-course order for each destination, in-course and district, and in-course and in-area order, destination code, total transported amount and weight by destination, estimated arrival time,
It consists of designated time, shipping company designation, driver designation, etc. The item data includes a course number, a shipper code, a destination code, an item code, an item name, a package classification, a package, a quantity, a weight, a volume weight, and the like for each item.

In creating this shipping sorting file,
Each of the course numbers is assigned to a predetermined area in the map information search device 25. Hereinafter, in order to create a delivery plan within the predetermined area,
Speeds up the file creation process. First, in the course data creation, after collecting a plurality of destinations corresponding to this area for each course number from the static information processing means 3, the quantity of articles that can be loaded on the vehicle for delivery is selected and the destination data is selected. , Item data is created.

Next, the delivery destination editing means 9
As a result, the calculation processing of the routes within the predetermined area as the calculation range is performed, and the respective routes are connected by one route. The route creation is simulated by a general calculation, a neural technology, and a Monte Carlo method using a numerical processor. When the calculation is expressed on a map, as shown in FIG. 7, the delivery route in the course of the destination is simulated based on the distance on the road of the shortest route connecting the destinations A, B, and C, and is also scheduled at the same time. The arrival time is attached. Then, the scheduled delivery route arrival time is changed as described later due to a change in the dynamic information.

When the course data, the destination data, and the item data are created, each file has a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. The map shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on a CRT as a display output unit 30 on a screen. Further, as in the case of the map information search device 25, the map may be obtained by superimposing a film on which the order of each destination is printed.
It should be noted that the present application differs from the map information search device 25 in that routes between destinations are connected. At the time of display, the visual recognition is facilitated by changing the route of the road on the map to a different color or changing the thickness of the line.

When the course data is simulated, a dispatch status table shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, which is the contents of the shipping sorting file, is displayed on the CRT. The dispatch status table shown in FIG. 9 is a list (top screen) showing the dispatch status for each course, and the course numbers 101 to 101 are shown as shown.
The vehicle number, the tonnage of each vehicle, the number of destinations, and the loading ratio are displayed in frames for each of the courses up to 109. FIG.
0 and FIG. 11 are lower screens of FIG. 9 described above. On the screen of FIG. 10, details of each course (delivery destination, estimated arrival time, etc.)
Is displayed, and in FIG. 11, the delivery content for each destination is displayed. When the inside of each course frame in FIG. 9 is designated with a mouse, the screen can be switched to each of the screens in FIGS. 10 and 11, and the automatic dispatch device can be designated by designating a permanent function area provided on the right side of the screen with the mouse. Operations such as display switching of each function of the device itself and input / output of information can be performed.

As described above, the automatic dispatcher simulates the package from the shipper to the destination in a predetermined route. This process is performed based on the package information from the shipper, and the process is determined. Automatically dispatched to
The simulated dispatch situation can be changed immediately by the CRT as the display output means 30. On the other hand, for the driver in charge of each course, the dispatch situation table shown in FIG. The delivery work can be accomplished only by handing.

The operation of the above-mentioned automatic vehicle allocation is processed based on the static information. The operation when the dynamic information changes will be described below. Change information input means 14
When a change in dynamic information is input to the
Outputs a change request to the simulated delivery plan. Specifically, if there is a change in the various diamonds, the ship that was going to be used, the delay of the airplane,
Due to cancellation, alternative means of transport will be searched. The traffic congestion state is determined based on changes in traffic signal information and road-to-vehicle information.

Accordingly, the contents of the shipping instruction sorting file shown in FIG. 6 are changed. For example, the route order, departure time, and end time are changed in the course data of FIG. 7A, and the order within the course, the order of the district, and the order within the district are changed in the destination data of FIG. Specifically, the destination order shown in FIG.
A, B, and C, but if there is information (traffic light information) where the road on the way from A to B is crowded, avoid this crowded road or change the delivery order (for example, A, C, B). Similarly, if the passing expressway is congested, the route is changed such as to avoid this congested section. However, at the time of this change, if a designated time for delivery, which is a request for the destination, is set, this item is given priority processing.

Since the total time required for delivery changes due to this change, delivery cannot be performed according to the above-mentioned vehicle allocation status table.
Determines whether or not to simulate a new delivery plan and update the dispatch status table. When a new problem occurs during the change, the problem is displayed in the problem display area 31 at the bottom of the screen in FIG.

The automatic dispatching system described above monitors the delivery status of the vehicle being delivered. That is, the current position of each vehicle being delivered can be confirmed by satellite communication, and when the position is input to the operation monitoring device 7 via the operation information input means 14, the operation monitoring device 7 It is possible to collate the prepared dispatch status table with the actual progress of the delivery. For this reason, even after the dispatch status table is updated due to changes in various types of dynamic information, unexpected factors that cannot be included in the dynamic information appear in the actual operation status. Therefore, even in the case where delivery cannot be performed according to the updated dispatch status table, it is possible to easily extract a problem that has occurred during this actual operation.

Next, a specific method of calculating the route in the delivery plan editing means 9 will be described. Delivery plan editing means 9
Performs a route calculation process for a plurality of destinations within the predetermined area as a calculation range, and connects each of the destinations with one route. Specifically, for each destination on the map shown in FIG. 12, only each destination and road are converted into an image as shown in FIG. This imaged information is obtained by the map information search device 25, and the map information (for example, address information,
Not all symbols, building outlines, roads, etc.) are imaged. That is, only destinations (for example, five destinations A to E shown in FIG. 13 and corresponding to each building in FIG. 13) and roads are extracted and imaged, so unnecessary information is deleted. Thus, the map processing is not burdened by the CPU.

Next, the imaged destination and road are replaced by an equivalent route shown in FIG. This equivalent route is obtained by obtaining the location information of each destination on the XY coordinate axes from the map information search device 25, and then linearly connecting nodes (nodes) with intersections of roads connecting the destinations A to E as nodes. ) And get it. For example, a road indicated by a thick line in FIG. 13 (a similar thick line portion on the map of FIG. 12) corresponds to this, and an equivalent route is created for this road as shown in FIG. The road of each destination is quantified by this equivalent route, and the calculation described later can be facilitated.

By the way, the distance information of each link (between nodes) of this equivalent route is measured in advance on a map shown in FIG.
5 (for reference, distance information in Km units is shown in each link portion shown in FIG. 14). At the same time, the average speed of each link (known as speed information of road traffic; unit Km / h) is input to the change information input means 12 as clock change information. This average speed is the traffic signal information and the road-to-vehicle information described above.

Therefore, the delivery plan editing means 9 calculates the consumption time (Min) spent on each link portion based on the distance information (Km) and the average speed (Km / h) of each link portion that are input. . Thereafter, the delivery plan editing means 9 obtains the total required time for delivery by connecting the nodes. The conditions at this time include a condition for connecting a plurality of destinations by one route and a condition for minimizing the total consumption time required for delivery, and the calculation is performed using the Monte Carlo method.

In the Monte Carlo method, information necessary for the above conditions (imaged information shown in FIG. 13) is obtained from the map information search device 25 and random numbers are generated to connect arbitrary nodes to each other. First, simulate a temporary route. Thereafter, the link time is gradually reduced, and if the total required time is long, the connection between different nodes is repeatedly simulated. (FIG. 15
Shows the time Min consumed by each link in each link. For example, as shown in FIG. 16, all the destinations of the delivery are sequentially simulated as the delivery route H shown in FIG. By the connection change between the nodes at the time of the simulation, for example, a part of the connection is changed as shown by a dotted line. Finally, a delivery route H connected in the shortest time is obtained. Since the delivery route H at this time is a numerical operation based on an equivalent route, the calculation load on the delivery plan editing means 9 is small, and the calculation itself can be performed in a short time.

When creating a delivery route based on this equivalent route, as shown in FIG. 17, road conditions on the route to be passed are referred to. The road condition is fixed and input to the static information processing means 3 in advance, and one-way information, intersection information, and passage restriction information are stored in the form of identifiers (specifically, bit information). It is a thing.

The details will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
In the one-way link portion shown in (1), it is referred to whether or not the direction can pass at the time of the simulation. For example, if the passage is permitted, bit 1 is set. If the passage is prohibited, the link is deleted from the equivalent route by referring to bit 0 if the direction to be passed is prohibited. Only in the case of bit 1 that is possible, a link of this portion is provided, and it is determined whether or not the link can be used for the delivery route H. For example, in FIG. 16, when the node P is one-way impassable in the passing direction of the delivery route H, this node P is deleted, and thus the delivery route H is replaced by a node (a dotted line portion in FIG. 16) in another short time portion. Passed to destination C
To reach.

Similarly, as the passage restriction information shown in FIG. 17B, there is a state of whether the link to be passed is under construction and whether or not the link is allowed to pass, and the passage restriction information shown in FIG. 17C. There are restrictions on passage depending on the vehicle type. For example, if the number of vehicles that can pass through a certain node is up to 2t, if the vehicle to be used is 4t, this node is prohibited. The pass restriction information is also referred to as bit information in the process of creating the delivery route H as described above.

The intersection information shown in FIG. 17 (d) is a diagram of each node portion. As shown in FIG. 17 (e), each node is stored as a bit in the form of a determinant. FIG. 17D shows a case where the node (intersection) is a three-way road. When the vehicle enters from each direction as shown in FIG. In this figure, the direction K1 corresponding to bit 0 is shown.
From the right to the direction K3. This intersection information is also bit-referenced at each node passing through in the process of creating the delivery route H, the link in the entry-prohibited direction from the traveling direction of the delivery route H is deleted, and the other delivery routes H Will be used.

As described above, in creating the delivery route H, the road condition to be passed is processed as usable or unusable by a simple method of only referring to bits. This can be performed in a short time with a small burden, and can be created in accordance with the actual delivery work. It should be noted that this bit processing of road conditions is not limited to roads, but is also applied to airplane departure and arrival conditions on air routes and ship departure and arrival conditions on sea routes. It is effectively used in automatic creation of delivery routes for dynamic information.

The simulated route is developed again on a simplified map of only roads and destinations as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the delivery route in the course of the destination is simulated based on the distance on the road of the shortest route connecting the destinations A to E, and the scheduled arrival time is added at the same time. In addition, the display output means 30 outputs a vehicle allocation status table shown in FIG.

The stop time (garden time) from arrival at each destination to departure again differs for each destination, and each garden time is determined by static information (static constraint conditions). 6B is created in advance as destination data shown in FIG. 6B, and is added to the total consumption time (required time) of the simulated route. 6A and 6B, the number of destinations, total distance, delivery time (time from departure time to end time), designated delivery time, and destination Garden time in the
There are road conditions, intersection information, and the like of the delivery vehicle, and a delivery route excluding dynamic changes (only based on static information) is created based on these. Further, the scheduled delivery route arrival time is changed by a change in the dynamic information. The scheduled delivery route arrival time is changed by inputting dynamic information when there is a dynamic change. The dynamic information (dynamic constraint condition) includes:
There are a designated delivery time, whether or not the destination order has been changed, road conditions, intersection conditions, and the like, and the delivery route is re-created again with these dynamic constraints added.

[0051]

According to the present invention, the delivery plan editing means extracts the map information of the destination range based on the delivery plan for delivering the package of the shipper to the destination, converts it into an equivalent route comprising links and nodes, and In this configuration, the shortest route connecting each destination by one route is determined by adding a static constraint condition such as distance information stored in advance to the equivalent route, and the delivery plan is specifically simulated on this device. As a result, the dispatch plan can be grasped in advance. In addition, since the simulation of the delivery route is created by numerical calculation using an equivalent route, it can be easily and quickly calculated and obtained, the load on the device can be reduced, and it is easy to re-create several times. And a delivery plan that satisfies the set constraints can be created in a short time. Further, even when there is a dynamic change such as a road condition that changes every moment, it is possible to quickly cope with the change, thereby improving the delivery efficiency. When this dynamic change occurs, the simulation of the delivery plan editing means is simulated to be connected again by one route, so that it can be output as a practical delivery plan corresponding to this change information, Since the simulated result is in a state closer to reality, by performing the delivery in accordance with the simulation, the efficiency of the delivery operation can be achieved. Further, if the dynamic information processing means outputs a change request to the delivery plan creating means when there is a significant change in road conditions, etc., the delivery is performed only when there is a significant change in the road conditions etc. The plan will be recreated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dynamic automatic dispatching device according to the present invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are diagrams showing master files of items stored in advance for a shipper, an item, and a destination of a package, respectively.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show shipping instruction files as data files created in a delivery process, wherein FIG. 3A shows destination data of a package and FIG. 3B shows item data. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a parent-child file structure between FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of change information input means.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a district file in which the destination is edited in advance for each district to which the package is delivered.

FIG. 6 shows a shipping instruction sorting file as a data file created in a delivery process for each package by course;
(A) is course data, (b) is destination data, and (c) is item data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing destinations as a delivery plan and the order of routes.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a structure between the shipping instruction sorting files.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a dispatch status list.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing details of a dispatch status table for each course.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing details of delivery contents of each destination.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a plurality of destinations on an actual map.

FIG. 13 is a diagram obtained by imaging FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an equivalent route in which a plurality of destinations are connected by straight lines from the image of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the calculation of the time consumed by each link portion for the equivalent route shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a diagram in which each destination is connected in the shortest time from the equivalent route shown in FIG. 15;

FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams showing identifier information relating to road conditions, wherein FIG. 17A shows one-way traffic, FIG. 17B shows construction work, FIG. 17C shows vehicle type restrictions, and FIG. 17D shows an image of an intersection;
(E) is identifier information related to the intersection.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Delivery plan creation means, 3 ... Static information processing means, 5 ... Dynamic information processing means, 7 ... Operation monitoring means, 9 ... Delivery plan editing means, 10 ... Package information input means, 12 ... Change information input input means , 14 ... operation information input means, 20 ... inventory management device, 25 ... map information search device, 30 ... display output means.

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] An automatic dispatcher that receives a delivery request of a package from a plurality of shippers and dispatches a vehicle to a destination of the package starting from a distribution base such as a warehouse. Static information processing means (3) for receiving a package information requested by the shipper for delivery and creating a shipping instruction file integrating the items and destinations of each shipper, and pre-stored in a map information search device (5) Means for extracting, from the held road map and map information indicating the location of the destination, map information in a range in which each of the plurality of destinations created in the shipping instruction file is described, and a road in the extracted map information. Means for converting a set of links having an intersection as a node into an equivalent route, and searching the map information of each link
Distance information and change information input means (12) stored in the device
Calculating means for calculating the time consumed for moving between links set in advance from the speed information input from the
Means for searching for the shortest route that minimizes the travel time between any two destinations when the link is connected to any two destinations with reference to the calculated consumption time; , Refer to the shortest route, add static constraints such as distance information set in advance, and reconnect the links so that all destinations are connected by one delivery route and the travel time of the delivery is minimized. And a delivery plan editing means (9), each of which has a means for determining a delivery route by performing. 2. A dynamic information processing means (5) for receiving dynamic change information that changes with time, such as road conditions, and outputting a corresponding change request, wherein the delivery plan editing means (9) At the time when the request is input, a dynamic constraint added according to the content of the change request is added, and the processing of each of the internal means is sequentially executed again to re-create the shortest route. Item 2. A dynamic automatic dispatching device according to Item 1. 3. The dynamic information processing means (5) is configured to output the change request only when the input change information is a significant change such as a road condition exceeding a preset condition. A dynamic type automatic vehicle dispatching apparatus as described in the above. 4. The delivery plan editing means (9) includes the following information as static constraints: the number of destinations, the total distance, the delivery time, the designated delivery time, the garden time at the destination, the road conditions of the delivery vehicle, the intersection information, and the like. 2. The dynamic type automatic dispatching device according to claim 1, which is set. 5. The delivery plan editing means (9) includes: a delivery designation time changed as a dynamic constraint condition; presence or absence of a change in destination order when the delivery plan is changed;
The dynamic automatic dispatching device according to claim 1, wherein the changed intersection condition and the like are set. 6. The road condition as the static and dynamic constraint condition is configured such that an identifier indicating a traffic restriction of a vehicle is set to each node on an equivalent route, and is referred to when a delivery route is created. 6. The dynamic type automatic vehicle dispatching device according to any one of 4 and 5. 7. An automatic dispatching method for receiving a delivery request of a package from a plurality of shippers, and allocating a vehicle to a destination of the package starting from a distribution base such as a warehouse. Creating a shipping instruction file that integrates the items and destinations of each shipper in response to a package delivery request from each shipper, based on the road map and the position of the destination stored and held in the map information search device (5) in advance. Extracting map information in a range in which each of the plurality of destinations created in the shipping instruction file is described from the map information indicating the plurality of destinations. Converting the set to an equivalent route; and distance information stored in the map information search device for each link.
And the speed information input from the change information input means (12)
A step of computing a consumed time spent moving between et preset each link, with reference to the time consumption, which is the calculation between the two points of any two addressee to each other when connecting the link Searching for the shortest route that minimizes the travel time of the destination, referring to the obtained shortest route between the two points, and adding a static constraint condition such as preset distance information to all destinations, and
Determining the delivery route by reconnecting the links so as to be connected by two delivery routes and to minimize the travel time of the delivery. 8. When a change request based on dynamic change information that changes with time, such as a road condition, is input, a dynamic constraint condition added according to the content of the change request at the time the change request is input. 8. The dynamic automatic dispatching method according to claim 7, wherein the processing of each of the steps is executed again sequentially to re-create the delivery route.