JPH08129419A - Mobile object allocation control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To effectively control the delivery of mobile objects in a short time by broadcasting a movement request message in a small broadcast range at first and then increasing gradually this range to broadcast the message again when plural automatic guided vehicles are allocated in a factory, etc. CONSTITUTION: Plural automatic guided vehicles 13 are movably prepared in a transport area, and a vehicle 13 to be allocated is decided by the exchange of messages when one or more transporters 12 asynchronously issue the movement requests to the vehicles 13. In a baggage transport system of such a constitution, a small broadcast range is set at first for the movement request messages given from the transporters 12 and then increased a little if the reception is impossible for the movement request messages sent from the vehicles 13 for the second broadcast when these vehicles are allocated. Then, the broadcast range is gradually increased for every re-brodcast. Thus it is possible to decrease the combinations of requesters 12 and vehicles 13 and to decide the allocation of a vehicle 13 in a shot time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to unmanned guided vehicles existing in, for example, a factory, a building, a distribution terminal, etc., and responds to a plurality of unmanned guided vehicles asynchronously generated at arbitrary positions. The present invention relates to a mobile object delivery control method for efficiently allocating a mobile object having the best condition to a move request issuer, such as when allocating a mobile request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a luggage carrying system using an automatic guided vehicle in a factory, a building, a distribution terminal, etc., a luggage carrying system described below has been known.

When it is necessary to move the automatic guided vehicle, the luggage carrier issues a transportation request to the central control center. This central control center monitors whether or not there is a transfer request, and calculates the distance at regular intervals. Specifically, a pair of a luggage carrier that has issued a transportation request and an unmanned guided vehicle in a standby state is considered in each cycle, and the distances are calculated for all the combinations.

Next, for all feasible combinations of these plural pairs, the sum of the distances of the pairs belonging to the combination is obtained, and the combination that minimizes the sum of the distances is extracted. Then, the pair of the automated guided vehicle and the luggage transport source belonging to the extracted combination is determined as the unmanned guided vehicle to be dispatched and the luggage transport source of the dispatch destination.

[0005]

However, in the above conventional baggage carrying system, it is necessary to calculate the sum of distances for all feasible combinations and extract the combination that minimizes the sum of the distances. Therefore, it takes time when the number of combinations increases. That is, when the number of unmanned guided vehicles or the number of carrying requests that need to be processed at the same time is large, the amount of calculation and communication becomes enormous, which makes it difficult to control in real time.

The present invention is provided to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile object delivery control method that enables efficient allocation in a short time.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a mobile object delivery control method according to the first invention is in a standby state with a plurality of mobile objects movably arranged in a predetermined area. A plurality of move request issuers that asynchronously issue a move request for moving one of the mobile units to an arbitrary position when necessary, when one or more move request issuers issue a move request, In the mobile distribution control method for determining a mobile that issues a move request message and moves to a designated point in response to any one of the move requests by message exchange, the broadcast range of the move request message from the move request issuer Is narrowed at first, and if the message to move from the mobile unit cannot be received, the broadcast range is expanded a little and rebroadcast, and the broadcast range is gradually expanded and moved after each rebroadcast. And performing re-broadcast until it receives the desired message.

A mobile object delivery control method according to the second invention is
The predetermined area is divided into a plurality of small areas, and a relay station is installed in each small area, and the movement request issuer and the mobile body send and receive messages to and from the relay stations in the small areas where they are located. The relay station has a function to obtain the message transmitted from the movement request issuer and the mobile in the small area in which the relay station is located and the message transmitted from another relay station, and the received message is transmitted to the relay station. It is characterized in that it has a function of broadcasting in an area or transmitting to another relay station, and expanding the broadcast range of the movement request message from the movement request issuer in units of the small areas.

A mobile object delivery control method according to the third invention is
It is characterized in that the movement request issuing source makes a judgment of rebroadcasting of the movement request message when the movement request message cannot be received from the moving body within a predetermined time after issuing the movement request message.

A mobile object delivery control method according to a fourth invention is,
The relay station in the small area determines whether to rebroadcast the movement request message when the movement request issuer that has issued the movement request message cannot receive the movement request message from the mobile within a predetermined time. To do.

[0011]

In the first aspect of the invention, the movement request message from the movement request issuer is initially broadcast with its broadcast range narrowed,
When the movement request message is not received, rebroadcasting is performed while gradually expanding the broadcast range until the message is received, so that the combination of the movement request issuer and the moving body becomes small, and the processing of extracting the moving body becomes easy. As a result, it becomes possible to control the delivery of the moving body efficiently in a short time.

In the second invention, the broadcast range of the movement request message from the movement request issuer is expanded in units of small areas via the relay station, and the movement request issuer and the movement request issuer are set for each small area. Since communication with a mobile unit is performed and communication is performed only between relay stations between a plurality of small areas, useless communication can be omitted and processing efficiency can be improved.

In the third aspect of the invention, the movement request message is rebroadcast when the movement request issuer cannot determine that the movement request message has been received within a predetermined time. Therefore, the movement request message can be efficiently moved in a short time. It becomes possible to perform body delivery control.

In the fourth aspect of the invention, the relay station in the small area determines whether to rebroadcast the movement request message. In this case as well, as in the case of the third aspect of the invention, the mobile body is efficiently delivered in a short time. You will be able to control.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration and arrangement of a baggage carrying system at a certain time, which uses a vehicle delivery control method as a vehicle delivery control method according to the present embodiment. .

This baggage carrying system is roughly structured as follows. The CA in the figure is the transport area. This transport area CA is divided into a plurality of small areas BA-1, BA-2, ..., BA-.
The wireless relay stations 11-1, 11-2, ..., 11-L are installed in each of the small areas BA-1, BA-2, ..., BA-L. Within the transport area CA, a plurality of luggage transport sources (hereinafter, simply referred to as “transport sources”) 12-1, which are transfer request issuing sources.
12-2, ..., 12-M are present at fixed positions. Further, in the transport area CA, a plurality of unmanned transport vehicles 13-1, 13-2, which are movable bodies for transporting loads from the transport sources 12-1, 12-2, ..., 12-M. …, 13-N exists. Then, in response to the transport request from the transport source 12 at an arbitrary position that occurs asynchronously, the optimum automatic guided vehicle 13 is dispatched by message exchange. An unmanned guided vehicle 13 to be dispatched carries a package at a carrier 12 and carries the package to a position designated by the carrier 12.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of functions relating to vehicle dispatch control among the functions of the wireless relay station 11, the carrier 12, and the automatic guided vehicle 13.

Each transport source 12 has a transport request transmitting means 21,
It is provided with an allocation request receiving means 22, a minimum value calculating means 23, and a transportation request transmitting means 24. Each wireless relay station 11
Is provided with a message receiving means 31, a message relay transmitting means 32, and a message broadcasting means 33. Also,
The automatic guided vehicle 13 includes a transportation request receiving unit 41, an evaluation value calculating unit 42, a maximum value calculating unit 43, an allocation request transmitting unit 44, a transportation request receiving unit 45, and an autonomous moving unit 46.

[Construction of Transport Source 12] The transport request transmission means 21 of the transport source 12 is set up in the small area BA to which the transport source 12 belongs when the transport source 12 needs to transport a package. The transport request is transmitted to the relay station 11. Further, the transport request transmitting means 21 counts the elapsed time after transmitting the transport request. If the allocation request described below is not received after the lapse of a predetermined time, the measures described below are taken.

FIG. 3A shows an example of the structure of this transport request message. Here, the information M1 indicating the content of the transport request message, the identifier M2 of the transport source 12 as the transmission source,
It is composed of information M3 indicating broadcasting, the number of relay stations 11 (number of relays) M4 used for expanding the broadcasting range, the position M5 of the carrier 12, and the time M6 when the carrier 12 issues a carrier request.

The allocation request receiving means 22 of the transport source 12 in FIG. 1 is means for receiving an allocation request message sent after the transport request sending means 21 sends the transport request. When the allocation request reception unit 22 does not receive the allocation request message from the wireless relay station 11 within a predetermined time after the transfer request transmission unit 21 transmits the transfer request, the transfer request transmission unit 21 changes the broadcast range. The transport request is retransmitted to the wireless relay station 11 together with the message of the expansion (increase in the number of relays). If no allocation request is received by this transmission,
Further, a transport request is retransmitted to the wireless relay station 11 together with a message to expand the broadcast range. in this way,
Each time the number of transmissions is repeated, the broadcast range of the transportation request is expanded. That is, in order to expand the broadcast range, the number of wireless relay stations 11 that relay is increased, and the number of wireless relay stations 11 that broadcast the transport request message is increased.

The allocation request receiving means 22 receives all the allocation requests sent from the unmanned guided vehicles 13 to the transport source 12. The minimum value calculation means 2 calculates all the position information added to the received allocation request message.
3 and outputs the information indicating that the allocation request message has been received to the transport request transmission means 21.

The minimum value calculating means 23 compares all the position information received from the allocation request receiving means 22, and the automatic guided vehicle 13-min (mi
n is any one of 1 to N) and the transport request transmitting means 2 is extracted.
4 is output.

The transport request transmission means 24 issues a transport request to the unmanned guided vehicle 13-min having the minimum distance extracted by the minimum value calculation means 23 to request that the package be picked up at the position of the transport source 12. Then, the data is transmitted to the wireless relay station 11 in the small area BA where the carrier 12 is located.

The minimum value calculating means 23 and the transfer request transmitting means 24 constitute a moving body determining means.

FIG. 3 (b) shows an example of the structure of the transportation request message. Here, the information M7 indicating that it is a transport request, the identifier M8 of the transport source 12 that is the transmission source,
Automated guided vehicle 13-m extracted as the minimum destination distance
It is composed of an identifier M9 of in and position information M10 of the transport source 12.

[Structure of Radio Relay Station 11] The message receiving means 31 of the radio relay station 11 in FIG. 1 receives all messages. When the message received by the message receiving means 31 is a message instructing broadcasting, the message is output to the message broadcasting means 33.
At this time, in the case of a message for expanding the broadcast range, that is, a message in which the number of relays is 2 or more, the number of relays is reduced by 1 from the message and output to the message relay transmission unit 32. When the message received by the message receiving means 31 is a message addressed to the outside of the area, that is, when the destination is a small area BA outside the small area BA to which the wireless relay station 11 belongs, the received message is relayed as a message. It outputs to the transmission means 32. When the received message is a relay message, the relay message in the message is output to the message broadcasting unit 33.

FIG. 3C shows a configuration example of a relay message transmitted from one wireless relay station 11 to another corresponding wireless relay station 11. Here, the information M11 indicating that the message is a relay, the wireless relay station 1 indicating the sender.
1 is an identifier M12, an identifier M13 of the corresponding wireless relay station 11 indicating a destination, and a relay target message M14 given from the message receiving means 31.

The message relay transmission means 32 in FIG.
If the message given from the message receiving means 31 is a broadcast (a message to be relayed), the message is transmitted to the adjacent wireless relay station 11. If the message is addressed to the outside of the area, the wireless relay station 11 in the corresponding area is transmitted. To send to.

The message broadcasting means 33 sends the message input from the message receiving means 31 to the wireless relay station 1 concerned.
Broadcast to the small area BA to which 1 belongs.

[Construction of the automated guided vehicle 13] The transport request receiving means 41 of the automated guided vehicle 13 in FIG. 1 receives and receives all receivable transport requests broadcast at that time (processing timing). All of the carried transport request messages are output to the evaluation value calculation means 42.

The evaluation value calculation means 42, for all the received transfer requests, information of the transfer source 12 included in the transfer requests and position information of the automatic guided vehicle 13 given from the autonomous moving means 46. Based on the above, the evaluation values described later of the unmanned guided vehicle 13 with respect to all the transport sources 12 that have transmitted the transport request are obtained. All the evaluation values thus obtained are given to the maximum value calculating means 43. Here, the evaluation value is, for example, given by the following equation. It is conceivable that this evaluation value becomes smaller as the distance d between the carrier 12 and the automated guided vehicle 13 becomes longer, and becomes larger as the elapsed time t after the carrier request at the carrier 12 occurs becomes longer.

Evaluation value: E (d, t) = αt−βd where α and β are positive constants The maximum value calculating means 43 is the transport source 12 that has transmitted the transport request.
The evaluation value is compared, and the evaluation value is the maximum 12-m
ax (max is one of 1 to M) is extracted, and its transport source 1
Allocation request transmitting means 44 for assigning 2-max information and distance information
Output to. The evaluation value calculating means 42 and the maximum value calculating means 43 constitute an allocation request issuing destination determining means.

The allocation request transmission means 44 issues an allocation request indicating that the unmanned guided vehicle 13 can meet the transportation request to the transportation source 12-max having the maximum evaluation value extracted by the maximum value calculation means 43. , To the wireless relay station 11 in the small area BA where the automatic guided vehicle 13 is located.

FIG. 3 (d) shows an example of the structure of this allocation request message. Here, a message M15 requesting allocation, the automatic guided vehicle 13 indicating the sender
Identifier M16, identifier M17 of the transport source 12-max extracted as the maximum evaluation value that is the destination, and the automatic guided vehicle 13 concerned
And the extracted distance information M18 between the transport source 12-max and the position information M19 of the automated guided vehicle 13 concerned.

The transport request receiving means 45 in FIG. 1 receives a transport request directed to the unmanned guided vehicle 13 from a specific transport source 12, and at least information of a moving destination (position of the specific transport source 12) is received. Output to the autonomous moving means 46.

The autonomous moving means 46 is the transfer request receiving means 4
When the moving destination is designated by 5, the autonomous guided vehicle 13 is automatically moved in the transport area CA while obtaining the position information of the current location, and the unmanned guided vehicle 13 reaches the destination. The position information acquired by the autonomous moving means 46 is also output to the evaluation value calculating means 42.

There are various means for measuring the current position by the autonomous moving means 46. For example, a navigator method in which a beacon is arranged in the transport area CA and position information from the beacon is detected, or GP is used outdoors.
This can be realized by a method using satellite navigation using artificial satellites such as S (Global Positioning System).

As an autonomous moving method in the autonomous moving means 46, for example, a guide method using an electromagnetic induction wire or a magnetic tape, a method of moving while recognizing the environment by various sensors such as ultrasonic sensors or optical sensors, etc. , Various methods are applicable.

Further, between the wireless relay station 11, the carrier 12 and the unmanned guided vehicle 13, specifically, the carrier request transmitter 21 and the carrier request transmitter 24 of the carrier 12 and the wireless relay station of the small area BA. 11, the request receiving means 31 of the unmanned guided vehicle 13 and the message receiving means 3 of the wireless relay station 11 of the small area BA.
1, the message relay transmitting means 32 of one wireless relay station 11 and the message receiving means 31 of another wireless relay station 11.
Between the transfer request receiving means 41 and the transfer request receiving means 45 of the automatic guided vehicle 13 and the wireless relay station 1 of the small area BA.
No. 1 message broadcasting means 33, between the allocation request receiving means 22 of the carrier 12 and the message broadcasting means 33 of the wireless relay station 11 of the small area BA, respectively, appropriate communication links (frequency, modulation method, Coding methods and the like are arbitrary).

[Vehicle Delivery Control Method] The vehicle delivery control method will be described below. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the transport area CA has six small areas BA-1, BA-.
, ..., BA-6, and wireless relay stations 11-1, ..., 11-6 are arranged in each small area BA.

As shown in FIG. 4A, three unmanned guided vehicles 13-1, 13-2, and 13-3 are in a standby state at a certain timing, and two unmanned guided vehicles 12-1 and 12-2. It is assumed that transport requests are issued at the same time. This transport source 12-1, 12-2
Are located in small areas BA-1 and BA-2, respectively.

At the carrier 12-1, the small area BA-1
The transport request message is transmitted to the wireless relay station 11-1.
Specifically, a transport request message is transmitted from the transport request transmitting means 21 of the transport source 12-1 to the message receiving means 31 of the wireless relay station 11-1. When the transport request message received by the message receiving means 31 indicates broadcasting, the message is output to the message broadcasting means 33. In the message broadcasting means 33, the message input from the message receiving means 31 is transferred to the wireless relay station 11-1.
Broadcast towards the small area BA-1 to which the group belongs.

In this small area BA-1, the automatic guided vehicle 13
-1 exists, and the transport request receiving means 41 of the automatic guided vehicle 13-1 receives the message from the message broadcasting means 33 and outputs it to the evaluation value calculating means 42. The evaluation value calculation means 42 calculates the evaluation value and outputs it to the maximum value calculation means 43. The maximum value calculation unit 43 determines the transfer source 12-1 as the transfer source 12 having the maximum evaluation value, and outputs it to the allocation request transmission unit 44. As shown in FIG. 4B, the allocation request transmission means 44 transmits an allocation request message for the carrier 12-1 to the wireless relay station 11-1. In the wireless relay station 11, the allocation request message is received by the message receiving means 31 and transmitted to the carrier 12-1 via the message broadcasting means 33.

At the transport source 12-1, the allocation request receiving means 22 receives the allocation request message and outputs all the received allocation request messages to the minimum value calculating means 23. The unmanned guided vehicle 13-1 located at the minimum distance is extracted by the minimum value calculation means 23 and output to the transportation request transmission means 24. In the transfer request transmission means 24, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a transfer request message addressed to the automatic guided vehicle 13-1 is transmitted to the wireless relay station 11-1. The wireless relay station 11 transmits to the automatic guided vehicle 13-1 via the message receiving means 31 and the message broadcasting means 33.

In the automatic guided vehicle 13-1, the transport request message is received by the transport request receiving means 45 and the autonomous moving means 46 is received.
Then, by the control of the autonomous moving means 46, the automatic guided vehicle 13-1 itself is moved to the transport source 12-1 to perform the cargo handling operation.

Here, for the sake of convenience, the case where there is one transport source 12-1 and one unmanned transport vehicle 13-1 in the small area BA-1 has been described as an example, but multiple transport sources 12 exist. In such a case, the destination to which the allocation request is transmitted is specified by the allocation request issue destination determination means including the evaluation value calculation means 42 and the maximum value calculation means 43 of the automated guided vehicle 13. Also,
When there are a plurality of unmanned guided vehicles 13 in the small area BA-1, a moving body determination means (unmanned guided vehicle determination means) including a minimum value calculation means 23 and a transportation request transmission means 24 of the transportation source 12 requests the transportation. The transmission destination is specified.

On the other hand, at the carrier 12-2, the small area BA-2
Since there is no unmanned guided vehicle 13 therein, the allocation request receiving means 22 cannot receive the allocation request message for the first transportation request within a predetermined time. Specifically, first, the transport request transmission means 21 of the transport source 12-2 transmits a transport request message to the wireless relay station 11-2. The wireless relay station 11-2 broadcasts the transport request message in the small area BA-2 via the message receiving means 31 and the message broadcasting means 33. On the other hand, since no unmanned guided vehicle 13 exists in the small area BA-2, the allocation request receiving means 22 of the carrier 12-2 does not receive the allocation request message within a predetermined time. . Therefore, the transport request transmission means 21 sets the number of relays of the transport request message to 2 and retransmits it to the wireless relay station 11-2. Wireless relay station 11
In the message receiving means 31 of -2, since the number of relays is 2, the received message is broadcast to the small area BA-2 via the message broadcasting means 33, and the number of relays is set to 1 and the message relay transmitting means 32 is set. As shown in Figure 4-4, adjacent small areas BA-1, BA-3, BA-4, BA-5, B
A-6 is transmitted to the wireless relay stations 11-1, 11-2, ..., 11-6.

In the wireless relay station 11 of each small area BA, the message receiving means 31 receives the message from the wireless relay station 11-2. However, since this message has one relay, the message broadcasting means Output the message only to 33. The message broadcasting means 33 broadcasts this message content toward the small area BA to which the wireless relay station 11 belongs. This broadcast is for each small area BA-1, BA-
It is performed in 3, BA-4, BA-5 and BA-6. As a result, the transport request message reaches the automatic guided vehicles 13-2 and 13-3.

In the automatic guided vehicle 13-2, based on the received transport request message, the transport source 12-which issues the allocation request through a series of processes from the transport request receiving means 41 to the allocation request transmitting means 44 as described above. Decide 2,
Send an allocation request message. This transmission process is specifically performed as follows.

The allocation request transmission means 44 of the automatic guided vehicle 13-2 sends an allocation request message addressed to the carrier 12-2 of the small area BA-2 to the small area B as shown in FIG. 4-5.
It transmits to the wireless relay station 11-5 of A-5. In the wireless relay station 11-5, the message receiving means 31 is an automatic guided vehicle 13-2.
Receives an allocation request message from. In the message receiving means 31, since the destination of the received message is the carrier 12-2 of the small area BA-2, this message is output to the message relay transmitting means 32 and incorporated in the relay message to be sent to the small area BA-2. It transmits to the wireless relay station 11-2.

Message receiving means 3 of the radio relay station 11-2
In No. 1, since the received message is a message supporting the relay, the relay message (M14) is output to the message broadcasting unit 33 and broadcast in the small area BA-2. By this broadcast, the allocation request message for the automated guided vehicle 13-2 reaches the transport source 12-2.

The automated guided vehicle 13-3 in the small area BA-6 also determines the transport source 12-2 which issues the allocation request similarly to the automated guided vehicle 13-2, and the wireless relay stations 11-6 and 11-2. The allocation request message is transmitted to the transport source 12-2 via.

The carrier 12-2, which has received the allocation request message from each of the unmanned guided vehicles 13-2 and 13-3, issues a transfer request from the allocation request receiving means 22 to the transfer request transmitting means 24 as described above. The unmanned guided vehicle 13-3 to be operated is determined, and as shown in FIG. 4-6, the carrier request message is transmitted to the unmanned guided vehicle 13-3 via the wireless relay stations 11-2 and 11-6.

As described above, the transport area CA is divided into a plurality of small areas BA-1, BA-2, ..., BA-L and each small area BA-1, BA-2 ,. The wireless relay station 11 is installed in the vehicle, and a transport request is issued from the transport source 12 to the one or more unmanned guided vehicles 13 through the plurality of wireless relay stations 11 in stages.
The automated guided vehicle 13 that has received the plurality of transport requests specifies the transport source 12 having the largest evaluation value and issues an allocation request, and the transport source 12 that has received the multiple allocation requests identifies the unmanned transport vehicle 13 at the minimum distance. Since the unmanned guided vehicle 13 to be dispatched is determined by the procedure of issuing a carrying request, the following effects are obtained.

The wireless relay station 11 installed in each of the small areas BA-1, BA-2, ..., BA-L relays all messages, and when the communication is not possible within a limited range, the number of relays is changed. Since the broadcasting area and the communication area are gradually increased and the broadcasting area and the communication area are expanded, the transmission output of each message transmitting unit of the carrier 12 and the automated guided vehicle 13 can be reduced. Further, unnecessary communication between the transport source 12 and the unmanned transport vehicle 13, which are clearly in a non-assigned positional relationship, is unnecessary, and the unmanned transport vehicle 13 is efficiently assigned in a short time. Will be able to.

[Second Embodiment] The entire structural arrangement of the luggage carrying system used in the method for controlling delivery of vehicles according to the present embodiment is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, and the same members are designated by the same reference numerals. And its description is omitted.

The feature of this embodiment is that the wireless relay station 11 has a rebroadcast function. That is, the re-broadcasting of the transport request when the transport request transmitting unit 21 of the transport source 12 issues the transport request and then the allocation request receiving unit 22 does not receive the allocation request within the predetermined time is the same as the first embodiment. Then, although the carrier 12 itself performed it, the wireless relay station 11 is made to have this function.

FIG. 5 shows a wireless relay station 111 used in a baggage transport system using the transport vehicle dispatch control method according to this embodiment.
It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the function regarding the delivery vehicle dispatch control among the functions of the delivery source 112 and the automatic guided vehicle 13.

In this figure, the automatic guided vehicle 13 has the same structure as that of the first embodiment. The carrier 112 and the wireless relay station 111 have substantially the same configurations as the carrier 12 and the wireless relay station 11 of the first embodiment.

When the transport source 12 needs to transport a package, the transport request transmission means 121 of the transport source 112 transports the package toward the wireless relay station 11 installed in the small area BA to which the transport source 12 belongs. Submit your request. The elapsed time after transmitting the transport request is not counted.

The allocation request receiving means 122 receives all the allocation requests transmitted from the unmanned guided vehicles 13 to the carrier 112. All distance information added to the received allocation request message is output to the minimum value calculating means 23. No information is output to the transport request transmission means 121. The minimum value calculation means 23 and the transportation request transmission means 24 have the same configurations as those in the first embodiment.

Message receiving means 1 of the wireless relay station 111
At 31, all messages are received. When the received message is the transport request and the allocation request, the message is output to the transport request rebroadcast determining means 134. At the same time, if it is a message that supports broadcasting, it is output to the message broadcasting means 33. When the destination of the message is addressed to the outside of the area, it is output to the message relay transmission unit 32. In the case of the message supporting the relay, the relay message among the messages is output to the message broadcasting unit 33. The message relay transmitting means 32 and the message broadcasting means 33 have the same configurations as those in the first embodiment.

The transport request rebroadcast judging means 134 has a counter function, and starts counting when it receives a transport request message from the message receiving means 131. Further, the transport request rebroadcast determining means 134 detects the transport source 112 that needs retransmission processing from the information regarding the transmission source of the transport request message and the transmission destination of the allocation request message received from the message receiving means 131. That is,
The transport source 112, which has not received the allocation request within a predetermined time after transmitting the transport request, is detected based on whether or not there is a match between the transmission source of the transport request message and the transmission destination of the allocation request message. As a result, for the carrier 112 that has passed the predetermined time, the number of relays indicating the broadcast range of the carrier request message transmitted by the carrier 112 is increased by 1 and output to the message relay transmitter 32 and the message broadcaster 33. To do.

In the message relay / transmitting means 32, the transport request rebroadcast judging means 134 and the message receiving means 131 are provided.
The message given from the corresponding wireless relay station 111
To send to. The message broadcasting unit 33 broadcasts the messages from the transport request rebroadcasting judging unit 134 and the message receiving unit 131 to the small area BA.

[Vehicle Delivery Control Method] The vehicle delivery control method will be described below. It should be noted that only the portions different from the first embodiment will be described here.

As shown in FIG. 6A, three unmanned guided vehicles 13-1, 13-2 and 13-3 are in a standby state at a certain timing, and two unmanned guided vehicles 112-1 and 112-2 are provided. Then, it is assumed that the transport requests are simultaneously issued. In this case, the carrier 112-1
To the wireless relay station 111-1 in the small area BA-1 and the carrier 112-2 to the wireless relay station 111-2 in the small area BA-2.

In the message receiving means 131 of the radio relay station 111-1, since the received message is a carrying request, the message is outputted to the carrying request rebroadcasting judging means 134 and the message broadcasting means 33. The message broadcasting means 33 broadcasts the inputted transport request message toward the small area BA-1 and the transport request message from the transport source 112-1 reaches the automatic guided vehicle 13-1. Similar processing is performed in the wireless relay station 111-2.

The operation contents between the transport source 112-1 and the automated guided vehicle 13-1 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and are shown in FIGS.
-3 is dispatched.

On the other hand, when the carrier request rebroadcast judging means 134 of the radio relay station 111-2 cannot receive the allocation request for the carrier request received from the carrier 112-2 within a predetermined time, the carrier request rebroadcast judging means 134 of FIG. As shown in (1), the number of relays indicating the broadcast range of the transport request message issued by the transport source 112-2 is incremented by 1 and output to the message relay transmission means 32. In this message relay transmission means 32, adjacent wireless relay stations 111-1, 111-3, 111-4, 111-5, 111 are connected.
-Send to -6. Each wireless relay station 111-1,111-3,
Message receiving means 13 of 111-4, 111-5, 111-6
In 1, the received message is sent to the message broadcasting means 33.
, And broadcast toward the small areas BA-1, BA-3, ..., BA-6. The subsequent operation contents are the same as those in the first embodiment.

As described above, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, in this embodiment, since the transfer request rebroadcast judging means 134 is newly provided in the wireless relay station 111, the transfer source 112 only needs to send the transfer request once. After that, it is automatically processed by the transport request rebroadcast determining means 134, and the transport source 112 may wait until the allocation request arrives. This is effective when a person issues a transport request at a manned terminal as a transport source.

[Modification] In each of the above-described embodiments, the carrier range 12 or the wireless relay station 111 itself can arbitrarily determine the broadcast range of the transport request, the retransmitting interval, etc. as the place where the mobile delivery control method is used. For example, an urgent carrier 12,
112, the unmanned guided vehicle 13 may be preferentially assigned by shortening the retransmitting interval as compared with the other transport sources 12 and 112.

In each of the embodiments, the case of the physical distribution terminal is described as an example, but the small areas BA-1, BA-2, ...,
By using BA-L as each floor of the building and installing the wireless relay stations 11 and 112 on each floor, it is possible to apply the method of allocating the automated guided vehicle 13 in the building.

In each of the above-described embodiments, in order to specify the broadcast range, the carrying area CA is divided into a plurality of small areas BA-1, BA-2 ,.
…, BA-L divided into small areas BA-1, BA-2,…, BA
-The wireless relay stations 11-1, ..., 11-6 have been described as an example for each L, but as a method for specifying the broadcast area, the carrier 12 and the unmanned guided vehicle can be used without installing the relay poles. Alternatively, the transmission output of each message 13 may be variable.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the automatic guided vehicle 13 is used as an example of the moving body, but a truck, a cargo ship,
Even when it is used for a manned vehicle such as an airplane, it is possible to obtain the same operation and effect as in the above embodiment.

[0077]

As described above in detail, according to the mobile object delivery control method of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) The broadcast range of the move request message from the move request issuer is initially narrowed, and when the move request message from the mobile unit cannot be received, the broadcast range is expanded a little and re-broadcasting is performed. Since the broadcast range was gradually expanded for each broadcast and re-broadcasting was performed until the movement request message was received, it is apparent that there is a positional relationship between the mobile unit and the movement request issuer that are not assigned. Useless communication becomes unnecessary, and mobile units can be efficiently allocated in a short time.

(2) Since the broadcast range of the movement request message from the movement request issuer is expanded in units of small areas, it is possible to efficiently expand the broadcasting area and the communication area with the relay station as the core, and to transmit. The output can be reduced.

(3) Since the movement request issuer or the relay station individually judges whether to rebroadcast the movement request message,
The unified control of the whole is not required, wasteful communication can be suppressed, and mobile units can be efficiently allocated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing configurations of a wireless relay station 11, a carrier 12 and an automated guided vehicle 13 used in a mobile delivery control method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration and arrangement of a luggage carrying system using the mobile object delivery control method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing the contents of each message.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing the overall operation according to the transport vehicle dispatch control method.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing configurations of a radio relay station 111, a carrier 112, and an automated guided vehicle 13 that use a carrier vehicle dispatch control method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view showing the overall operation of the vehicle delivery control method according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Wireless relay station, 12 ... Carrier, 13 ... Automated guided vehicle,
21 ... Transport request transmitting means, 22 ... Allocation request receiving means, 23 ... Minimum value calculating means, 24 ... Transport request transmitting means,
31 ... Message receiving means, 32 ... Message relay transmitting means, 33 ... Message broadcasting means, 41 ... Transport request receiving means, 42 ... Evaluation value calculating means, 43 ... Maximum value calculating means,
44 ... Allocation request transmitting means, 45 ... Transport request receiving means, 46 ... Autonomous moving means, 111 ... Wireless relay station, 112
Transport source 121 Transport request transmitting means 122 Assignment request receiving means 131 Message receiving means 134
… Transport request rebroadcast judging means.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of mobile units arranged to be movable within a predetermined area and a plurality of mobile units asynchronously issuing a movement request for moving any one of the mobile units in a standby state to an arbitrary position. A move request issuer, and when one or more move request issuers issue a move request, a mover that issues a move request message in response to any move request and moves to a designated point, In the mobile delivery control method determined by message exchange, the broadcast range of the move request message from the move request issuer is initially narrowed, and the broadcast range is slightly expanded when the move request message from the mobile unit cannot be received. A mobile delivery control method, characterized in that the re-broadcast is performed, the broadcast range is gradually expanded with each re-broadcast, and the re-broadcast is performed until a desired message is received. 2. The mobile body delivery control method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is divided into a plurality of small areas, and a relay station is installed in each of the small areas, and the movement request issuing source and the mobile body are The relay station has a function of transmitting and receiving a message to and from a relay station in the small area in which it is located, and the relay station transmits messages and other messages transmitted from the movement request issuer and mobile in the small area in which it is located. It has a function to receive a message sent from a relay station and broadcast the received message in the small area or to another relay station, and expand the broadcast range of the move request message from the move request issuer. A method for controlling the delivery of mobile objects, characterized in that 3. The mobile body delivery control method according to claim 1, wherein the movement request issuer cannot receive a movement request message from the mobile body within a predetermined time after issuing the movement request message. A mobile delivery control method, characterized in that a re-broadcast of a movement request message is judged in the case of a failure. 4. The mobile delivery control method according to claim 1, wherein the relay station in the small area requests the movement from the mobile within a predetermined time at the movement request issuing source that has issued the movement request message. A mobile delivery control method, comprising determining whether to rebroadcast a movement request message when a message cannot be received.