KR101869896B1 - Parcel Automatic Classification System and Control Method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for automatically classifying articles to be delivered and a control method thereof. The disclosure of the present invention provides an automatic article classification system and a control method thereof, capable of efficiently performing chute assignment even when automatic assignment for a service master (SM) is performed or a normal situation or an unexpected situation occurs in a process where the articles are classified based on chutes of the automatic article classification apparatus according to article information (including a classification code for an address). According to one embodiment of the present invention, the automatic article classification system includes: a scanner for recognizing a classification code for an article transferred on a conveyor to transmit the recognized classification code to an automatic classification device; and the automatic classification device for receiving the classification code recognized from the scanner to classify the article according to a chute number assigned to the received classification code, wherein the automatic classification device includes: a database unit for assigning a chute number for each of classification codes, and matching and storing the assigned chute number with the classification code; a driving unit for switching a transfer direction of the article on the conveyor according to the chute number; and a control unit for receiving the chute number assigned from the database unit to control the driving unit.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to an automatic classification system for articles,

The present invention relates to a system for automatically classifying a courier article and a control method thereof, and, in the process of sorting the articles according to a suit of the automatic classification apparatus according to article information (including a classification code per address) The present invention provides an automatic classification system and a control method thereof for automatically allocating articles to an article (SM, Service Master) and performing efficient sorting even in a normal situation or when an unexpected situation occurs.

Generally, the products are stored in a warehouse (collecting house) after they are manufactured, and are classified and sorted according to the shipping area. In order to facilitate the smooth transfer of logistics, the logistics transportation company has a hub warehouse that manages a wide range of logistics and a sub warehouse which manages the logistics of smaller areas in the area controlled by the hub logistics warehouse. It operates a logistics warehouse.

Traditionally, the merchant (SM, Service Master) categorized handcrafted merchandise during the process of delivering and unloading goods from these warehouses and delivering the goods. The automatic equipment including the conveyor and the actuator for switching the direction of the goods, for example, automatic equipment for sorting the goods, has a very high unit price, so that the cost of equipping the equipment with respect to the sorting efficiency is considerable, Because.

However, as the use of e-commerce has increased in recent years, the volume of transportation to be transported has increased significantly compared with the conventional one. As a result, the importance of fast and accurate delivery and lack of manpower have arisen. There is a growing awareness of the necessity of introducing automated facilities in the classification of goods to overcome various problems that arise in the case of sorting goods through interest and manpower.

Prior art related to an automated facility for sorting goods by courier is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-10-1559146, JP-A-10-1709092, JP-A-10-2006-0097391, -0259585 and the like are disclosed.

The automated goods transporting facility disclosed in the prior art is provided with conveyors 11 and 13 for transporting the articles in a linear direction as shown in Fig. 1, and during the conveyance of the conveyors 11 and 13, A chute 14, which is a branched conveyer for conveying the article in a direction different from the main conveying direction of the conveyor, is provided. Here, between the conveyor and the chute 14, there is provided a direction switching device for switching between the conveying direction and the sleeves. [0004] Up to now, the technologies relating to the automation equipment have been mainly focused on a device or a conveying device for switching the conveying direction of an article .

In the case of using the automation equipment, the responsible dispatchers are arranged for each suit (14) to get off the goods from the delivery vehicle or to pick up the goods to the delivery vehicle. If the goods are not transferred to the responsible dispatcher to be assigned, It is often the case that an error occurs in the sorting of the goods. Shipping operators who have trusted the automation facilities may skip the process of identifying the goods and load the misclassified items into the vehicle. In such a case, there may be cases where a large number of items already loaded in the vehicle are found to have a specific item As a result, work efficiency is deteriorating.

On the other hand, during the up / down operation at the warehouse, there may occur situations in which the responsible delivery article is not able to be delivered and the delivery article is excluded and changed to another person according to the request of the customer. Until now, there has not been an automatic classification system and algorithm that actively cope with such an unforeseen situation, and in such a case, in order to stop the operation of the facility against the intention of the automatic facility and relocate the responsible article, Work efficiency is also significantly reduced. Eventually, delivery may be delayed over the delivery date of the desired item.

Research and development of the equipment itself is also important when introducing the automatic equipment, but research and development of the system and the control method for operating the automatic equipment are also important. The present specification discloses the following automatic goods classification system and its control method in this respect.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system and a control method for delivering a courier article to a responsible courier in connection with the operation of an automatic sorting apparatus for sorting and delivering courier articles.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a system and a control method thereof for allowing a courier article to be accurately conveyed according to an assigned chute number in connection with the operation of an apparatus for automatically sorting and delivering courier articles.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of classification of an article into a charge delivery article and an assigned suit, and to provide a system and an algorithm that can actively cope with various unexpected situations.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic document sorting system comprising: a scanner for recognizing a sort code for an article to be transferred on a conveyor and transmitting the recognized sort code to an automatic sorting apparatus; And an automatic classification device for receiving a classification code recognized from the scanner and classifying the article according to a chute number assigned to the inputted classification code, wherein the automatic classification device specifies a suit number for each classification code, And a control unit for receiving the chute number assigned from the database unit and controlling the driving unit based on the number of chute numbers stored in the storage unit. have.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided an output unit for outputting a conveyance route including a destination address and a sort code of the article, wherein the article is placed on the conveyor with the conveyance route attached.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the classification code is generated according to the address information allocated to each delivery article.

According to an embodiment, the server may further comprise a server for generating a classification code, and for matching and storing the classification code according to the destination address of the article.

Here, the classification code stored in the server may be updated after performing at least one confirmation process of a delivery article deliverable state checking procedure, a delivery article designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure, or a delivery article designation condition check procedure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the database unit may be configured to immediately calculate or correct a suit number according to at least one of a status of an article up / down operation and a status of a delivery article.

The suit number stored in the database unit according to the classification code is updated after performing at least one of a parking position confirmation procedure, a suit designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a suit selection condition confirmation procedure of the delivery vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic document sorting system, wherein the scanner and the automatic sorting apparatus interlock with each other to determine whether an error occurs when sorting an article.

In addition, the automatic goods sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of direction switching rollers rotatable at a predetermined angle in a plane to switch the direction of the transported article.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for automatically classifying an article, the method comprising: generating a classification code in a server; matching and storing a classification code according to a destination address of the article; Designating a suit number for each classification code received from the server and storing the suit number in a database; Recognizing a classification code of an article using a scanner and transmitting the recognized classification code to an automatic classification apparatus; And a step of calculating a suit number according to the recognized classification code by using the automatic classifying apparatus and controlling the feeding direction of the article according to the suit number.

According to one embodiment, the method may further include updating the classification code in the server before assigning the suite number by the classification code.

In addition, the update of the classification code may be performed through at least one of a confirmation process of a delivery article delivery state, a delivery article designation / exclusion request confirmation process, or a delivery article designation condition confirmation process.

The method may further include updating the chute number designated by the classification code in the database unit after designating the chute number for each classification code according to an exemplary embodiment.

Here, the updating of the designated suit number for each classification code may be performed through at least one of a parking position confirmation procedure, a suit designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a suit selection condition confirmation procedure of a delivery article delivery vehicle.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the scanner and the automatic sorting apparatus may be interlocked to determine whether an error occurs in sorting the product.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a courier article automatic classification system, it is possible to prevent a situation where an article is not transferred to a responsible dispatcher or an article is not transferred to an assigned suit.

In addition, the article sorting process can be actively performed by changing the sorting process of articles even in various unexpected situations, such as absence of a responsible delivery article, and in situations where the recipient can not predict, such as changing a delivery article.

Further, the efficiency of classification of the courier goods can be improved by actively performing the update of the classification code and the update of the allocated chute number according to whether or not the article can be processed by the responsible shipping article and the distribution processing state in the distribution warehouse (collecting house) .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig.
2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an information processing procedure of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a diagram showing a method of classifying an article according to a classification code in a method of controlling an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a method of classifying suit numbers by classification codes in a method of controlling an automatic classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a view showing a control method of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram showing a procedure for updating a classification code and a procedure for updating a suite number in the control method of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a procedure for updating the classification code of Fig. 6; Fig.
8 is a diagram showing an example of a procedure for updating a suit number in Fig.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments disclosed herein should not be construed or interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the description including the embodiments of the present specification has various applications. Accordingly, any embodiment described in the Detailed Description of the Invention is illustrative for a better understanding of the invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to embodiments.

The functional blocks shown in the drawings and described below are merely examples of possible implementations. In other implementations, other functional blocks may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the following detailed description. Also, although one or more functional blocks of the present invention are represented as discrete blocks, one or more of the functional blocks of the present invention may be a combination of various hardware and software configurations that perform the same function.

In addition, the expression "including any element" is merely an expression of an open-ended expression, and is not to be construed as excluding the additional elements.

First, an automatic goods classification system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an information processing process of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of classifying an article according to a classification code in a method of controlling an automatic classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling the automatic classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a method of sorting suit numbers according to classification codes; FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a server 100, a scanner (indicated by reference numeral 12 in FIG. 1, and 200 in FIG. 2) (Indicated by reference numeral 10 in Fig. 1, and indicated by reference numeral 300 in Fig. 2).

The server 100 constitutes a communication network with the automatic classification apparatus 300 or, if necessary, with the scanner 200 to exchange information. Specifically, the server includes a client, another server, a printer, a database server, a print server, a file server, a communication server, a distributed server, and the like, and is a configuration capable of providing an interface to other devices. The connection via the interface can be performed over the wired / wireless network and, in some cases, can facilitate the remote execution of the program.

In particular, the server 100 of the present invention may store delivery article classification information including a database (large capacity) server in advance, and may promptly output delivery article classification information at the request of an automatic classification apparatus described later.

The server 100 functionally generates a classification code, and corresponds to a configuration in which the classification code is matched and stored according to the destination address of the article. Here, the classification code is one of the pieces of information included in the SM (Service Master) classification information, and can serve as an identification element of a kind of article in the present invention.

In general, the delivery article classification information includes information such as a name, a telephone number, an address (assigned address), a handled article, a rank, a processing period, a job evaluation, In an embodiment of the present invention, a classification code is generated using the information on the address, among the above classification information.

An example of the classification code is shown in Table 1 below. It should be noted, however, that [Table 1] below is merely an example and does not limit the scope of rights of the present invention.

Speed terminal Classification code SM statement Address (assigned address) Processing Jangseo sub-A [0054] Lim Jae-jeong Gangseo-gu Airport O Jiangxi sub-B [0074] Hong Gil Dong Gangseo-gu Banghwa-dong O Jiangxi sub-B [0075] Admiral Yi Gangseo-gu Fireproofing 1 X Jiangxi sub-B [0076] Island Gangseo-gu Fireproofing 2 O Jiangxi sub-B [0077] Group 1 Gangseo-gu Fire Protection 3 O

[Table 1] Shipment article classification information (example)

Handling of the ordered goods The shipping articles can be assigned by the address or the shipping address. When the shipping article classification information for each address is outputted, the classification code (or the delivery article classification code) assigned to the address is matched. As shown in Table 1, the classification codes can be classified and generated in detail according to the address information allocated to each delivery article. That is, the classification code in the present invention may mean a unique number assigned to each article of delivery.

For reference, the service master (SM, Service Master) of the present invention may mean a person who is employed by a courier carrier to handle courier goods, and the job may include sorting and delivering goods during the delivery of courier goods have. And here, the delivering article may refer to the individual of the delivery article or to a group containing multiple delivery articles. If a shipping code area according to the classification code is wide, a plurality of delivery articles may be attached, and these plurality of delivery articles form a group. Within each group, you will be able to take charge of dividing the destination according to the detailed address. A method of distinguishing articles to be delivered within a group can also be performed using the technical idea of the automatic goods classification system and the control method thereof according to the present invention.

Although not shown in the drawings, the automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include an output unit for outputting a transportation route including a destination address and a classification code of the goods . Thus, when the article to be sorted is placed on the conveyor, the waybill can be placed in the attached state.

More specifically, the scanner 200 recognizes the article information recorded on an identification means such as a barcode or an RFID attached to the surface of the article, And transmits the information to the automatic classification apparatus 300. Here, the article information recognized by the scanner 200 may mean information recognized through the destination address and the classification code written on the waybill. The scanner 200 recognizes the article information before the article to be classified passes the direction switching device.

The automatic classification apparatus 300 according to the present invention receives classification codes and classifies articles according to their chute numbers. Specifically, the automatic classification apparatus 300 includes a database unit 310 for specifying a suit number for each classification code, Wow; A driving unit 330 for switching the direction of the article according to the assigned chute number using the direction switching device; And a control unit 320 receiving the assigned suits number from the database unit 310 and controlling the driving unit.

Here, the database unit 310 may store information on the invoice number, suit arrangement information, and placement criterion of each article delivered by suit, including classification codes.

The driving unit 330 of the present invention is a concept that encompasses all of the devices including the conveyor 13, which is a linear movement section, and the orientation change roller (ex wheel sorter), which is a structure for switching the direction of the article transferred from the conveyor, And may include a plurality of direction changing rollers on a plane, and may also include a conveying roller, an actuator, and the like.

The control unit 320 of the present invention controls the driving unit 330 at a high speed. For example, PLC (Power Line Communication) may be applied. The power supply can be turned on / off to each component that implements the movement of the driving unit 330. More specifically, the pivot angle, the pivot speed, or the moving speed of the conveying roller can be finely adjusted, It can be transported to a predetermined suit. In addition, the control unit 320 may include an emergency stop switch for stopping the transfer operation when an error occurs in the process of delivering the delivered goods.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the automatic classifier 300 including these configurations is first provided with classification scheduling information for an article from the server 100. FIG. Here, the classification schedule information includes information such as an article specification, an item quantity, a delivery area information, a hub and a sub terminal information, a sender / receiver information of the article, a delivery article classification information, a suit placement information, And may include at least one of these information.

The automatic classification apparatus 300 that receives the classification schedule information can generate an index for the article. Here, the index may mean a number according to the order in which the articles are sorted.

When the automatic classifier 300 is operated according to the classification schedule information, the scanner 200 reads the article information attached to the surface of the article. For reference, the goods information here may refer to the information (destination address and classification code) described on the waybill. At this time, the scanner also generates indexes for the scanned articles and matches the indexes generated by the automatic classifier 300.

The database unit 310 can receive the article information and the index from the scanner 200 and transmits the suited number to the control unit 320 based on the information.

The control unit 320 transmits a classification command to the driving unit 330 according to the classification code received from the database unit 310. Then, the control unit 320 transmits the classification completion information to the database unit 310, and the database unit 310 can generate the classification statistics information based on the classification completion information and transmit the classification statistics information to the server 100.

Such a series of processes may be performed during the sorting operation of the automatic sorting apparatus 300 for one article.

In addition, the database unit 310 collects data logs of each system configuration item including the classification statistical information after the operation, and can reflect the error logs that may occur when the automatic classification apparatus 300 is operated in the future. Since the classification statistics information and the system data log collected at this time include information on classification codes and information on suite numbers, statistical viewpoints can be helpful in determining future classification codes and suits numbers by classification codes.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 of the present invention, the article classification according to the classification code and the article classification method according to the number of the suit will be described in detail.

3 is a diagram showing a method of classifying an article according to a classification code in a control method of an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The classification of the article according to the classification code is performed by organically operating the configurations of the server 100, the database unit 310, the control unit 320, and the scanner 200 of the present invention.

If the automatic classification apparatus 300 receives the classification schedule information from the server 100 and the article is placed on the conveyor, the automatic classification apparatus 300 passes through the scanner 300 during transportation.

In this process, Index is generated (A100). The Index may be an Index of the automatic classification device 300 and an Index of the scanner 200. [

When the Index is created, an error check procedure (A200) is performed to recognize the product information separately for each article and to check for errors in sorting the articles. Errors that occur here include both errors in the goods themselves and errors in the installation and control process. At this time, the scanner 100 and the automatic classifying apparatus 300 interlock with each other to determine whether the article is in error.

In the error checking procedure (A200), it is checked whether there is an index of goods (A210), whether or not there is a scan waybill information (A220), whether there is DB bearer information (A230) or whether it corresponds to a specific sort code (A240). The information on the waybill here may include at least one of an invoice number, address information including a delivery address of the goods, or a classification code, and this information may be displayed on the waybill in the form of a number (ex) .

Referring again to FIGS. 3 and 4, the determination of the presence or absence of an index (A210) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be performed by a sensor provided in the scanner 200 or the conveyor It may mean judging whether the article is recognized or not.

(A220) may be used to determine whether the transportation information is recognized during the scanning process. In this case, the scanning failure may be caused by the fact that the transportation path itself is not normally attached to the article or due to the operation error of the scanner And may include a scan failure situation.

The presence / absence of the DB transportation information (A230) may mean that it is determined whether the transportation unit information does not exist in the database unit 310 even if the scanning is successful.

In addition, whether the classification code corresponds to a specific classification code (A240) may be determined by not classifying the article itself in the case of a classification code set in the database unit 310 or by using a separate purpose (for example, This may be the case for sorting goods through processes.

Error checking procedure (A200) If any negative signal (No) is output at each step, overflow processing is performed on the article. Here, the overflow may mean that the driving unit 330 does not perform direction switching, which is an operation for transporting the article to the suit.

After the error checking procedure (A 200) of the goods, it is confirmed whether the scanned information on the waybill is single or plural (A 300). This verification procedure is to classify the goods in error in such a situation because, in some cases, a plurality of invoices may be attached on the surface of the article in the course of the article being returned or transferred.

The scanned waybill then determines whether or not the classification code pool assigned to the terminal includes the classification code displayed on the scanned waybill.

If it is determined that the scanned waybill information does not correspond to the classification code of the corresponding terminal, this may mean that the wrong dispatch has arrived even though the responsible dispatcher has not been assigned to the terminal. This error can often occur in the process of sending goods from the hub terminal to the sub-terminal. Items that arrive after this stage can be delivered normally to the terminal where the responsible dispatcher is located and then delivered.

If there are two scanned waybill information, it is first determined (A410) whether or not the information is included in the classification code of the corresponding terminal, and if it is not the classification code included in the corresponding terminal, It is determined whether or not the classification codes corresponding to the respective transportation information items are the same. In the case where the classification code is not the same, the overflow processing can be performed as a case where the delivery article of the person in charge is specified and the delivery of the article can not be performed. If the classification code of the terminal is correct, confirm whether it is a classification code for the planned (predetermined) delivery article (A600).

If the scanned information on the waybill is one, it is determined whether it corresponds to the classification code of the terminal (A420). If it is not the classification code of the terminal, a wrong arrival signal is output. If the classification code of the terminal is correct, (A600) whether it is a classification code for the article to be delivered.

Here, whether or not the classification code for the planned delivery article corresponds to the classification schedule information input from the server 100 to the database unit 310 can be referred to.

For example, all the information collected until the goods are collected and classified in the warehouse after the customer orders the goods are stored in the server 100. The server 100 transmits the article information on the article and the pre-stored classification code among the collected information to the database unit 310 as an item of the classification schedule information. The database unit 310 finally judges whether or not it corresponds to the planned classification code with reference to the classification schedule information, and then determines whether or not the classification is normal. If the classification code transmitted as an item of the classification scheduled information does not match the classification code confirmed in the classification procedure of the actual article, at least one of the classification code previously stored in the server 100 and the classification code assigned to the terminal It is judged that there is an error, and an overflow process is performed.

The classification code may be updated at a rate of at least several tens to several hundreds per terminal and may be updated periodically or in real time so that the possibility of error occurrence can be reduced by matching the classification code in the article classification process after scanning.

In summary, if the classification code is a planned classification, the article is normally classified. If the classification code does not correspond to the planned classification code, it is output that the mapping is not performed and the overflow processing can be performed. The sort code that is not mapped by the server 100, the database unit 310, or the control unit 320 may be deleted at a later time, and the sort code to which the unmapped classification code is allocated may be newly allocated .

It should be noted that the error check procedure (A200) in the above step is merely an example for extracting an item that is excluded from the classification in the classification procedure of the article according to the classification code. It should be noted that the judgment order of each step including the error check procedure A200 is not limited to that shown in the drawings and the drawings.

4 is a diagram illustrating a method of sorting a suit number according to a classification code in a method of controlling an automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a procedure for sorting articles according to sort numbers according to classification codes. As shown in FIG. 4, unique identification numbers can be assigned to individual delivery articles, and suits are also given unique identification numbers. The classification of articles according to the sort numbers by classification codes is also performed by organically operating the configurations of the server 100, the database unit 310, the control unit 320, and the scanner 200 of the present invention.

First, Index is generated (B100). The Index may be an Index of the automatic classification device 300 and an Index of the scanner 200. [

When the Index is generated, an error check procedure (B200) for recognizing the article information for each article and confirming the error in sorting the article is performed.

In the error checking procedure (B200), it is confirmed whether or not there is an index (B210), whether or not there is scan transportation information (B220), whether there is DB transportation information (B230), whether or not it corresponds to a specific classification code (B240). If a negative signal No is output at any one of the steps of the error checking procedure B200, an overflow process is performed on the article.

After the error checking procedure (B200) of the article, it is confirmed whether the scanned information on the waybill is single or plural (B300).

If there are a plurality of scanned shipping way information, it is determined whether all the plurality of sorting codes are allocated to the same suit (B400). If the scanned shipping way information is positive, the sorting code corresponding to the sorting code of the article is outputted. And outputs an error signal. For example, even when it is recognized that there is a plurality of pieces of information on the one-way information for one article, if it is determined that all of the sorting codes by the plurality of waybill information are the same, If at least one classification code by information is recognized as being different from each other, it is determined that the article is an error because the article can not be assigned to a delivery article of one person.

If it is determined that the classification codes by the plurality of waybill information are the same, it is additionally confirmed (B500) whether or not the classification codes are the planned classification codes. At this time, if the classified code corresponds to the planned classification code, the product is normally classified. If not, the non-mapping is outputted and the overflow processing can be performed. The remaining processes, which are not described in the process shown in FIG. 4, are the same as the product classification methods according to the classification codes shown in FIG.

In summary, it is possible to classify the articles according to the classification codes and the articles according to the sort numbers according to the classification codes in the above-described flow.

This process is performed in a very short period of time through the construction of predetermined software and algorithms in the process of classifying the suits of the articles after the scanning of the articles. Meanwhile, the classification procedure of the article according to the classification code and the classification procedure of the article according to the suit number according to the classification code can be performed simultaneously and simultaneously. In this case, the error checking procedure (A200, B200) is integrated in one process.

It is possible to prevent situations in which the goods are not transferred to the responsible shipping person or the goods are not transferred to the assigned suit through the system and classification procedure described above.

Next, with reference to Figs. 5 to 8, the effect according to an embodiment of the present invention is to proactively detect various unexpected situations such as a health condition of a responsible delivery article or an unpredictable situation such as a customer requesting a delivery article , A new delivery article is designated, a new order number is specified, and then a system for smoothly and automatically classifying articles is described.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling an automatic classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling an automatic classification system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a procedure for updating the classification code of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is an example of a procedure for updating the suit number of FIG. 6 FIG.

According to the method for controlling an automatic classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention, a step S 120 of storing a suit number in a database by designating a suit number according to a sort code inputted from the server 100; (S220) of recognizing the classification code of the article using the scanner 200 (S210) and transmitting the recognized classification code to the automatic classification apparatus 300 (S220); (S230) a chute number according to the recognized classification code by using the automatic classification device (S230), and controlling the feeding direction of the article according to the chute number (S240).

(S110) of generating a classification code in the server and matching and generating a classification code according to the destination address of the article prior to the step (S120) of specifying a suit number for each classification code. Step S110 of generating a classification code from the server, matching and generating a classification code according to the destination address of the article, and designating a suit number according to the classification code S120 are performed until the article is placed on the conveyor , And the remaining steps S210 to S240 may be performed after the article is placed on the conveyor.

That is, in the present embodiment, the steps are divided into two stages, that is, a stage before the article is placed on the conveyor and a stage where the article is conveyed on the conveyor. In the former stage, the classification code is updated (S130) It is possible to provide a simple control algorithm by performing the step S140 (at this time, the update step S130 of the classification code and the update step S140 of the sort number by classification code can be selectively or simultaneously performed) It is possible to actively carry out sorting of the article according to the situation of the delivery article and suit.

Further, in the latter step, the scanner and the automatic sorting device interlock with each other to determine whether the goods are defective. The automatic sorting device scans the goods according to the scanned invoice number and the sorting code, And the accuracy of classification of the articles can be ensured by sorting the articles according to the suited number for each classification code based on the scanned invoice number and the classification schedule information provided by the server.

The steps of the former and latter steps are performed organically in the automatic goods classification system of the present invention, thereby achieving the object to be solved by the present invention.

The database unit 310 according to the embodiment of the present invention can immediately designate or correct a suit number to which an article is to be allocated according to at least one of the status of the article up / down operation and the status of a delivery article .

That is, the database unit 310 may utilize the chute number pre-stored for each classification code, but it is possible to actively cope with the unexpected situation by designating or correcting the chute number as needed.

On the other hand, in the automatic item classification system of the present invention, a task of matching a classification code according to address information of a product and generating a classification code in a server can be performed before an article is placed on a conveyor. The task at this time can be periodically updated according to the set period. Here, the term "before being placed on the conveyor" means that the parcel carrier collects parcels from the customer (the sender), collects them in the warehouse, and places the parcels on the automatic sorting apparatus.

Further, the automatic goods classification system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a step of updating the classification code in the server, wherein the updating can be performed in real time before the article is placed on the conveyor. The updating method of the classification code may be updated after performing at least one confirmation process among the delivery status check procedure of the delivery article, the delivery article specification / exclusion request confirmation procedure or the delivery article designation condition confirmation procedure.

Specifically, the process of checking the status of the delivery of the article can be considered as a comprehensive process of considering whether the article is closed at the start of classification of the article, the distance between the current position of the article and the address of the article, It can mean. In addition, consideration is given to the update of the classification code in consideration of the annual information and health status of the delivery article. This allows other delivery articles to be assigned in place of the delivery article in delivering the article. In some cases, it is possible to designate the status of the delivery article to be delivered directly by the delivery article person, thereby improving the efficiency of delivery of the article.

The designation / exclusion request confirmation process of the delivery article allows the recipient (consignee) to designate or exclude a delivery article, and directly designates a delivery article whose classification code is valid according to the recipient's information (telephone number, address, name, etc.) Or may be omitted. In this step, an application for requesting / excluding a delivery article may be separately provided to the user terminal, and a list of designated delivery articles may be provided so that the recipient can receive the delivery article through the desired delivery article.

Delivery articles A designated condition check procedure may refer to a process in which a recipient selects a delivery article by specifying conditions such as customer ratings and gender, instead of manually specifying or excluding a specific delivery article.

Through the above-described confirmation procedure, the classification code can be updated to actively cope with various unexpected situations such as a health condition of a responsible delivery article or an unpredictable situation such as a request for designation of a delivery article.

On the other hand, the storage of the suiting number per classification code in the automatic classifier 300 can also be performed before the article is placed on the conveyor.

At this time, the number of suites to be stored for each sorting code in the automatic classification device is determined by performing at least one of a parking position confirmation procedure, a suit designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a suit selection condition confirmation procedure of the delivery engine delivery vehicle 15 Can be updated.

For example, the parking position confirmation procedure of the delivery article delivery vehicle 15 may be performed by confirming the parking position of the delivery vehicle 15 of the delivery engineer and allocating the flight to the nearest distance to the delivery vehicle 15 , And the process of specifying / excluding requests is meant to allow you to specify suits according to the personal preference of the delivering article. And, the procedure for confirming the selection condition of a suit may mean that the customer evaluation is excellent regardless of the will of the delivery article, or that the shipping number of the assigned article is designated as the suit number of the most optimal position.

The delivery article designation and suits number assignment algorithm as described above can be performed in real time, and the algorithm itself can be changed periodically or non-periodically as needed, and can be changed monthly, quarterly or semi- Do.

Meanwhile, the article automatic classification system and the method of controlling the article automatic classification system described in this specification can be implemented by hardware or a combination of hardware and software suitable for a specific application. Here, the hardware includes both general-purpose computer devices such as personal computers, mobile communication terminals, and enterprise-specific computer devices in addition to the above-described scanner 200 and product automatic classification device 300, and further, the computer devices include a memory, a microprocessor, , A digital signal processor, an application integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, a programmable array structure, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The accompanying drawings and the description thereof illustrate the technical features of the present invention, but should not be construed to be inferred unless a specific arrangement of software for implementing such technical features is explicitly mentioned. That is, various embodiments described above may exist, and some embodiments may be modified while retaining the same technical features as those of the present invention, and these should also be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

It should also be understood that although the flowcharts depict the operations in the drawings in a particular order, they are shown for the sake of obtaining the most desirable results, and such operations must necessarily be performed in the specific order or sequential order shown, Should not be construed as being. In certain cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

As such, the specification is not intended to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. It is possible to apply a deformation.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalents thereof are deemed to be included in the scope of the present invention. .

100: Server
200: Scanner
300: Automatic sorting device

Claims (15)

A scanner that recognizes a classification code for an article being conveyed on a conveyor and transmits the recognized classification code to an automatic classification apparatus; And
And an automatic classification device that receives the classification codes recognized from the scanner and classifies the products according to the chute numbers assigned to the input classification codes,
The automatic classification apparatus includes a database unit for assigning a suit number for each classification code, matching the designated suit number with the classification code,
And a control unit for receiving the chute number assigned from the database unit and controlling the driving unit,
The classification code is a unique number generated for each delivery article according to the address information allocated to each delivery article,
The classification code is updated after the confirmation procedure every predetermined period,
The confirmation procedure includes at least one of a delivery status check procedure of a delivery article, a delivery article designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a delivery article designation condition check procedure,
Wherein the scanner and the automatic sorting device interlock with each other,
Whether or not the item is an index, existence or nonexistence of a scan waybill information, presence or absence of information on a DB carrying way, and whether or not it corresponds to a specific sorting code.
Automatic goods classification system.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising an output unit for outputting a transportation route including a destination address and a classification code of the goods,
Characterized in that the article is placed on a conveyor with the waybill attached.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a server for generating a classification code and storing and storing the classification code according to the destination address of the article.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the database unit is capable of immediately assigning or correcting the suits number according to one condition of the article up / down operation status or the delivery article status.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the chute number stored in the database unit by the classification code is updated after performing at least one of a parking position confirmation procedure, a suit designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a suit selection condition confirmation procedure of the delivery vehicle. system.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the driving unit includes a plurality of direction switching rollers rotatable at a predetermined angle in a planar manner to switch the direction of the transported article.
Generating a classification code in the server, matching the classification code according to the destination address of the article and storing the classification code;
Designating a suit number for each classification code received from the server and storing the suit number in a database;
Recognizing a classification code of an article using a scanner and transmitting the recognized classification code to an automatic classification apparatus;
Calculating a chute number according to the recognized classification code using an automatic classification device, and controlling a feeding direction of the article according to the chute number; And
And a step of determining whether the scanner and the automatic sorting apparatus interfere with each other to determine whether or not an error occurred during sorting of the goods,
The classification code is a unique number generated for each delivery article according to the address information allocated to each delivery article,
The classification code is updated after the confirmation procedure every predetermined period,
The confirmation procedure includes at least one of a delivery status check procedure of a delivery article, a delivery article designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a delivery article designation condition check procedure,
The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the error is an error is determined by checking whether an item is included in an index,
Control method of automatic classification system of goods.
11. The method of claim 10,
Further comprising the step of updating the classification code in the server before designating the suits number by the classification code.
delete 11. The method of claim 10,
Further comprising the step of updating the chute number assigned to each classification code in the database after designating the chute number for each classification code.
14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the updating of the designated suit number for each classification code is performed through at least one of a parking position confirmation procedure of a delivery article delivery vehicle, a suit designation / exclusion request confirmation procedure or a suit selection condition confirmation procedure. Method of controlling the system.
delete

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