System And Method For Managing Shipment Release From A Storage Area Of A Material Handling Facility

• US 20110295412A1
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Natalie T., Dean, Arlen R., Hara, Yusuke, Wong, Cherie G., Rotella, Christopher David
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,806 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/216
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

Various embodiments of a system and method for managing shipment release from a storage area in a materials handling facility are described. Embodiments may include a system configured to identify multiple shipments that each includes one or more units that are eligible to be conveyed from a storage area to a respective packing station in a materials handling facility. The identification of a given shipment may include determining that shipment is compatible with a packing capability of the packing station. The system may be configured to evaluate each respective shipment according to one or more shipment-related criteria to generate a ranking of at least some of the multiple shipments. The system may, in response to determining that a particular shipment is ranked highest relative to other shipments of the ranking, generate an instruction to convey the units of that particular shipment from the storage area to the respective packing station.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the memory comprises program instructions executable by the one or more processors to;

identify multiple shipments that are eligible to be conveyed from a storage area to a respective packing station in a materials handling facility, wherein each eligible shipment includes one or more units, wherein the identification of each eligible shipment includes determining that shipment is compatible with one or more packing capabilities of said respective packing station;

evaluate each respective shipment according to one or more shipment-related criteria to generate a ranking of at least some of the multiple shipments; and

in response to determining that a particular shipment is ranked highest relative to other shipments of the ranking, generate an instruction to convey the units of that particular shipment from the storage area to the respective packing station to be prepared for shipment from the materials handling facility.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said storage area includes a random access storage buffer comprising multiple locations at which units are stored.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein an eligible shipment is a shipment for which all units are stored within said storage area.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein to determine that a given shipment is compatible with packing capabilities of the respective packing station, the program instructions are configured to:

determine that the respective packing station is configured to pack shipments of one or more particular shipment sizes;

enforce a restriction requiring that each identified shipment have a size compatible with said one or more particular shipment sizes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein for each respective shipment, said one or more shipment-related criteria include one or more of:

a priority level assigned to the respective shipment;

a shipping deadline associated with the respective shipment;

a quantity of units that are part of the respective shipment; and

a quantity of time that the respective shipment has been located within the storage area.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate said ranking, the program instructions are configured to:

for each of at least some of said multiple shipments;

generate a subscore for each of multiple shipment-related criteria, and

generate a composite score based on each subscore;

generate said ranking by ranking said multiple shipments according to the respective composite scores of the multiple shipments.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each composite score for a given shipment is generated as the sum of the respective subscores for the given shipment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said sum of the respective subscores is a weighted sum, wherein at least one subscore is weighted differently than other subscores in the weighted sum.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instruction are configured to:

determine that the quantity of units stored in said storage area has reached a threshold quantity; and

in response to that determination, change the shipment-related criteria utilized to evaluate each respective shipment such that shipments with larger quantities of units are assigned a higher position in said ranking than shipments with smaller quantities of units.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are configured to send the generated instruction to a computer system that controls the release of units from said storage area.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate said ranking, the program instructions are configured to:

generate a preliminary ranking of the shipments according to a first shipment related criterion; and

utilize a second shipment criterion to break a tie among two or more shipments ranked equivalently in the preliminary ranking.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the respective packing station is associated with a primary packing station capability and a secondary packing station capability, wherein to identify said multiple shipments, the program instructions are configured to:

subsequent to determining that no shipments of a group of shipments are compatible with the primary packing station capability, identify one or more shipments from the group of shipments that are compatible with the secondary packing station capability.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying multiple shipments that are eligible to be conveyed from a storage area to a respective packing station in a materials handling facility, wherein each eligible shipment includes one or more units, wherein identifying each eligible shipment includes determining that shipment is compatible with one or more packing capabilities of said respective packing station;

evaluating each respective shipment according to one or more shipment-related criteria to generate a ranking of at least some of the multiple shipments; and

in response to determining that a particular shipment is ranked highest relative to other shipments of the ranking, generating an instruction to convey the units of that particular shipment from the storage area to the respective packing station to be prepared for shipment from the materials handling facility.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein said storage area includes a random access storage buffer comprising multiple locations at which units are stored.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein an eligible shipment is a shipment for which all units are stored within said storage area.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein determining that a given shipment is compatible with packing capabilities of the respective packing station comprises:

determining that the respective packing station is configured to pack shipments of one or more particular shipment sizes;

enforcing a restriction requiring that each identified shipment have a size compatible with said one or more particular shipment sizes.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein for each respective shipment, said one or more shipment-related criteria include one or more of:

a priority level assigned to the respective shipment;

a shipping deadline associated with the respective shipment;

a quantity of units that are part of the respective shipment; and

a quantity of time that the respective shipment has been located within the storage area.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein to generate said ranking, the method comprises:

for each of at least some of said multiple shipments;

generating a subscore for each of multiple shipment-related criteria, and

generating a composite score based on each subscore;

generating said ranking by ranking said multiple shipments according to the respective composite scores of the multiple shipments.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein each composite score for a given shipment is generated as the sum of the respective subscores for the given shipment.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein said sum of the respective subscores is a weighted sum, wherein at least one subscore is weighted differently than other subscores in the weighted sum.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the method comprises:

determining that the quantity of units stored in said storage area has reached a threshold quantity; and

in response to that determination, changing the shipment-related criteria utilized to evaluate each respective shipment such that shipments with larger quantities of units are assigned a higher position in said ranking than shipments with smaller quantities of units.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the method comprises sending the generated instruction to a computer system that controls the release of units from said storage area.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein generating said ranking comprises:

generating a preliminary ranking of the shipments according to a first shipment related criterion; and

utilizing a second shipment criterion to break a tie among two or more shipments ranked equivalently in the preliminary ranking.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the respective packing station is associated with a primary packing station capability and a secondary packing station capability, wherein identifying said multiple shipments comprises:

subsequent to determining that no shipments of a group of shipments are compatible with the primary packing station capability, identifying one or more shipments from the group of shipments that are compatible with the secondary packing station capability.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions computer-executable on a computer system to:

identify multiple shipments that are eligible to be conveyed from a storage area to a respective packing station in a materials handling facility, wherein each eligible shipment includes one or more units, wherein the identification of each eligible shipment includes determining that shipment is compatible with one or more packing capabilities of said respective packing station;

evaluate each respective shipment according to one or more shipment-related criteria to generate a ranking of at least some of the multiple shipments; and

in response to determining that a particular shipment is ranked highest relative to other shipments of the ranking, generate an instruction to convey the units of that particular shipment from the storage area to the respective packing station to be prepared for shipment from the materials handling facility.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein said storage area includes a random access storage buffer comprising multiple locations at which units are stored.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein an eligible shipment is a shipment for which all units are stored within said storage area.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein to determine that a given shipment is compatible with packing capabilities of the respective packing station, the program instructions are configured to:

determine that the respective packing station is configured to pack shipments of one or more particular shipment sizes;

enforce a restriction requiring that each identified shipment have a size compatible with said one or more particular shipment sizes.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein for each respective shipment, said one or more shipment-related criteria include one or more of:

a priority level assigned to the respective shipment;

a shipping deadline associated with the respective shipment;

a quantity of units that are part of the respective shipment; and

a quantity of time that the respective shipment has been located within the storage area.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein to generate said ranking, the program instructions are configured to:

for each of at least some of said multiple shipments;

generate a subscore for each of multiple shipment-related criteria, and

generate a composite score based on each subscore;

generate said ranking by ranking said multiple shipments according to the respective composite scores of the multiple shipments.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein each composite score for a given shipment is generated as the sum of the respective subscores for the given shipment.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein said sum of the respective subscores is a weighted sum, wherein at least one subscore is weighted differently than other subscores in the weighted sum.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the program instruction are configured to:

determine that the quantity of units stored in said storage area has reached a threshold quantity; and

in response to that determination, change the shipment-related criteria utilized to evaluate each respective shipment such that shipments with larger quantities of units are assigned a higher position in said ranking than shipments with smaller quantities of units.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are configured to send the generated instruction to a computer system that controls the release of units from said storage area.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein to generate said ranking, the program instructions are configured to:

generate a preliminary ranking of the shipments according to a first shipment related criterion; and

utilize a second shipment criterion to break a tie among two or more shipments ranked equivalently in the preliminary ranking.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the respective packing station is associated with a primary packing station capability and a secondary packing station capability, wherein to identify said multiple shipments, the program instructions are configured to:

subsequent to determining that no shipments of a group of shipments are compatible with the primary packing station capability, identify one or more shipments from the group of shipments that are compatible with the secondary packing station capability.