SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SORTING PARCEL

• US 20150217334A1
• Filed: 07/22/2014
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: KIM, Ki Hak
• Granted Patent: US 9,364,865 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/02 Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
• CPC Class Codes: B07C 3/08 using arrangements of conveyors transport of sheets B65H; transport in general B65G
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/34 Devices for discharging articles or materials from conveyor B65G47/256 takes precedence

Abstract

Disclosed are a system and a method for sorting a parcel, and more particularly, a system for sorting a parcel that arranges articles to an outlet edge for each corresponding destination.

The system for sorting a parcel, which moves an article to a cart according to destination information of the article to classify the article to a chute for each destination, includes: an article position detecting unit which detects positional information of the article loaded on the cart that moves in a first direction by a track which moves in the first direction; and a control unit which controls the cart to rotate in a second or third direction according to the detected positional information of the article and destination information of the article.

Claims

1. A system for sorting a parcel, which moves an article to a cart according to destination information of the article to classify the article to a chute for each destination, the system comprising:

an article position detecting unit which detects positional information of the article loaded on the cart that moves in a first direction by a track which moves in the first direction; and

a control unit which controls the cart to rotate in a second or third direction according to the detected positional information of the article and destination information of the article.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein when the article needs to be classified to a first chute provided in the second direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article, in the case where the article is positioned at the center of the cart or at an edge in the third direction, the control unit rotates the cart in the second direction so that the article is positioned at an edge of the cart in the second direction of the cart.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein when the article needs to be classified to a second chute provided in the third direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article, in the case where the article is positioned at the center of the cart or at the edge in the second direction, the control unit rotates the cart in the third direction so that the article is positioned at the edge of the cart in the third direction of the cart.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first direction is vertical to the second direction or the third direction and the second direction and the third direction are completely opposite to each other.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the article position detecting unit includes:

a first sensor which linearly senses the article in the second or third direction of the cart;

a second sensor which senses the article in a first diagonal direction of the cart; and

a third sensor which is positioned to be opposite to the second sensor and senses the article in a second diagonal direction of the cart.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein

the second sensor is provided at the end of the track in the second direction of the cart,

the third sensor is provided at the end of the track in the third direction of the cart, and

the first sensor is provided at a position spaced apart from the third sensor by a predetermined distance.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein when the article needs to be classified to the first chute provided in the second direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article, the control unit calculates the position of the article by using a first sensing time which is a time interval between a time when the article is sensed by the second sensor and a time when the article is sensed by the first sensor, a speed of the track, a maximum value of the sensing times, and a long-axis length value of the cart.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein when the article needs to be classified to the second chute provided in the third direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article, the control unit calculates the position of the article by using a second sensing time which is a time interval between a time when the article is sensed by the third sensor and the time when the article is sensed by the first sensor, the speed of the track, and a maximum value of the sensing times, and a length value of the cart.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the article position detecting unit is a camera that photographs the cart and the article loaded on the cart.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the control unit calculates a position between the cart and the article from information on the image photographed by the camera by using an edge detection technique.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storing unit which stores the destination information of the article, the speed information of the track, and the positional information of the article.

11. The system of claim 11, further comprising a transmitting unit which transmits a control signal for controlling rotation of the cart to the cart under the control by the control unit.

13. A method for sorting a parcel, which loads an article on a cart according to destination information of the article to classify the article to a chute for each destination, the method comprising:

calculating the position of the article loaded on the cart which moves in a first direction by a track; and

moving the article on the cart to a second direction or a third direction that is an edge position which gets close to the chute for each destination on the cart, by moving a cross belt of the cart according to positional information of the article and destination information of the article.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the calculating of the position of the article includes receiving image information for the article loaded on the cart;

and

calculating an interval between an edge of the cart and both sides of the article from the image information by using an edge extraction algorithm.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the calculating of the position of the article includes:

sensing the article by using a first sensor that senses the article in a straight-line direction to a long-axis direction of the cart, a second sensor that is provided at the end of the third direction of the cart and senses the article in a diagonal direction of the cart, and a third sensor that is provided at the end of the second direction of the cart and senses the article in the diagonal direction of the cart; and

sensing the position of the article by using a sensing time which is an interval between a time when the article is sensed by the diagonal sensor and a time when the article is sensed by the straight-line sensor.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein

in the sensing of the position of the article,

when the article needs to be classified to a first chute provided in the second direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article,

it is judged that the article is positioned at a position distant from the first chute on the cart in the case where the sensing time by the second sensor and the first sensor is long.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein

in the sensing of the position of the article,

when the article needs to be classified to a second chute provided in the third direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article,

it is judged that the article is positioned at a position distant from the second chute on the cart in the case where the sensing time by the third sensor and the first sensor is long.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein

in the moving of the article on the cart to the second direction or the third direction that is the edge position which gets close to the chute for each destination,

when the article needs to be classified to the first chute provided in the second direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article,

in the case where the article is positioned at the center of the cart or at an edge in the third direction,

the cross belt of the cart is moved in the second direction so that the article is positioned at the edge of the cart in the second direction.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein

in the moving of the article on the cart to the second direction or the third direction that is the edge position which gets close to the chute for each destination,

when the article needs to be classified to the second chute provided in the third direction of the cart according to the destination information of the article,

in the case where the article is positioned at the center of the cart or at the edge in the second direction,

the cross belt of the cart is moved in the third direction so that the article is positioned at the edge of the cart in the third direction.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the first direction is vertical to the second or third direction.