Position-based item identification in a materials handling facility

• US 8,175,925 B1
• Filed: 08/18/2006
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rouaix, François M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amsdell, Dana
• Application Number:
  US11/506,432
• Time in Patent Office: 2,090 Days
• Field of Search: 235/383, 235/385, 700/232, 705/14, 705/22, 705/28
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations

Abstract

Positional placement guidelines for storing items in an inventory area may allow determination and tracking of the position of the items in the inventory area. Position information may be associated with each item in a materials handling facility to assist in locating an item in an inventory area. The position information may represent a position relative to the inventory area and/or to the other items therein. Position information may be determined based on a count of items in the inventory area or based on a time stamp corresponding to the time the item was stored in the inventory area. Position information may be presented to an agent to facilitate picking the item with or without descriptive information. Feedback may provide an indication that the position information is incorrect and may trigger a review or a reset of position information for one or more items in the inventory area.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of items at a materials handling facility, wherein the materials handling facility comprises one or more buildings in which items are stored in a plurality of inventory areas, and wherein items picked from the inventory areas are shipped from the one or more buildings to different destination locations to fulfill orders for the items;

for each of the plurality of items;

storing the item in a respective one of the plurality of inventory areas in the materials handling facility, wherein storing the item comprises placing the item at a particular position within the inventory area according to one or more positional placement guidelines that describe how items should be placed in the inventory area relative to other items in the same inventory area; and

using a computer to perform storing a respective position indicator in association with an identifier of the item in a database;

in response to receiving an order for one or more of the plurality of items, wherein the order identifies each of the one or more ordered items;

accessing the database to determine the respective position indicator that is stored in association with an identifier of a given one of the one or more ordered items;

determining position information describing the particular position at which the given one of the one or more ordered items is stored in terms of a relationship between the particular position at which the given item is stored and a position of at least one other item in the same inventory area as the given item, wherein said determining is dependent on the determined position indicator; and

displaying, on a communication device, instructions visible to an agent inside the materials handling facility that are usable by the agent to locate the given one of the one or more ordered items to be picked from a given inventory area in the materials handling facility, wherein the given inventory area stores a plurality of dissimilar items, and wherein the displayed instructions comprise the position information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are added to an inventory area relative to any items already present in the inventory area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said using a computer to perform storing a respective position indicator comprises using the computer to perform storing in the database an indication of an association between the respective item identifier, the respective position indicator, and an identifier of the one of the plurality of inventory areas in which the item is stored, wherein the association stored in the database is usable to enable locating the item from among the plurality of inventory areas.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

using the computer to perform determining the particular position at which the given item is stored within the materials handling facility dependent on the stored indication of the association between the respective position indicator and the identifier of the one of the plurality of inventory areas in which the given item is stored;

wherein said determining position information is dependent on the determined particular position.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein a respective inventory area item count value is associated with each of the plurality of inventory areas and represents a count of items in the inventory area;

wherein, for each of the plurality of items, the method further comprises using the computer to perform incrementing the inventory area item count value associated with the respective one of the plurality of inventory areas when the item is placed in the inventory area; and

wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the given item comprises a respective item count value representing the incremented inventory area item count value.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising using the computer to perform decrementing the respective inventory area item count value associated with a given one of the plurality of inventory areas when an item is removed from the given one of the plurality of inventory areas.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the given item comprises a time stamp value, and wherein the time stamp value represents an approximate time at which the item was placed in the inventory area.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the position information in the instructions to locate the given item is usable to distinguish the given item from other items present within the given inventory area.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the instructions to locate the given item further comprise descriptive information stored in association with the identifier of the given item.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing feedback to the computer indicating whether the position information represented a correct position of the given item within the given inventory area.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating a manual review of the position of one or more items within the given inventory area in response to the feedback indicating that the position information did not represent a correct position of the given item within the given inventory area.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising modifying a respective position indicator stored in association with one or more items in the inventory area in response to the feedback indicating that the position information did not represent a correct position of the given item within the given inventory area.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said modifying a respective position indicator comprises returning the respective position indicator to an initial or default value.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said modifying a respective position indicator comprises marking the respective position indicator as suspect.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying that items are to be added to an inventory area in a direction consistent with an increasing or decreasing size ordering within the inventory area.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to a particular boundary of the inventory area.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to a marker item within the inventory area.

18. A method, comprising:

in response to receiving an order for one or more of a plurality of items in a materials handling facility, wherein the order identifies each of the one or more ordered items, wherein the materials handling facility comprises one or more buildings in which items are stored in a plurality of inventory areas, and wherein items picked from the inventory areas are shipped from the one or more buildings to different destination locations to fulfill orders for the items;

displaying, on a communication device, instructions visible to an agent inside the materials handling facility that are usable by the agent to locate a given one of the one or more ordered items within one of the plurality of inventory areas in the materials handling facility to be picked from the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the instructions comprise position information for the given item; and

the agent locating the given item in the materials handling facility dependent on the displayed position information and dependent on a position of at least one other item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the one of the plurality of inventory areas stores a plurality of dissimilar items, and wherein the position information displayed in the instructions describes a position at which the given item is stored within the one of the plurality of inventory areas in terms of a relationship between the position at which the given item is stored and a position of at least one other item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the position information for the given item is determined dependent on a respective product identifier for the given item and dependent on accessing a respective position indicator that is stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item in a data store, and wherein the particular position at which the given item is stored within the one of the plurality of inventory areas is dependent on one or more positional placement guidelines that describe how items should be placed in the inventory area relative to other items in the same inventory area and that were used when stowing the given item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to any items already present in the inventory area.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying that items are to be added to an inventory area in a direction consistent with an increasing or decreasing size ordering within the inventory area.

21. The method of claim 18,

wherein a respective inventory area item count value is associated with each of the plurality of inventory areas and represents a count of items in the inventory area;

wherein the method further comprises incrementing the inventory area item count value associated with the one of the plurality of inventory areas when the given item is placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item comprises a respective item count value representing the incremented inventory area item count value; and

wherein the method further comprises decrementing the inventory area item count value associated with a given one of the plurality of inventory areas is when an item is removed from the given one of the plurality of inventory areas.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item comprises a time stamp value, and wherein the time stamp value represents an approximate time at which the given item was placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing feedback indicating whether the received position information represented a correct position of the given item within the inventory area.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising initiating a manual review of the position of one or more items within the one of the plurality of inventory areas in response to the feedback indicating that the received position information did not represent a correct position of the given item within the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising modifying a respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for one or more items in the one of the plurality of inventory areas in response to the feedback indicating that the received position information did not represent a correct position of the given item within the one of the plurality of inventory areas, wherein said modifying a respective position indictor comprises changing the value of the position indicator such that it comprises one or more of:

an initial value, a default value, or a value indicating that the previous position indicator value is suspect.

26. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions computer-executable to implement:

in response to receiving an order for one or more of a plurality of items in a materials handling facility, wherein the order identifies each of the one or more ordered items, wherein the materials handling facility comprises one or more buildings in which items are stored in a plurality of inventory areas, and wherein items picked from the inventory areas are shipped from the one or more buildings to different destination locations to fulfill orders for the items;

receiving instructions for an agent inside the materials handling facility to locate a given one of the one or more ordered items to be picked from one of the plurality of inventory areas in the materials handling facility;

wherein the instructions comprise position information for the given item; and

displaying the position information in a manner visible to the agent to assist the agent in locating the given item in the materials handling facility, wherein said locating is further dependent on a position of at least one other item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the one of the plurality of inventory areas stores a plurality of dissimilar items; and

wherein the displayed position information describes a particular position at which the given item is stored within the one of the plurality of inventory areas in terms of a relationship between the position at which the given item is stored and a position of at least one other item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas; and

wherein the position information of the given item is determined dependent on a respective product identifier for the given item and dependent on accessing a respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item in a data store, and wherein the particular position at which the given item is stored within the one of the plurality of inventory areas is dependent on one or more positional placement guidelines that describe how items should be placed in the inventory area relative to other items in the same inventory area and that were used when stowing the given item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

27. The storage medium of claim 26, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to any items already present in the inventory area.

28. The storage medium of claim 26,

wherein a respective inventory area item count value is associated with each of the plurality of inventory areas and represents a count of items in the inventory area;

wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement incrementing the inventory area item count value associated with the one of the plurality of inventory areas when the given item is placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas;

wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item comprises a respective item count value representing the incremented inventory area item count value; and

wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement decrementing the inventory area item count value associated with a given one of the plurality of inventory areas when an item is removed from the given one of the plurality of inventory areas.

29. The storage medium of claim 26, wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the respective product identifier for the given item comprises a time stamp value, and wherein the time stamp value represents an approximate time at which the given item was placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

30. The storage medium of claim 26, wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement:

providing feedback indicating whether the received position information represented a correct position of the given item within the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

31. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions computer-executable to implement:

for each of a plurality of items in a materials handling facility, wherein the materials handling facility comprises one or more buildings in which items are stored in a plurality of inventory areas, and wherein items picked from the inventory areas are shipped from the one or more buildings to different destination locations to fulfill orders for the items;

receiving an indication that the item was stored in a respective one of the plurality of inventory areas in the materials handling facility, wherein the one of the plurality of inventory areas stores a plurality of dissimilar items, and wherein the item was stored at a particular position within the inventory area according to one or more positional placement guidelines that describe how items should be placed in the inventory area relative to other items in the same inventory area and dependent on a position of at least one other item in the one of the plurality of inventory areas; and

storing a respective position indicator in association with an identifier of the item in a database; and

in response to receiving an order for one or more of the plurality of items, wherein the order identifies each of the one or more ordered items;

accessing the database to determine the respective position indicator that is stored in association with an identifier of a given one of the one or more ordered items;

determining position information describing the particular position at which the given one of the one or more ordered items is stored in terms of a relationship between the position at which the given item is stored and a position of at least one other item in the same inventory area as the given item, and wherein said determining is dependent on the determined position indicator; and

displaying instructions visible to an agent inside the materials handling facility that are usable by the agent to locate the given one of the one or more ordered items to be picked from a given inventory area in the materials handling facility, wherein the given inventory area stores a plurality of dissimilar items, and wherein the displayed instructions comprise the position information.

32. The storage medium of claim 31, wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to any items already present in the inventory area.

33. The storage medium of claim 31, further comprising program instructions computer-executable to implement:

for each of the plurality of items;

storing in the database an indication of an association between the respective item identifier, the respective position indicator, and an identifier of the one of the plurality of inventory areas in which the item is stored;

wherein the association stored in the database is usable to enable locating the item from among the plurality of inventory areas.

34. The storage medium of claim 31, wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement determining the position of the given item within the inventory area in which it is stored dependent on the stored indication of the association between the respective position indicator and the identifier of the one of the plurality of inventory areas in which the item is stored.

35. The storage medium of claim 31, wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the identifier of the item comprises an item count value representing a count of items in the one of the plurality of inventory areas immediately after the given item was placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

36. The storage medium of claim 31, wherein the respective position indicator stored in association with the identifier of the item comprises a time stamp value, and wherein the time stamp value represents an approximate time at which the item was placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

37. A system, comprising:

a database configured to store a respective position indicator for each of a plurality of items in a materials handling facility in association with a respective product identifier for each of the items, wherein the materials handling facility comprises one or more buildings in which items are stored in a plurality of inventory areas, wherein the position at which each of the plurality of items is stored within one of the plurality of inventory areas is dependent on one or more positional placement guidelines used in storing the item within the one of the plurality of inventory areas, and wherein items picked from the inventory areas are shipped from the one or more buildings to different destination locations to fulfill orders for the items; and

a control system communicatively coupled to the database, wherein in response to receiving an order for one or more of the plurality of items the control system is configured to;

access the database to determine the respective position indicator that is stored in association with a product identifier of a given one of the one or more ordered items;

determine position information for the given one of the one or more ordered items within a given one of the plurality of inventory areas dependent on the determined position indicator and dependent on a position of at least one other item in the given inventory area;

wherein the given inventory area stores a plurality of dissimilar items; and

wherein the position information describes a particular position at which the given item is stored within the given inventory area in terms of a relationship between the position at which the given item is stored and a position of the at least one other item in the given inventory area; and

communicate the position information to an agent in the materials handling facility to assist the agent in locating the given item within the given inventory area.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the respective position indicator comprises a time stamp value, wherein the time stamp value represents an approximate time at which the given item was placed in the one of the plurality of inventory areas, and wherein to determine the position information for the given item, the control system is configured to sort the respective time stamp values of two or more of the items in the one of the plurality of inventory areas to determine an order of the relative positions of the two or more items within the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the respective position indicator comprises an item count value representing a count of items in the one of the plurality of inventory areas immediately after the given item was placed in the inventory area, and wherein to determine the position information for the given item, the control system is configured to sort the respective item count values of two or more of the items in the one of the plurality of inventory areas to determine an order of the relative positions of the two or more items within the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein to determine the position information for the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance from the given item to a boundary of the one of the plurality of inventory areas in terms of a number of items from the boundary to the given item, including the given item.

41. The system of claim 37, wherein to determine the position information for the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance from the given item to a marker item within the one of the plurality of inventory areas in terms of a number of items from the marker item to the given item, including the given item.

42. The system of claim 37, wherein to determine the position of the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance of the given item, in terms of a number of items, relative to a top or bottom of a stack of items within the one of the plurality of inventory areas.

43. The system of claim 37, wherein to determine the position information for the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance from the given item to one end of a row of items within the one of the plurality of inventory areas in terms of a number of items from the end of the row of items to the given item, including the given item.

44. The system of claim 37, wherein the one or more positional placement guidelines comprises a guideline specifying a direction in which items are to be added to an inventory area relative to any items already present in the inventory area.

45. The system of claim 37, wherein the control system is further configured to store in the database for each of the plurality of items an indication of an association between the respective product identifier, the respective position information, and the one of the plurality of inventory areas in which the item is stored, wherein the association stored in the database for each of the plurality of items is usable to enable locating the item from among the plurality of inventory areas.

46. The system of claim 37,

wherein to communicate the position information the control system is configured to send, to each of a plurality of communication devices, picking instructions for an agent to locate one or more of the one or more items to be picked from one or more of the plurality of inventory areas.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising the plurality of communication devices, wherein each of the communication devices is configured to:

receive, from the control system, the picking instructions;

determine, from the picking instructions, position information for each of the one or more items to be picked; and

display the position information for each of the one or more items to be picked to assist the agent in locating the item at a particular position within a respective one of the plurality of inventory areas based on the displayed position information.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein each of the communication devices is further configured to:

determine, from the picking instructions, descriptive information for each of the one or more items to be picked; and

display the descriptive information for each of the one or more items to be picked to assist the agent in locating the items based on the displayed position information and the displayed descriptive information.

49. The system of claim 47, wherein each of the communication devices is further configured to:

cache descriptive information for a plurality of items in the inventory area;

access descriptive information for each of the one or more items to be picked from the cache; and

display the descriptive information for each of the one or more items to be picked to assist the agent in locating the items based on the displayed position information and the displayed descriptive information.

50. The system of claim 47, wherein the communication devices are further configured to send an indication to the control system if one or more of the items to be picked is not located in a position within a respective one of the plurality of inventory areas indicated by the displayed position information for the one or more items.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the control system is further configured to modify a respective position indicator stored in association with an item not located in a position indicated by the displayed position information in response to receiving, from one of the communication devices, an indication that one or more of the items to be picked is not located in a position indicated by the displayed position information for the one or more items.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein said modifying a respective position indictor comprises changing the value of the position indicator such that it comprises one or more of:

an initial value, a default value, or a value indicating that the previous position indicator value is suspect.