Semi-automated inventory transfer station output merge logic

• US 9,409,711 B1
• Filed: 05/27/2015
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hanssen, Erik Clement, Hill, Brent Alan, Wong, David Dickman, Ferraro, Dawn Cecelia, Hanson, James Byron, St. Vincent, Maria Rebecca, Jochim, Jayson Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Gokhale, Prasad
• Application Number:
  US14/723,386
• Time in Patent Office: 440 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/00 Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 65/00 Details peculiar to packaging machines and not otherwise provided for; Arrangements of such details
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/00 Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines conveyor combinations in warehouses, magazines or workshops B65G37/00; stacking of articles B65G57/00; removing articles from stacks B65G59/00; loading machines B65G65/02
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/0492 with cars adapted to travel in storage aisles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1376 the orders being assembled on a commissioning conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1378 the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 3/00 Storing bulk material or loose, i.e. disorderly, articles filling or emptying storage spaces or containers, spreading-out or piling-up bulk material or loose articles B65G65/28, B65G65/30, B65G69/04
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 35/00 Mechanical conveyors not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 37/00 Combinations of mechanical conveyors of the same kind, or of different kinds, of interest apart from their application in particular machines or use in particular manufacturing processes series of co-operating belt conveyor units B65G15/22; series of co-operating chain conveyor units B65G17/26; sequence control of combined conveyors B65G43/10
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 65/00 Loading or unloading of vehicles B65G67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An inventory transfer station is provided in connection with a workspace of an inventory management system. At the inventory transfer station, items are transferred from container holders to empty containers thereby generating containers that may fulfill orders for items. The inventory transfer station may be semi-automatically configured to transfer items from the container holders to the empty containers utilizing a vertical reciprocating conveyor that feeds empty containers to the inventory transfer station via an inbound conveyor lane associated with the inventory management system. Containers that have received items from the container holder may be transferred to an outbound conveyor lane that may, via the vertical reciprocating conveyor, feed fulfilled containers to a shipping area of the workspace.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, a customer order for an item maintained within a workspace, the workspace including a plurality of container holders arranged within the workspace, a container holder of the plurality of container holders including one or more containers configured to receive and store one or more items;

instructing, by the computer system, movement of a particular container holder by an unmanned mobile drive unit to an inventory transfer station based on the received customer order, the inventory transfer station being within the workspace;

providing, by the computer system, instructions to remove the item from the particular container holder and place the item in an empty container at the inventory transfer station;

receiving, by the computer system, information from an accumulation area of the inventory transfer station that indicates a plurality of containers are ready to be merged into an outbound conveyor lane associated with the inventory transfer station;

obtaining, by the computer system, inventory transfer station performance metrics that indicate customer order throughput from the inventory transfer station;

determining, by the computer system, prioritization information for a fulfilled container that includes the item and is included in the plurality of containers based at least in part on the customer order and the inventory transfer station performance metrics;

determining, by the computer system, a sequence that indicates when to release each container of the plurality of containers to the outbound conveyor lane from the accumulation area based at least in part on the information and the prioritization information; and

instructing, by the computer system, the accumulation area of the inventory transfer station to release the plurality of containers according to the determined sequence.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information from the accumulation area of the inventory transfer station further comprises receiving second information from a second accumulation area of a second inventory transfer station that shares the outbound conveyor lane with the inventory transfer station.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein determining the sequence that indicates when to release the plurality of containers is further based at least in part on the second information from the second accumulation area.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the sequence that indicates when to release the plurality of containers to the outbound conveyor lane is further based at least in part on a machine learning algorithm that utilizes the information, the prioritization information, and the inventory transfer station performance metrics.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the inventory transfer station performance metrics includes at least one of operator throughput information, inventory transfer station equipment information, or dwell time of customer orders associated with each inventory transfer station within the workspace.

6. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

maintaining performance metrics for one or more inventory transfer stations that share components within a workspace, the performance metrics indicating at least one of operator effectiveness at an inventory transfer station or equipment effectiveness at the inventory transfer station;

receiving information from the one or more inventory transfer stations indicating that a plurality of fulfilled containers are ready to be merged into a conveyor lane associated with the one or more inventory transfer stations;

determining a merging sequence that indicates when to release each fulfilled container of the plurality of fulfilled containers to the conveyor lane based at least in part on the performance metrics and the information; and

instructing the one or more inventory transfer stations to release and merge the plurality of fulfilled containers to the conveyor lane in accordance with the determined merging sequence.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein receiving the information from the one or more inventory transfer stations indicating that the plurality of fulfilled containers are ready to be merged includes receiving the information from proximity sensors that are associated with the one or more inventory transfer stations and indicate the presence or absence of the plurality of fulfilled containers.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a customer order for an item stored in the workspace;

determining prioritization information for a particular fulfilled container that contains the item based at least in part on the customer order; and

updating the merging sequence based at least in part on the performance metrics, the information, and the prioritization information.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the merging sequence is dynamically updated based on updated performance metrics for the one or more inventory transfer stations.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining routing instructions for a plurality of unmanned mobile drive units that are configured to move a container holder within the workspace to a particular inventory transfer station, the container holder including one or more containers configured to receive and store one or more items; and

instructing movement of the container holder, by an unmanned mobile drive unit of the plurality of unmanned mobile drive units, to the particular inventory transfer station via the routing instructions, the particular inventory transfer station selected based at least in part on the performance metrics of the particular inventory transfer station.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving image identifier information from the one or more inventory transfer stations, an image identifier being associated with each container that is provided to the one or more inventory transfer stations;

associating a container with a customer order based on the image identifier information; and

tracking the customer order dwell time within the workspace by identifying the location of the container within the workspace based on the image identifier of the container.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving image identifier information from the one or more inventory transfer stations, an image identifier being associated with each fulfilled container that is provided to the one or more inventory transfer stations;

instructing movement of a particular container holder within the workspace, by an unmanned mobile drive unit, to the one or more inventory transfer stations based at least in part on the image identifier information, the image identifier information indicating inventory stored within each fulfilled container; and

instructing transfer of the inventory stored within each fulfilled container to the particular container holder.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise instructing equipment maintenance of a particular inventory transfer station based at least in part on the performance metrics.

14. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, inventory transfer information for inventory within a workspace, the inventory stored within a plurality of container holders arranged within the workspace, a container holder of the plurality of container holders including one or more containers configured to receive and store the inventory;

instructing, by the computer system, transfer of the inventory from the container holder to empty containers at one or more inventory transfer stations located within the workspace based at least in part on the inventory transfer information, the transfer of the inventory to the empty containers thereby generating fulfilled containers;

receiving, by the computer system, information from the one or more inventory transfer stations indicating that a plurality of fulfilled containers are ready to be merged into a conveyor lane associated with the one or more inventory transfer stations; and

determining, by the computer system, a merging sequence that indicates when to release each fulfilled container of the plurality of fulfilled containers to the conveyor lane based at least in part on priority information associated with the inventory transfer information.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising maintaining, by the computer system, a set of policies that indicate acceptable performance metrics for the one or more inventory transfer stations.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the set of policies are updated based on aggregate performance metrics obtained from each inventory transfer station within the workspace.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein determining the merging sequence that indicates when to release each fulfilled container is further based at least in part on a particular policy of the set of policies associated with each inventory transfer station.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein determining the merging sequence that indicates when to release each fulfilled container is further based at least in part on a predetermined algorithm, the predetermined algorithm selected based on performance metrics obtained from the one or more inventory transfer stations.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the predetermined algorithm can be selected by an operator of the one or more inventory transfer stations.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising instructing, by the computer system, transfer of the inventory from the fulfilled containers to the container holder based at least in part on an indication from the workspace.