Inventory location illumination for designating operation path

• US 9,451,674 B1
• Filed: 12/16/2013
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kong, Cheuk-Man, Rao, Mohan Krishna, Abbott, Morley Duncan, Maniymaran, Balasubramaneyam
• Primary Examiner(s): Cole, Brandon S
• Application Number:
  US14/108,250
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: 315149-159
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for illuminating locations where operations are to be performed are disclosed. A set of locations where an operation is to be performed by an agent may be determined by a control system. A particular illumination pattern of numerous illumination patterns may be assigned to an agent by the control system. Illumination patterns may be colors, shapes, blink rates or any combination thereof for example. The control system may send instructions to illumination devices that correspond to the set of locations to designate all of the locations in the set of locations with the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent such that the agent is visually aware of location to traverse. Distinct agents may each be assigned distinct illumination patterns such that the agents may operate in the same area without confusion of which agent should perform the operation at a location.

Claims

1. A materials handling facility, comprising:

one or more inventory areas, wherein each inventory area of the one or more inventory areas comprises a plurality of inventory locations for storing inventory items;

a plurality of illumination devices associated with the plurality of inventory locations, wherein the plurality of illumination devices are configured to designate respective inventory locations such that each inventory location of the plurality of inventory locations can be designated with a plurality of distinct illumination patterns;

a control system configured to;

determine a set of the inventory locations in a particular one of the one or more inventory areas, wherein each determined inventory location is an inventory location at which an inventory operation is to be performed by an agent at the particular inventory area;

assign a particular illumination pattern of the plurality of illumination patterns to the agent;

send instructions to a corresponding set of the plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate all of the inventory locations in the set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the agent with the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent, wherein the concurrent designation visually illustrates locations for the agent to traverse through the particular inventory area to perform the inventory operation;

determine another set of the inventory locations at which an inventory operation is to be performed by another agent at the particular inventory area;

assign another particular illumination pattern of the plurality of illumination patterns to the other agent distinct from the illumination pattern assigned to said agent; and

send instructions to a corresponding set of the plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate all of the other inventory locations in the set of the other inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent with the other particular illumination pattern assigned to the other agent.

2. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein to designate respective inventory locations with a plurality of distinct illumination patterns, the control system is further configured to designate the particular illumination pattern as one of a particular color, shape or blink rate or particular combination of the color, shape or blink rate.

3. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein to determine the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent at the particular inventory area, the control system is further configured to determine the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent at the particular inventory area while said agent is still at the particular inventory area.

4. The materials handling facility of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more mobile devices for displaying an indication of at least one inventory location associated with the inventory operation and for scanning item information associated with an items of the at least one inventory location, wherein each mobile device is associated with an agent and configured to;

receive an indication of at least one of the inventory locations of the corresponding set of inventory locations from the control system;

display the indication to an agent; and

send item information from a scan by the mobile device to the control system.

5. A method, comprising:

performing, by a control system having a processor and memory;

determining a set of inventory locations in a particular inventory area of a plurality of inventory areas, wherein each determined inventory location is an inventory location at which an inventory operation is to be performed by an agent at the particular inventory area;

assigning a particular illumination pattern of a plurality of distinct illumination patterns to the agent;

sending instructions to a corresponding set of a plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate a plurality of the inventory locations in the set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the agent with the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent such that the agent is visually aware of locations to traverse through the particular inventory area to perform the inventory operation;

determining another set of the inventory locations at which an inventory operation is to be performed by another agent at the particular inventory area;

assigning another particular illumination pattern of the plurality of illumination patterns to the other agent distinct from the illumination pattern assigned to said agent; and

sending instructions to a corresponding set of the plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate all of the inventory locations in the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent with the other particular illumination pattern assigned to the other agent.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selecting, prior to said sending instructions to a corresponding set of the plurality of illumination devices, the particular illumination pattern as one of a particular color, shape or blink rate or particular combination of the color, shape or blink rate.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said sending instructions to a corresponding set of a plurality of illumination devices is performed in response to detecting that the agent is approaching or has arrived at the particular inventory area.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the inventory operation has been performed at one of the designated inventory locations; and

sending instructions to modify the particular illumination pattern at a next-closest one of one or more remaining designated inventory locations where the inventory operation has not been performed.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed includes determining the other set of the inventory location while said agent is still at the particular inventory area.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

continuing said determining, said assigning and said sending for additional inventory locations and additional agents;

detecting that a number of agents concurrently working in the particular inventory area has reached an illumination pattern threshold; and

for an additional agent beyond the illumination pattern threshold to work in the particular inventory area, sending instructions to a mobile device for that agent indicating an inventory location within the particular inventory area for that agent to perform an inventory operation, wherein an illumination pattern is not assigned for that agent.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending instructions to a mobile device associated with the agent to display an indication of at least one of the inventory locations of the set such that the agent is directed to perform the inventory operation at that inventory location;

receiving information from the mobile device confirming that the inventory operation was performed at that inventory location; and

in response to said receiving, sending instructions to the illumination device associated with that inventory location to cease illuminating the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent at that inventory location.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending instructions to a mobile device associated with the agent to display an indication of at least one of the inventory locations of the set such that the agent is directed to perform the inventory operation at that inventory location; and

wherein the instructions include instructions to illuminate, on the mobile device, an illumination pattern matching the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that when executed by a computer system perform:

determining a set of inventory locations in a particular one of a plurality of inventory areas, wherein each determined inventory location is an inventory location at which an inventory operation is to be performed by an agent at the particular inventory area;

assigning a particular illumination pattern of a plurality of illumination patterns to the agent;

sending instructions to a corresponding set of a plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate a plurality of the inventory locations in the set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the agent with the particular illumination pattern assigned to the agent such that the agent is visually aware of locations to traverse through the particular inventory area to perform the inventory operation;

determining another set of the inventory locations at which an inventory operation is to be performed by another agent at the particular inventory area;

assigning another particular illumination pattern of the plurality of illumination patterns to the other agent distinct from the illumination pattern assigned to said agent; and

sending instructions to a corresponding set of the plurality of illumination devices to concurrently designate all of the inventory locations in the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent with the other particular illumination pattern assigned to the other agent.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

selecting, prior to said sending instructions to a corresponding set of a plurality of illumination devices, the particular illumination pattern as one of a particular color, shape or blink rate or particular combination of the color, shape or blink rate.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein said sending instructions to a corresponding set of a plurality of illumination devices is performed in response to detecting that the agent is approaching or has arrived at the particular inventory area.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

receiving an indication that the inventory operation has been performed at one of the designated inventory locations; and

sending instructions to modify the particular illumination pattern at a next-closest one of one or more remaining designated inventory locations where the inventory operation has not been performed.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein to perform said determining the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed the program instructions are further executable to perform:

determining the other set of the inventory locations at which the inventory operation is to be performed by the other agent at the particular inventory area while said agent is still at the particular inventory area.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

continuing said determining, said assigning and said sending for additional inventory locations and additional agents until an illumination pattern threshold is met, wherein the illumination pattern threshold is a maximum number of illumination patterns;

defaulting, subsequent to meeting the threshold, to said determining without performing said assigning or said sending; and

allocating each of the determined sets of inventory locations that were determined without performing said assigning or said sending to respective additional agents.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

determining another set of inventory locations in another one of the inventory areas separate from the particular inventory area;

assigning another agent to perform an inventory operation at the other set of inventory locations in the other inventory area; and

assigning the particular illumination pattern of the plurality of illumination patterns to both the set of inventory locations and the another set of inventory locations such that the respective agent and other agent are both directed by the particular illumination pattern but in separate, non-overlapping inventory area.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the inventory operation is either a stow operation or a pick operation associated with an item;

and wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform;

instructing a mobile device to display an instruction to perform the stow operation or the pick operation for at least one of the inventory locations of the set such that an agent is directed to perform the inventory operation;

receiving from the mobile device information from a scan performed by the mobile device; and

confirming from analysis of the received information that the inventory operation was performed at the inventory location.