Access point triangulation for task assignment of warehouse employees

• US 20070067200A1
• Filed: 09/19/2005
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Patel, Surilkumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group

Abstract

Systems, methods, and machine-readable media are disclosed to assign one or more tasks to a plurality of warehouse employees. In one embodiment, a method is provided which comprises receiving an order for an item stored in a warehouse. A location of the item in the warehouse can be determined. A current location of each of the warehouse employees can be determined based on a strength of a signal from a wireless device assigned to each of the warehouse employees. The signal can be detected by at least two wireless access points at different location in the warehouse. At least one of the warehouse employees can be selected to fill the order based on the current location of each of the warehouse employees and the locations of the item

Claims

1. A method of assigning one or more tasks to a plurality of warehouse. employees, the method comprising:

receiving an order for an item stored in a warehouse;

determining a location of the item in the warehouse;

determining a current location of each of the warehouse employees based on a strength of a signal from a wireless device assigned to each of the warehouse employees, the signal detected by at least two wireless access points at different location in the warehouse; and

selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order based on the current location of each of the warehouse employees and the locations of the item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a pick task identifying the item to an individual queue associated with the selected warehouse employee, wherein the contents of the queue are viewable by the selected warehouse employee via the wireless device assigned to the selected warehouse employee.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a weighted distance score to each of the warehouse employees based on a distance between the location of the item and the current location of each of the warehouse employees.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining a current workload for each of the warehouse employees based on a number of pending pick tasks assigned to each of the warehouse employees; and

assigning a weighted workload score to each of the warehouse employees based on the current workload for each of the warehouse employees.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted workload score.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees; and

assigning a weighted qualification score to each of the warehouse employees based on the one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees and one or more criteria for handling the item.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted qualification score.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order further comprises determining whether the selected warehouse employee is available based on a time schedule for the selected warehouse employee.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the task has been completed within an allowed time and responsive to determining that the task is not completed and the allowed time has expired, selecting at least one new warehouse employee to fill the order.

11. A machine readable medium having stored thereon a series of instructions which, when executed a processor, cause the processor to assigning one or more tasks to a plurality of warehouse employees by:

receiving an order for an item stored in a warehouse;

determining a location of the item in the warehouse;

determining a current location of each of the warehouse employees based on a strength of a signal from a wireless device assigned to each of the warehouse employees, the signal detected by at least two wireless access points at different location in the warehouse;

selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order based on the current location of each of the warehouse employees and the locations of the item; and

adding a pick task identifying the item to an individual queue associated with the selected warehouse employee, wherein the contents of the queue are viewable by the selected warehouse employee via the wireless device assigned to the selected warehouse employee.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 11, further comprising assigning a weighted distance score to each of the warehouse employees based on a distance between the location of the item and the current location of each of the warehouse employees.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a current workload for each of the warehouse employees based on a number of pending pick tasks assigned to each of the warehouse employees; and

assigning a weighted workload score to each of the warehouse employees based on the current workload for each of the warehouse employees.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted workload score.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

determining one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees; and

assigning a weighted qualification score to each of the warehouse employees based on the one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees and one or more criteria for handling the item.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted qualification score.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order further comprises determining whether the selected warehouse employee is available based on a time schedule for the selected warehouse employee.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 11, further comprising determining whether the task has been completed within an allowed time and responsive to determining that the task is not completed and the allowed time has expired, selecting at least one new warehouse employee to fill the order.

20. A system comprising:

a plurality of wireless access points, each wireless access point positioned at a different location in a warehouse;

a plurality of wireless devices communicatively coupled with the wireless access points, each wireless device assigned to a different warehouse employee;

a warehouse management system communicatively coupled with the wireless access points and comprising a memory containing instructions which, when executed by the warehouse management system, cause the warehouse management system to assign one or more tasks to the plurality of warehouse employees by receiving an order for an item stored in the warehouse, determining a location of the item in the warehouse, determining a current location of each of the warehouse employees based on a strength of a signal from each wireless device as detected by at least two of the wireless access points, selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order based on the current location of each of the warehouse employees and the locations of the item, and adding a pick task identifying the item to an individual queue associated with the selected warehouse employee, wherein the contents of the queue are viewable by the selected warehouse employee via the wireless device assigned to the selected warehouse employee.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the warehouse management system further assigns a weighted distance score to each of the warehouse employees based on a distance between the location of the item and the current location of each of the warehouse employees.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the warehouse management system further:

determines a current workload for each of the warehouse employees based on a number of pending pick tasks assigned to each of the warehouse employees; and

assigns a weighted workload score to each of the warehouse employees based on the current workload for each of the warehouse employees.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted workload score.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the warehouse management system further:

determines one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees; and

assigns a weighted qualification score to each of the warehouse employees based on the one or more qualifications for each of the warehouse employees and one or more criteria for handling the item.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order is based on the weighted distance score and the weighted qualification score.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein selecting at least one of the warehouse employees to fill the order further comprises determining whether the selected warehouse employee is available based on a time schedule for the selected warehouse employee.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein the warehouse management system further:

determines whether the task has been completed within an allowed time and responsive to determining that the task is not completed and the allowed time has expired, selecting at least one new warehouse employee to fill the order.