SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ITEM CONSOLIDATION

• US 20180260770A1
• Filed: 03/09/2018
• Published: 09/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramirez, Jeremy C., Solana, Jessica
• Granted Patent: US 10,387,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for improved warehouse operations are provided. A consolidation processor (manual or automatic) establishes a connection to a warehouse management system. The current collection location of the consolidation processor may maybe established either manually or by automatically transmitting their current physical location in a facility to the warehouse management system. The warehouse management system may then direct the consolidation processor to a collection location to collect items for consolidation. This direction may be given based on one or more parameters.

Claims

1. A method of consolidating items from a plurality of consolidation locations, comprising:

receiving information about items at each respective consolidation location, the information including an item priority and an associated customer for each respective item, wherein items associated with different customers are located at the same consolidation location;

receiving location information regarding a location of a consolidation processor;

determining a number of items available for consolidation at each consolidation location in an area around the location of consolidation processor;

determining a distance from the location of the consolidation processor to the consolidation locations with available items;

determining an order priority for each consolidation location based on the item priority of the available items at that consolidation location;

receiving a respective weight for the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location;

determining a priority score based on the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location and the respective weights;

providing instructions to the consolidation processor to proceed to the consolidation location based on the priority score and to scan items at that consolidation location;

receiving information scanned from the items; and

processing the scanned information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the order priority based on an average of the item priorities for the available items at the consolidation location or the maximum priority, depending on the setting in the system

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing instructions to the consolidation processor to select items from the consolidation locations based on the order priority and whether the item completes an order

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing instructions to the consolidation processor to select items from the consolidation locations based on whether the item is the next to last step in completing the order and whether the item is starting an order.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a zone for the consolidation processor based on the location and determining the distance to consolidation locations in that zone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the area is bounded by geographic obstacles.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is entered manually by the consolidation processor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is determined based on at least one of one GPS or Wi-Fi.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising recalculating the order priority after the item is scanned.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidation processor is a robot.

11. A method of consolidating items from a plurality of consolidation locations, comprising:

receiving information about items at each respective consolidation location, the information including an item priority and an associated customer for each respective item, wherein items associated with different customers are located at the same consolidation location;

receiving location information regarding a current location of a consolidation processor;

determining a number of items available for consolidation at each consolidation location in an area around the current location of consolidation processor;

determining a distance from the current location of the consolidation processor to the consolidation locations with available items;

determining an order priority for each consolidation location based on the item priority of the available items at that consolidation location;

receiving a weight for the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location;

determining a priority score based on the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location and the respective weights;

providing instructions to the consolidation processor to proceed to the consolidation location with a highest priority score;

providing instructions to the consolidation processor to scan items at that consolidation location based on whether the item completes an order, whether the item is the next to last step in completing the order and whether the item is starting an order;

receiving information scanned from the items; and

processing the scanned information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the area is bounded by geographic obstacles.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the location is entered manually by the consolidation processor.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the location is determined based on at least one of one GPS or Wi-Fi.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising recalculating the order priority after the item is scanned.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving information about items at each respective consolidation location, the information including an item priority and an associated customer for each respective item, wherein items associated with different customers are located at the same consolidation location;

receiving location information regarding a location of a consolidation processor;

determining a number of items available for consolidation at each consolidation location in an area around the location of consolidation processor;

determining a distance from the location of the consolidation processor to the consolidation locations with available items;

determining an order priority for each consolidation location based on the item priority of the available items at that consolidation location;

receiving a respective weight for the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location;

determining a priority score based on the distance, the order priority of each consolidation location and the number of items available for each consolidation location and the respective weights;

providing instructions to the consolidation processor to proceed to the consolidation location based on the priority score and to scan items at that consolidation location;

receiving information scanned from the items; and

processing the scanned information.