Vehicle inventory management systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10988069-B2
Application number	US-201916406979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2019
Priority date	May 8, 2019
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments described in this disclosure generally pertain to vehicle inventory management systems. In one exemplary embodiment, a bed of rollers includes a first section located in an enclosed cargo area of a delivery vehicle and a second section located in an alcove that is accessible from outside the delivery vehicle. Various items for delivery are placed upon the bed of rollers in the enclosed cargo area. The rollers, which are coupled to servomotors, can be rotated in various directions under control of a computer. The computer activates the rollers for moving items around inside the delivery vehicle. Upon reaching a delivery destination, an item can be moved into the alcove for pickup by a person outside the delivery vehicle. The alcove is configured to allow access to the item by the person outside the delivery vehicle, but prevents access to other items located in the enclosed cargo area.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a computer, a first location of a first item placed upon a first bed of rollers in an enclosed portion of a delivery vehicle; and
activating, by the computer, at least some rollers in the first bed of rollers, to move the first item from the first location in the enclosed portion of the delivery vehicle to an alcove in the delivery vehicle, the alcove accessible through an exterior-facing door, wherein the first location is in a first compartment inside the delivery vehicle, and wherein moving the first item to the alcove in the delivery vehicle comprises:
repositioning, under control of the computer, a first panel that separates the first compartment from a second compartment in the delivery vehicle; and
moving, under control of the computer, the first item from the first compartment to the second compartment after repositioning the first panel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, and wherein moving the first item to the alcove in the autonomous vehicle further comprises:
repositioning, under control of the computer, a second panel that separates the second compartment from a third compartment in the autonomous vehicle; and
moving, under control of the computer, a second item from the second compartment to the third compartment after repositioning the second panel to make room for the first item, wherein the first compartment and second compartment are internal to the vehicle and separate from the alcove.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, and wherein the autonomous vehicle includes a set of compartments, the set of compartments comprising:
a first compartment configured to accommodate the first item, the first compartment including at least a first panel that is repositionable under control of the computer; and
a second compartment configured to accommodate the first item after the first panel is repositioned by the computer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating, by the computer, at least some rollers in the first bed of rollers comprises operating a first servomotor to rotate a first roller in one of at least two directions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first compartment comprises a plurality of panels configured to be repositioned.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, and wherein the alcove includes at least a first exterior-facing door, and wherein the method further comprises:
opening, under control of the computer, the first exterior-facing door to offer access to the first item in the alcove from outside the autonomous vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first exterior-facing door is located in at least one of a rear wall of the autonomous vehicle, a first side wall of the autonomous vehicle, a second side wall of the autonomous vehicle, or a roof of the autonomous vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delivery vehicle further comprises a second bed of rollers located at a first height above the first bed of rollers.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second bed of rollers are configured to be adjusted to a second height above the first bed of rollers.

10. A method comprising:
determining, by a package evaluation apparatus, one or more dimensions of a first item;
providing, by the package evaluation apparatus, to a computer, the one or more dimensions of the first item; and
identifying, by the computer, based on the one or more dimensions of the first item, a first location upon a bed of rollers for storing the first item, the bed of rollers located in an enclosed portion of a delivery vehicle;
detecting, by the computer, a placement of the first item in an alcove in the delivery vehicle, the alcove accessible through an exterior-facing door; and
activating, by the computer, at least some rollers in the bed of rollers, to move the first item from the alcove to the first location in the enclosed portion of the delivery vehicle, wherein the first location is configured as a first compartment for storing the first item, and wherein moving the first item from the alcove to the first location comprises:
under control of the computer, a first panel that separates the first compartment from a second compartment in the enclosed portion of the autonomous vehicle; and
making room for the first item by moving, under control of the computer, a second item stored in the first compartment to the second compartment after repositioning the first panel.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the bed of rollers comprises one or more rollers configured to rotate in one of at least two directions under control of the computer.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein repositioning the first panel comprises moving the first panel out of a path of movement of the second item from the first compartment to the second compartment.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the package evaluation apparatus comprises at least one of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system or a barcode reader, the method further comprising:
determining, by the at least one of the RFID system or the barcode reader, a delivery destination of the first item;
determining, by the computer, a second location upon the bed of rollers for storing the first item while the delivery vehicle is traveling to the delivery destination of the first item; and
activating, by the computer, at least a first roller in the bed of rollers, to move the first item from the first location in the enclosed portion of the delivery vehicle to the second location upon the bed of rollers.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
activating, by the computer, at least a second roller in the bed of rollers, to move the first item from the second location in the enclosed portion of the delivery vehicle to the alcove when the delivery vehicle reaches the delivery destination.

15. A delivery vehicle comprising:
a first bed of rollers that includes a first section located in an enclosed portion of the delivery vehicle and a second section located in a first alcove that is accessible from outside the delivery vehicle through a first exterior-facing door;
at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and
at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to at least:
identify a location of a first item placed upon the first section of the first bed of rollers; and
activate at least some rollers in the first bed of rollers, to move the first item from the location in the first section to the first alcove in the delivery vehicle, wherein the first section of the first bed of rollers comprises:
a first compartment for storing the first item upon the first bed of rollers;
a second compartment for storing a second item upon the first bed of rollers; and
a repositionable first panel located between the first compartment and the second compartment.

16. The delivery vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, and further comprising:
a second bed of rollers that includes a third section located in the enclosed portion of the autonomous vehicle and a fourth section located in a second alcove that is accessible from outside the delivery vehicle through a second exterior-facing door, the second bed of rollers located one of above or below the first bed of rollers in a tiered arrangement.

17. The delivery vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the delivery vehicle is an autono

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Vincent John

Classifications

• B65G13/02

  having driven rollers · CPC title

• B60P1/52 Primary

  using rollers in the load-transporting element · CPC title

• B65G67/24

  Unloading land vehicles · CPC title

• B65G47/46

  and distributing, e.g. automatically, to desired points (in tube mail systems B65G51/36) · CPC title

• B65G67/08

  using endless conveyors · CPC title