Systems and methods for optimizing space utilization of containers at retail storage facilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11954641-B2
Application number	US-202318101791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2023
Priority date	Jan 31, 2022
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

Automated storage and retrieval system for managing storage of inventory at a retail facility includes a storage structure with storage locations configured to store containers that contain retail products, and a conveying system that conveys the containers between the storage locations and a product picking station. A computing device analyzes one or more business rules to identify at least two containers that are eligible for the product merging therebetween and causes the conveying system to move these two containers from the storage structure toward a picking station selected by the control circuit. When the two containers identified as product merging eligible arrive at the picking station, these two containers are kept by the conveying system at the picking station until all of the products are removed from a first one of these two containers and merged together with the products stored in a second one of these two containers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automated storage and retrieval system for managing storage of inventory at a retail facility, the system comprising:
a storage structure including a plurality of storage locations configured to store a plurality of containers, each of the containers containing a plurality of products;
a container transport system including at least one conveyor configured to transport the containers between the storage locations and at least one picking station, where one or more products are removed from one or more of the containers;
a control unit operatively coupled to the container transport system and configured to control movement of the at least one conveyor of the container transport system; and
a control circuit communicatively coupled to the control unit, the control circuit being configured to:
analyze at least one business rule governing product merging between the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure to identify at least two containers that are eligible for the product merging therebetween;
analyze the containers being transported by the container transport system and workload at the at least one picking station to determine whether the at least one picking station is available to accommodate the product merging between the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging therebetween;
upon an identification of the at least two containers that are eligible for the product merging therebetween and upon a determination that the at least one picking station is available to accommodate the product merging between the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging therebetween, transmit a first signal to the control unit to cause the container transport system to remove the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging therebetween from their storage locations in the storage structure and to transport the at least two containers removed from their storage locations in the storage structure on the at least one conveyor of the container transport system toward the at least one picking station determined to be available to accommodate the product merging between the at least two containers; and
in response to receipt of a signal from at least one sensor positioned adjacent the at least one picking station, the signal indicating that the at least one sensor detected that the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging arrived at the at least one picking station determined to be available to accommodate the product merging between the at least two containers, transmit a second signal to the control unit to cause the control unit to stop movement of the at least one conveyor of the container transport system to keep the at least two containers that are eligible for the product merging at the at least one picking station until the product merging between the at least two containers is complete.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one business rule governing the product merging between the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure includes at least one of: a total number of the products located within the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure; size dimensions of each of the products located within the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure; a total weight of each of the products located within the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure; pending customer orders associated with the products located within the containers stored at the storage locations in the storage structure; a total number of product transfers required to merge the products between the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging; and a total workload assigned to the at least one picking station.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured, upon the identification by the control circuit of the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging, to transmit a third signal to a computing device including a display to cause the computing device to show on the display a notification to a worker at the at least one picking station, the notification identifying the at least two containers identified as being eligible for the product merging and indicating which of the at least two containers is to be emptied, and which of the at least two containers is to be filled with the products removed from one or more containers that are emptied.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
identify a plurality of groups of the containers that are eligible for the product merging therebetween;
determine a space utilization value for each of the containers in each of the groups, the space utilization value being based on a product fill level percentage of each of the containers;
generate a ranking of the groups, the ranking listing the groups in an order from a highest combined group space utilization value to a lowest combined group space utilization value; and
transmit a third signal to the control unit to cause the at least one conveyor of the container transport system to transport the containers of the group ranked as having the highest combined group space utilization value from the storage structure toward the at least one picking station for the product merging.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine that the at least two containers are eligible for the product merging if:
each of the at least two containers eligible for the product merging has a space utilization value of less than 100%;
the product merging does not result in a space utilization value that exceeds 100% for a first one of the at least two containers eligible for the product merging that is being filled with the products removed from one or more of another of the at least two containers eligible for the product merging; and
a combined weight of the products in the first one of the at least two containers does not exceed a maximum weight permitted by the first one of the at least two containers.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the control circuit is configured to select, for an initial product merging in a group of the containers that are eligible for the product merging therebetween, a container having a highest space utilization value and a container having a lowest space utilization value.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein after the product merging between two containers of a group of product merging eligible containers at the at least one picking station, the control circuit is further configured to determine that one of the containers in the group of the containers is not eligible for further product merging and to remove the one of the containers from the product merging eligible group.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the container transport system further includes:
a main conveyor configured to convey the containers between the storage locations and the at least one picking station; and
a transfer conveyor configured to convey the one of the containers, determined by the control circuit to be not eligible for further product merging and removed from the product merging eligible group, from the at least one picking station to one of the storage structure, an empty container processing station.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the container transport system includes at least one sensor configured to detect a number of the products picked from at least a first one of the at least two containers at the at least one picking station and tran

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Tomar Vivek
• Siew Hew Sam Rei E
• Chakravarthy Sunada S N
• Luo Kaiwen

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• B65G1/1378 Primary

  the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas · CPC title

• B65G1/137

  with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• G06Q10/04

  Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" (market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202) · CPC title