Sorting vehicle, goods sorting system, and goods sorting method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12097535-B2
Application number	US-202117920341-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2021
Priority date	Apr 23, 2020
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

Provided are a sorting vehicle, a goods sorting system and a goods sorting method. The sorting vehicle includes a vehicle body, a belt-type conveying mechanism, an enclosing mechanism and a processor. The belt-type conveying mechanism includes a roller-type drive mechanism disposed on the vehicle body and an endless conveyor belt disposed on a roller of the roller-type drive mechanism. The moving direction of the endless conveyor belt is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the vehicle body. The enclosing mechanism is partially or entirely disposed on the endless conveyor belt, and is configured to form at least one enclosing region above the vehicle body. The processor is configured to control the roller-type drive mechanism to drive the endless conveyor belt to move a preset distance to complete unloading of the goods within the enclosing region; and control the roller-type drive mechanism to complete resetting of the enclosing region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A goods sorting system, comprising:
at least one sorting vehicle, wherein each of the at least one sorting vehicle comprises:
a vehicle body;
a belt-type conveying mechanism comprising a roller-type drive mechanism disposed on the vehicle body and an endless conveyor belt disposed on a roller of the roller-type drive mechanism, wherein a moving direction of the endless conveyor belt is perpendicular to a traveling direction of the vehicle body;
an enclosing mechanism partially or entirely disposed on the endless conveyor belt and configured to form at least one enclosing region above the vehicle body to confine goods on part of the endless conveyor belt above the vehicle body; and
a processor configured to control, according to a received unloading signal, the roller-type drive mechanism to drive the endless conveyor belt to move a preset distance so that part or all of one enclosing region of the at least one enclosing region where goods are placed rotates below the roller to complete unloading of the goods within the one enclosing region; and control, according to a received resetting a signal, the roller-type drive mechanism to drive the endless conveyor belt to perform a resetting movement to complete resetting of the one enclosing region;
a transfer line configured to drive the at least one sorting vehicle to travel;
at least one loading region disposed on one side or two sides of the transfer line and configured to load goods on enclosing regions on the at least one sorting vehicle through a loading mechanism;
at least one unloading region disposed on one side or two sides of the transfer line and configured to receive goods unloaded from the at least one sorting vehicle;
at least one code scanning module, wherein each of the at least one code scanning module is disposed above part of the transfer line between one loading region of the at least one loading region and one unloading region of the at least one unloading region closest in front of the one loading region, and configured to generate binding information according to scanned goods identification information and scanned enclosing region identification information; and
a controller configured to control the transfer line to drive the at least one sorting vehicle to travel; in response to determining that the at least one sorting vehicle passes a set loading region among the at least one loading region, control a loading mechanism within the set loading region to place to-be-sorted goods into an enclosing region above a vehicle body of one sorting vehicle; determine a corresponding unloading region of the goods within the enclosing region according to the binding information; send an unloading signal to the one sorting vehicle in response to determining that the one sorting vehicle passes the corresponding unloading region so that the one sorting vehicle unloads the goods within the enclosing region to the corresponding unloading region according to the unloading signal before leaving the corresponding unloading region; and control the one sorting vehicle to complete resetting of the enclosing region before the one sorting vehicle reaches a matching loading region among the at least one loading region.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a resetting camera module disposed above part of the transfer line between one loading region of the at least one loading region and one unloading region of the at least one unloading region closest behind the one loading region, and configured to capture a first top view image of the one sorting vehicle, perform goods identification and enclosing region position calculation according to the first top view image, and send a resetting notification signal to the controller when a goods identification result is that no goods are placed, wherein the resetting notification signal comprises at least a resetting distance corresponding to a current position of the enclosing region;
wherein the controller is further configured to send a resetting signal to a processor of the one sorting vehicle according to the resetting notification signal so that the processor controls, according to the received resetting signal, a roller-type drive mechanism to drive an endless conveyor belt to perform a resetting movement to complete the resetting of the enclosing region.

3. The system according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a tuning camera module disposed above part of the transfer line between the resetting camera module and one loading region of the at least one loading region closest to the resetting camera module, and configured to capture a second top view image of the one sorting vehicle, calculate the current position of the enclosing region according to the second top view image, and send a tuning notification signal to the controller, wherein the tuning notification signal comprises a tuning distance corresponding to the current position of the enclosing region;
wherein the controller is further configured to send a tuning signal to the processor of the one sorting vehicle according to the tuning notification signal so that the processor controls, according to the tuning signal, the roller-type drive mechanism to drive the endless conveyor belt to move the tuning distance to update a resetting position of the enclosing region.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein a color of an enclosing mechanism and a color of the goods are each different from a color of the endless conveyor belt; and
the resetting camera module is configured to perform the goods identification in a following manner:
calculating, in the first top view image, whether a length of a region having a same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism is the same as a stored length of a stopping flange of the enclosing region and whether an area of the region having the same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism is the same as a stored area of the enclosing region, respectively; and
in response to determining that in the first top view image, the length of the region having the same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism is the same as the stored length of the stopping flange of the enclosing region and the area of the region having the same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism is the same as the stored area of the enclosing region, determining that no goods are placed within the enclosing region above the vehicle body of the one sorting vehicle;
in response to determining that in the first top view image, at least one of the following exists: the length of the region having the same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism not being the same as the stored length of the stopping flange of the enclosing region, or the area of the region having the same gray scale as the enclosing mechanism not being the same as the stored area of the enclosing region, determining that goods are placed within the enclosing region above the vehicle body of the one sorting vehicle.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the resetting camera module is configured to determine the resetting distance in a following manner:
positioning at least one stopping flange of the enclosing region in the first top view image; and
determining the resetting distance according to a preset resetting direction, a position of the at least one positioned stopping flange and an expected position of the at least one positioned stopping flange.

6. A goods sorting method, applied to the goods sorting system according to claim 1 and comprising:
controlling the transfer line to drive the at least one sorting vehicle to travel;
in response to determining that the at least one sorting vehicle passes a set loading region, controlling the loading mechanism within the set loading region to place to-be-sorted goods into an enclosing region abo

Assignees

• Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shan Wenjun

Classifications

• B65G17/345

  the surfaces being equipped with a conveyor · CPC title

• B65G2203/041

  Camera · CPC title

• B65G2203/0283

  Position of the load carrier · CPC title

• B65G2203/0208

  relating to the transported articles · CPC title

• B65G47/88

  Separating or stopping elements, e.g. fingers (attached to star-shaped wheels B65G47/84) · CPC title