Systems and methods for assembling merchandise ordered by customers and subject to multiple retrieval systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12351394-B2
Application number	US-202017618044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2020
Priority date	Jun 20, 2019
Publication date	Jul 8, 2025
Grant date	Jul 8, 2025

Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for assembling merchandise ordered by customers, such as at shopping facilities. In one form, the system includes: a shopping order interface for receiving merchandise orders; a shopping facility including a merchandise pickup area and a merchandise assembly area; an automated retrieval system for transporting merchandise to the assembly area; an automated retrieval inventory database; an offline retrieval inventory database; and a merchandise database containing dimensions of merchandise. The system also includes a control circuit configured to: receive a merchandise order, determine dimensions of the items in the order, determine an arrangement of the items in order containers, instruct retrieval of items by the automated retrieval system; instruct retrieval of a second set of items not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system; and instruct transfer and deposit of the items in the order containers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for assembling merchandise ordered by customers and subject to multiple types of retrieval, the system comprising:
a shopping order interface configured to receive a merchandise order placed by a customer and including a plurality of merchandise items;
a shopping facility comprising a merchandise pickup area configured for pickup of the merchandise order and a merchandise assembly area;
an automated retrieval system configured to retrieve and transport merchandise to the merchandise assembly area;
an automated retrieval inventory database containing a plurality of records of merchandise at the shopping facility, each record of the plurality of records indicating that a corresponding merchandise item is capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
an offline retrieval inventory database containing a plurality of records of merchandise at the shopping facility, each record of the plurality of records indicating that a corresponding merchandise item is not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
a control circuit communicatively coupled to the shopping order interface, the automated retrieval inventory database, and the offline retrieval inventory database, the control circuit configured to:
receive the merchandise order from the shopping order interface;
determine a first set of merchandise items from the automated retrieval inventory database indicated as being retrievable by the automated retrieval system and determine a second set of merchandise items from the offline retrieval inventory database that are indicated as not being retrievable by the automated retrieval system;
instruct retrieval of the first set of merchandise items in the merchandise order that are in the automated retrieval inventory database and capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
instruct transfer and deposit of the first set of merchandise items into one or more order containers;
instruct retrieval of the second set of merchandise items in the merchandise order that are in the offline retrieval inventory database and not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system; and
instruct transfer and deposit of the second set of merchandise items into the one or more order containers.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the shopping facility further comprises a merchandise storage area configured to store merchandise;
the automated retrieval system further comprises:
a plurality of storage containers configured to contain merchandise in the merchandise storage area; and
a transport conveyance configured to transport storage containers between the merchandise storage area and the merchandise assembly area.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the transport conveyance comprises at least one of a conveyor assembly, a robotic arm, a robotic vehicle, or a robotic bot.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the robotic vehicle is an autonomous ground vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
determine if all of the plurality of merchandise items in the merchandise order are in the automated retrieval inventory database, and
allocate the first set to include all of the plurality of merchandise items in the merchandise order and allocate the second set to not include any of the plurality of merchandise items.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
determine completion of transfer and deposit of the first and second sets of merchandise items into the one or more order containers.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the offline retrieval inventory database further contains a plurality of records of merchandise that is not available at the shopping facility but that is available at other shopping facilities; and
the control circuit is configured to instruct retrieval of a subset of the second set of merchandise items that are not available at the shopping facility but that are available at other shopping facilities.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to instruct that transfer and deposit of the first set of merchandise items from the automated retrieval inventory database be performed prior to transfer and deposit of the second set of merchandise items from the offline retrieval inventory database.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the automated retrieval inventory database and the offline retrieval inventory database are part of a single database.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the merchandise pickup area and the merchandise assembly area are in a same physical area of the shopping facility.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
determine dimensions of the plurality of merchandise items in the merchandise order; and
determine an arrangement of the plurality of merchandise items combining the first set and second set in one or more order containers.

12. A method of assembling merchandise ordered by customers and subject to multiple types of retrieval, the method comprising:
by a shopping order interface, receiving a merchandise order placed by a customer and including a plurality of merchandise items;
providing a shopping facility comprising a merchandise pickup area configured for pickup of the merchandise order and a merchandise assembly area;
by an automated retrieval system, retrieving and transporting merchandise to the merchandise assembly area;
storing in an automated retrieval inventory database a plurality of records of merchandise at the shopping facility, each record of the plurality of records indicating that a corresponding merchandise item is capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
storing in an offline retrieval inventory database a plurality of records of merchandise at the shopping facility, each record of the plurality of records indicating that a corresponding merchandise item is not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
by a control circuit:
receiving the merchandise order from the shopping order interface;
determining a first set of merchandise items from the automated retrieval inventory database indicated as being retrievable by the automated retrieval system and determining a second set of merchandise items from the offline retrieval inventory database that are indicated as not being retrievable by the automated retrieval system;
instructing retrieval of the first set of merchandise items in the merchandise order that are in the automated retrieval inventory database and capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system;
instructing transfer and deposit of the first set of merchandise items into one or more order containers;
instructing retrieval of the second set of merchandise items in the merchandise order that are in the offline retrieval inventory database and not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system; and
instructing transfer and deposit of the second set of merchandise items into the one or more order containers.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the shopping facility further comprises a merchandise storage area configured to store merchandise;
the automated retrieval system further comprises:
a plurality of storage containers configured to contain merchandise in the merchandise storage area; and
a transport conveyance configured to transport storage containers between the merchandise storage area and the merchandise assembly area.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the transport conveyance comprises at least one of a conveyor assembly, a robotic arm, a robotic vehicle, or a robotic bot

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Roth Brian C
• Durkee Paul E

Classifications

• G06Q10/087

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

• B65G2209/10

  Partial order forming · CPC title

• B65G2201/0258

  Trays, totes or bins · CPC title

• G06Q30/06

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• B65G1/1378 Primary

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