Position-based item identification in a materials handling facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9741007-B1
Application number	US-201213458942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 27, 2012
Priority date	Aug 18, 2006
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

Positional placement guidelines for storing items in an inventory area may allow determination and tracking of the position of the items in the inventory area. Position information may be associated with each item in a materials handling facility to assist in locating an item in an inventory area. The position information may represent a position relative to the inventory area and/or to the other items therein. Position information may be determined based on a count of items in the inventory area or based on a time stamp corresponding to the time the item was stored in the inventory area. Position information may be presented to an agent to facilitate picking the item with or without descriptive information. Feedback may provide an indication that the position information is incorrect and may trigger a review or a reset of position information for one or more items in the inventory area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a database configured to store a respective position indicator for each item of a plurality of items placed in temporal sequence within a particular inventory area of a plurality of inventory areas in a materials handling facility, wherein the respective position indicator for an item:
comprises a numerical value that is assigned to the item without reference to where the item is placed within the particular inventory area, and that indicates the item's position within the temporal sequence, comprising when, relative to other items currently stored within the particular inventory area, the item is placed within the particular inventory area; and
is associated with a respective product identifier that identifies the item; and

a control system communicatively coupled to the database, wherein the control system is configured to:
in response to receiving information indicating that one or more items of the plurality of items within the particular inventory area have been removed, wherein the one or more items were removed from between two other items of the plurality of items within the particular inventory area, update the store of respective position indicators to a current state that reflects the temporal order in which remaining items of the plurality of items were placed within the particular inventory area;
keep track of the temporal order in which the plurality of items are currently stored within the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas in the materials handling facility based on the numerical values of the respective position indicators currently stored in the database; and
determine a current relative position of a given item stored within the particular inventory area, relative to either a reference position of the particular inventory area or to one or more other items of the plurality of items that are also currently stored within the particular inventory area, based on the numerical value of the current respective position indicator for the given item and on positional placement guidelines that describe how each successive item placed in temporal sequence within the particular inventory area is to be positioned relative to other items previously placed in the particular inventory area;
wherein the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas stores a plurality of dissimilar items; and
wherein the current relative position of the given item is usable to assist in locating the given item within the particular inventory area at least by inserting the current relative position for the given item into an unused field of a message and sending the message to a communication device, wherein the communication device is configured to display the current relative position of the given item relative to the reference position of the particular inventory area or relative to the one or more other items currently stored within the particular inventory area.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
for each item of the plurality of items, the numerical value of the respective position indicator for the item comprises a time stamp value that represents an approximate time at which the item was placed within the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas; and
to update the store of respective position indicators to the current state, the control system is configured to:
for each item added to the plurality of items, add to the store of respective position indicators a respective position indicator comprising a time stamp value representing an approximate time at which the item is added to the plurality of items; and
for each item removed from the plurality of items, disassociate the removed item's respective position indicator from the particular inventory area;

to keep track of the temporal order in which the plurality of items are currently stored, the control system is configured to sort the respective time stamp values from the stored respective position indicators of two or more of the items currently stored within the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas; and
the control system is configured to determine the current relative position of the given item based on the positional placement guidelines and on the position of the given item within the temporal order in which the plurality of items are currently stored.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
for each item of the plurality of items, the numerical value of the respective position indicator for the item comprises an item count value representing when, relative to the other items currently stored within the particular inventory area, the item was placed within the particular inventory area; and
to update the store of respective position indicators to the current state, the control system is configured to:
for each item added to the plurality of items, add to the store of respective position indicators a respective position indicator comprising an incremented item count value representing when, relative to the other items currently stored within the particular inventory area, the item is placed within the particular inventory area; and
for each item removed from the plurality of items, disassociate the removed item's respective position indicator from the particular inventory area and, depending on the position of the removed item relative to certain other items of the plurality of items currently stored within the particular inventory area, decrement the item count value associated with each of the respective position indicators for each of the certain other items; and

the control system is configured to determine the current relative position of the given item based on the positional placement guidelines and on the item count value from the given item's respective position indicator.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform said determining the current relative position of the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance of the given item, in terms of a number of items, relative to the reference position of the particular inventory, which comprises a boundary of the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform said determining the current relative position of the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance of the given item, in terms of a number of items, relative to a marker item in the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform said determining the current relative position of the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance of the given item, in terms of a number of items, relative to a top or bottom of a stack of items currently stored in the particular inventory area.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform said determining the current relative position of the given item, the control system is configured to calculate a distance of the given item, in terms of a number of items, relative to one end of a row of items currently stored in the particular inventory area.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein each item of the plurality of items is placed in temporal sequence within the particular inventory area of the plurality of inventory areas according to one or more positional placement guidelines for positioning the plurality of items within the particular inventory area.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein said one or more positional placement guidelines specify adding an item to an inventory area in a same direction relative to any items already in the inventory area.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
for each item

Assignees

• Rouaix François M
• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Rouaix François M

Classifications

• G06Q10/08 Primary

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

• G06Q20/20

  Point-of-sale [POS] network systems · CPC title

• G06Q30/0639

  Locating goods or services, e.g. based on physical position of the goods or services within a shopping facility · CPC title

• G06Q20/203

  Inventory monitoring · CPC title