JP6274704B2 - Delivery preparation device and delivery preparation method for goods to the same delivery destination - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a delivery preparation apparatus and a delivery preparation for an article to the same delivery destination, in which a single or a plurality of articles to the same delivery destination are collected and the collected single or a plurality of products are ready for delivery to the delivery destination. Regarding the method.

  In recent years, Internet shopping is prosperous. From the style in which a customer directly visits a conventional store (such as a supermarket or department store) to purchase and take a product, the customer orders the product on the Internet and makes an electronic payment. Even in such Internet shopping, the ordered / settled product needs to be delivered to the purchaser.

  Actual delivery is performed by a delivery company or a distributor. However, the ordered / settled merchandise is prepared at an internet shopping vendor. Products are prepared at the seller and delivered to a delivery company or distributor, and the ordered / settled product is delivered to the purchaser. The same applies to not only Internet shopping but also mail order and order sales. The seller needs to be able to deliver the ordered product or products for each purchase destination of the purchaser.

  In addition to merchandise purchases by general consumers, goods are often delivered from factories and article warehouses to traders and stores (which are also customers). Also in this case, it is necessary to collect articles (products) to be delivered to a delivery destination trader or store, and to make the articles deliverable for each delivery destination.

  As described above, there is a large number in the distribution society where it is necessary to make one or a plurality of articles ready to be delivered to the same delivery destination.

  Here, in order to improve the efficiency and cost of delivery, it is necessary to collect and deliver the articles to be delivered to the same delivery destination. For example, it is assumed that an article A, an article B, an article C, and an article D are ordered by a customer at a certain delivery destination. In this case, if the article A, the article B, the article C, and the article D are delivered in different delivery units, the delivery cost is quadrupled. Of course, the delivery efficiency at the delivery company is poor, and the customer who receives the goods will receive the ordered goods separately instead of collectively. For this reason, it is preferable that an article management center such as a distributor can deliver a plurality of articles ordered from customers of the same delivery destination in a state where they are collected into one delivery unit. In this example, it is necessary that the article A, the article B, the article C, and the article D be in a state where they can be delivered in a state where they are collected in one delivery container, for example.

  On the other hand, there are a great variety of articles handled by the article management center, and the number thereof is enormous. For such a vast variety and number of items, customers place a wide variety of orders. Each of the article A, the article B, the article C, and the article D in the example described above is often an entirely different kind of article. For example, the article A is a CD, the article B is a notebook, the article C is a dictionary, and the article D is a DVD. The article management center cannot efficiently store a large variety of articles including these in a collective manner. In many cases, a plurality of products are classified and managed for each category. In this example, the articles A and D are classified and managed as a media-related first category, the article B as a stationery-related second category, and the article C as a book-related third category. Of course, the same applies to other articles. It is classified and managed in the fourth category and the fifth category.

  In the goods management center, in response to the customer's order, each ordered article is extracted from each category that is classified and managed, and all the goods ordered by the customer can be delivered together And Here, all of the articles A to D are extracted from each of the first category to the third category and combined into one delivery unit. Since the articles A to D are articles of the same delivery destination, the delivery efficiency can be improved and the delivery cost can be reduced by grouping them into one delivery unit.

  In such an article management center, several methods are used for collecting articles to the same delivery destination.

  As the simplest method, multiple article categories are connected sequentially, and necessary articles are extracted in order from each category, and finally all necessary articles are collected in the same delivery destination. There is a sequential method. For example, the articles A and D are first extracted in the first category. The extracted article A and article D are put in a basket or the like by human power or a machine and are made to wait at a standby place connected to the next second category. When the second category of articles can be extracted, the second category of articles B is put in the car at the waiting place.

  Next, the car containing the articles A, B, and D is moved to a standby place connected to the third category, which is the next stage, and is made to wait. When the item in the third category can be extracted, the item C in the third category is put in the car in the waiting place. In this way, all the articles A to D, which are a plurality of articles delivered to the same delivery destination, are put in the car. This car is moved through another category of waiting area to a delivery location where delivery is possible. In this way, delivery to a certain delivery destination becomes possible. In the sequential method, a plurality of categories are arranged in a permutation, and a plurality of articles to be delivered to the same delivery destination are arranged through the categories arranged in the permutation.

  There is also a parallel system.

  In the parallel method, a plurality of categories are installed in parallel. Necessary articles are extracted from the plurality of categories installed in parallel and collected in a common gathering place. For example, the articles A to D to the same delivery destination are extracted from a plurality of categories installed in parallel and collected at the gathering place. However, since other articles to other delivery destinations are also collected at the gathering place, the articles A to D to the delivery destination immediately at the gathering place are not in a state of being collected.

  Actually, at the gathering place, there are stack lanes or the like according to the direction of the delivery destination, and by extracting the articles A to D stacked in a certain stack lane, all of the articles A to D are prepared. Is ready for delivery. Similar to the sequential method, the articles A to D to the same delivery destination are collected and can be delivered.

  Here, there is also a proposal in which an automatic warehouse is used to sort articles in the stack lane at this gathering place. Several techniques have been proposed for this automatic warehouse (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-46242 A

  The sequential method has an advantage that the correspondence between the work procedure and the configuration of the article management center is easy to understand. However, since the categories are connected sequentially, if the number of categories increases as the number of types of products increases, there is a problem that the required area of the article management center increases. Furthermore, when the number of categories increases, there is a problem that a large number of waiting places are required for each category. Further, when the next category of items is extracted while waiting at the waiting place, there may be a mistake that the items in the car fall or enter another car while waiting.

  In addition, in a plurality of categories connected sequentially, the number of articles extracted in the downstream category increases, and there is a problem that it is difficult to secure a waiting place. In particular, when the number of categories increases, there is a problem that it is difficult to handle.

  In the parallel method, there is a difficulty in processing at a gathering place where articles extracted from categories installed in parallel gather. Since articles to a plurality of different delivery destinations gather at the gathering place, there is a problem that a large gathering place is required. In addition, there is a problem that requires a human work for collecting a plurality of articles gathered at the gathering place corresponding to the same delivery destination. If it is a human work, there is a problem of making mistakes as a matter of course.

  Alternatively, it is also conceivable to apply an automatic warehouse proposed in Patent Document 1 in order to automate human work at the meeting place. The automatic warehouse has a number of rows in the shelf, and the stacker crane automatically distributes articles to the same delivery destination for each row corresponding to the delivery destination. By this automatic distribution, the automatic warehouse can group a plurality of articles to the same delivery destination.

  However, there is a problem in that the size of the automatic warehouse becomes large when the number of delivery destinations is very large even when the columns of the automatic warehouse correspond to the delivery destinations. In addition, if the automatic warehouse is large, there is a problem that it takes time to distribute by the stacker crane. To shorten it, it is necessary to apply various mechanical means such as improving the performance of the stacker crane and dividing the automatic warehouse. However, this mechanical means increases the cost and increases the necessary area of the article management center.

  Conventional delivery preparation apparatuses and delivery preparation methods focus on constructing a delivery unit in which a plurality of articles are collected. In other words, the focus is on reducing the time required to create a delivery unit. From this point of view, various problems arise in the process of extracting articles from the category and reaching the gathering place, which is the stage before creating the delivery unit. For example, there is a problem that the extraction of the articles from the category has to be stopped, causing a delay in the article extraction work. The article extraction work is often performed by human work, and there is a problem of reducing the work efficiency of the worker in this work process.

  In view of solving these problems and increasing the processing speed in the extraction of articles from a category (that is, the previous stage until they are grouped into a delivery unit), the present invention reliably prepares the delivery of articles to the same delivery destination. It is an object of the present invention to provide a delivery preparation apparatus and a delivery preparation method for an article to a delivery destination that is improved in efficiency.

In view of the above problems, the delivery preparation device for articles to the same delivery destination according to the present invention includes a storage unit in which a plurality of articles taken out from at least a part of a plurality of different article categories are stored,
A reading unit that reads information of a plurality of articles received in the warehousing unit;
A circulation line for circulating a plurality of articles;
A plurality of standby lanes that are connected to the circulation line and distribute and wait for a plurality of articles that have been circulated according to a predetermined rule based on the delivery destination area;
A sending lane that receives and sends out at least a part of the articles that the waiting lane waits from at least one of the plurality of waiting lanes;
Out of a plurality of articles sent out from the sending lane, a delivery unit for delivering goods in a deliverable state;
A return lane for returning a non-deliverable item to a circulation lane among a plurality of items sent out from the sending lane;
A branching unit connected to the sending lane and branching between the shipping unit and the return lane;
Discharging operation for discharging at least a part of the articles to be waited by the waiting lane, enabling determination operation for determining that the article that has been sent out from the sending lane and has reached the branching section is in a deliverable state, and has reached the branching section after being sent out from the sending lane A control unit that performs at least a part of an impossibility determination operation for determining an article as being undeliverable,
The deliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have reached the route from the warehousing part to the branching part,
The undeliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have not reached the route from the warehousing part to the branching part.

  In the delivery preparation apparatus for articles to the delivery destination according to the present invention, the products extracted from the category are gathered to the same delivery destination while circulating without interruption. For this reason, it can reduce that the extraction operation of the goods in a category is interrupted or the processing speed has to be changed.

  As a result, the processing amount and the processing speed can be increased while being constant, so that the collection and delivery work at the article management center can be made more efficient.

  In addition, even when items other than the same delivery destination are discharged from the standby lane when collecting them to the same delivery destination, unnecessary articles are circulated again, and only necessary articles can be delivered. For this reason, the number of waiting lanes can be minimized. Of course, there is an advantage that selection of articles from the standby lane to the same delivery destination is automated.

It is a schematic diagram of the delivery preparation apparatus by the sequential system as a reference technique. It is a schematic diagram of the delivery preparation apparatus of the parallel system as reference technique. It is a schematic diagram of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the article category in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram of the operation | movement 2 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The state in which this article is distributed is shown. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of operation 3 of the delivery preparation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement 4 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement 5 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the pattern 1 of the operation | movement in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the pattern 1 of the operation | movement No. 5 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the pattern 2 of the operation | movement No. 5 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the pattern 2 of the operation | movement No. 5 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement by the pattern 2 of the operation | movement part 5 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement 6 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement 6 of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the delivery preparation apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention.

An apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to a delivery destination according to the first invention of the present invention is a storage unit for receiving a plurality of articles taken out from at least a part of a plurality of different article categories;
A reading unit that reads information of a plurality of articles received in the warehousing unit;
A circulation line for circulating a plurality of articles;
A plurality of standby lanes that are connected to the circulation line and distribute and wait for a plurality of articles that have been circulated according to a predetermined rule based on the delivery destination area;
A sending lane that receives and sends out at least a part of the articles that the waiting lane waits from at least one of the plurality of waiting lanes;
Out of a plurality of articles sent out from the sending lane, a delivery unit for delivering goods in a deliverable state;
A return lane for returning a non-deliverable item to a circulation lane among a plurality of items sent out from the sending lane;
A branching unit connected to the sending lane and branching between the shipping unit and the return lane;
Discharging operation for discharging at least a part of the articles to be waited by the waiting lane, enabling determination operation for determining that the article that has been sent out from the sending lane and has reached the branching section is in a deliverable state, and has reached the branching section after being sent out from the sending lane A control unit that performs at least a part of a function of determining an undeliverable state of an article, a function of controlling the article sent from the return lane and the warehousing unit and sending the article to the circulation lane,
The deliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have reached the route from the warehousing part to the branching part,
The undeliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have not reached the route from the warehousing part to the branching part.

  With this configuration, the delivery preparation device can perform delivery while aligning articles to the same delivery destination while maintaining speeding up and equalization of the receipt cycle of articles to be received.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first invention, the information includes the delivery destination, the address, the number of articles to the same delivery destination within a predetermined order range, and a predetermined number. It includes at least one of instructions indicating that it is a final article to the same delivery destination in the order range.

  With this configuration, the reading unit and the control unit can identify various pieces of information on the article and obtain a material for determining a deliverable state or a non-deliverable state.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the third invention of the present invention, in addition to the first or second invention, at least one of the warehousing unit, the traveling lane, the standby lane, the sending lane, and the return lane is , Composed of line members or conveyor members.

  With this configuration, the delivery preparation device can automatically move the article.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the fourth invention of the present invention, in addition to the third invention, the plurality of articles are a storage section, a circulation lane, a waiting lane, which is constituted by a line member or a conveyor member. , Moved over at least one of the send lane and the return lane.

  With this configuration, the article can be moved automatically.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the fifth invention of the present invention, in addition to any of the first to fourth inventions, each of the plurality of article categories is a single item classified according to a predetermined rule or A plurality of articles are stocked, and one or a plurality of articles to the same delivery destination ordered in a predetermined order range are taken out from at least one of the plurality of article categories and are received in the receiving section.

  With this configuration, an article can be easily picked up.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the sixth invention of the present invention, in addition to any of the first to fifth inventions, the predetermined order range includes the same ordering work by the customer who is the same delivery destination. The control unit determines that it is in a deliverable state when all the articles in the range in which the order has been completed have reached the path from the storage unit to the branching unit.

  With this configuration, the delivery preparation device can prepare for delivery of all articles ordered in one settlement as one shipping unit.

  In addition to the sixth invention, in the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the seventh invention of the present invention, in addition to the sixth invention, the instruction information of the same delivery destination ordered is assigned to each of all articles, Of these, the article that is finally received in the warehousing section has information that is the final article.

  With this configuration, the control unit can grasp that all articles to the same delivery destination have entered the main body area.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the eighth invention of the present invention, in addition to the seventh invention, when the reading unit reads the final article, the control unit Of the plurality of standby lanes, the same delivery destination article is discharged from the standby lane in which the same delivery destination article is waiting (hereinafter referred to as “same delivery destination article standby lane”) to the delivery lane.

  With this configuration, the delivery preparation device can send the article to the branching unit with fewer steps.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the ninth invention of the present invention, in addition to the seventh invention, when the reading unit reads the final article, the final article is distributed to the standby lane. The control unit discharges the articles of the same delivery destination from the standby lanes waiting for the articles of the same delivery destination among the plurality of waiting lanes (hereinafter referred to as “the same delivery destination article standby lane”) to the sending lane. .

  With this configuration, the delivery preparation device can reduce the number of articles determined by the branching unit and issue articles in a deliverable state.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the tenth invention of the present invention, in addition to the eighth or ninth invention, the same delivery destination article standby lane is separately delivered before or between the articles of the same delivery destination. When waiting for the previous article, the same delivery destination article standby lane discharges the other delivery destination article together with the same delivery destination article to the delivery lane.

  According to this configuration, while reducing the waiting time in the standby lane, it is possible to distribute the article to the same delivery destination by separating the article that can be delivered and the article that cannot be delivered by the branching unit.

  According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the tenth aspect, in addition to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the article of another delivery destination discharged to the delivery lane is an undeliverable article at the branching section. It is judged and sent to the return lane separately from the deliverable article.

  With this configuration, it is possible to allow items other than the same delivery destination to be discharged from the standby lane to the sending lane. As a result, the waiting lane can be prevented from becoming full.

  In the device for preparing a delivery of an article to a delivery destination according to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the tenth invention, the control unit may include a case where the same delivery destination article that has reached the branching section does not include the final article. The same delivery destination article is sent to the return lane.

  With this configuration, an article that cannot be shipped is returned to the procedure until it can be shipped again.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the thirteenth invention of the present invention, in addition to any of the eighth to eleventh inventions, the control unit delivers the same delivery discharged from the same delivery destination article standby lane When the preceding article and the final article reach the branch section, all these articles are sent to the exit section.

  With this configuration, the goods are delivered to the delivery part only after all articles to the same delivery destination are prepared.

  In the delivery preparation device for articles to the delivery destination according to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in addition to any one of the first to thirteenth inventions, articles to the same delivery destination delivered from the delivery section are packed. Delivered to the destination.

  With this configuration, articles to the same delivery destination are actually delivered.

  In the device for preparing a delivery of goods to a delivery destination according to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in addition to any one of the first to fourteenth inventions, the undeliverable product sent to the return lane can It goes around and is distributed to the waiting lane.

  With this configuration, the cycle until the delivery becomes possible is repeated.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  (Embodiment 1)

(Reference technology 1: Sequential method)
First, a conventional sequential method will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a delivery preparation apparatus using a sequential method as a reference technique. In the sequential method of FIG. 1, a plurality of article categories are provided, and ordered articles to a certain delivery destination are delivered while being collected in a cart.

  The sequential delivery preparation apparatus of FIG. 1 includes a plurality of article categories, but for the convenience of illustration, the first article category to the third article category are shown. Each of the first article category to the third article category corresponds to a category in which various articles ordered through mail order, wholesale, Internet shopping, and the like are classified based on a predetermined rule. For example, the first article category is stationery, the second article category is music media, and the third article category is a printer member.

  In response to an order from a certain delivery destination (orderer), the delivery preparation device sequentially picks up the ordered item or items from the first product category to the last product category, and sends them to the same delivery destination. Prepare all items to be delivered. When all the articles are ready, delivery is possible.

  In FIG. 1, the description will be made on the assumption that an orderer X orders an article A, an article B, an article C, and an article D for explanation. By arranging all of the articles A to D, it is possible to ship the articles A to D which are the ordered articles to the orderer X. Here, the article A and the article D are included in the first article category. Article B is included in the second article category. Article C is included in the third article category.

  Each of the first article category to the third article category requires a physical area for storing articles, moving a cart, and waiting. For this reason, for example in a large warehouse, the 1st article category-the 3rd article category are constituted.

  In the delivery preparation device, for example, while the cart sequentially moves the article category, the articles A to D ordered by the orderer X are picked up, and a deliverable state is created. First, in the first product category, product A and product D are picked up and placed in a cart. The cart on which the article A and the article B are placed is waited at the first waiting place in the area of the first article category. This is to wait at the first waiting place until the work in the second article category becomes possible.

  When an item can be picked up in the second item category, the cart is moved from the first standby location to the second item category region. The cart may be moved manually or automatically. In the second item category, item B is picked up and added to the cart. The cart carrying the article A, the article B, and the article D waits at the second standby place.

  When an item can be picked up in the third item category, the cart moves from the second standby location to the region of the third item category. In the third item category, item C is picked up and added to the cart. As a result, the cart has all the articles A to D, which are all the articles ordered by the orderer X.

  In this state, the articles placed on the cart are ready for delivery. It is packed as necessary and shipped to the orderer X.

  The sequential method picks up articles to the same delivery destination while the cart sequentially moves in the article category. For this reason, there are cases where all of the article categories are moved, which takes time. In addition, when moving beyond the article category, it may be necessary to wait for a long time at the standby place depending on the congestion status of the destination. As a result, it takes a very long time to create a deliverable state. When the number of orderers increases or the number of articles increases, it is an inappropriate delivery preparation device.

  In addition, there are many scenes where a large number of carts according to the number of orderers wait in the waiting place. Furthermore, in a standby state, an error such as an article dropping from a cart or being mixed into another cart may occur, leading to a problem that accurate shipping to the orderer cannot be performed.

(Reference technology 2: Parallel system)
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a parallel delivery preparation apparatus as a reference technique. Similar to the sequential method of FIG. 1, a plurality of article categories are provided in which articles are classified according to a predetermined rule. In FIG. 2, for the convenience of illustration, the first article category to the third article category are shown. Here, as in the case of FIG. 1, the description will be made on the assumption that the orderer X orders the articles A to D.

  In the parallel system, the first article category, the second article category, and the third article category are installed in parallel. The articles A to D ordered by the orderer X are picked up from the article categories installed in parallel. From the first article category, article A and article D are picked up by the cart, from the second article category, article B is picked up by the cart, and from the third article category, article C is picked up by the cart.

  Carts from each item category reach the gathering location in parallel. The meeting place has a plurality of lanes (lanes A to D are shown). Each of the lane A to the lane D is classified by, for example, a delivery destination. The articles A to D carried by the three carts are placed in a lane (lane B in FIG. 2) corresponding to the delivery destination of the orderer X. At this time, the articles of other orderers also arrive at the gathering place, and therefore, articles A to D are not necessarily arranged in line in lane B. In FIG. 2, articles A to D are in a state of being placed apart in lane B.

  The articles A to D are taken out from the lane B and are ready for delivery.

  Here, in the case of the parallel system, unlike the sequential system, the retrieval from the article category by the cart can be shortened. However, because the lane is full at the gathering location, it may take time because the picked-up article is left on the lane without being placed on the lane. Alternatively, a certain lane is full, and an item of the same delivery destination is placed in a different lane, and a delivery error may occur.

(Overview)
An overall outline of the delivery preparation device in the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the delivery preparation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The delivery preparation device 1 is installed in a warehouse where a plurality of article categories are provided. The plurality of article categories are prepared in the previous stage of the delivery preparation apparatus 1, and the meaning of the article category is the same as that of the sequential method or the parallel method.

  The delivery preparation apparatus 1 includes a warehousing unit 2, a reading unit 3, a patrol line 4, a waiting lane 5, a sending lane 6, a leaving unit 8, a return lane 9, a branching unit 7, and a control unit 10. As an overall structure, a circulation line 4 is connected from the warehousing unit 2 via the reading unit 3, and a standby lane 5 intersecting with the circulation line 4 is connected to the circulation line 4 near the end of the circulation line 4. The sending lane 6 is connected to the front end of the waiting lane 5. The delivery lane 6 can move the article in a direction intersecting the standby lane 5, and a branching unit 7 is provided at the destination. One of the branching parts 7 branches to the shipping part 8 and the other branches to the return lane 9. In other words, the shipping unit 8 and the return lane 9 are branched from the branching unit 7.

  The control unit 10 performs a discharge operation for discharging at least a part of the articles that the standby lane 5 waits, a determination operation for determining that an article that has been delivered from the delivery lane 6 and reaches the branching unit 7 is in a deliverable state, and the delivery lane 6. Is performed, and at least a part of the impossibility determination operation for determining that the article that has reached the branching unit 7 is in an undeliverable state is performed. In addition, it has a function of controlling articles sent from the return lane 9 and the warehousing unit 2 and sending them to the circulation line 4.

  For this reason, the control part 10 should just be provided in the position which can output the instruction | indication signal to each element of the delivery preparation apparatus 1. FIG. In FIG. 3 and the like, a state where the control unit 10 is provided at a conceptual position is shown. In the actual delivery preparation device 1, for example, the control unit 10 may be provided in the warehousing unit 2 or the branching unit 7, or the control unit 10 may be provided in a part of the circulation line 4. The same applies to the case described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3 etc., since the control part 10 can output the instruction | indication signal to each element, the arrow is shown from the control part 10 in multiple directions. These arrows indicate a state in which the control unit 10 outputs an instruction signal to each element.

  Moreover, the reading part 3 should just be provided after the confluence | merging part of the warehousing part 2 and the return lane 9, and should just read the information of the goods to enter. As shown in FIG. 3, the reading unit 3 may also be provided in the branching unit 7. This is because the reading unit 3 provided in the branching unit 7 can read the information on the article passing through the branching unit 7.

  The same applies to the case described with reference to the drawings other than FIG. Note that the warehousing unit 2 can have both new articles to be received and articles to be received via the return lane 9.

  The return lane 9 is connected to the circulation line 4 via the reading unit 3. With such a structure, the delivery preparation apparatus 1 is connected to the circulation path 4 from the storage section 2 to the standby lane 5, the connection path from the standby lane 5 to the branch section 7, and the circulation line 4 from the branch section 7 through the return lane 9. A connection path is formed. As shown in FIG. 3, a moving path for articles that circulate as a whole is formed.

  Unlike the sequential method and the parallel method, the delivery preparation device 1 moves all the ordered items to the same delivery destination as the orderer, while the orderer's items received in the warehousing unit 2 are moved by patrol. Can be aligned. During this patrol period, no manpower is required, and all articles to the same delivery destination can be prepared by only a combination of patrol and standby. As described above, the delivery preparation device 1 can prevent a large waiting time in the middle and mistakes when aligning articles like the sequential method and the parallel method due to the above-described structure.

  A plurality of articles taken out from at least a part of a plurality of different article categories are received in the storage unit 2. Here, an article ordered by a certain orderer X (again, articles A to D are defined as articles ordered by the orderer X) and articles from other orderers are randomly received in the receipt unit 2. To do. Since the warehousing part 2 is connected to the circulation line 4 as it is, the articles received in the warehousing part 2 flow into the circulation line 4 as they are.

  The reading unit 3 reads information on an article received in the warehousing unit 2. Various information storage media such as a barcode, QR code (registered trademark), encryption code, POS code, and RF-ID are attached to the article, and the reading unit 3 reads information from these information storage media. .

  The information includes at least one of a delivery destination of the article, an address, the number of articles to the same delivery destination within a predetermined order range, and an instruction that the product is a final article to the same delivery destination within a predetermined order range. The reading unit 3 can identify the delivery destination and address of the article received in the warehousing unit 2 by reading out the information. In other words, it is possible to identify the delivery destination and address of the article that has flowed into the circulation line 4 through the warehousing unit 2 and the branching unit 7.

  Each item is also given instruction information of the same delivery destination that has been ordered. Of all the articles at the same delivery destination, the information that is the final article is attached to the article that is finally received in the storage unit 2. With this information, the reading unit 3 and the control unit 10 can identify the last of the articles to the same delivery destination in one or a plurality of articles stored in the storage unit 2.

  The reading unit 3 outputs the read information to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 controls operations in various elements of the delivery preparation device 1. For example, the control unit 10 performs a discharge operation for discharging at least a part of the articles that the standby lane 5 waits, a determination operation for determining that an article that has been sent out from the delivery lane 6 and has reached the branch unit 7 is in a deliverable state, and a delivery. At least one of the impossibility determination operations for determining that an article that has been sent out from the lane 6 and has reached the branching section 7 is in a delivery impossible state is performed.

  Here, the deliverable state is a state in which all articles destined for the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have reached the route from the storage unit 2 to the branching unit 7. On the other hand, the undeliverable state is a state in which all of the articles destined for the same delivery destination ordered within the predetermined order range have not reached the route from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7.

  For this reason, the control unit 10 transfers from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7 when any item (for example, any of the items A to D here) reaches the branching unit 7. If all the remaining articles have arrived in the route, it is determined that the articles A to D to the same delivery destination are in a deliverable state. Alternatively, the control unit 10 is in a deliverable state together with the remaining items existing in the waiting lane 5 or the like when the last item of the items A to D to the same delivery destination is received in the receiving unit 2. You may judge.

  Alternatively, in a state where any of the articles A to D to the same delivery destination is waiting in the standby lane 5, by confirming the articles in the route from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7, the control unit 10 It may be determined that the delivery is possible.

  In the case other than the deliverable state, the control unit 10 determines that the delivery is impossible.

  The predetermined order range is a range in which a customer (orderer X) serving as the same delivery destination completes an order regarded as the same order work. For example, the range in which the orderer X purchases and settles one or a plurality of articles at an Internet sales site or the like is the predetermined order range (of course, the predetermined order range may be defined by other criteria). The delivery preparation device 1 prepares all the ordered items (articles A to D) of the orderer X ordered in the predetermined order range and enables the delivery.

  The circulation line 4 is connected to the warehousing unit 2 and circulates articles received from the warehousing unit 2. The circuit line 4 moves the article according to the arrow B. The circuit line may be formed of a member that can move an article such as a belt conveyor.

  The standby lane 5 is provided in the vicinity of the end of the circuit line 4 so as to intersect the moving direction of the circuit line 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of standby lanes 5 are provided side by side in a direction that intersects the moving direction of the circulation line 4. Of course, it does not have to be parallel. In FIG. 3, standby lanes 5A to 5D are provided.

  The waiting lane 5 distributes and waits for the articles that have circulated around the circulation line 4 under predetermined conditions based on the delivery destination. For example, each of the standby lanes 5A to 5D is a different standby lane under a predetermined condition based on the delivery destination. Information such as the delivery destination of the article that reaches the position of the waiting lane 5 is read by the reading unit 3 and is grasped by the control unit 10 as it is. For this reason, according to the instruction | indication of the control part 10, the articles | goods which circulated the circulation lane 4 are distributed to either of the waiting lanes 5A-5D corresponding to a predetermined condition.

  For example, the standby lane 5A waits for an article for the A area, the standby lane 5B waits for an article for the B area, the standby lane 5C waits for an article for the C area, and the standby lane 5D Wait for the goods to be directed. In addition, the articles may be distributed to the waiting lanes 5A to 5D under predetermined conditions including conditions based on other criteria as well as areas. The control unit 10 distributes the articles that have moved on the circulation line 4 to any one of the plurality of standby lanes 5A to 5D under such a predetermined condition. An arrow C is an article moving path from the circulation line 4 to the standby lane 5.

  The waiting lane 5 waits for the distributed article. At this time, the standby lane 5 keeps the article on standby until the controller 10 instructs to discharge.

  When there is a possibility that articles to be delivered to the same delivery destination are prepared, the control unit 10 instructs the standby lane 5 waiting for the article to the same delivery destination to discharge the article. The standby lane 5 that has received the discharge instruction discharges the article to the delivery lane 6. Arrow D indicates the discharge direction of the article.

  The delivery lane 6 moves the article along the arrow E. A branching unit 7 is provided at the destination of the sending lane 6.

  When the article moved in the delivery lane 6 arrives at the branching unit 7, the control unit 10 determines whether the article is in a deliverable state or a non-deliverable state. That is, the control unit 10 performs a possible determination operation and an impossible determination operation. In addition to the timing when the article arrives at the branching section 7, the control section 10 can deliver at other timings such as the timing when the article arrives at the warehousing section 2 and the timing when the article is put on standby in the standby lane 5. As described above, the state or the undeliverable state may be determined. The same applies to the following.

  Here, the deliverable state is a state in which all of the articles destined for the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range have reached the path from the storage unit 2 to the branching unit 7. The undeliverable state is a state in which all the articles destined for the same delivery destination ordered within the predetermined order range have not reached the route from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7.

  When the control unit 10 determines that the article that has reached the branching unit 7 from the delivery lane 6 is in a deliverable state, the control unit 10 sends the article to the unloading unit 8. A delivery lane 81 is connected to the delivery unit 8, and the article moves along the arrow F in the delivery lane 81 and reaches the delivery unit 8. Articles that have arrived at the exit unit 8 are packed and shipped to a delivery destination.

  On the other hand, when the control unit 10 determines that the article that has reached the branching unit 7 from the delivery lane 6 is in a delivery impossible state, the control unit 10 sends the article to the return lane 9. The return lane 9 returns the undeliverable article along the arrow G to the circulation line 4.

  Here, when a plurality of articles arrive at the branching section 7, only the articles (single or plural) corresponding to the same delivery destination among the plurality of articles are sent to the unloading section 8 as a deliverable state. Among a plurality of articles, articles other than the same delivery destination are sent to the return lane 9 as a delivery impossible state.

  In this way, even when goods to various delivery destinations are randomly received in the warehousing unit 2, distribution in the standby lane 5, discharge from the standby lane 5 to the sending lane 6, and delivery in the branching unit 7 are possible. The goods can be delivered efficiently and automatically by leaving the goods based on the judgment of the state and the undeliverable state and automatically returning the undeliverable state articles to the original circulation line 4 and reaching the waiting lane 5 again. Can be. In particular, since articles can be stored in accordance with the traveling speed of the traveling line 4, the storage speed of articles per unit time can be increased and made constant. For this reason, the speed of picking up articles from the article category area can also be increased and fixed.

  Here, at least one of the warehousing unit 2, the traveling lane 4, the standby lane 5, the sending lane 6, and the return lane 9 is configured by a line member or a conveyor member. For this reason, the plurality of articles received in the storage unit 2 are moved on at least one of the circulation lane 4, the waiting lane 5, the delivery lane 6, and the return lane 9 constituted by a line member or a conveyor member.

  Next, the operation procedure of the delivery preparation device 1 will be described.

(Part 1: Pickup from goods category)
A plurality of article categories are provided in the front stage of the delivery preparation apparatus 1 of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an article category in the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, six article categories (synonymous with article category areas) are shown for convenience of illustration.

  The article category is an area for stocking one or a plurality of articles classified according to a predetermined rule. For example, a car or a shelf may be used. The predetermined rule is determined by the type and size of the article. One or a plurality of articles to the same delivery destination ordered in a predetermined order range are taken out from at least one of a plurality of article categories. At this time, it is taken out by a cart or the like as shown in FIG. Here, taking out from the article category is performed in parallel and at random, and the article is taken out from each of the article categories by a corresponding cart. The cart reaches the warehousing unit 2 and causes the warehousing unit 2 to store the article.

  Here, it is assumed that an orderer X orders the articles A to D within a predetermined order range. Article A and article D are included in the first article category. Article B is included in the second article category. Article C is included in the third article category. For this reason, when the order of the orderer X is established, the articles A and D are picked up and carried out from the first article category. From the second article category, the article B is picked up and carried out. From the third article category, the article C is picked up and carried out.

  However, at this time, all of the articles A to D do not always reach the warehousing unit 2 at the same time. Each cart of the articles A to D may reach the storage unit 2 separately. Alternatively, the goods of other orderers may reach the warehousing unit 2 in parallel or crossing with the articles A to D.

  The conveyance of the article from the article category to the warehousing unit 2 is performed in a constant cycle regardless of the orderer. The warehousing unit 2 warehousing random articles that arrive at this fixed cycle.

(Operation 2: Receipt to the receipt section)
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the goods A and D of the orderer X arrive at the cart at a certain timing, and then the goods F of another orderer arrive. The storage unit 2 stores the articles A, D, and F that have arrived in the order of arrival. In the warehousing unit 2, the reading unit 3 identifies that the articles A and D are articles ordered by the orderer X, and notifies the control unit 10. On the other hand, the reading unit 3 identifies that the article F is an article of another orderer, and notifies the control unit 10 of it. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of operation 2 of the delivery preparation device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  Articles A, D, and F received in the warehousing section 2 can be moved on the circulation line 4 as they are. Flow through the patrol line in the order of receipt.

(Operation 3: Distribution to standby lane and receipt of next item)
The circulation line 4 circulates the articles A, D, and F and moves them to the vicinity of the terminal. When the vicinity of the end is reached, the control unit 10 distributes the articles A, D, and F to any of the waiting lanes 5A to 5D. Each of the waiting lanes 5 </ b> A to 5 </ b> D receives distribution of articles under a predetermined condition based on the delivery destination area. FIG. 6 shows a state where the articles are distributed. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of operation 3 of the delivery preparation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  Here, the waiting lane 5D is already full of articles Z. One article Z is also waiting in the waiting lane A. The standby lane 5 corresponding to the delivery destination area of the orderer X is the standby lane 5A. Therefore, the control unit 10 distributes the article A and the article D that have visited the circulation line 4 to the standby lane 5A.

  On the other hand, the control part 10 distributes the goods F which are goods of another orderer to the waiting lane 5B. In this way, articles that have moved along the circulation line 4 are distributed to the waiting lanes 5A to 5D. These articles wait on the waiting lane 5.

  The next article reaches the warehousing unit 2 in accordance with the distribution to the waiting lane 5. In FIG. 6, the article G is sent from the warehousing unit 2 to the circulation line 4. The article G is an article by an orderer other than the orderer X. This article G is distributed to the waiting lane 5 </ b> B by the control unit 10 after circulating the circulation line 4.

    (Operation 4: Receipt of the next item)

  Next, the next article is received. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an operation part 4 of the delivery preparation device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In operation 4, the article B, which is the next ordered article of the orderer X, enters the warehousing unit 2.

  When the article B enters the warehousing section 2, the reading section 3 identifies that the article B is an article to the same delivery destination as the articles A and D. The identification result is notified to the control unit 10.

  The article B received from the storage unit 2 moves on the circulation line 4 as it is. When the article B arrives near the terminal after moving on the circulation line 4, the control unit 10 recognizes that the article B is the delivery destination article of the orderer X, and therefore tries to distribute it to the waiting lane 5A. However, as shown in FIG. 7, the waiting lane 5A is full. For this reason, the control unit 10 distributes the article B to the waiting lane 5C as a candidate for the next waiting lane 5.

  In this way, in each of the waiting lanes 5A to 5D, a state in which the articles A, B, D to the orderer X and other articles are waiting is generated.

(Operation 5: Receipt of final goods)
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing operation 5 of the delivery preparation device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In operation 5, the final article for the orderer X is received. However, only the article C, which is the final article, is not necessarily received in the warehousing unit 2, and the articles H to other delivery destinations may be received in the warehousing unit 2. For this reason, goods are received in the storage unit 2 in the order of article H and article B.

  The reading unit 3 reads out that the item B is the final item of the orderer X who is the same delivery destination, and notifies the control unit 10 of the reading. For this reason, if this article C is combined with the articles A and D already waiting in the waiting lane 5A and the article B waiting in the waiting lane 5C, all the articles to the delivery destination of the orderer X are obtained. The control unit 10 can grasp that they are aligned. If these articles A to D are aligned, the control unit 10 can issue the goods to the output part 8.

The control unit 10 can perform the leaving process in two patterns.
(Pattern 1: Preparation for delivery after article C reaches the waiting lane)

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram for explaining pattern 1 of operation 5 in the first embodiment of the present invention. First, the control unit 10 circulates the article H and the article C on the circulation line 4. Further, the control unit 10 distributes the circulating article H and article C to the waiting lane. At this time, since the article C is an order article of the orderer X, the control unit 10 distributes the article H and the article C to the waiting lane 5C. FIG. 9 shows this state.

  Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the control unit 10 causes the articles in the waiting lane 5 </ b> A and the waiting lane 5 </ b> C in which articles to the orderer X are waiting to be discharged to the sending lane 6. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining Pattern 1 of operation 5 of the delivery preparation device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the articles discharged to the delivery lane 6 move in the delivery lane 6 in the order of the article B, the article H, the article C, the article Z, the article A, and the article D. That is, the article reaches the branching portion 7 in this order.

  The control unit 10 recognizes that the articles A to D among the articles that have reached the branching unit 7 are articles to the same delivery destination. Furthermore, the control unit 10 also recognizes that all articles that have reached the branching unit 7 include articles A to D that are articles to the same delivery destination. In other words, among the articles that have arrived at the branching section 7, the articles H and Z are not the delivery destination of the orderer X, and recognize that they are not all the articles corresponding to other delivery destinations.

  Therefore, the control unit 10 determines that the articles A to D among all the arrived articles are in a deliverable state as being all articles to the same delivery destination. On the other hand, the control unit 10 determines that the article H and the article Z are in an undeliverable state.

(Pattern 2: Preparation for delivery when goods C are received)
As the pattern 2, the control unit 10 may start preparation of the article to the orderer X at the stage when the article C, which is the final article, has entered the warehousing unit 2. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a pattern 2 of operation 5 of the delivery preparation device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  When the control unit 10 recognizes that the final article C has been received in the warehousing unit 2 (when the reading unit 3 reads the final article C), the article to the same delivery destination is waiting. The articles in the waiting lane 5C and the waiting lane 5A are discharged. For this reason, the articles are arranged in the order of the article B, the article Z, the article A, and the article D in the delivery lane 6.

  At the same time, the article H and the article C move to the vicinity of the waiting lane 5 through the circulation line 4.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the control unit 10 distributes the articles H and C to the waiting lane. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a pattern 2 of operation 5 of the delivery preparation device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. At this time, the movement in the transmission lane 6 is stopped, or the determination of the deliverable state and the undeliverable state in the branch unit 7 is stopped.

  Since the control unit 10 recognizes that the item C is an item to the orderer X, the control unit 10 distributes the item C to the waiting lane 5A corresponding to the empty delivery destination. On the other hand, the control unit 10 distributes the article H to the standby lane 5B.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 13, the control unit 10 discharges the article C from the waiting lane 5 </ b> A to the sending lane 6. By this discharge, the article B, the article Z, the article A, the article D, and the article C are arranged in the order in the delivery lane. The sending lane 6 sends the articles to the branching unit 7 in this arrangement order. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an operation in pattern 2 of operation 5 of the delivery preparation device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  When discharging from the waiting lane 5 when the final article reaches the waiting lane as in the pattern 1, the operation step is reduced by one. However, depending on the state of the articles waiting in the waiting lane 5, articles other than the same delivery destination may increase in the sending lane. On the other hand, when discharging from the standby lane 5 when the final article is received in the storage unit 2 as in the pattern 2, one operation step is added. However, it may be difficult to increase the number of articles other than the same delivery destination in the transmission lane. Each has an advantage, and the control unit 10 may select one of the patterns 1 and 2 in consideration of the standby state of the articles in the standby lane 5.

(Operation 6: Branch at the branch)
In the case of the pattern 1, the control unit 10 determines that the articles A to D are in a deliverable state and determines the articles H and Z are in an undeliverable state in the branching unit. As a result, as shown in FIG. 14, the control unit 10 sends the articles A to D to the delivery unit 8. Conversely, the control unit 10 sends the articles H and Z to the return lane 9. The article H and the article Z returned to the return lane 9 go around the circulation lane 4 again and go to the standby lane 5.

  FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an operation 6 of the delivery preparation device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 14, the articles A to D to the same delivery destination proceed to the delivery unit 8 in a deliverable state. On the other hand, the articles H and Z that are not the same delivery destination return to the circulation line 4 from the return lane 9 as a delivery impossible state. For the article H and the article Z, in other words, the same delivery destination article that has reached the branching section 7 (each of the article H and the article Z is a part of the article to the same delivery destination) is the final article. If not included, it is returned to the return lane 9 as an undeliverable state.

  The articles H and Z that have returned to the circulation line 4 from the return lane 9 are read by the reading unit 3 subsequent to the warehousing unit 2 and are distributed to the waiting lane 5 again. The information returned from the branching unit 7 to the return lane 9 is also read by the reading unit 3 provided in the branching unit 7.

  On the other hand, in the case of pattern 2, the branch part 7 is reached in the order of article B, article Z, article A, article D, and article C. Also in this case, the control unit 10 determines that the articles A to D can be delivered as articles to the same delivery destination. The control unit 10 determines that the article Z is undeliverable.

  As a result of this determination, as shown in FIG. 15, the control unit 10 sends the articles A to D to the delivery unit 8 and sends the article Z to the return lane 9. FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation 6 of the delivery preparation device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  In either case of Patterns 1 and 2, even if there are articles that arrive one after another, only articles to the same delivery destination are delivered, and other articles are removed from the return lane 9 so that they are removed at the branching section 7. Return to patrol line 4. During such a branching operation at the branching unit 7, the next article is received from the receiving unit 2 in the same storage cycle. The new goods that have arrived move through the patrol line 4 and the waiting lane 5 again. In this way, the goods arranged to the same delivery destination are sequentially delivered to the delivery part 8 without impairing the goods storage cycle.

  Here, a state is described in which all of the articles A to D to the same delivery destination (orderer X) have been delivered from the branching unit 7 to the shipping unit 8 after reaching the branching unit 7. In this way, all articles may be delivered from the branch part 7 to the delivery part 8 for the first time at the timing when all the articles to the same delivery destination are aligned in the branch part 7.

  On the other hand, when all articles A to D have reached the same delivery destination on the route from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7, the control unit 10 determines that the delivery is possible. In this situation, depending on the degree of congestion of the waiting lane 5, the control unit 10 firstly removes only a part of the articles A to D in the waiting lane 5 even if only a part of the articles A to D is in the waiting lane 5. To the branching section 7. At this time, only a part of the articles A to D reaches the branch portion 7. In this state, the control unit 10 issues a part of the articles A to D reaching the branch unit 7 to the output unit 8.

  Further, the remaining articles A to D that have been received in the storage unit 2 arrive at the branching unit 7 after reaching the standby lane 5. Since the remaining articles that arrived with a delay are also part of the articles in the deliverable state, the control unit 10 causes the branching unit 7 to output the goods to the shipping unit 8.

  In this way, the control unit 10 determines that the delivery is possible if all articles A to D reach the same delivery destination on the route from the storage unit 2 to the branching unit 7. As a result, the articles A to D in a deliverable state may be delivered together from the branching unit 7 to the delivery unit 8, or may be delivered separately. In any case, since the articles A to D are arranged in the delivery unit 8, all articles to the same delivery destination are delivered together.

  As described above, even when all the articles are not arranged in the branching section 7, delivery is possible when the articles A to D that are all articles to the same delivery destination reach the route from the warehousing section 2 to the branching section 7. State. If it is in this deliverable state, it may be delivered to the delivery unit 8 when the articles A to D reach the branch unit 7 at the same time. Alternatively, even if the articles A to D arrive at the branching unit 7 separately, they may be delivered to the delivery unit 8 each time they arrive. In the latter case, when only a part of all articles to the same delivery destination reaches the branching section 7 in a deliverable state, only a part of the articles is delivered to the delivery part 8. Although all articles A to D arrive at the delivery unit 8 separately, it may be sent to actual delivery in that state.

  In this latter case, only a part of the articles does not have to be returned from the branch portion 7 to the return lane 9. This is because all articles have already arrived in the route from the warehousing unit 2 to the branching unit 7, so that it is possible to reduce the trouble of re-entry from the return lane 9 to the warehousing unit 2.

  When the operation 6 is completed, the operations 1 to 6 are performed on other articles. In particular, in this case, it is performed like a pipeline process to collect articles to another delivery destination while performing an operation in which the articles to the orderer X are put out. For example, in the next operation step of FIG. 15, an article to another delivery destination may be delivered to the delivery unit 8 (for example, goods can be delivered using the articles F and G). In other words, in the delivery preparation device 1, not the sequential process but the delivery states of articles to the same delivery destination are created one after another.

  Note that the operation described here is merely an example, and the warehousing to the warehousing unit 2 can be various, including the articles A to D ordered by the orderer X and other articles. However, it is not necessary to cause a great change in the warehousing cycle of the goods warehousing in the warehousing unit 2 regardless of the warehousing. This is because the inconsistency of this cycle is absorbed by the circulation line 4, the waiting lane 5 and the return lane 9 even if the warehousing cycle is constant and the warehousing cycle is not constant.

  Further, even if the standby state of articles to the same delivery destination in the standby lane 5 is various, the branching unit 7 removes unnecessary articles and sends them to the delivery unit 8, thereby allowing the storage unit 2 to send all items to the same delivery destination. As long as articles are received, all articles to the same delivery destination are delivered by branching at the branching unit 7. At this time, articles to other delivery destinations that reach the branching section 7 circulate again on the circulation line 4 in the return lane 9, so there is no problem. Articles to other delivery destinations that have been returned to the return lane 9 are sent to the delivery unit 8 once the remaining articles to this delivery destination are prepared, and are in a delivery state.

  As described above, the delivery preparation device 1 according to the first embodiment is configured to arrange the articles to the same delivery destination from the circulation line 4 to the branching unit 7 without greatly changing the goods storage cycle of the goods to the storage unit 2. (Return lane 9). In particular, the waiting lane 5 and the return lane 9 absorb the occurrence of a time difference for arranging articles to the same delivery destination. In particular, articles other than the same delivery destination are also sent to the delivery lane 6, but by separating at the branching unit 7, only articles to the same delivery destination are not waiting in one of the standby lanes 5. The delivery possible state is created through the transmission lane 6 without any problem.

  Moreover, since it is performed fully automatically after warehousing in the warehousing part 2, labor saving of human power and a human error can be prevented.

  (Embodiment 2)

  Next, a second embodiment will be described.

(Shipping)
All articles to the same delivery destination that has been determined to be deliverable arrive at the delivery unit 8. The goods delivered from the delivery unit 8 to the same delivery destination are packaged and delivered as shown in FIG. FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a delivery preparation device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  By being packaged and delivered, goods to the same delivery destination ordered in a predetermined order range can reach the orderer.

(How to use the waiting lane)
In the plurality of standby lanes 5, articles are distributed according to a predetermined rule based on the delivery destination as described in the first embodiment.

  For this reason, it is inherently preferable to distribute articles to the same delivery destination in the same standby lane 5. However, as described in Embodiment 1, articles to the same delivery destination are not continuously received in the storage unit 2. Even when articles to different delivery destinations are stored in the warehousing unit 2, if the number of standby lanes 5 and the storage capacity are very large, articles to the same delivery destination are easily distributed to the same standby lane 5. However, infinitely increasing the number of the waiting lanes 5 and the capacity, the size of the delivery preparation device 1 becomes too large.

  As described in the first embodiment, when the standby lane 5 waiting for a part of the articles to the same delivery destination is full, the next article to the same delivery destination is placed in another standby lane 5. It only has to be distributed. Alternatively, when many articles to other delivery destinations are waiting in the same standby lane behind the articles to the same delivery destination, the remaining articles to the same delivery destination are distributed to another standby lane 5. May be.

  Even according to this distribution, as described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15, even when the same delivery destination and other articles are mixed, only the articles to the same delivery destination are delivered in the branching unit 7 as being deliverable. The

  Thus, labor saving of the waiting lane 5 can be realized.

  Note that the number and capacity of the waiting lanes 5 may be determined based on the warehousing cycle to the warehousing unit 2. That is, the degree of dependence on the time required until all the articles to the same delivery destination are ready for delivery can be reduced. Also in this point, unlike the conventional sequential method and the parallel method, it is possible to realize both the space saving of the delivery preparation device 1 and the improvement of the warehousing cycle.

  In addition to the delivery destination area, other criteria may be used for the predetermined rule for distribution to the standby lane 5.

(When the waiting lane is full)
Further, when the standby lane 5 is full, the articles waiting in the standby lane 5 may be temporarily discharged to the delivery lane 6. If the articles discharged to the delivery lane 6 include all the articles to the same delivery destination, the branching section 7 goes to the shipping section 8, so the number of articles existing in the entire delivery preparation apparatus 1 is equal to that of the standby lane 5. Less than the allowable number.

  Even if there is no article to be delivered to the delivery unit 8, the product is returned to the return lane 9 and the circulation line 4. For this reason, even if the warehousing unit 2 continues to be stored after the standby lane 5 is full, it is possible to wait for the ready items to be delivered while temporarily canceling the full state of the standby lane 5. . In other words, it is not necessary to greatly reduce the warehousing cycle of articles to the warehousing unit 2.

  In addition, the delivery preparation apparatus demonstrated by Embodiment 1-2 is an example explaining the meaning of this invention, and includes the deformation | transformation and remodeling in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Delivery preparation apparatus 2 Warehousing part 3 Reading part 4 Patrol line 5 Standby lane 6 Sending lane
7 Branching section 8 Shipping section 9 Return lane 10 Control section

Claims (16)

A warehousing section for receiving a plurality of articles taken from at least a part of a plurality of different article categories;
A reading unit for reading information of the plurality of articles received in the warehousing unit;
A circulation line for circulating the plurality of articles;
A plurality of standby lanes connected to the patrol line and distributed and waiting according to a predetermined rule based on a delivery destination area;
A sending lane that receives and sends out at least a part of the articles that the waiting lane waits from at least one of the plurality of waiting lanes;
Out of a plurality of articles sent out from the delivery lane, a delivery unit for delivering goods in a deliverable state;
A return lane for returning an undeliverable item to the circulation lane among a plurality of items sent out from the sending lane;
A branching unit connected to the delivery lane and branching between the shipping unit and the return lane;
A discharge operation for discharging at least a part of the articles to be waited by the standby lane, a determination operation for determining an article that has been delivered through the delivery lane and has reached the branching unit as the deliverable state, and is delivered through the delivery lane A control unit that performs at least a part of the impossibility determination operation of determining an article that has reached the branching unit as the undeliverable state,
The deliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in a predetermined order range have reached the path from the storage unit to the branch unit,
The undeliverable state is a state in which all of the articles to the same delivery destination ordered in a predetermined order range have not reached the route from the warehousing unit to the branching unit. Delivery preparation device.   The information includes at least one of a delivery destination, an address, the number of articles to the same delivery destination in the predetermined order range, and an indication that the product is a final article to the same delivery destination in the predetermined order range. An apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to the same delivery destination.   The delivery of an article to the same delivery destination according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one of the warehousing unit, the patrol lane, the standby lane, the delivery lane, and the return lane is configured by a line member or a conveyor member. Preparation device.   The plurality of articles are moved on at least one of the warehousing unit, the patrol lane, the waiting lane, the delivery lane, and the return lane configured by the line member or the conveyor member. Equipment for preparing delivery of goods to the same delivery destination. Each of the plurality of article categories stocks one or more articles classified according to a predetermined rule,
One or a plurality of articles destined for the same delivery destination ordered in the predetermined order range are taken out from at least one of the plurality of article categories and stored in the storage unit. An apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to the same delivery destination.   The predetermined order range is a range in which a customer who is the same delivery destination completes an order that is regarded as the same order work, and the control unit receives all articles in the range in which the order is completed from the warehousing unit to the branching unit. The apparatus for preparing a delivery of an article to the same delivery destination according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the delivery is determined to be possible when the route to the destination is reached.   The instruction information of the same delivery destination that has been ordered is assigned to each of all the articles, and among the all articles, the article that is finally stored in the warehousing unit has information that is the final article. Equipment for preparing delivery of goods to the same delivery destination.   When the reading unit reads the final article, the control unit waits for the same delivery destination article among the plurality of standby lanes when the final article is received. The apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to the same delivery destination according to claim 7, wherein the article of the same delivery destination is discharged from the “same delivery destination article standby lane”) to the delivery lane.   When the reading unit reads the final article, the control unit waits for the same delivery destination article among the plurality of standby lanes when the final article is distributed to the standby lane. The apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to the same delivery destination according to claim 7, wherein the article of the same delivery destination is discharged from the waiting lane (hereinafter referred to as “same delivery destination article standby lane”) to the delivery lane.   When the same delivery destination article standby lane is waiting for an article of another delivery destination before or during the same delivery destination article, the same delivery destination article standby lane is combined with the same delivery destination article. The delivery preparation device for articles to the same delivery destination according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the articles of the different delivery destination are discharged to the delivery lane.   The article of another delivery destination discharged to the delivery lane is judged to be the article that cannot be delivered in the branching unit, and sent to the return lane separately from the article that can be delivered. Equipment for preparing delivery of goods to the same delivery destination.   The same delivery destination according to claim 10, wherein the control unit sends the same delivery destination article to the return lane when the same delivery destination article that has reached the branch section does not include the final article. Equipment for preparing delivery of goods to.   12. The control unit according to claim 8, wherein when the same delivery destination article and the final article discharged from the same delivery destination article standby lane reach the branching unit, the control unit sends all the articles to the delivery unit. An apparatus for preparing delivery of an article to any one of the delivery destinations described above.   The apparatus for preparing delivery of articles to the same delivery destination according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the articles delivered from the delivery section to the same delivery destination are packed and delivered to the delivery destination.   The goods to the same delivery destination according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the merchandise determined to be undeliverable sent to the return lane circulates in the circulation lane and is distributed to the standby lane. Delivery preparation equipment. The control unit distributes the articles of the same delivery destination among the plurality of articles that circulate in the circulation lane to the same standby lane among the plurality of standby lanes,
The same waiting lane is waiting for a part of the same delivery destination article (hereinafter referred to as "preceding article") and another article of the same delivery destination is patrolled in the circulation lane,
(1) When the same waiting lane cannot accommodate another article,
(2) When the same waiting lane accommodates a predetermined number or more of different delivery destination items behind the preceding item,
In any of the cases, the control unit distributes the separate article to the same standby lane and to the separate standby lane, and delivers the article to the same delivery destination according to any one of claims 1 to 15. Preparation device.