JP7061254B2 - Packing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an inspection device, and more particularly to an inspection device most suitable for inspection work at the time of product shipment in the logistics industry.

In recent years, storeless sales forms using TV and the Internet have become widespread, and sales forms for shipping products that meet the various needs of customers are also diversifying.

In addition, when a plurality of products are treated as packed goods at the time of product shipment, it is desirable to pack the products so that they do not come into contact with each other during transportation.

Therefore, at the time of product shipment, for example, each product may be packed in a non-contact manner by packing the packed article with a heat-shrinkable film or the like in a state where one or more packed articles are placed on a corrugated cardboard sheet. can.

On the other hand, when packing and shipping such a packed article, it is necessary to transfer the packed article onto a corrugated cardboard sheet and to inspect whether the packed article is correctly aligned.

At this time, for example, in the work of transferring the packaged object onto the shape-retaining member and the inspection work, especially in the diversified situation where the packaged article differs depending on the shipping range, the work is manually performed. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

Further, when inspecting the packaged object, for example, it is conceivable to read the barcode attached to the product, but in the reading operation itself, the barcode is provided on the back surface of the product, or a plurality of bars are provided. The actual situation is that the code is manually written for reasons such as the case where the code is written side by side (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2018-097623 Japanese Patent No. 6395895

However, in such a packaging system disclosed in the prior art document, since it is performed manually in any case, the product may be damaged when inspected, or the product may be out of stock due to dropping or the like. There was a possibility that problems caused by disturbances would occur.

That is, at the time of diversifying product shipments, if the packaging work can be performed without human intervention even for different product shipments for each customer, it is possible to improve work efficiency and suppress soaring product costs.

An object of the present invention is to provide a packaging system capable of making it difficult for disturbances due to human intervention to occur in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the packing system according to the present invention is a packing system provided with a moving portion for the packed article on the upstream side of the conveyor line and a packing section for packing the packed article on the downstream side of the conveyor line. One or more packed goods to be shipped and the shipped goods set with the sheet-shaped documents containing the shipping list information including the breakdown of the one or more packed goods are transported to the relocation section by conveyor. A robot arm to be relocated to a shape member, a photographing unit for acquiring appearance information by photographing the shipped article on the downstream side of the relocation portion and upstream of the packing portion, and the appearance photographed by the photographing unit. It is provided with an inspection unit for determining whether or not the breakdown of the one or more packed articles is appropriate from the information.

Here, the appearance information of the product is information representing the appearance, and may be, for example, design information attached to the product, shape information, vertical / horizontal dimension information, or aspect ratio information. As a result, highly diverse appearance information can be stored in the database unit.

Further, the design attached to the product may include, for example, a part or the whole of a picture on the design, characters such as a product name and a product number, which are printed or attached to the front of the package. This causes confusion, for example, even if two or more barcodes are written side by side on the front of the package to be photographed, which barcode should be read for inspection. Instead, it is possible to simply treat the barcodes written side by side as a pattern.

Further, when there are a plurality of items to be packed, the inspection unit may perform comparison individually or may perform the comparison as a whole.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a packaging system in which disturbance due to manual intervention is less likely to occur.

It is a system diagram of the packing system which concerns on this invention. It is a block explanatory drawing which shows one Embodiment of the inspection apparatus as an example of the inspection part applied to the packing system which concerns on this invention.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a packing system including an inspection device, a packing system including an inspection device is provided with a shape-retaining member 2 conveyed by a belt conveyor 1, for example, one or more packed articles 3 to which ordered products for each customer are to be shipped. The robot arm 4 to be relocated, the photographing unit 5 such as a digital photographing camera for photographing the packed article 3 transferred to the shape-retaining member 2 from above, and the packed article 3 after the inspection are heat-shrinkable transparent films ( It is provided with a packing device 6 for packing by (not shown).

The shape-retaining member 2 has a function of protecting the packaged article 3 from damage, and is, for example, a sheet material having an air cap attached to the inner surface of a corrugated cardboard sheet, thick paper, an envelope, or other paper that can be folded in multiples. As described above, the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a function of protecting the enclosed packaged article 3 against an impact during transportation of the packaged article 3 after shipment.

Here, the robot arm 4 uses the belt conveyor 1 as a basket 8 in which the packed article 3 is stored in association with the sheet 7 on which the shipping list information (order slip, shipping slip, delivery note, invoice, etc.) is described. It is transferred to the shape-retaining member 2 of the belt conveyor 1 at a predetermined position by the belt conveyor 9 that conveys from the orthogonal direction to the approaching direction.

Therefore, the robot arm 4 first transfers the sheet 7 to the upper surface of the shape-retaining member 2, and then transfers each necessary product to the same shape-retaining member 2.

The robot arm 4 has a base shaft portion 4a capable of rotating 90 ° or more between the belt conveyor 1 and the belt conveyor 9, and the sheet 7 and the packed article 3 in the vertical, horizontal, front-back directions so as to be individually attracted to each other. It is provided with two or more joint arm portions 4b, 4c that rotate around.

The robot arm 4 is computer-controlled so that all the packed articles 3 stored in the basket 8 conveyed by the belt conveyor 9 can be transferred to the shape-retaining member 2 according to the number or the like.

Here, in the robot arm 4 , information such as the number of packed articles 3 stored in the basket 8 is controlled by a computer using shipping list information (order slip, shipping slip, delivery slip, billing slip, etc.). Is desirable.

For example, various numbers (slip number, bar code, two-dimensional bar code, etc.) 7a are printed or attached to the sheet 7 on which the shipping list information is described, and a computer using the shipping list information by reading this is printed or attached. Control is possible.

The empty basket 8 after the packed article 3 is transferred to the shape-retaining member 2 is transferred to the collection table (which may be a belt conveyor or the like) 10 by the robot arm 4 and can be collected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the inspection device 11 includes a photographing unit 5 such as a photographing camera, a frame memory 12 for storing an image captured by the photographing unit 5, and an image identification unit 13 for identifying an image stored in the frame memory 12. A shipping list is compared between the database unit 14 that stores the appearance information of the product for each product type, and the appearance information of one or more packed articles photographed by the photographing unit 5 and the product stored in the database unit 14. The image comparison unit 15 for obtaining a comparison result as to whether the information and one or more packed articles match, the image determination unit 16 for determining the comparison result of the image comparison unit 15, and the image stored in the frame memory 12 are displayed. Display unit 17, storage unit 18 that stores shipping inventory information, output unit 20 that outputs the determination result of image determination unit 16 to the conveyor system 19 including belt conveyors 1 and 9, and storage unit 18 that stores shipping inventory information. It is provided with a communication control unit 22 that controls a connection with an external computer 21 and a connection with an Internet (cloud) NT that performs external operations such as storage in the computer, and can be controlled by the control unit 23.

The frame memory 12 is designed to store image data for one frame taken by the photographing unit 5. The stored image data is identified by the image identification unit 13. Here, the image identification unit 13 can specify which product is placed on the shape-retaining member 2 from the appearance information of the product stored in the database unit 14. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the result of photography by the photographing unit 5 is that when the packed article 3 is products A, B, C, the product A is based on its appearance (shape, dimensions, aspect ratio, etc.). , B, C. The information that the identified packaged article 3 is the goods A, B, and C is output to the image comparison unit 15.

At the same time, the control unit 23 causes the image identification unit 13 to read various numbers (slip number, bar code, two-dimensional bar code, etc.) 7a printed (or attached) on the sheet 7, and stores the customer information in the storage unit 18. The shipping list information for specifying the item of the packed article 3 is acquired from the above.

The image comparison unit 15 compares the packaged article 3 (for example, products A, B, C) specified by the image identification unit 13 with the shipping list information stored in the storage unit 18.

Based on the comparison result compared by the image comparison unit 15, the image determination unit 16 determines whether or not the products A, B, and C as the packaged article 3 immediately before packing taken by the image comparison unit 5 match the shipping list information. To judge.

When the control unit 23 determines that the determination results of the image determination unit 16 match, the control unit 23 causes the output unit 20 to continue the operation of the conveyor system 19 so that the packed article 3 immediately before packing is packed in a film by the packing device 6.

On the other hand, if the control unit 23 does not determine that the determination results of the image determination unit 16 match, the control unit 23 stops the operation of the conveyor system 19 and notifies the output unit 20 of an inspection error. This error notification may be marked on the display unit 17, or a buzzer or the like (not shown) may be sounded.

By the way, the image identification unit 13, the image comparison unit 15, and the image determination unit 16 individually extract each function, and one control unit 23 may execute each function of identification / comparison / determination.

As a result, for example, when the packed article 3 is the goods A, B, C as shown in FIG. 2 (B), the packed article 3 is the goods A, A, C, as shown in FIG. 2 (C). In the case of C, as shown in FIG. 2D, even if the non-constant packing target such as the case where the packed article 3 is the goods A, A, D, C is the packed article, the packing target is It is possible to inspect whether or not the product matches the shipped product for each customer without human intervention.

The appearance information stored in the database unit 14 not only corresponds to an image of the packed article 3 photographed from above by one photographing unit 5, but also corresponds to the upper side and the side (vertical side and horizontal side) of the packed article 3. Both of the two sides may be included), and the product height may be included in the identification / comparison / judgment target by taking a two-dimensional image.

Further, for example, if a new product is included in the packaged article 3 and its appearance information is not accumulated in the database unit 14, an error (mismatch) may occur in a normal determination . ..

Therefore, if there is a product (for example, product D) whose appearance information for comparison is not included in the database unit 14, the control unit 23 is not out of stock or duplicated, via the communication control unit 22. By connecting to the Internet NT and referring to the shipping list information of the sheet 7 stored in the storage unit 18, searching for a product corresponding to the manufacturer or product number, the design attached to the product, or the shape / vertical / horizontal dimension of the product -By acquiring appearance information such as aspect ratio, appearance information can be newly created.

By adding the newly created appearance information, the control unit 23 can also be used as a learning function without the operator or the like using an external computer 21 to additionally input the appearance information.

Here, the appearance information of the product used by the image comparison unit 15 (or the control unit 23) is information representing the appearance, for example, design information attached to the product, shape information, vertical / horizontal dimension information, and the like. It may be aspect ratio information. As a result, highly diverse appearance information can be stored in the database unit 14.

In addition, the design attached to the product may include, for example, a part or the whole of a design picture, characters such as a product name / product number, etc. printed or attached to a sticker on the front of the product package. good. This causes confusion, for example, even if two or more barcodes are written side by side on the front of the package to be photographed, which barcode should be read for inspection. Instead, it is possible to simply treat the barcodes written side by side as a pattern.

Further, when the number of packed articles 3 is a plurality, the image comparison unit 15 (or the control unit 23) may perform comparison individually or as a whole.

Further, although the packed article 3 has been described as being transferred from the belt conveyor 9 to the belt conveyor 1 by the robot arm 4, for example, the packed article 3 is branched to the belt conveyor 9 on the upstream side according to the product type and the like. The robot arm 4 may be abolished by using a conveyor unit.

1 Belt conveyor 2 Shape-retaining member 3 Items to be packed 4 Robot arm 4a Base shaft part 4b Joint arm part 5 Imaging part 6 Packing device 7 Sheet 8 Basket 9 Belt conveyor 11 Inspection device (Inspection part)
12 Frame memory 13 Image identification unit 14 Database unit 15 Image comparison unit 16 Image judgment unit 17 Display unit 18 Storage unit 19 Conveyor system 20 Output unit 21 External computer 22 Communication control unit 23 Control unit

Claims (5)

In a packing system provided with a relocation section for packed articles on the upstream side of the conveyor line and a packing section for packing packed articles on the downstream side of the conveyor line.
A sheet-like document is set in which the shipping list information including the breakdown of one or more packed items to be shipped and the breakdown of the one or more packed goods is described , and the number information including a barcode is printed or attached. A robot arm that transfers the shipping goods to the shape-retaining member that has been conveyor-conveyed to the transfer unit, and
An imaging unit that is arranged above the conveyor line on the downstream side of the relocation unit and upstream of the packaging unit to photograph the shipped article and acquire appearance information.
It is provided with an inspection unit for determining whether or not the breakdown of the one or more packed articles is appropriate from the appearance information photographed by the photographing unit.
The inspection section
A database section that stores product appearance information related to the appearance of products for each product type, and
A storage unit that stores shipping inventory information and
An image identification unit that identifies the packaged article by comparing the appearance information of one or more packed articles photographed by the photographing unit with the product appearance information of the packaged article stored in the database unit. When,
A control unit that causes the image identification unit to read the number information printed or attached to the sheet-shaped document, and acquires shipping inventory information related to the read number information from the storage unit.
An image comparison unit for obtaining a comparison result by comparing the packaged article specified by the image identification unit with the shipping list information acquired by the control unit.
Based on the comparison result obtained by the image comparison unit, whether or not the specified product as the packaged article immediately before packing taken by the imaging unit matches the shipping inventory information acquired by the control unit. With the image judgment unit that determines
A packaging system characterized by being equipped with . The packing system according to claim 1, wherein the robot arm includes a plurality of arm portions that can rotate in the vertical and horizontal directions, and individually transfers the one or more packed articles. The claim is characterized in that, in the comparison between the appearance information and the product appearance information , the inspection unit uses any of the design attached to the product or the shape, the aspect dimension, and the aspect ratio of the product. The packing system according to 1 or 2 . Further equipped with a communication control unit that controls the connection with an external computer and / or the Internet.
When the product appearance information is not included in the database unit, the control unit connects to the Internet via the communication control unit, refers to the shipping list information stored in the storage unit, and refers to the manufacturer. Alternatively, search for the product corresponding to the product number and acquire the design attached to the product or the appearance information of the product.
The packaging system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The claim is characterized in that the design includes at least one of a part or the whole of a picture on a design, a part or a whole of characters related to a product name and / or a product number, and a barcode. The packing system according to 3 or 4.

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