Apparatus and method for handling goods

1. A method of fulfilling an inventory order, the method comprising:

determining, by circuitry of an information processing apparatus, the inventory order to be processed;

selecting, by the circuitry of the information processing apparatus, an operator station where the inventory order will be fulfilled, a rack that includes an item required to fulfill the inventory order, and a vehicle to transport the rack to the operator station;

transmitting, by the circuitry of the information processing apparatus, at least a portion of a transportation path to the selected vehicle;

monitoring, by the circuitry of the information processing apparatus, locations of the selected vehicle along the transportation path based on marker information received for each marker of a plurality of markers that is detected by the selected vehicle, wherein each of the plurality of markers are located at predetermined positions; and

transferring, by the circuitry of the information processing apparatus, control of movement of the vehicle to the operator station when the vehicle is in a station queue of the operation station, wherein

an end point of the transportation path is the operator station.

2. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to:

determine an inventory order to be processed,

select an operator station where the inventory order will be fulfilled, a rack that includes an item required to fulfill the inventory order, and a vehicle to transport the rack to the operator station,

transmit at least a portion of a transportation path to the selected vehicle,

monitor locations of the selected vehicle along the transportation path based on marker information received for each marker of a plurality of markers that is detected by the selected vehicle, wherein the plurality of markers are located at predetermined positions, and

transfer control of movement of the vehicle to the operator station when the vehicle is in a station queue of the operator station, wherein

an end point of the transportation path is the operator station.

3. The information processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the inventory order to be processed is determined based on one or a combination of an estimate of effort required to fulfill the inventory order, a priority of the inventory order, and a time the inventory order has been pending.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the station queue includes a queue entry marker and a queue exit marker, wherein the control of movement of the vehicle is transferred to the operator station when the vehicle is disposed over the queue entry marker, and wherein the operator station transfers the control of movement of the vehicle back to the information processing apparatus when the vehicle is disposed over the queue exit marker.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

generate, at least one order-fulfilling-information (OFI) for the determined inventory order, each OFI including a different combination of a candidate operator station where the inventory order will be completed, at least one rack grouping that includes all items required to complete the inventory order, and at least one vehicle to transport each rack included in the at least one rack grouping to the candidate operator station; and

select an OFI from the generated at least one OFI to complete the inventory order.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

compute, for each OFI, a cost (H) for the at least one rack grouping that includes all items required to complete the inventory order as: H=Distance/(1+No. of Common Racks), wherein Distance is the combined distance of all racks in the rack grouping from the candidate operator station, and No. of Common Racks is the number of racks included in the rack grouping that include at least two items of the inventory order.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the vehicle includes a contact member and a lifting device arranged to controllably raise or lower the contact member relative to the ground, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to calculate the transportation path based on a lift state of the contact member of the vehicle.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive rack marker information that is generated based on a rack marker detected by the vehicle, the rack marker being disposed on the rack to be transported by the vehicle.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

compute an offset between one of the monitored locations of the vehicle and an orientation of the marker;

calculate a compensation path for the vehicle based on the computed offset, and

monitor locations of each a plurality of vehicles based on marker information received for each marker of the plurality of markers that is detected by the respective vehicle.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a program that when executed by a computer in an information processing apparatus, causes the computer to execute a method of fulfilling an inventory order, the method comprising:

determining the inventory order to be processed;

selecting an operator station where the inventory order will be fulfilled, a rack that includes an item required to fulfill the inventory order, and a vehicle to transport the rack to the operator station;

transmitting at least a portion of a transportation path to the selected vehicle;

monitoring locations of the selected vehicle along the transportation path based on marker information received for each marker of a plurality of markers that is detected by the selected vehicle, wherein the plurality of markers are located at predetermined positions; and

transferring control of movement of the vehicle to the operator station when the vehicle is in the station queue, wherein

an end point of the transportation path is the operator station.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the inventory order to be processed is determined based on one or a combination of an estimate of effort required to fulfill the inventory order, a priority of the inventory order, and a time the inventory order has been pending.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein the station queue includes a queue entry marker and a queue exit marker, wherein the control of movement of the vehicle is transferred to the operator station when the vehicle is disposed over the queue entry marker, and wherein the operator station transfers the control of movement of the vehicle back to the information processing apparatus when the vehicle is disposed over the queue exit marker.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , the method further comprising:

generating at least one order-fulfilling-information (OFI) for the determined inventory order, each OFI including a different combination of a candidate operator station where the inventory order will be completed, at least one rack grouping that includes all items required to complete the inventory order, and at least one vehicle to transport each rack included in the at least one rack grouping to the candidate operator station; and

selecting an OFI from the generated at least one OFI to complete the inventory order.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13 , wherein the step of selecting further comprises:

computing for each OFI, a cost (H) for the at least one rack grouping that includes all items required to complete the inventory order as: H=Distance/(1+No. of Common Racks), wherein Distance is the combined distance of all racks in the rack grouping from the candidate operator station, and No. of Common Racks is the number of racks included in the rack grouping that include at least two items of the inventory order.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein the vehicle includes a contact member and a lifting device arranged to controllably raise or lower the contact member relative to the ground, and

the method further comprises:

calculating the transportation path based on a lift state of the contact member of the vehicle.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving rack marker information that is generated based on a rack marker detected by the vehicle, the rack marker being disposed on the rack to be transported by the vehicle.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10 , the method comprising:

computing an offset between one of the monitored locations of the vehicle and an orientation of the marker;

calculating a compensation path for the vehicle based on the computed offset; and

monitoring locations of each of a plurality of vehicles based on marker information received for each marker of the plurality of markers that is detected by the respective vehicle.

18. The information processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the transportation path is calculated based on a lift state of a contact member of the vehicle, locations of racks that include the item required to fulfill the inventory order, a current location of the selected vehicle, locations of other vehicles, and predefined obstacles.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the transportation path is calculated based on a lift state of a contact member of the vehicle, locations of racks that include the item required to fulfill the inventory order, a current location of the selected vehicle, locations of other vehicles, and predefined obstacles.