Abstract:
A system is disclosed for generating a warehouse database containing information relating to the identity and location of certain items stored in the warehouse. Each of the certain items has optical identifiers thereon. A plurality of markers providing location data indicating their own location are distributed around the warehouse. The system includes a guided vehicle equipped with an optical imaging device. The vehicle travels in the warehouse aisles past the location of one or more certain items and one or more of the markers indicating their own location. The optical imaging device provides electronic data, translatable into images.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/657,661 filed on Mar. 1, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth at length herein. This application also contains subject matter that relates to U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,245, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth at length herein. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Not applicable  
       REFERENCE OF A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX” 
       [0003]     Not applicable  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     1. Field of Invention  
         [0005]     The present invention relates to systems of and methods for generating and organizing warehouse databases and using the database to provide and/or present required information.  
         [0006]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0007]     Items stored in warehouses may be kept in defined locations which are at least partially visible from a path adjacent the location. The items themselves can be provided with identifying indicia such as with a one or two dimensional barcode or other optical identifier.  
         [0008]     In modern warehouses a database is kept which stores information about items being stored and the location of the items. This information may include column number and shelf number were the item is stored or any other information for locating the items.  
         [0009]     The information regarding the location of the item can be stored when the item is received and put in that particular location or by designating locations for different types of items or any other way of having the ability to retrieve the item from the warehouse.  
         [0010]     When there is a mismatch between the location designated in the database and actual location of the item it is hard to locate the item, it takes longer to find the item and sometimes it may be considered as a lost item In order to prevent losses caused by misplaced items some of the companies are using employees to scan the items in the warehouse to determine and/or verify the location of the items.  
         [0011]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,674 discloses a system of generating a database using a moving cart which can have an optical reader and computer thereon for transmission of data to a computer for generating a database.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be briefly described with reference to the following drawing:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  depicts a of a cart having a computer and an optical reader thereon used in the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  shows a side view of warehouse shelves with items thereon which are operated on in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows a data structure usable in the present invention and a database it is stored in;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4A-4C  are screen shoots provided by the present invention; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the shelf in  FIG. 2  along with other shelves showing the aisle of the warehouse and a guided vehicle in an aisle. 
     
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]     The aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing(s). What follows are preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing is illustrative only and not limiting, having been presented by way of example only. All the features disclosed in this description may be replaced by alternative features serving the same purpose, and equivalents or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Therefore, numerous other embodiments of the modifications thereof are contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention as defined herein and equivalents thereto.  
         [0019]     In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention a system is provided for generating a warehouse database containing information relating to the identity and location of certain items stored in the warehouse. Each of the certain items has optical identifiers thereon. A plurality of markers providing location data indicating their own location are distributed around the warehouse. The system includes a guided vehicle equipped with an optical imaging device. The vehicle travels in the warehouse past the location of one or more certain items and one or more of the markers indicating their own location. The optical imaging device provides electronic data, translatable into images. The image includes at least one or more of the certain items in the warehouse with the optical identifiers thereon. A device responsive to at least the location data provides physical location data related to the physical location of the one or more of the certain items. The device also associates the electronic data or information derived therefrom with the physical location data to provide associated data. The associated data is stored in the database.  
         [0020]     In one embodiment the device for associating is a computer and the information derived from the electronic data is data identifying the one or more of the certain items.  
         [0021]     The plurality of markers indicating their own location can be optical identifiers located at fixed locations which in some embodiments are imaged with one or more of the certain items in the warehouse together with the optical identifiers thereon. In such a case the computer may also extract location data from the electronic data. The plurality of markers indicating their own location can also be RFID devices located at fixed locations.  
         [0022]     The system can also include a computing device which controls the guided vehicle to travel in the warehouse past the location of the certain items. The computing device can also control the optical imaging device for providing electronic data in order to systematically capture all the items to be scan.  
         [0023]     The system may provide that the database also stores the electronic data in a predetermined relationship to the identification data. The system also queries the database to extract desired information there from relating to one or more predetermined items and also may include a display for presenting the information in an efficient way for locating the certain items.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]     Turning to  FIG. 1 , the invention includes an automatic guided vehicle  10  equipped with one or more optical devices  11  that can scan the items such as items  17 ,  18  and  19  shown in  FIG. 2 , in the warehouse and locate and read barcodes  17   a ,  18   a  and  19   a  such as 2D barcodes or other optical identifiers on the items. The optical device  11  can be one as shown and described in the inventor&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,245, which is incorporated herein by reference. The vehicle can include a light source such as projector  14 . The output of the optical device  11  is an image which can be further processed. The vehicle  10  is made to travel down paths  16  in the warehouse, see  FIGS. 2 and 5  to allow the optical device  111  to capture images of the items  17 ,  18  and  19  and their barcodes  17   a ,  18   a  and  19   a  or other optical identifiers. The image in one embodiment also includes location markers  23  and  25 .  
         [0025]     The vehicle  10  can be manually driven by an operator or can be automatic e.g. going in a programmed way or guided by magnetic stripes on the floor or any other suitable way to guide the vehicle.  
         [0026]     The association of the items in the warehouse to the physical location in the warehouse can be done by knowing the location of the vehicle  10  or by adding identifying information to the physical locations in the warehouse such as adding optical symbols such as two dimensional barcode or other optical identifiers or radio frequency identifiers (rfid) identifying the shelves or the storage locations. See  FIG. 2 , column identifiers  21 ,  22  and  23  and shelf identifiers  24  and  25 . In this embodiment it would take two identifiers to locate the position of an item such as  17  because there is a column and a shelf to identify. It is also possible to put unique identifiers on each shelf and use only one identifier to identify position.  
         [0027]     A computer  12  will control the one or more devices  11  in order to systematically capture all the items to be scan. The locations where items are to be found can be set in advance and when the vehicle  10  is approaching these locations the device  11  may be activated. The items can be scanned by capturing every X feet or every Y sec so that images cover the desired area. Information within the image can also be used to adjust the capturing of the items this information can be a code that will adjust the system to use higher resolution in that location, move faster, turn or behave in some other fashion, commands may be associate with the particular scanned item, the system may change resolution, speed, distance or other parameters by identifying an item (for example when arriving to refrigerators use lower resolution for faster scanning).  
         [0028]     In order to scan fields of view larger than the field of view of the optical device  11  the system can be equipped with more than one optical devices  11  or with a pan tilt system to aim the device or with a system, which may include a movable device  13 , for moving the optical device  11  across the field of view.  
         [0029]     Processing the images from the optical device  11  can be done on the one or more computers  12  on the vehicle and/or by storing all the information which is then transferred to a processing computer system that will process the information or by using wireless networking for transmitting the information for processing or transmitting the processed information. The information may be loaded into a database  60 ; see  FIG. 3 .  
         [0030]     Referring still to  FIG. 3  we see a data structure that can represent the organization of one row in the database  60 . The data structure  100  may include field  101  to contain data relating to an item, field  102  to contain data relating to the location of the item and field  103  for storing the data making up the image related to the item or a pointer thereto.  
         [0031]     The system may include presentation software, this software will be used for retrieving information regarding a location of an item, the system may show the actual picture of the item or the shelf or the item and the shelf, the picture may include remarks such as an indicator  50  designating the item and warnings such as showing fragile items near the required item.  
         [0032]     The presentation software may include logic to find the item which is easier to access than similar items. (e.g. on top of other item and not on bottom so it can more easily removed).  
         [0033]     In one embodiment of the invention the database can be queried to extract desired information and such information can be presented in visual form, such as on a computer screen or printed on paper or the like.  
         [0034]      FIGS. 4A-4C  show screen shots of presentations which can be made in accordance with various embodiments of this invention.  FIG. 4A  shows a screen shot  200   a  which presents a list of similar requested items associated with their respective locations in the warehouse. One of the items is presented in larger type and is bolded to indicate that it is the most accessible of this item. In another embodiment, not shown, the items can be listed in the order of the easiest one to retrieve first and the order is arrange by the difficulty of retrieving.  
         [0035]      FIG. 4B  shows a screen shot  200   b  of another presentation which can be made in accordance with this invention. In this embodiment the screen shot shows the picture of a desired item on the shelf in the warehouse and shows in text the name of the item and its location. In this instance there is more than one item in the image so the desired one is marked with a cross  50 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 4C  shows a screen shot similar to the screen shot in  FIG. 4B  except that the image shows a glass item next to the ice skates and additional text is added indicating that Glass is nearby and the glass item is marked with warning mark  51 .  
         [0037]     In this invention warehouse is referring to any location with many different items. Different items are referring to different items or identical items with differences such as serial number, manufacturing date, expiration date, color and any other differentiation.  
         [0038]     Having now described one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing is illustrative only and not limiting, having been presented by way of example only. All the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same purpose, and equivalents or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Therefore, numerous other embodiments of the modifications thereof are contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereto.  
         [0039]     For example, the techniques may be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of the two. In one embodiment, the techniques are implemented in computer programs executing on programmable computers that each include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device and one or more output devices. Program code is applied to data entered using the input device to perform the functions described and to generate output information. The output information is applied to one or more output devices.  
         [0040]     Each program may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system, however, the programs can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.  
         [0041]     Each such computer program may be stored on a storage medium or device (e.g., CD-ROM, hard disk or magnetic diskette) that is readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage medium or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described in this document. The system may also be considered to be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where the storage medium so configured causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner.