Patent Publication Number: US-2023153754-A1

Title: Package packing method and electronic device

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to China Application Serial Number 202111365847.6, filed Nov. 18, 2021, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to a package packing method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a package packing method and electronic device. 
     Description of Related Art 
     In nowadays logistics operations, packing packages faster and properly has been noted. However, in high volume packing process, people may not have enough time to determine a best size of a box, a packing order and an orientation of each of content items, causing the waste of transport space and carton consumables. Therefore, how to determine the best size of the box, the packing order and the orientations of content items in a fast and proper manner is an important issue in this field. 
     SUMMARY 
     One embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a package packing method. The package packing method includes the following steps. An order is received. The order corresponds to a plurality of content items, and the content items include a main content item and a plurality of attached content items. Item size data and box size data are received. The item size data includes size of each of the main content item and the attached content items, and the box size data includes size of each of a plurality boxes. A plurality of selected boxes with a minimum width and a minimum height are selected from the boxes according to a length and a width of the main content item. The minimum width and the minimum height of each selected boxes are same, and the selected boxes have the different depths. The minimum width and the minimum height of the selected boxes are set as a two-dimensional size of a reference box. A packing program and a minimum depth of the reference box are calculated under condition of the two-dimensional size of a reference box, according to size of each of the main content item and the attached content items, to fit the content items into the reference box. A target box from the selected boxes is selected according to the minimum depth of the reference box. 
     Another embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device. The electronic device includes a processing circuit and a memory device. The processing circuit is configured to perform following steps. An order is received. The order corresponds to a plurality of content items. The content items include a main content item and a plurality of attached content items. Item size data and box size data are received. The item size data includes size of each of the main content item and the attached content items. The box size data comprises size of each of a plurality boxes. A plurality of selected boxes with a minimum width and a minimum height are selected from the boxes according to a length and a width of the main content item. The minimum width and the minimum height of each selected boxes are same, and the selected boxes have the different depths. The minimum width and the minimum height of the selected boxes are set as a two-dimensional size of a reference box. A packing program and a minimum depth of the reference box are calculated under condition of the two-dimensional size of a reference box, according to size of each of the main content item and the attached content items, to fit the content items into the reference box. A target box from the selected boxes is selected according to the minimum depth of the reference box. 
     In summary, the present disclosure utilizes the main content item to select the two-dimensional size of the selected boxes, and the two-dimensional size of the selected boxes is set as the two-dimensional size of the reference box. Under the two-dimensional size of the reference box, the minimum depth of the reference box being able to contain the main content item and the attached content items is calculated, in order to calculate a best packing program. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram of an electronic device in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram of boxes corresponding to the box size data 15 stored in the memory device in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  3    is a schematic diagram of a main content items and attached content items corresponding to the item size data stored in the memory device in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    is a flowing chart of a package packing method in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    is a schematic diagram of a reference box in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  6    and  FIG.  7    are schematic diagrams of a reserved height and a reserved width in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  8    and  FIG.  9    are schematic diagrams of orientations of the attached content items in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  10    is a schematic diagram of a packing program in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  11    is a schematic diagram of is a schematic diagram of a packing program in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIGS.  12  and  13    are schematic diagrams of a packing program of the output data in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the disclosure will be described in conjunction with embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the disclosure to these embodiments. Description of the operation does not intend to limit the operation sequence. Any structures resulting from recombination of elements with equivalent effects are within the scope of the present disclosure. It is noted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, the drawings are only used for understanding and are not drawn to scale. Hence, the drawings are not meant to limit the actual embodiments of the present disclosure. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts for better understanding. 
     Throughout the specification and drawings, indexes 1~n may be used in the reference numbers of components and signals for ease of referring to respective components and signals. The use of indexes 1~n does not intend to restrict the count of components and signals to any specific number. In the specification and drawings, if a reference number of a particular component or signal is used without using the index, it means that the reference number is used to refer to any unspecific component or signal of corresponding component group or signal group. 
     Furthermore, it should be understood that the terms, “comprising”, “including”, “having”, “containing”, “involving” and the like, used herein are open-ended, that is, including but not limited to. It will be understood that, as used herein, the phrase “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     In this document, the term “coupled” may also be termed “electrically coupled,” and the term “connected” may be termed “electrically connected.” “Coupled” and “connected” may also be used to indicate that two or more elements cooperate or interact with each other. It will be understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the embodiments. 
     A description is provided with reference to  FIG.  1   .  FIG.  1    is a block diagram of an electronic device  10  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG.  1   , the electronic device  10  includes a processing circuit  11 , a memory device  14 , an input interface  17  and an output interface  18 . The processing circuit  11  can be implemented by a processor, microprocessor or other elements with similar functions. The input interface  17  can be implemented by a touch screen, a mouse, a keyboard, a button or other interface with functions to input data. The output interface  18  can be implemented by a display, a touch screen, a general purpose interface bus or other elements with function to display or transmit data. The processing circuit  11  includes the selecting circuit  12  and the computing circuit  13 . The memory device  14  is configured to store box size data  15  and item size data  16 . 
     In functions, the input interface  17  is configured to receive and transmit an order OD to the processing circuit  11 . In response to the order OD received by the processing circuit  11 , the processing circuit  11  reads the three-dimension data of each of the content items corresponding to the order OD from the item size data  16  in the memory device  14 , and the processing circuit  11  receives the three-dimension data of each of the boxes for containing the content items from the box size data in the memory device  14 . And, the processing circuit  11  calculates a best box size and a packing program according to the three-dimensional size of each content items corresponding to the order OD. 
     The processing circuit  11  includes a selecting circuit  12  and a computing circuit  13 . The selecting circuit  12  is configured to select multiple selected boxes with a two-dimensional size greater and closest to a two-dimensional size (length and width) corresponding to the biggest surface of a main content item in the order OD according to the box size data  15 . Since the selected boxes are selected by the same condition (such as, the two-dimensional size corresponding to the biggest surface of the main content item), a minimum width and a minimum height of each selected boxes can be same or similar to each other, and depths of the selected boxes are different from each other. The selecting circuit  12  transmits two-dimensional size RS of the selected boxes to the computing circuit  13 , and then the computing circuit  13  computes the best packing program. And, how to computes the best packing program by the processing circuit  11  will be described in detail in the following embodiments. 
     After the processing circuit  11  determines the best target box and the packing program, the processing circuit  11  transmits the output data OUT including information of the target box and the packing program to the output interface  18 . In some embodiment, the output interface  18  can convert the output data OUT to the three-dimensional image and user can rotate and observe the three-dimensional image to sequentially place the content items into the target box. In the other embodiments, the output interface  18  can transmit the output OUT to the robotic arm, and the robotic arm can place the content items into the target box according to the output data OUT. In some embodiments, the electronics device includes robotic arm (not shown), which can pack or place the content items into the target box according to the output data OUT. 
     A description is provided with reference to  FIG.  2   .  FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram of boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3 , CON b   1 ~CON b   3  and CON c   1 ~CON c   3  corresponding to the box size data  15  stored in the memory device  14  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG.   2   , the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  have the same width B 1  and the same height A 1 , and depths C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of each boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  are different from each other. Similarly, the boxes CON b   1 ~CON b   3  have the same width B 1  and the same height A 2 , and depths C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of each boxes CON b   1 ~CON b   3  are different from each other. The boxes CON c   1 ~CON c   3  have the same width B 2  and the same height A 2 , and depths C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of each boxes CON c   1 ~CON c   3  are different from each other. 
     In other words, the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  have the same two-dimensional size. The depths C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  are different from each other. The boxes CON b   1 ~CON b   3  have the same two-dimensional size. The depths C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of the boxes CON b   1 ~CON b   3  are different from each other. The boxes CON c   1 ~CON c   3  have the same two-dimensional size. The depth C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of the boxes CON c   1 ~CON c   3  are different from each other. And, the two-dimensional sizes of the boxes CON a   1 , CON b   1  and CON c   1  are different from each other. 
     A description is provided with reference to  FIG.  3   .  FIG.  3    is a schematic diagram of a main content items  110   a  and  110   b  and attached content items  122   a  and  122   b  corresponding to the item size data  16  stored in the memory device  14  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG.  3   , the main content items  110   a  and  110   b  can be considered as a display, a laptop, a touch screen, a panel or the other display/computing device. The attached content items  122   a  and  122   b  can be considered as peripheral devices (such as keyboard, mouse) or accessories. To be noted that, the device and peripheral devices as shown in  FIG.  3    are for examples, the main content items  110   a  and  110   b  can be implemented by other items to be packed. And, the main content  110   a  and  110   b  can be implemented by one of the items to be packed with a relatively biggest surface, and the attached content items  122   a  and  122   b  can be implemented by the others of the items to be packed with relatively small surfaces. Therefore, it is not intend to limit the present disclosure. 
     A description is provided with reference to  FIG.  4   .  FIG.  4    is a flowing chart of a package packing method S 100  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG.  4   , the package packing method S 100  includes steps S 110 ~S 160 . In step S 110 , an order is received. In step S 120 , item size data of a plurality of content items and box size data are received. In step S 130 , a plurality of selected boxes are selected from boxes according to a main content item in the order. In step S 140 , a two-dimensional size of a reference box is set according to the selected boxes. In step S 150 , a minimum depth of the reference box and a packing program are calculated under condition of the two-dimensional size of the reference box according to size data of each content items. In step S 160 , a target box is selected from the selected boxes according to the minimum depth of the reference box. 
     For better understanding, a description of the package packing method S 100  is provided with reference to  FIG.  1   ~ FIG.  11   .  FIG.  5    is a schematic diagram of a reference box  100  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  6    and  FIG.  7    are schematic diagrams of a reserved height Hr and a reserved width Wr in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  8    and  FIG.  9    are schematic diagrams of orientations of the attached content items in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  10    is a schematic diagram of a packing program in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  11    is a schematic diagram of is a schematic diagram of a packing program in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     In step S 110 , an order is received. The order corresponding to the main content item  110  and attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  as shown in  FIG.  11   . The main content item  110  can be considered as the main content item  110   a  or  110   b  in  FIG.  3   . The attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  can be considered as the attached content items  122   a ,  122   b . 
     In step S 120 , item size data of a plurality of content items and box size data are received. The selecting circuit  12  in the processing circuit  11  receives/read the three-dimensional size of each of the main content item  110  and the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  from the item size data  16  stored in the memory device  14 . And the selecting circuit  12  receives/read the three-dimensional size of each boxes from the box size data  15  stored in the memory device  14 . 
     In step S 130 , a plurality of selected boxes are selected from boxes according to a main content item in the order. The processing circuit  11  selects the selected boxes with the minimum width Wm and the minimum height Hm enabling to contain the main content item  110 , from the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3 , CON b   1 ~CON b   3  and CON c   1 ~CON 3 , according to the length W1 and height H 1  of the main content item  110 , as shown in  FIGS.  2 ,  5  and  6   . 
     For example, the width B 1  of the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  is greater than the length W1 of the main content item  110 , the height A 1  of the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  is greater than the height H 1  of the main content item  110 . Therefore, the selecting circuit  12  in the processing circuit  11  selects the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  with the minimum width B 1  and the minimum height A 1  in the box size data  15  as the selected boxes, to be able to contain the main content item  110 , as shown in  FIGS.  2 ,  5  and  6   . 
     In some embodiments, the main content item  110  are packaged and fixed with buffer/fix structures  112  and  114  in usual. The buffer/fix structures  112  and  114  can be formed by the thick cardboard/anti-collision foam. As a result, the appropriate buffer/fix structures  112  and  114  can be designed according to the two-dimension of the main content item  110 . And, the minimum box being able to contain the main content item  110  can be selected according to the reserved width Wr and the reserved height Hr constituted of the main content item  110  and buffer/fix structures  112  and  114 , and since the operation is similar with the aforementioned step S 130 , the description is omitted. 
     In step S 140 , a two-dimensional size of a reference box is set according to the selected boxes. For example, the procession circuit  11  sets the width B 1  and height A 1  of the boxes CON a   1 ~CON a   3  as the minimum width Wm and minimum height Hm of the reference box  100 . 
     In some embodiments, if the minimum width Wm of the reference box  100  is greater than the reserved width Wr, the space can be stuffed by a hollow/tubular structure as shown in  FIG.  5    and  FIG.  6   . In other embodiments, if the minimum width Wm of the reference box  100  is equal to or similar with the reserved width Wr, the hollow/tubular structures can be omitted. 
     In step S 150 , a minimum depth of the reference box and a packing program are calculated under condition of the two-dimensional size of the reference box according to size data of each content items. 
     In some embodiments, the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  can be sort by a descending order of areas of the biggest surface, such that the attached content item with the bigger area of the biggest surface can be prior arranged. For example, since the descending order of the areas of the biggest surface of each attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  is attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  in order, such that the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  can be sequentially packed into the reference box  100 . How to arrange the orientations of the content items will be described in detail in the following embodiments. 
     As shown in  FIG.  8   , the two-dimension RS of the reference box  100  can be indicated to a coordinate position, R (W m , H m ,  0 ). Under condition of at least one orientation, the attached content item  122  cannot exceed the minimum width Wm along the x axis and the minimum height Hm along the z axis. In this case, the orientation of the attached content item  122  in  FIG.  8    can be indicated to a coordinate position, N 1  ( z   1 ,  z   2 ,  z   3 ). On the other hand, in  FIG.  9   , the orientation of the attached content item  122  can be indicated to a coordinate position, N 2  ( z   1 ,  z   2 ,  z   3 ). 
     Therefore, under the condition of the two-dimensional size of the reference box  100 , the attached content item  122  can be placed in different orientations. And, supposing the attached content item  122  is placed with the orientation as shown in  FIG.  9   , there will be three coordinate positions P 1 , P 2  and P 3 , in the reference coordinate, to place a second one of the content items. In this case, under the condition of at least one orientation, whether the second one of content item exceeds the reference box  100  still need to be considered. If the attached content item  124  can be placed with the orientation without exceed the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 , a third one of the content item can then be placed. 
     After placing the attached content item  124 , there will be five coordinate positions (not shown) to place the attached content item  126 . Under the condition of at least one orientation and the different coordinate positions being able to place the content item  126 , whether the content item  126  exceeds the minimum width Wm and the minimum height Hm of the reference box  100  still need to be considered, similarly. If the attached content item  126  can be placed with the orientation without exceed the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 , the following steps are performed. 
     A description of a packing program for the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  is provided with reference to  FIG.  10   . The packing program can be indicated to a coordinate position, N a  ( r   1 ,  r   2 ,  r   3 ). In the aforementioned steps, there may have a multiple of packing programs being able to pack the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  under the condition of the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 . The computing circuit  13  can determine the minimum depth Dm of the reference box  100  and the best packing program (including the packing sequence and the orientation of each attached content items), as shown in  FIGS.  10  and  11   , through the genic algorithm, such as an adaptation function proportional to the depth of the reference box  100 . 
     In step S 160 , a target box is selected from the selected boxes according to the minimum depth of the reference box. For example, if the depth Dm of the reference box  100  is greater than the depths of the boxes CON a   1  and CON a   2 , and is less than the depth of the box CON a   3 , the computing circuit  130  selects the box CON a   3  as the target box, such that the depth of the target box is greater than and closest to the depth Dm of the reference box  100 . And, the computing circuit  130  transmits the best packing program and data of box CON a   3  as the output data OUT to the output interface  18 . The best packing program includes the packing sequence (such as the descending order of areas of the biggest surface of each attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126 ) and the orientation of each attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126 . 
     As a result, user or the robotic arm can sequentially pack the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  in the order OD into the target box according to the packing sequence. And, the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  are packed into the target box according to the orientation of each attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  by the user or the robotic arm. 
     In some embodiments, after calculating the best packing program, corresponding spacer block  120  can be placed with the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  in the target box, so as to avoid the attached content items  122 ,  124  and  126  collide with the main content item  110  during transport process. 
     A description is provided with reference to  FIGS.  12  and  13   .  FIGS.  12  and  13    are schematic diagrams of a packing program  200  of the output data OUT in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIGS.  12  and  13   , the output interface  18  can display a top view, a side view of the packing program  200 . And, the output interface  18  can display a three-dimension graphics of the packing program  200 , also. Therefore, user can review and performs the packing steps. 
     In summary, the present disclosure utilizes the main content item  110  to select the two-dimensional size of the selected boxes, and the two-dimensional size of the selected boxes is set as the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 . Under the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 , the minimum depth Dm of the reference box  100  being able to contain the main content item  110  and the attached content items is calculated. And, the target box is selected according to the minimum depth Dm of the reference box  100 . Therefore, the present disclosure, utilizing the main content item  110  to determine the two-dimensional size RS of the reference box  100 , can decrease the subsequent computing cost and computes the best packing program faster. 
     Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.