US 9,852,394 B1Granted

Light emission guidance

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsFrancois M. Rouaix, Felix F. Antony, Cynthia L. Elliott, Jeffrey P. Bezos

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Abstract

A visible-light based display system may be used to project visual guidance to picking and/or stowing agents in a materials handling facility dependent on their current location. The system may comprise a plurality of fixed-location display devices and/or mobile display devices coupled to a control system. The control system may send messages to particular ones of the display devices for projection of visual guidance usable to direct an agent to a particular inventory area in which an item is to be stowed or from which an item is to be picked, to identify a particular position within an inventory area, and/or to identify a particular item stored within an inventory area. The messages may include location, position, and/or descriptive information associated with an item to be stowed or picked. The projected visual guidance may include light or laser beams, text, graphics and/or images, and may be agent-specific, item-specific, and/or order-specific.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing, by a control system:
determining an inventory area within a materials handling facility to which an agent is to be directed;
determining a current location of the agent;
determining a path to the inventory area;
generating, based at least in part on the determined path to the inventory area, path data corresponding to the determined path to the inventory area;
determining a portion of the path data indicating a specific surface of the path to display guidance onto based on the current location of the agent;
and
providing, from the control system to at least one display device, the portion of the path data indicating the specific surface of the path to display the guidance onto,
wherein the portion of the path data is for projection, by the at least one display device, of the guidance onto the specific surface of the determined path for the agent to travel upon, wherein a location of the specific surface of the determined path in which the guidance is projected is based on the current location of the agent, and
wherein the guidance comprises an indication of the portion of the determined path to the inventory area usable to direct the agent toward the inventory area on the portion of the determined path to the inventory area.

7 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions computer-executable to implement:

determining a location within a facility to which an agent is to be directed,
wherein the location is an area within the facility at which a given item is located or at which a given item is to be located;
determining a current location of the agent;
determining a portion of path data indicating a specific surface of a path to display guidance onto based on the current location of the agent;
and
providing the portion of the path data from a control system to at least one display device, wherein the portion of the path data indicates the specific surface of the path to display the guidance onto,
wherein the data is for projection, by the at least one display device, of the guidance onto the specific surface of the path for the agent to travel upon, wherein a location of the specific surface of the path in which the guidance is projected is based on the current location of the agent,
wherein the guidance comprises information usable to direct the agent toward the area on the portion of the path.

5 more elements

A system, comprising:

one or more light-based display devices;
and
a control system configured to communicate with the one or more light-based display devices,
wherein the control system is further configured to:
determine a location in inventory where a given item is located or is to be located;
determine a current location of the agent;
determine a portion of path data indicating a specific surface of a path to present guidance onto based on the current location of the agent;
and
provide, from the control system to at least one of the one or more light-based display devices, the portion of the path data indicating the specific surface of the path to present the guidance onto, wherein the path is to the location, and wherein the provided portion of the path data is based on the current location of the agent,
wherein the presented guidance comprises an indication of the portion of the path to the location, and wherein a location of the specific surface of the path in which the guidance is presented is based on the current location of the agent.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/828,286Filed 14 Mar 2013 · division
Priority: 20 Dec 2007
Granted: 26 Dec 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G06Q 10/087
Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management: inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling,…
B65G 1/1373
With arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed: for fulfilling orders in warehouses
G06Q 10/08743
By picking of items from inventory for fulfillment: using optimisation of routes
B65G 2209/04
Indexing codes relating to order picking devices in General: indication location means