Warehousing monitor and control system

Claim 1

A system for monitoring and controlling the flow of articles in a warehousing system including a sorting conveyer with a plurality of discharge locations in which stored articles are to be batch picked and sorted for shipment comprising: means for storing data representing each article to be picked, said data including a number assigned to each article which is unique to each article and sort destination information for each article; indicia mean associated with each article to be picked including said unique number; scanning means for scanning said indicia means on an article transported within the warehousing system; computer circuit means coupled to said data storing means and to said scanning means for correlating position information of each article with the article identification number; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for providing display information to an operator of the status of each article to be picked and sorted; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storing means.

Claim 2

A system for monitoring and controlling the flow of articles in a warehousing system including a sorting conveyer with a plurality of discharge locations in which stored articles are to be batch picked and sorted for shipment comprising: means for storing data representing each article to be picked, said data including a number assigned to each article which is unique to each article and sort destination information for each article; indicia mean associated with each article to be picked including said unique number; scanning means for scanning said indicia means on an article transported within the warehousing system; computer circuit means coupled to said data storing means and to said scanning means for correlating position information of each article with the article identification number; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for providing display information to an operator of the status of each article to be picked and sorted; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storing means.

Claim 7

A system for monitoring the status of articles being processed in a warehouse system including article conveying means comprising: a plurality of label reading means positioned at selected locations within the warehouse system for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; data storage means including each identification number of articles to be processed and including processing information associated with each such article; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said data storage means for monitoring the position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the processing status of such articles; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system; and control means coupled to said computer circuit means for controlling the operation of the warehouse conveying means to control the movement of articles or groups of articles in the system.

Claim 8

A system for monitoring the status of articles being processed in a warehouse system including article conveying means comprising: a plurality of label reading means positioned at selected locations within the warehouse system for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; data storage means including each identification number of articles to be processed and including processing information associated with each such article; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said data storage means for monitoring the position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the processing status of such articles; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system; and control means coupled to said computer circuit means for controlling the operation of the warehouse conveying means to control the movement of articles or groups of articles in the system.

Claim 13

A system for monitoring the status of articles being processed comprising: a plurality of label reading means for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; data storage means including a data recording medium for storing each identification number together with associated processing information for articles to be processed; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said data storage means for monitoring the position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the processing status of such articles wherein said data storage means further includes data transfer means for reading and writing data to and from said recording medium respectively, said data transfer means coupled to said computer circuit means; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system said display means including printer means coupled to said computer circuit means for providing a printout of the status of articles to be processed; an operator keyboard coupled to said computer circuit means and wherein said computer circuit means is programmed to provide reports selectively printed by said printing means when requested by commands from said operator keyboard; a sorting conveyer with a plurality of discharge chutes; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles onto said discharge chutes; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storage means.

Claim 14

A system for monitoring the status of articles being processed comprising: a plurality of label reading means for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; data storage means including a data recording medium for storing each identification number together with associated processing information for articles to be processed; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said data storage means for monitoring the position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the processing status of such articles wherein said data storage means further includes data transfer means for reading and writing data to and from said recording medium respectively, said data transfer means coupled to said computer circuit means; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system said display means including printer means coupled to said computer circuit means for providing a printout of the status of articles to be processed; an operator keyboard coupled to said computer circuit means and wherein said computer circuit means is programmed to provide reports selectively printed by said printing means when requested by commands from said operator keyboard; a sorting conveyer with a plurality of discharge chutes; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles onto said discharge chutes; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storage means.

Claim 15

A system for monitoring and controlling the batch order picking and sorting of articles in a warehouse comprising: a plurality of label reading means for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; bulk data storage means including each identification number of articles to be sorted and including sort destination information for each such article; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said bulk data storage means for monitoring the physical position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the sorting status of such articles; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles at discharge locations in the warehouse; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storage means.

Claim 16

A system for monitoring and controlling the batch order picking and sorting of articles in a warehouse comprising: a plurality of label reading means for reading a unique identification number contained on a label applied to each article moving within the system and uniquely identifying each such article; bulk data storage means including each identification number of articles to be sorted and including sort destination information for each such article; computer circuit means coupled to said label reading means and to said bulk data storage means for monitoring the physical position of articles travelling within the system and for generating signals representative of the position and therefore the sorting status of such articles; display means coupled to said computer circuit means for displaying the status of articles or groups of articles in the system; a conveyer control circuit for selectively controlling the discharge of articles at discharge locations in the warehouse; and means coupling said conveyer control circuit to said computer circuit means for controlling the diverting of articles in response to the correlation of their unique identification number with associated sort destination information stored in said data storage means.