CN111985862A

CN111985862A - Method and apparatus for locating inventory items

Info

Publication number: CN111985862A
Application number: CN201910438388.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 普辉
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co Ltd; Beijing Jingdong Shangke Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingbangda Trade Co Ltd; Beijing Jingdong Zhenshi Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-05-24
Filing date: 2019-05-24
Publication date: 2020-11-24

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for positioning inventory items, and relates to the technical field of computers. One embodiment of the method comprises: for any item in the current task: when at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance is judged to exist in the preset set, one existing strategy is selected as a positioning strategy of the article; and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task. The embodiment can select the positioning strategy meeting the item selection condition from the existing strategies, thereby realizing configurable inventory positioning.

Description

Method and apparatus for locating inventory items

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of computers, in particular to a method and a device for positioning inventory items.

Background

Stock location (Stock Allocation) is an important function of a warehouse management system. When an order is issued to a warehouse, firstly, the storage position of an article needs to be quickly positioned according to a certain rule and a service scene, a goods picking task is generated, and the staff finishes goods picking. In the existing inventory positioning system, more if statements (namely condition statements) are generally used for flow control to meet actual requirements, the architecture is complex, and the code change amount is large when the requirements are newly increased or changed because inventory positioning logic cannot be configured.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for locating inventory items, which can select a location policy satisfying an item selection condition from existing policies, thereby implementing configurable inventory location.

To achieve the above objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of locating an item of inventory.

The method for positioning the inventory item in the embodiment of the invention comprises the following steps: for any article in the current task, when judging that at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance exists in the preset set, selecting one existing strategy from the preset set as a positioning strategy of the article; and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

Optionally, the existing policy includes data of multiple dimensions; the plurality of dimensions include a warehouse dimension and a producer dimension, and further include at least one of: service dimension, storage dimension, time dimension, and space dimension; wherein, in the existing policies: the data of the warehouse dimension is the identification of the warehouse corresponding to the task, the data of the producer dimension is the identification of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is the business type associated with the article, the data of the storage position dimension is a storage position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule; and, any item in the task is associated with a business type.

Optionally, determining, according to the identifier of the item in the task, the required number, and the positioning policy, a storage location where the item to be allocated to the task is located, and an allocation number of the item in the storage location, specifically including: generating a query statement facing a pre-established storage database according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the item in the task; and executing the query statement in a storage position database to obtain the storage position of the article to be allocated to the task and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position.

Optionally, the method further comprises: for any of the articles: and if at least one existing strategy which takes the identification of the warehouse and the identification of the producer of the item as marks is inquired in the set, judging whether the existing strategy which meets the selection condition exists in the inquired existing strategies.

Optionally, the method further comprises: for any of the articles: if the existing strategy which meets the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises the data of the multiple dimensions is newly built to serve as a positioning strategy of the article, and the newly built strategy is stored in the set.

To achieve the above objects, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for locating an item of inventory.

An apparatus for locating inventory items of an embodiment of the invention may include: a positioning strategy selection unit for: for any article in the current task, when judging that at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance exists in the preset set, selecting one existing strategy from the preset set as a positioning strategy of the article; an inventory locating unit to: and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

Optionally, the existing policy includes data of multiple dimensions; the plurality of dimensions include a warehouse dimension and a producer dimension, and further include at least one of: service dimension, storage dimension, time dimension, and space dimension; wherein, in the existing policies: the data of the warehouse dimension is the identification of the warehouse corresponding to the task, the data of the producer dimension is the identification of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is the business type associated with the article, the data of the storage position dimension is a storage position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule; any item in the task is associated with a business type; and the inventory locating unit is further configured to: generating a query statement facing a pre-established storage database according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the item in the task; and executing the query statement in a storage position database to obtain the storage position of the article to be allocated to the task and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position.

Optionally, the positioning policy selecting unit is further configured to: for any item, if at least one existing strategy which takes the identification of the warehouse and the identification of the producer of the item as marks is inquired in the set, judging whether the existing strategy meeting the selection condition exists in the inquired existing strategies; the device further comprises a positioning strategy newly-establishing unit used for: for any article, if it is judged that the existing strategy meeting the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises the data of the multiple dimensions is newly built as a positioning strategy of the article, and the newly built strategy is stored in the set.

To achieve the above object, according to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus.

An electronic device of the present invention includes: one or more processors; a storage device for storing one or more programs which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of locating inventory items provided by the present invention.

To achieve the above object, according to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium.

A computer-readable storage medium of the invention has stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of locating an item of inventory provided by the invention.

According to the technical scheme of the invention, one embodiment of the invention has the following advantages or beneficial effects:

firstly, when any article in the current task is subjected to inventory positioning, whether a strategy meeting a selection condition exists in the existing strategies is judged: if yes, the positioning strategy is taken as the positioning strategy; otherwise, a strategy meeting the selection condition is newly established as a positioning strategy; then, a query statement is generated according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the type of the article and executed in the storage position database, and the allocated storage position of the type of the article and the article allocation quantity of each storage position can be obtained. Through the arrangement, the inventory positioning logic can be simplified, the configurability of inventory positioning is realized, and the individual requirements of different producers are met; when a new demand is added, only one positioning strategy needs to be newly established, and the code does not need to be modified.

Secondly, when judging whether the strategy meeting the selection condition exists in the existing strategies, the method can firstly take the identification of the current warehouse and the identification of the article producer as the query conditions to carry out preliminary query, and finally judge in the result of the preliminary query, thereby improving the query efficiency.

Thirdly, in the embodiment of the present invention, the positioning policy contains data of a warehouse dimension, a producer dimension, a business dimension, a stock location dimension, a time dimension, and a space dimension, and constraint conditions for stock positioning can be provided from the perspective of a warehouse identifier, a producer identifier, a business type, a stock location filtering rule, a time positioning rule, and a space positioning rule, respectively, so that business fineness and positioning efficiency can be improved.

Further effects of the above-mentioned non-conventional alternatives will be described below in connection with the embodiments.

Drawings

The drawings are included to provide a better understanding of the invention and are not to be construed as unduly limiting the invention. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main steps of a method of locating an item of inventory according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of components of an apparatus for locating an item of inventory in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary system architecture diagram to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electronic device for implementing a method for locating an item of inventory in an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various details of embodiments of the invention are included to assist understanding, and which are to be considered as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted in the following description for clarity and conciseness.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention and the technical features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

The method for positioning the inventory item provided by the invention can be applied to the delivery process of the inventory item. In practical application, when a plurality of orders are issued to a warehouse, the orders can be combined into a collection list, in the process, the collection is performed according to different item identifiers (such as Stock Keeping units SKUs), that is, the quantity of the same item in different orders is added to obtain the quantity required by each item, and then a subsequent Stock positioning link is executed. Or directly executing a subsequent stock positioning link aiming at each order without summarizing the orders. In the following description, the collection or order to be subjected to inventory location will be collectively referred to as a task. It is understood that one task corresponds to one warehouse. Inventory location refers to determining the bin of each item in the warehouse that should be assigned to a task and the assigned quantity of the item in each bin according to actual scenarios, item producer requirements and certain strategies. After the inventory positioning is finished, the steps of printing bills, picking up goods in a warehouse, rechecking and delivering goods and the like can be sequentially carried out to finish the goods delivery process.

It should be noted that when items having the same SKU in a plurality of orders are aggregated, only items of the same order type are aggregated. Generally, order types may include sales orders for selling items to a user, stock orders for transferring items between different warehouses, return orders for returning expired or off-shelf items to a producer, and the like. For example, when two sales orders and two internal orders are aggregated, if all four orders include an item with the same SKU, the item in the two sales orders is aggregated as one item, and the item in the two internal orders is aggregated as another item, that is, in the following description, the same item has the same identifier (for example, SKU) and the same order type, and the order type can also be expressed as an item-related business type in the following description.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main steps of a method of locating an item of inventory in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the method for locating inventory items in the embodiment of the present invention may be specifically performed according to the following steps:

step S101: for any item in the current task: and when at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance is judged to exist in the preset set, selecting one existing strategy from the preset set as the positioning strategy of the article.

In this step, a positioning strategy can be set for each item in the current task and its stock can be positioned. When facing a certain article, firstly judging whether an existing strategy meeting the article selection condition exists in a preset set for storing the existing strategies. In the embodiment of the invention, the selection condition of each article in the task is predetermined before the inventory positioning is executed, each existing strategy comprises data of a plurality of dimensions, and the data of each dimension represents the article selection mode of the existing strategy in the dimension. That is, existing policies are multidimensional data, and rules to be followed for inventory location can be defined from multiple dimensions. Generally, the plurality of dimensions may include at least one of: warehouse dimensions, producer dimensions, business dimensions, bin dimensions, time dimensions, and space dimensions. It will be appreciated that the selection condition is also based on data of one or more of the dimensions. In the above dimensions, the data of the warehouse dimension is an identifier of a warehouse corresponding to the task (i.e., an issuing warehouse of the task), the data of the producer dimension is an identifier of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is a business type associated with the article, the data of the stock position dimension is a stock position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule. Each dimension and data is described separately below.

In an actual application scenario, storage locations of different warehouses are often set differently, and in one warehouse, articles of various levels of categories are generally stored according to different producers, so that existing strategies need to be added to warehouse identifications and article producer identifications to represent which warehouse and producer are targeted when selecting inventory articles. In addition, the warehouse identity and the identity of the producer of the item may also be used as a policy-aware label for indexing, i.e., the warehouse dimension and the producer dimension may be used as index dimensions.

To achieve the refinement of the inventory location, the business type (i.e., order type) and/or bin filtering rules associated with the item may also be added to the existing policy. The service types may include a sales type (corresponding to a sales order), an in-mix type (corresponding to an in-mix order), and a retirement type (corresponding to a retirement order). It will be appreciated that different traffic types will often correspond to different inventory location mechanisms. For example, when the service type is a sales type, the same amount of articles must be selected when selecting inventory articles, that is, the number of the selected articles must be equal to the number of articles required in the task; when the order type is an internal configuration type or a factory leaving type, the number of the selected articles can be smaller than the number of the articles required in the task, and at the moment, the different mechanisms need to be embodied in the service type dimension of the existing strategy. For another example, the sales type generally generates a replenishment demand when a replenishment condition is met (e.g., the current quantity of the items on the stock location is less than a threshold value), so as to avoid a situation that the quantity of the items is insufficient during the delivery process, while the replenishment demand does not need to be generated by the internal mix list and the return list, and such a difference also needs to be embodied in the strategic business type dimension.

The storage position filtering rule refers to a storage position screening requirement preset by a worker according to actual requirements. In practical application, a worker may write a plurality of Query condition words (e.g., WHERE clauses) of Structured Query Language SQL as a storage filtering rule in advance, and may select one or more words from the stored Query condition words to join in the stored Query condition words when forming an existing policy. It will be appreciated that the bin filter rules described above may be indicative of specific conditions to be implemented in selecting inventory items. In a specific scenario, when the service type is a sales order, the following requirements are generally required to be embodied by the storage filtering rule: the requirements of delivering goods from the picking position during delivery, replenishing goods from the storage position during replenishment and forbidding positioning the goods of the isolation position during positioning need to be reflected by corresponding WHERE clauses. In the specific application, the picking position, the storage position and the isolation position are different storage position types, the picking position is used for storing a small amount of articles directly taken out of a warehouse, the storage position is used for storing a large amount of articles, the articles can be replenished from the storage position when the storage of the picking position is insufficient, and the isolation position is used for storing damaged and overdue abnormal articles. Generally, when the article producer puts forward a special requirement for article delivery, the filtering rule can be embodied in the storage position.

The above dimensions of existing strategies are sometimes difficult to locate accurately to a particular bin or bins, and thus a temporal dimension, and/or a spatial dimension may be added to the existing strategies. In the embodiment of the present invention, the time positioning rule may be: and (4) discharging according to the ascending order of the production date, discharging according to the descending order of the production date, discharging according to the ascending order of the failure date and the like. Wherein, the warehouse-out in ascending order according to the production date refers to that when the goods are positioned, the goods are warehouse-out in the order of the production date from small to large (i.e. in the order of the production date from small to large on the time axis, such as 12 and 31 days in 1997 to less than 1 and 1 day in 1998), that is, the goods with the production date far from the present are preferentially warehouse-out; when the step of delivering the articles out of the warehouse in a descending order according to the production date refers to positioning the articles, the articles with the production dates closer to the present are preferentially delivered out of the warehouse according to the sequence from the big to the small of the production dates; the step of warehouse-out according to the ascending order of the expiration dates refers to that when the articles are positioned, the articles are warehouse-out according to the order from small expiration dates to large expiration dates, namely, the articles with the expiration dates closer to the present are preferentially warehouse-out. The spatial location rule may be a clear bin mode and a least pick bin mode. The emptying storage position mode is to empty more storage positions as much as possible when the stock is positioned, and the least picking storage position mode is to contact less storage positions as much as possible when the stock is positioned. For example, 500 items are required in an order, while bin a stores 100 items, bin B stores 1000 items, and when locating inventory: if the storage position is emptied, 100 articles need to be positioned at the storage position A and 400 articles need to be positioned at the storage position B; if the least pick level mode is followed, then only 500 items need to be positioned at bin B. In an actual scenario, the temporal positioning rule and the spatial positioning rule may be set according to the requirements of the producer of the article.

Therefore, the existing strategy can have the data with the six dimensions, so that the service refinement degree can be improved, and the rapid inventory positioning is facilitated. In addition, each existing policy may also be associated with other business logic, such as whether to total, replenish, batch, etc. Wherein, the step of submitting refers to a process of combining orders into a collection list; replenishment refers to the transfer of articles from a storage position to a picking position, and if replenishment is selected, a storage position filtering rule in a replenishment process is generally required to be set; a lot refers to an item that defines only a certain lot when the inventory is located, and whether a lot can be determined according to the requirements of a producer.

In step S101, for each item in the current task, it may be determined from the set of stored existing policies whether there is an existing policy that satisfies the item selection condition: if the existing strategy exists, the existing strategy is selected as the positioning strategy of the item for subsequent item selection. It will be appreciated that for the selection condition and the existing strategy for satisfying the selection condition, the data in each dimension included in the two are equal. In particular, in practical applications, the selection condition generally needs to define at least a warehouse dimension, a producer dimension, and a business dimension, and therefore in the positioning policy, data of the warehouse dimension is generally an identifier of a warehouse, data of the producer dimension is generally an identifier of a producer of an item to be positioned (i.e., an item currently undergoing inventory positioning), and data of the business dimension is a business type associated with the item to be positioned. In addition, because the selection condition of the article is often more delicate, at most one existing strategy meeting the selection condition is often determined from the set, and the existing strategy can be directly used as a positioning strategy.

Since the existing policies stored in the set are large in number, it takes a long time to determine whether there is an existing policy that satisfies the selection condition. In order to solve the problem, in the embodiment of the present invention, a preliminary query may be performed by using the identifier of the warehouse and the identifier of the item producer, and if an existing policy marked by the identifier of the warehouse and the identifier of the item producer is queried in the set, it is determined whether an existing policy meeting the selection condition exists from the queried existing policies, so that the query time can be shortened.

If the existing strategy which meets the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises data of multiple dimensionalities can be newly built to serve as a positioning strategy of the article, the newly built strategy is stored in the set, and at the moment, the newly built strategy becomes the existing strategy in the set. It can be understood that the newly created strategy has the same dimension as the selection condition.

For example, if the selection condition of a certain object in the current task is as follows: selecting from a first warehouse, wherein a producer is A, a related service type is a sales type, a reserve filtering rule is a preset first WHERE clause, the producer is taken out of the warehouse in ascending order according to production date and a clear reserve mode is adopted, and when an existing strategy meeting the selection condition does not exist in a set, a strategy can be newly established as follows: (left column is dimension, right column is data)

Storage house	First warehouse
		Production ofA	First of all
Business	Type of sale
		Storage position	First WHERE clause
Time of day	Delivering out of the warehouse according to the ascending order of the production date
		Space(s)	Clear bit mode

If the selection conditions of the other article are as follows: selecting from the first warehouse, wherein the producer is B, the related service type is a factory leaving type, and when the existing strategy meeting the selection condition does not exist in the set, the newly-built strategy is as follows:

storage house	First warehouse
		Producer of	Second step
Business	Type of returned factory

Step S102: and determining the storage position where the type of article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the type of article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the type of article in the task.

Specifically, in this step, first, a query statement facing the pre-established stock location database may be generated according to the identification of the item in the task, the required quantity, and the positioning policy determined in step S101. The bin database is used for storing the item information of each bin in at least one warehouse including the warehouse corresponding to the current task, such as SKU and the number of items stored in each bin in each warehouse, and the query statement may be an SQL statement. In practical application, the SKU of the item to be positioned, the required number in the current task, and the positioning policy determined in step S101 may be input into the SQL statement generator, and one or more SQL statements may be automatically generated. The SQL statement generation technology is a known technology, and the implementation thereof is not repeated here. In practical application, the SQL statements may form an SQL script file for subsequent automatic execution.

After the query statement is generated, the query statement is executed facing to the storage position database, so that a stock positioning result can be obtained, namely the storage position where the article to be positioned is located and the distribution quantity of the article to be positioned in the storage position, which are to be distributed to the current task, and the stock positioning link is completed. After that, the picking task can be established and distributed, the picking order can be created and printed, and the picking operation and the delivery can be rechecked, thus completing the complete process of the delivery of the goods.

In the software design of the existing inventory positioning system, the existing inventory positioning system is generally divided into a plurality of different service modules, the number of repeated logics in each service module is large, and if new needs are added, a new service module needs to be added or an old service module needs to be modified. In order to solve the problems, the invention adopts a template mode to design the implementation code of the positioning strategy. In the template mode, firstly, a skeleton of an algorithm in operation is defined through a parent class, and then certain steps are delayed to a subclass, so that the subclass redefines the certain steps of the algorithm on the premise of not changing the structure of the algorithm. In the embodiment of the present invention, the parent class may be set as an abstract class, where: the method comprises the concrete methods of obtaining order types, carrying out abstract methods and checking parameters of special processing, obtaining order details, obtaining available inventory, obtaining positioning strategies and generating a positioning result set (the positioning result set comprises positioned storage positions and the distribution quantity of each storage position), wherein the five concrete methods can be directly used by three subclasses which are set according to sales types, internal allocation types and withdrawal types, and the two abstract methods can be redefined by the subclasses. The method for obtaining the order type can be realized by a subclass, and the output parameters are returned to a parent class for the parent class to use; the special processing method can be redefined by each subclass and realize respective special processing logic so as to solve the problem that the template cannot be used universally. Through the setting, the reusability of different service modules can be increased, and the code amount is effectively reduced.

In the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, when carrying out inventory positioning on any article in the current task, firstly, whether a strategy meeting a selection condition exists in the existing strategies is judged: if yes, the positioning strategy is taken as the positioning strategy; otherwise, a strategy meeting the selection condition is newly established as a positioning strategy; then, a query statement is generated according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the type of the article and executed in the storage position database, and the allocated storage position of the type of the article and the article allocation quantity of each storage position can be obtained. Through the arrangement, the inventory positioning logic can be simplified, the configurability of inventory positioning is realized, and the individual requirements of different producers are met; when a new demand is added, only one positioning strategy needs to be newly established, and the code does not need to be modified. When judging whether the strategy meeting the selection condition exists in the existing strategies, the method can firstly carry out preliminary query by taking the identification of the current warehouse and the identification of an article producer as query conditions, and carry out final judgment in the result of the preliminary query, thereby improving the query efficiency. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the positioning policy contains data of a warehouse dimension, a producer dimension, a business dimension, a stock location dimension, a time dimension, and a space dimension, and constraints for stock positioning can be provided from the perspective of a warehouse identifier, a producer identifier, a business type, a stock location filtering rule, a time positioning rule, and a space positioning rule, respectively, so that business fineness and positioning efficiency can be improved.

It should be noted that, for the convenience of description, the foregoing method embodiments are described as a series of acts, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited by the order of acts described, and that some steps may in fact be performed in other orders or concurrently. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments described in the specification are presently preferred and that no acts or modules are necessarily required to implement the invention.

To facilitate a better implementation of the above-described aspects of embodiments of the present invention, the following also provides relevant means for implementing the above-described aspects.

Referring to fig. 2, an apparatus 200 for locating inventory items according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a location policy selecting unit 201 and an inventory locating unit 202.

The positioning policy selecting unit 201 is configured to: for any article in the current task, when at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance is judged to exist in the preset set, one existing strategy is selected from the preset set to serve as the positioning strategy of the article. The inventory locating unit 202 is configured to: and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the existing policy includes data of multiple dimensions; the plurality of dimensions include a warehouse dimension and a producer dimension, and further include at least one of: service dimension, storage dimension, time dimension, and space dimension; wherein, in the existing policies: the data of the warehouse dimension is the identification of the warehouse corresponding to the task, the data of the producer dimension is the identification of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is the business type associated with the article, the data of the storage position dimension is a storage position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule; any item in the task is associated with a business type.

In practical applications, the inventory locating unit 202 is further configured to: generating a query statement facing a pre-established storage database according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the item in the task; and executing the query statement in a storage position database to obtain the storage position of the article to be allocated to the task and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position.

As a preferred solution, the positioning policy selecting unit 201 is further configured to: and for any item, if at least one existing strategy which takes the identification of the warehouse and the identification of the producer of the item as marks is inquired in the set, judging whether the existing strategy meeting the selection condition exists in the inquired existing strategies.

Preferably, the apparatus 200 further comprises a positioning policy creating unit configured to: for any article, if it is judged that the existing strategy meeting the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises the data of the multiple dimensions is newly built as a positioning strategy of the article, and the newly built strategy is stored in the set.

Preferably, in the embodiment of the present invention, the identifier of the article is specifically: stock keeping unit SKU; the query statement specifically includes: a Structured Query Language (SQL) statement; the article information is specifically: SKU and quantity of items; the service types include: sales type, internal distribution type and ex-factory type; the storage position filtering rule is specifically as follows: the WHERE clause of SQL; the time positioning rule comprises: discharging according to the ascending order of the production date, discharging according to the descending order of the production date and discharging according to the ascending order of the failure date; the spatial positioning rule comprises: empty bin mode and least pick bin mode.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary system architecture 300 of a method of locating an item of inventory or an apparatus for locating an item of inventory to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied.

As shown in fig. 3, the system architecture 300 may include

terminal devices

301, 302, 303, a network 304 and a server 305 (this architecture is merely an example, and the components included in a particular architecture may be adapted according to the application specific circumstances). The network 304 serves as a medium for providing communication links between the

terminal devices

301, 302, 303 and the server 305. Network 304 may include various connection types, such as wired, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables, to name a few.

The user may use the

terminal device

301, 302, 303 to interact with the server 305 via the network 304 to receive or send messages or the like. The

terminal devices

301, 302, 303 may have installed thereon various communication client applications, such as an inventory locating application.

The

terminal devices

301, 302, 303 may be various electronic devices having a display screen and supporting web browsing, including but not limited to smart phones, tablet computers, laptop portable computers, desktop computers, and the like.

The server 305 may be a server providing various services, such as a warehouse management server (for example only) providing support for an inventory location application operated by a user with a

terminal device

301, 302, 303. The warehouse management server may process the received inventory location request or the like and feed back the processing results (e.g., the determined item storage locations and the item allocation quantities of the storage locations, by way of example only) to the

terminal devices

301, 302, 303.

It should be noted that the method for locating an inventory item provided by the embodiment of the present invention is generally performed by the server 305, and accordingly, the apparatus for locating an inventory item is generally disposed in the server 305.

It should be understood that the number of terminal devices, networks, and servers in fig. 3 is merely illustrative. There may be any number of terminal devices, networks, and servers, as desired for implementation.

The invention also provides the electronic equipment. The electronic device of the embodiment of the invention comprises: one or more processors; a storage device for storing one or more programs which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of locating inventory items provided by the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a computer system 400 suitable for use with the electronic device implementing an embodiment of the invention is shown. The electronic device shown in fig. 4 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the computer system 400 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)401 that can perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM)402 or a program loaded from a storage section 408 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 403. In the RAM403, various programs and data necessary for the operation of the computer system 400 are also stored. The CPU401, ROM 402, and RAM403 are connected to each other via a bus 404. An input/output (I/O) interface 405 is also connected to bus 404.

The following components are connected to the I/O interface 405: an input section 406 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like; an output section 407 including a display device such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, and a speaker; a storage section 408 including a hard disk and the like; and a communication section 409 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, or the like. The communication section 409 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet. A driver 410 is also connected to the I/O interface 405 as needed. A removable medium 411 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is mounted on the drive 410 as necessary, so that a computer program read out therefrom is mounted into the storage section 408 as necessary.

In particular, the processes described in the main step diagrams above may be implemented as computer software programs, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, embodiments of the invention include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for performing the method illustrated in the main step diagram. In the above-described embodiment, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from a network through the communication section 409, and/or installed from the removable medium 411. The computer program performs the above-described functions defined in the system of the present invention when executed by the central processing unit 401.

It should be noted that the computer readable medium shown in the present invention can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium or any combination of the two. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the present invention, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the present invention, a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wire, fiber optic cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The units described in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software or hardware. The described units may also be provided in a processor, and may be described as: a processor includes a location policy selection unit and an inventory location unit. Where the names of these units do not in some cases constitute a limitation on the unit itself, for example, the location policy selection unit may also be described as a "unit providing location policy to an inventory location unit".

As another aspect, the present invention also provides a computer-readable medium that may be contained in the apparatus described in the above embodiments; or may be separate and not incorporated into the device. The computer readable medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform steps comprising: for any item in the current task: when at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance is judged to exist in the preset set, one existing strategy is selected as a positioning strategy of the article; and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

The above-described embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions can occur, depending on design requirements and other factors. Any modification, equivalent replacement, and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of locating an item of inventory, comprising:

for any item in the current task: when at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance is judged to exist in the preset set, one existing strategy is selected as a positioning strategy of the article;

and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the existing policy includes data in multiple dimensions; the plurality of dimensions include a warehouse dimension and a producer dimension, and further include at least one of: service dimension, storage dimension, time dimension, and space dimension; wherein,

In the existing strategy: the data of the warehouse dimension is the identification of the warehouse corresponding to the task, the data of the producer dimension is the identification of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is the business type associated with the article, the data of the storage position dimension is a storage position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule; and, any item in the task is associated with a business type.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, according to the identifier of the item in the task, the required number, and the positioning policy, a storage location where the item to be allocated to the task is located and an allocated number of the item in the storage location specifically includes:

generating a query statement facing a pre-established storage database according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the item in the task;

and executing the query statement in a storage position database to obtain the storage position of the article to be allocated to the task and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

For any of the articles: and if at least one existing strategy which takes the identification of the warehouse and the identification of the producer of the item as marks is inquired in the set, judging whether the existing strategy which meets the selection condition exists in the inquired existing strategies.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

for any of the articles: if the existing strategy which meets the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises the data of the multiple dimensions is newly built to serve as a positioning strategy of the article, and the newly built strategy is stored in the set.

6. An apparatus for locating an item of inventory, comprising:

a positioning strategy selection unit for: for any article in the current task, when judging that at least one existing strategy meeting the selection condition determined for the article in advance exists in the preset set, selecting one existing strategy from the preset set as a positioning strategy of the article;

an inventory locating unit to: and determining the storage position where the article to be allocated to the task is located and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the article in the task.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the existing policy comprises data in a plurality of dimensions; the plurality of dimensions include a warehouse dimension and a producer dimension, and further include at least one of: service dimension, storage dimension, time dimension, and space dimension;

wherein, in the existing policies: the data of the warehouse dimension is the identification of the warehouse corresponding to the task, the data of the producer dimension is the identification of an article producer, the data of the business dimension is the business type associated with the article, the data of the storage position dimension is a storage position filtering rule, the data of the time dimension is a time positioning rule, and the data of the space dimension is a space positioning rule; any item in the task is associated with a business type; and the number of the first and second groups,

the inventory locating unit is further configured to: generating a query statement facing a pre-established storage database according to the identification, the required quantity and the positioning strategy of the item in the task; and executing the query statement in a storage position database to obtain the storage position of the article to be allocated to the task and the allocation quantity of the article in the storage position.

8. The apparatus of claim 7,

The positioning strategy selection unit is further configured to: for any item, if at least one existing strategy which takes the identification of the warehouse and the identification of the producer of the item as marks is inquired in the set, judging whether the existing strategy meeting the selection condition exists in the inquired existing strategies;

the device further comprises a positioning strategy newly-establishing unit used for: for any article, if it is judged that the existing strategy meeting the selection condition does not exist in the set, a strategy which meets the selection condition and comprises the data of the multiple dimensions is newly built as a positioning strategy of the article, and the newly built strategy is stored in the set.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a storage device for storing one or more programs,

when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of any one of claims 1-5.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1-5.