Patent Application
20240349888
This patent application claims the benefit and priority of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 112115221, filed with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office on Apr. 24, 2023, entitled “SMART LOCKER,” the content of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a storage device and, in particular, to a smart locker and a method for storing objects in the same.
Services such as online shopping and parcel storage and pickup have rapidly developed in recent years. Store pickup or supermarket pickup have become common ways of online shopping pickup, and various online shopping platforms and pickup and delivery service providers both are eager to improve the convenience and service efficiency of sending and pickup etc. Thus, various types of electronic storage cabinets are available on the market. Traditional electronic storage cabinets or lockers typically use fixed locker compartments for storing articles, meaning that the storage space in each locker compartment is fixed. However, due to differences in the nature and types of goods, the material and volume of the parcels required also varies, and there are many differences in the size of parcels to be picked up. The fixed locker compartments cannot fully utilize the storage efficiently with respect to parcels or goods having larger volume or special shape. In addition, if parcels to be shelved are all small parcels and locker compartments are fixed large locker compartments, there may be a waste of space. Therefore, the flexible use of locker compartments is also an important issue for electronic storage cabinets.
Therefore, the present invention provides a smart locker and a method for storing an object in the same to solve the above problem.
In some embodiments, the present invention provides a smart locker, including: a cabinet; a plurality of locker doors; and a plurality of shelf boards configured to vertically divide a storage space of the cabinet into one or more locker compartments, each locker compartment corresponding to one or more locker doors of the plurality of locker doors. When a locker door corresponding to a locker compartment adjacent to a specific locker compartment of the one or more locker compartments is closed, a position of a corresponding shelf board that forms the adjacent locker compartment in the specific locker compartment is limited by the locker door corresponding to the adjacent locker compartment.
In some embodiments, a first inner surface of the cabinet and a second inner surface opposite to the first inner surface are correspondingly provided with a plurality of dividing components, and the plurality of shelf boards are placed on the plurality of dividing components to vertically divide the storage space of the cabinet into the one or more locker compartments. In addition, each dividing component is a sliding rail.
In some embodiments, each shelf board includes: a first limiting component and a second limiting component respectively disposed at two ends of a first side of an upper surface of the shelf board, wherein the first limiting component and the second limiting component have a first height relative to the upper surface of the shelf board. In addition, the first limiting component and the second limiting component are bulges or protrusions.
In some embodiments, each shelf board further includes: a third limiting component and a fourth limiting component disposed at two ends of a second side opposite to the first side of a lower surface of the shelf board, wherein the third limiting component and the fourth limiting component have a second height relative to the lower surface of the shelf board, wherein the first height is greater than the second height. When the shelf board is pushed into the cabinet to be placed on a corresponding dividing component of the plurality of dividing components, the third limiting component and the fourth limiting component slightly exceed tail end of the dividing component to fix the shelf board.
In some embodiments, the sliding rail includes an upper half sliding rail and a lower half sliding rail, and the height between the upper half sliding rail and the lower half sliding rail allows the shelf board to be pushed into the cabinet within a predetermined angle range to be placed on the lower half sliding rail.
In some embodiments, each shelf board includes a first limiting component and a second limiting component respectively disposed at two ends of a first side of a lower surface of the shelf board, wherein the first limiting component and the second limiting component each include a tenon towards an inner side of the cabinet.
In some embodiments, when the shelf board is completely pushed into the sliding rail, a bottom of the tenon of each of the first limiting component and the second limiting component presses against an upper edge of the lower half sliding rails, wherein, when the first side of the shelf board is pressed down, the bottom of the tenon of each of the first limiting component and the second limiting component is located below the lower half sliding rail to press against the lower half sliding rail to fix the shelf board.
In some embodiments, each dividing component disposed in the cabinet includes front fixed columns and rear fixed columns, and a first side of each shelf board and a second side opposite to the first side include front grooves and rear grooves, the front grooves and the rear grooves are respectively inverted-U-shaped and inverted-L-shaped, and the front fixed columns and the rear fixed columns of the cabinet are respectively snapped into the front grooves and the rear grooves of the shelf board, so that the shelf board is horizontally placed in the cabinet.
In some embodiments, the first side of each shelf board is provided with a fixing member next to the front groove, and when the shelf board is horizontally placed in the cabinet, the fixing member is snapped into a corresponding groove provided in the cabinet to fix the shelf board.
The present invention further provides a method for storing an object in a smart locker, including: activating a shelving mode of the smart locker to open available locker compartments of the smart locker; obtaining an order number and size information of a target object, and placing the target object into one or more first locker compartments of the available locker compartments of the smart locker according to the size information; scanning a bar code of the one or more first locker compartment to link the order number with the bar code of the one or more first locker compartments; closing locker doors of the available locker compartments to control the smart locker to switch from the shelving mode to a pickup mode.
The present invention further provides a method for storing an object in a smart locker, including: activating a shelving mode of the smart locker; obtaining an order number, buyer information and size information of a target object; selecting one or more first locker compartments of available locker compartments of the smart locker according to the size information, and opening locker doors of the one or more first locker compartments; placing the target object into the adjacent one or more first locker compartments; closing the locker doors of the adjacent one or more first locker compartments to link the order number with the one or more first locker compartments, and controlling the smart locker to switch from the shelving mode to a pickup mode; if the locker compartment used by the same buyer has a space for placing an additional parcel, opening, by the smart locker, the same locker compartment for the same buyer, so that a new shelving person places a parcel delivered later into the locker compartment for the same buyer.
In some embodiments, the one or more first locker compartments are one or more vertically adjacent available locker compartments of the available locker compartments.
In some embodiments, a first inner surface of the cabinet of the smart locker and a second inner surface opposite to the first inner surface are correspondingly provided with a plurality of dividing components, and the smart locker includes one or more shelf boards to cooperate with the plurality of dividing components to vertically divide the storage space of the cabinet into the one or more locker compartments.
In some embodiments, when a locker door corresponding to an adjacent locker compartment of a specific locker compartment of the smart locker is closed, a position of a corresponding shelf board that forms the adjacent locker compartment in the specific locker compartment is limited by the locker door corresponding to the adjacent locker compartment.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below for the purpose of describing the basic spirit of the present invention, instead of limiting the present invention. The actual invention content should refer to the patent scope of the claims.
It is to be understood that the words “include” and “comprise” used herein are intended to indicate the existence of specific technical features, numerical values, method steps, operation processes, elements, and/or assemblies, but do not exclude the possibility of adding more technical features, numerical values, method steps, operation processes, elements, and/or assemblies, or any combination thereof.
The words such as “first” “second” and “third” in the claims are intended to modify elements within the claims, rather than indicate a priority order or preceding relationship between them, or indicate that one element precedes another, or the chronological order in which method steps are executed, and are only intended to distinguish elements with the same name.
Referring to
The cabinet 110 includes a plurality of locker doors 114. A door lock device 116 is provided at a corresponding opening position of each locker door 114 of the cabinet 110 to fix and lock the corresponding locker door 114. The door lock device 116 may be controlled to lock or unlock by the control unit 130. Each locker door 114 has a corresponding locker compartment 112 in the cabinet 110. Each of locker compartments 112 may be separated from each other by a shelf board (not shown in
The communication unit 120 may comprise, for example, a transceiver for being communicatively connected to the electronic device 200 and an order server 250 through wired network protocols and/or wireless network protocols. The control unit 130 may comprise, for example, a general-purpose processor, a central processing unit or a microcontroller, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The order server 250 may be, for example, a cloud server to store order information (such as order type, order number, payable amount and consignee's phone number) for each user, storage information (such as locker compartment number and parcel volume) for each locker compartment 112 in the smart locker 100, and corresponding order information.
The electronic device 200 may be, for example, a comprehensive electronic check-in/payment machine, which may be implemented, for example, by a personal computer, tablet computer, etc. The electronic device 200 has a touch screen 210 for displaying various user operation interfaces to provide functions such as check-in for pickup orders, identity verification and payment, opening of the locker door 114 of the smart locker 100, and printing of receipts. The functions and corresponding user operation interfaces will be detailed below. The electronic device 200 further includes a processor and a communication unit (not shown in
In some embodiments, if a pickup order of a user is a non cash on delivery (non-COD) order, the user may perform operations related to the non-COD pickup order on the touch screen 210 of electronic device 200, such as entering the consignee's phone number, entering the pickup verification code, confirming the pickup order, confirming the completion of the order, and opening one or more locker doors 114 corresponding to the pickup order, etc.
In some embodiments, the electronic device 200 has a cash on delivery function, which includes a coin machine/banknote machine (not shown in
In some embodiments, there is a communication link between the smart locker 100 and the electronic device 200, and the electronic device 200 can open one or more locker doors 114 in the smart locker 100 based on specific signals (such as order number, consignee's phone number and pickup verification code) entered by the user (e.g., consignee) to allow the user to pick up the article stored in one or more locker compartments 112 in the smart locker 100.
Referring to
A sectional view of the cabinet 110 along line AA′ in
In some embodiments, the door lock devices 116 corresponding to individual locker doors 114L, 114R may be disposed at different positions according to the actual situation (such as the direction of opening the doors). As an example, if the locker doors 114R are designed to be opened rightwards (that is, the locker doors 114R open to the right), the door lock devices 116 corresponding to the locker doors 114R may be disposed on an inner side of the middle partition plate 202 or in corresponding groove of the middle partition plate 202. If the locker doors 114R are designed to be opened leftwards (that is, the lock doors 114R open to the left), the door lock devices 116 corresponding to the locker doors 114R are disposed on an inner or outer side of the right side plate 204 of the cabinet 110, or within the right side plate 204.
Similarly, if the locker doors 114L are designed to be opened rightwards (that is, the locker doors 114L open to the right), the door lock devices 116 corresponding to the locker doors 114R are disposed on an inner or outer side of the left side plate 206 of the cabinet 110, or within the left side plate 206. If the locker doors 114L are designed to the opened leftwards (that is, the locker doors 114L open to the left), the door lock devices 116 corresponding to the locker doors 114R are disposed on an inner side of the middle partition plate 202 of the cabinet 110 or in corresponding groove of the middle partition plate 202.
In the above embodiments, when the door lock devices 116 are disposed in the corresponding grooves of the middle partition plate 202, the right side plate 204 or the left side plate 206 of the cabinet 110, a blocking piece (not shown) is provided in front of the corresponding grooves of the middle partition plate 202, the right side plate 204 or the left side plate 206 of the cabinet 110 from the top to the bottom of the cabinet 110, to prevent users from damaging the door lock devices 116 from the outside.
It should be understood that for the purpose of description, the cabinet 110 in the embodiments illustrated in
Referring to
The shelf board 310 includes limiting components 311 and 312. The limiting components 311 are disposed on a first side surface of the shelf board 310 and a second side surface opposite to the first side surface, or are disposed on an upper surface 313 of the shelf board 310 at two ends close to a first side (such as front side). The limiting components 311 have a first height relative to the upper surface 313 of the shelf board 310. The limiting components 312 are disposed on a rear side surface of the shelf board 310 at two ends of a second side opposite to the first side. The limiting components 312 have a second height relative to the lower surface of the shelf board 310. The first height is greater than the second height. In addition, there is a first length between the positions of the limiting components 311 on the upper surface of the shelf board 310 and the first side. In some embodiments, the first height is, for example, 7 mm, the second height is, for example, 3 mm, and the first length is, for example, 7 mm, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Please refer to
In addition, the locker door 114 corresponding to the locker compartment 112 in the middle of
In some embodiments, the shelf board 310 may be made of a metal material such as iron, copper, or other alloys and so on, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the shelf board 310 may be made of a non-magnetic material such as plastic/plastic steel, aluminum, stainless steel (material containing chromium and nickel), wood etc., but the present invention is not limited thereto.
The shelf board 410 in
The shelf board 510 in
Please refer to
The shelf board 610 in
In some embodiments, the movable shelf board 610 may use a sliding rail 6032 as a dividing component or a supporting component. The sliding rail 6032 is, for example, similar to the lower half sliding rail 3032 in the embodiment illustrated in
The shelf board 710 in
Please refer to
Please refer to
In addition, if the user wants to fetch out the shelf board 710 from the locker compartment 112, the locker doors 114 corresponding to the current locker compartment 112 and the locker compartment 112 below it should be opened at the same time. Next, the user needs to first pull the fixing member 711 out of the groove 724, and then lift the front end of the shelf board 710 to separate the front grooves 712 from the front fixed columns 722. The user pulls the shelf board 710 forwards to enable the rear fixed columns 723 to be located at turning points of the rear grooves 713, and then lifts the rear end of the shelf board 710 to fetch out the shelf board 710.
In an embodiment, when the user goes to the smart locker system 10 for the pickup process of a cash on delivery (COD) order, the user may click on the touch screen 210 of the electronic device 200 to select cash on delivery order pickup. At this time, the electronic device 200 will display a user interface illustrated in
In this embodiment, the electronic device 200 may include a coin machine/banknote machine (not shown) to allow the user to insert a payable amount of a cash on delivery order into the electronic device 200 (for example, to insert coins or banknotes). The electronic device 200 will notify the order server 250 of a paid amount by the user. After the user completes the payment, the order server 250 will determine that the cash on delivery order has been successfully paid for, notify the electronic device 200 to display a user interface illustrated in
In an embodiment, when the user goes to the smart locker system 10 for the pickup process of a non-cash on delivery order, the user may click on the touch screen 210 of the electronic device 200 to select non-cash on delivery order pickup. At this time, the electronic device 200 will display a user interface illustrated in
After the pickup verification code has been entered, the electronic device 200 sends the pickup verification code to the order server 250 for verification. When the verification is successful, the order server 250 notifies the electronic device 200 to display a user interface illustrated in
In an embodiment, when the user goes to the smart locker system 10 to perform the pickup process of mixed orders (including a cash on delivery order and a non-cash on delivery order), the user may click on the touch screen 210 of the electronic device 200 to select pickup for mixed orders. At this time, the electronic device 200 will display a user interface illustrated in
After the pickup verification code has been entered, the electronic device 200 sends the consignee's phone number to the order server 250 to verify the order information, and the order server 250 sends back a verification result to the electronic device 200. If the verification is successful, the order server 250 will send back the order information related to the consignee's phone number to the electronic device 200, and the electronic device 200 will display a user interface illustrated in
In some embodiments, the user can obtain the pickup locker compartment number for the order through the processes illustrated in
In step S1210, a shelving mode of a smart locker 110 is activated to open locker doors of available locker compartments in the smart locker 110. For example, when parcels are delivered to a logistics center after being sent by users, the logistics center may use a detection instrument to scan QR bar codes (not shown) on the parcels to obtain corresponding order numbers, measure the size information of each parcel, and link the measured size information to the corresponding order numbers. Next, when various parcels are delivered to a pickup store, a tallyman in the pickup store will assist in shelving the parcels with various sizes delivered by the logistics center onto the smart locker 100.
At this time, the tallyman may connect an electronic device (such as smartphone, tablet computer or functional handheld electronic device etc.) to an order server 250 of the smart locker system 10 and/or the smart locker 100, and activate a shelving mode of the smart locker 100 (for example, a default mode is a pickup mode). For example, upon activation of the shelving mode of the smart locker 100, a control unit 130 will control door lock devices 116 corresponding to available locker compartments 112 in a cabinet 110 to open corresponding locker doors 114. The available locker compartments 112 may represent locker compartments 112 in which no objects are placed.
In step S1220, an order number and size information of a target object are obtained, and the target object is placed in one or more first locker compartments of the available locker compartments in the smart locker based on the size information. After locker doors corresponding to all available locker compartments 112 are opened, the tallyman may scan a QR bar code of the target object to be shelved to obtain the size information of the parcel from the electronic device. Therefore, it can quickly determine which adjacent available locker compartments 112 the target object can be placed in, e.g., the one or more first locker compartments. It should note that if the size of the target object is larger than the space of a single locker compartment 112, the tallyman may draw out one or more shelf boards in the middle of adjacent first locker compartments to obtain a larger storage space (such as 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 storage space etc.) to adapt to the size of the target object.
In step S1230, bar codes of the one or more first locker compartments may be scanned to link the order number with the bar codes of the one or more first locker compartments. For example, there is a corresponding bar code within each locker compartment 112. After the tallyman has scanned the bar codes of the one or more first locker compartments and a bar code on the target object by using the electronic device, a backend logistics system (such as order server 250) may link the one or more first locker compartments with the order number of the target object to obtain a shelving result corresponding to the order number.
In step S1240, the locker doors corresponding to the available locker compartments are closed to cause the smart locker to switch from the shelving mode to a pickup mode. For example, after the target object has been placed in the storage space of the one or more first locker compartments and the order number of the target object has been linked to the one or more first locker compartments, the tallyman may close the locker doors 114 corresponding to the one or more first locker compartments and continue the shelving process of other target objects or cause the smart locker 100 to switch from the shelving mode to the pickup mode (i.e., default mode). After the smart locker 100 returns to the pickup mode, the user may use the electronic device 200 to perform operations such as check-in, payment, entering of pickup verification code, and opening of locker door for pickup according to the process in the embodiment above.
In step S1310, a shelving mode of a smart locker is activated. For example, similar to the embodiment illustrated in
In step S1320, an order number and size information of a target object are obtained. For example, the electronic device used by the tallyman has been already connected to an order server 250 of the smart locker system 10 and/or the smart locker 100. Therefore, the electronic device can be used to first scan a QR bar code on the target object to be shelved to obtain the order number and size information of the target object from the electronic device.
In step S1330, one or more first locker compartments of available locker compartments in the smart locker are selected based on the size information, and locker doors of the one or more first locker compartments are opened. For example, a control unit 130 of the smart locker 100 will synchronously receive the size information of the target object, recommend one or more first locker compartments (such as vertically adjacent available locker compartments) suitable for the size information of the target object from the available locker compartments of the smart locker 100 based on a predetermined locker compartment recommendation algorithm, and open locker doors corresponding to the one or more first locker compartments. It should note that if the size of the target object is larger than the space of a single locker compartment 112, the tallyman may draw out one or more shelf boards in the middle of the one or more adjacent first locker compartments to obtain a larger storage space (such as 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 storage space etc.) to adapt to the size of the target object. In other embodiments, after the order number and size information of the target object are obtained, the control unit 130 can determine whether the consignee of the target object has one or more used locker compartments in the smart locker 100. If the consignee has one or more used locker compartments in the smart locker 100, the control unit 130 further determines whether the one or more used locker compartments have a sufficient volume to accommodate the current target object. If the control unit 130 determines that the one or more used locker compartments have a sufficient volume to accommodate the current target object, the control unit 130 recommends one or more first locker compartments from the one or more locker compartments. Therefore, the tallyman can place objects of the same consignee into the same locker compartment (which may be a single locker compartment or large combined locker compartments). Therefore, according to the above method, the present invention not only can save the used space of the locker compartments of the smart locker, but also can help the same consignee to obtain the objects of the related orders from the same locker compartment, thus improving the user experience.
In step S1340, the target objects are placed into the one or more adjacent first locker compartments. For example, the storage space composed of the one or more first locker compartments selected by the control unit 130 of the smart locker 100 adapts to the size of the target object. Therefore, the tallyman can place the target objects into the storage space composed of the one or more first locker compartments.
In step S1350, the locker doors corresponding to the one or more adjacent first locker compartments are closed to link the order number with the one or more first locker compartments, and the smart locker switches from the shelving mode to a pickup mode. For example, when the tallyman places the target objects into the storage space composed of the one or more first locker compartments, the tallyman can close the locker doors corresponding to the one or more first locker compartments, and the control unit 130 will link the order number of the target objects with the one or more first locker compartments, transmit the link relationship to the order server 250, and cause the smart locker to switch from the shelving mode to the pickup mode.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are disclosed above, they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Anyone with common knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be as defined in the attached claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112115221 | Apr 2023 | TW | national |
