Ship unloading control system, ship loading control system, and related systems and apparatuses

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a ship unloading control system, a ship loading control system and related systems and apparatuses, capable of achieving fully automated ship loading and unloading. The ship unloading control system includes: a scheduling center system configured to generate a ship unloading plan based on ship information and container information of a target ship and shore crane apparatus information, generate a ship berthing task and a ship unloading task based on the ship unloading plan, and transmit the ship berthing task and the ship unloading task to a ship control system of the target ship and a shore crane control system of a target shore crane apparatus, respectively; the ship control system configured to transmit the ship information and the container information to the scheduling center system, control the target ship to move to an operation area corresponding to the target shore crane apparatus in accordance with the received ship berthing task, and transmit a ship in-position notification message to the shore crane control system of the target shore crane apparatus; and the shore crane control system configured to control, upon receiving the ship in-position notification message from the ship control system, the target shore crane apparatus to load a container on the target ship onto a transportation vehicle in accordance with the ship unloading task.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A shore crane control system comprising a shore crane communication module and a hoisting control module wherein:
 the shore crane communication module is configured to transmit and receive information, and   the hoisting control module is configured to:
 receive a ship unloading task from a scheduling center system via the shore crane communication module; and 
 control a target shore crane apparatus to load a container from a target ship onto a transportation vehicle in accordance with the ship unloading task upon receiving a ship in-position notification message from a ship control system provided on the target ship via the shore crane communication module, wherein the target ship is configured to transport one or more containers. 
   
     
     
         2 . The shore crane control system of claim I, wherein the hoisting control module is further configured to:
 confirm an identity of each container transported by the target ship in a predetermined container unloading order and control the target shore crane apparatus to hoist each container transported by the target ship when its identity is confirmed;   control the target shore crane apparatus to load the container onto the transportation vehicle upon receiving a vehicle in-position notification message from a vehicle control system of the transportation vehicle via the shore crane communication module; and   mark the container in the ship unloading task as in an unloaded state.   
     
     
         3 . The shore crane control system of  claim 2 , wherein the shore crane communication module is configured to transmit a ship unloading completion notification message to the scheduling center system and/or the ship control system of the target ship when determining that all containers in the ship unloading task are in the unloaded state. 
     
     
         4 . The shore crane control system of  claim 2 , wherein the predetermined container unloading order is an order in which containers are unloaded by columns, from top to bottom per column, and
 the hoisting control module is further configured to, when confirmation of the identity fails, control the target shore crane apparatus to lift and place the container on top of another column of containers whose identities have been confirmed on the target ship.   
     
     
         5 . The shore crane control system of  claim 1 , wherein the shore crane control system is provided at a shore crane apparatus located in a port area with one or more crane apparatus. 
     
     
         6 . The shore crane control system of  claim 1  further comprises an antenna or transceiver coupled to the shore crane communication module. 
     
     
         7 . The shore crane control system of  claim 1 , wherein for each container transported by the target ship, the shore crane control system is further configured to:
 capture an image of a grab section of each container transported by the target ship;   determine orientation information of the grab section based on the image.   
     
     
         8 . The shore crane control system of  claim 7 , wherein for each container transported by the target ship, the shore crane control system is further configured to adjust a movement gesture of an end effector based on the orientation information of the grab section, such that the end effector is positioned to grab the grab section precisely to lift a container associated with the image. 
     
     
         9 . A ship loading control system, comprising:
 a scheduling center system located in a port area with one or more crane apparatus, the scheduling center system configured to:
 determine a ship loading plan based on ship information, container information, and shore crane apparatus information; 
 generate a ship berthing task and a ship loading task based on the ship loading plan; and 
 transmit the ship berthing task and the ship loading task to a ship control system of a target ship and a shore crane control system of a target shore crane apparatus, respectively; and wherein the ship control system is configured to control, upon receiving the ship berthing task, the target ship to move to an operation area corresponding to the target shore crane apparatus, and transmit a ship in-position notification message to the shore crane control system of the target shore crane apparatus; 
   wherein the shore crane control system is configured to control, upon receiving the ship in-position notification message from the ship control system, the target shore crane apparatus to load a container transported by a transportation vehicle onto the target ship in accordance with the received ship loading task.   
     
     
         10 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein the shore crane control system is further configured to:
 confirm, upon receiving a vehicle in-position notification message from a vehicle control system of the transportation vehicle, identification information of the container transported by the transportation vehicle;   control the target shore crane apparatus to load the container transported by the transportation vehicle onto the target ship when the identification information is confirmed, and mark the container in the ship loading task as in a loaded state; and   transmit a ship loading completion notification message to the scheduling center system and/or the ship control system of the target ship when determining that all containers in the ship loading task have been marked as in the loaded state.   
     
     
         11 . The ship loading control system of  claim 10 , wherein a tag containing the identification information of the container transported by the transportation vehicle is provided at a surface of the container transported by the transportation vehicle. 
     
     
         12 . The ship loading control system of  claim 11 , wherein the tag containing the identification information comprises a Quick Response (QR) code or a barcode. 
     
     
         13 . The ship loading control system of  claim 12 , further comprising an identity recognition device. 
     
     
         14 . The ship loading control system of  claim 13 , wherein the identity recognition device comprises any of a camera, a code reader, or any other device capable of recognizing a QR code or barcode provided on a hoisting arm of the target shore crane apparatus. 
     
     
         15 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein the identity recognition device is configured to:
 obtain the identification information of the container transported by the transportation vehicle by scanning the QR code or barcode on the container transported by the transportation vehicle;   compare the identification information of the container transported by the transportation vehicle with the identification information of the container in the ship loading task; and   determine that an identity is confirmed when the identification information of the container transported by the transportation vehicle and the identification information of the container in the ship loading task match each other, or   otherwise determine that a confirmation of the identity fails.   
     
     
         16 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein the shore crane control system is configured to control the shore crane apparatus to hoist the container transported by the transportation vehicle onto the target ship so that containers loaded on the target ship are in columns and stacked layer by layer per column. 
     
     
         17 . The ship loading control system of  claim 16 , wherein the target ship is divided into a plurality of areas depending on different destination ports and containers loaded into each area of the plurality of areas on the target ship have a same destination port. 
     
     
         18 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein the ship information comprises ship arrival time and ship state information. 
     
     
         19 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein shore crane apparatus information comprises operation time information of each of the one or more crane apparatus in the port area. 
     
     
         20 . The ship loading control system of  claim 9 , wherein the container information comprises identification information and destination information for each container transported by a transportation vehicle.