Self-organizing materials handling systems
First Claim
1. A materials handling system, comprising a set of components which are arranged so that each of a set of item input paths of each particular component connects to an item output path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located upstream in the materials handling system and each of a set of item output paths of each particular component connects to an item input path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located downstream in the materials handling system, each component having means for establishing a nearest neighbor communication oath to each corresponding nearest neighbor component and means for determining the corresponding item output path to be used to route an item toward a unique one of the components in response to a notification message received from the unique one of the components via the nearest neighbor communication paths.
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Abstract
A materials handling system which is made up of self-organizing components that provide distributed materials handling control without intervention or control by a centralized controller.
94 Citations
17 Claims
- 1. A materials handling system, comprising a set of components which are arranged so that each of a set of item input paths of each particular component connects to an item output path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located upstream in the materials handling system and each of a set of item output paths of each particular component connects to an item input path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located downstream in the materials handling system, each component having means for establishing a nearest neighbor communication oath to each corresponding nearest neighbor component and means for determining the corresponding item output path to be used to route an item toward a unique one of the components in response to a notification message received from the unique one of the components via the nearest neighbor communication paths.
- 9. A materials handling system, comprising a set of components which are arranged so that each of a set of item input paths of each particular component connects to an item output path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located upstream in the materials handling system and each of a set of item output paths of each particular component connects to an item input path of a nearest neighbor one of the components which is located downstream in the materials handling system, each component having a configuration node and means for establishing a set of nearest neighbor communication paths to the corresponding nearest neighbor components wherein the configuration node determines the corresponding item output path to be used to route an item toward a unique one of the components in response to a notification message received from the unique one of the components via the nearest neighbor communication paths.
Specification