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Article storage system with closely-coupled, article-specific display

  • US 8,604,908 B1
  • Filed: 01/15/2008
  • Issued: 12/10/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2008
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for storing articles of a collection, the apparatus comprising:

  • a set of cubbies, each cubby in the set of cubbies configured to store an article of the collection;

    a set of sensors, each sensor in the set of sensors adjacent a particular cubby in the set of cubbies and configured to wirelessly receive data from an article arranged in the particular cubby;

    a collection database configured to store a characteristic of each of a set of characteristic types for each article in the collection;

    a set of display elements, each display element in the set of display elements coupled to a particular cubby in the set of cubbies and operable within a set of modes to illuminate the particular cubby, each mode in the set of modes defining a visual representation corresponding to a particular characteristic of a particular article arranged in the particular cubby;

    a user interface configured to receive queries from a user;

    a control logic configured to identify cubby locations corresponding to articles of the collection by polling sensors in the set of sensors, configured to set a first combination of modes of the set of display elements in response to a first query specifying a first characteristic type of articles of the collection, and configured to set a second combination of modes of the set of display elements different than the first combination of modes in response to a second query specifying a second characteristic type of articles of the collection, the first combination of modes intersecting the second combination of modes at a subset of the set of display elements.

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