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Efficient shuffling of mobile drive units for inventory holders

  • US 8,965,562 B1
  • Filed: 09/09/2013
  • Issued: 02/24/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • positioning multiple inventory holders at corresponding multiple locations at a pick station of an inventory system, the multiple locations including a primary set of multiple pick locations and a secondary set of multiple staging locations;

    shuffling the inventory holders among the multiple pick locations and the multiple staging locations at the pick station using one or more mobile drive units, the shuffling comprising;

    retrieving a new inventory holder and depositing the new inventory holder in a first staging location of the multiple staging locations;

    repositioning a recently-completed inventory holder from a first pick location of the multiple pick locations to a second staging location of the multiple staging locations;

    repositioning a next inventory holder from a second pick location of the multiple pick locations to the first pick location vacated by the repositioning of the recently-completed inventory holder;

    repositioning the new inventory holder from the first staging location of the multiple staging locations to the second pick location of the multiple pick locations; and

    transferring the recently-completed inventory holder away from the second staging location to remove the recently-completed inventory holder from the pick station.

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