Method and system for storing inventory holders

• US 9,582,783 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mountz, Michael C., Wurman, Peter R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Seye
• Application Number:
  US13/829,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20130246229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385, 705/28, 700/216
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

A method includes determining, by a management module, to complete an inventory request, the inventory request identifying an inventory item. The method also includes identifying, by the management module, an inventory holder storing the inventory item, and identifying, by the management module, a mobile drive unit to transport the inventory holder to an inventory station.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a management module encoded in a non-transitory medium, to complete an inventory request, the inventory request identifying an inventory item;

identifying, by the management module, an inventory holder storing the inventory item;

selecting, by the management module, a first inventory station from a plurality of inventory stations based at least in part upon a determination that the first inventory station has a higher score than a second inventory station, wherein the score associated with the first inventory station comprises a sum of a plurality of weighted metrics associated with the first inventory station;

identifying, by the management module, a mobile drive unit to transport the inventory holder to the first inventory station, wherein the mobile drive unit comprises a self-powered device configured to move freely about a workspace; and

communicating, by the management module, information identifying the inventory holder and the first inventory station to the identified mobile drive unit based on the identification of the mobile drive unit, wherein the mobile drive unit transports the inventory holder to the first inventory station in response to receiving the information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile drive unit is operable to:

move to the inventory holder;

dock with the inventory holder; and

transport the inventory holder to the first inventory station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first inventory station from the plurality of inventory stations further comprises determining the score associated with the first inventory station based at least upon a workload associated with the first inventory station and a queue capacity associated with the first inventory station.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the inventory holder includes a plurality of faces, the inventory item is associated with a first face of the plurality of faces, and the mobile drive unit is operable to rotate the inventory holder to present the first face to the first inventory station.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the inventory holder and the mobile drive unit based at least in part upon a first score associated with the inventory holder and a second score associated with the mobile drive unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile drive unit is identified based at least in part upon a distance between the mobile drive unit and the inventory holder.

7. A system, comprising:

a management module operable to transmit information to one or more mobile drive units; and

a mobile drive unit operable to;

receive a first information from the management module identifying an inventory holder;

receive a second information from the management module identifying a first inventory station, wherein the first inventory station is selected from a plurality of inventory stations based at least in part upon a determination that the first inventory station has a higher score than a second inventory station, wherein the score associated with the first inventory station comprises a sum of a plurality of weighted metrics associated with the first inventory station; and

move to a first location of the inventory holder using at least the first information;

dock with the inventory holder at the first location; and

move to a second location associated with the first inventory station using at least the second information.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein selecting the first inventory station from among the plurality of inventory stations further comprises determining the score associated with the first inventory station based at least upon a workload associated with the first inventory station and a queue capacity associated with the first inventory station.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first location is a storage location of the inventory holder.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the second location is an available space in a queue to the first inventory station.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile drive unit is further operable to rotate the inventory holder to present a face of the inventory holder to the first inventory station, wherein the face is associated with an inventory item requested by an inventory request.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the management module is further operable to:

determine to complete an inventory request for an inventory item;

identify the first inventory station at which to complete the inventory request;

determine that the inventory holder stores the inventory item; and

transmit the first information identifying the inventory holder to the mobile drive unit; and

transmit the second information identifying the first inventory station to the mobile drive unit.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising a plurality of mobile drive units and wherein the management module is further operable to select the mobile drive unit from among the plurality of mobile drive units based at least in part upon a characteristic of the mobile drive unit.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising logic, the logic, when executed by a processor, operable to:

determine, by a management module encoded in a non-transitory medium, to complete an inventory request, the inventory request identifying an inventory item;

identify, by the management module, an inventory holder storing the inventory item;

calculate a first score associated with a first inventory station;

calculate a second score associated with a second inventory station;

select, by the management module, the first inventory station from the first inventory station and the second inventory station based at least in part upon a determination that the first inventory station has a higher score than the second inventory station, wherein the score associated with the first inventory station comprises a sum of a plurality of weighted metrics associated with the first inventory station;

identify, by the management module, a mobile drive unit to transport the inventory holder to the first inventory station, wherein the mobile drive unit comprises a self-powered device configured to move freely about a workspace; and

communicate, by the management module, information identifying the inventory holder and the first inventory station to the identified mobile drive unit based on the identification of the mobile drive unit, wherein the mobile drive unit transports the inventory holder to the first inventory station in response to receiving the information;

determine to complete an inventory request at the first inventory station based at least in part upon determining that the first score is better than the second score; and

in response to determining to complete the inventory request at the first inventory station, transmit a first information to a mobile drive unit identifying the first inventory station.

15. The logic of claim 14, wherein the mobile drive unit is operable to, in response to receiving the first information and the second information:

move to the inventory holder; and

transport the inventory holder to the inventory station.

16. The logic of claim 14, wherein the inventory holder comprises a first inventory holder and the logic is further operable to:

determine that a first inventory holder stores an inventory item requested by the inventory request;

determine that a second inventory holder stores the inventory item requested by the inventory request;

calculate a third score associated with the first inventory holder;

calculate a fourth score associated with the second inventory holder; and

communicate the information transmit a second information identifying the first inventory holder to the mobile drive unit based at least further in part upon determining that the third score is better than the fourth score.

17. The logic of claim 14, wherein the mobile drive unit comprises a first mobile drive unit and the logic is further operable to:

calculate a third score associated with the first mobile drive unit;

calculate a fourth score associated with a second mobile drive unit; and

determine to transmit communicate the first information to the first mobile drive unit based at least further in part upon determining that the third score is better than the fourth score.

18. The logic of claim 14, wherein the first score and the second score are calculated based at least in part upon one or more of the following factors:

a product density value;

a drive unit density value;

a workload value;

or

a queue capacity value.