The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 06, 2008
Filed:
May. 10, 2000
Peter Ham, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Boris Klots, Belmont, CA (US);
Radhakrishna Hari, Belmont, CA (US);
Franklin R. Koenig, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Gautam Bhargava, Cupertino, CA (US);
Gerry Perham, San Francisco, CA (US);
Peter Ham, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Boris Klots, Belmont, CA (US);
Radhakrishna Hari, Belmont, CA (US);
Franklin R. Koenig, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Gautam Bhargava, Cupertino, CA (US);
Gerry Perham, San Francisco, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A load balancing technology segregates various inventory types (e.g., potatoes vs. milk, vs. pretzels, vs. tissue paper, etc.) based upon how frequently they are ordered in a distribution center. Inventory types that are ordered at the slowest rate are not 'replicated' over multiple pods in the distribution center. Rather, they are constrained to reside at a single pod within the distribution center. Items that are ordered somewhat more frequently than those in the slowest group are replicated in multiple pods across the distribution center. In other words, these items are separately stocked at locations on more than one pod in the distribution center. This means that a container passing through the distribution center can obtain each of the items in the second group of item types at multiple pods in the distribution center. Thus, these items do not create a bottleneck in the order fulfillment process. Inventory types in a third group, the fastest movers, are segregated from items in the first two groups. They are stored in a separate type of pod that fulfills orders even faster than the other type of pods.