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:
Nov. 08, 2016
Filed:
Mar. 02, 2015
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US);
Aayush Aggarwal, Malden, MA (US);
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
The disclosed inventory system and methods can be used to improve access time to less frequently accessed inventory items. Specifically, a mobile drive unit may be selected from a plurality of mobile drive units to retrieve or store an inventory item based on a density of the storage location of the inventory item and/or an estimated cost (e.g., estimated time) associated with the retrieval or storage of the inventory item. For instance, an overhead drive unit may be selected over a ground drive unit to retrieve inventory items from or store inventory items to densely-packed storage areas. As another example, an overhead drive unit may be selected over a ground drive unit when the cost of using the ground drive unit exceeds a threshold value.