Patent · US Expired

Traffic management system and method for materials handling using traffic balancing and traffic density

US6647316B2 · kind B2 · utility

42Cited by
17References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 22, 2001
Grant dateNov 11, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 4, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06Q10/047
  • WIPO fieldIT methods for management
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A traffic management system for an automatic material handling system (AMHS) divides time into a series of discrete time periods and analyzes a plurality of move requests that are to be executed within a particular time period is disclosed. The traffic management system receives a plurality of move requests from the AMHS and determines how many move requests are to be executed and selects which move requests in particular will be executed in the next time period. The traffic management system prioritizes the selected move requests by analyzing each source node and destination node contained in a move request in conjunction with other node traffic data. The traffic management system analyzes this data to ensure that a move request is not executed if a material transport vehicle would be dispatched to a node having a node traffic balance value that exceeds a predetermined value and a node traffic density value that exceeds a predetermined value.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.