Patent ID: 11893533
Assignee: SYMBOTIC LLC
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 8:
9. A method for product order fulfillment, the method comprising:
providing at least one deck with an array of product storage locations distributed along the at least one elevated deck;
disposing at least one autonomous transport vehicle on each of the at least one elevated deck and holding and transporting, with the at least one autonomous transport vehicle, a pickface on each deck;
lifting and lowering the pickface from the at least one elevated deck with more than one lift that traverses and connects the at least one elevated deck and a base level;
effecting transfer of the pickface between at least one pickface buffer station on and off a selected lift of the more than one lift; and
defining, with the selected lift, a fulfillment sequence of mixed case pickfaces outbound at the base level from the selected lift and from the at least one elevated deck to a load fill, where the at least one pickface buffer station, of the at least one elevated deck at the selected lift, supports at least the mixed case pickfaces so that the transfer of the pickface between the buffer station on and off the lift defines a portion of the sequenced pickfaces in an ordered sequence of sequenced pickfaces based on a predetermined sequence of the load fill.