Patent ID: 11972390
Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 5:
6. A computer system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories storing computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, configure the computer system to:
determine a forecasted demand for transporting items between a source node and a destination node of a transportation network;
determine a set of constraints associated with a handling node of the transportation network, the handling node associated with an inventory management system configured to control handling equipment of the handling node, the set of constraints comprising a throughput of the handling node and a limit on a number of network paths into or out of the handling node;
generate, based at least in part on the forecasted demand and set of constraints, a transportation plan that controls deployment of resources of the transportation network and that comprises (i) a network path including the handling node and (ii) a type of item handling at the handling node, wherein:
the transportation plan is generated by at least:
in a first stage of optimization:
 ranking source node-destination node pairs based on a total volume of items and a total number if item handlings between each node-destination node pair;
 generating, from the source node-destination node pairs, a first subset of the source node-destination node pairs and a second subset of the source node-destination node pairs, the first subset associated with a higher ranking than the second subset;
 determining first network paths for the first subset and second network paths for the second subset;
 executing, by at least using the first network paths as first variables and forgoing use of item handling types, an optimization model a first time to optimize an optimization parameter, the executing at the first time outputting first selected network paths from the first variables subject to at least the limit on the number of network paths, the first selected network paths comprising the network path, and
 executing, by at least using the second network paths as second variables and forgoing the use of item handling types, the optimization model a second time to optimize the optimization parameter, the executing at the second time outputting second selected network paths from the second variables subject to at least the limit on the number of network paths, and
in a second stage of optimization, executing the optimization model a third time to re-optimize the optimization parameter, the executing at the third time using the first and second selected network paths as additional inputs and outputting an indication of the type of item handling item handling types available at the handling node subject to at least the throughput of the handling node, a subset of the items to be handled at the handling node according to the type of item handling, and another type of item handling for another handling node to handle another subset of the items; and

outputting the transportation plan to the inventory management system, wherein outputting the transportation plan comprises controlling operations of one or more unmanned vehicles based at least in part on the transportation plan thereby causing an improvement to operations of the unmanned vehicles based at least in part on transportation plan.