Patent ID: 9495653
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: B66C,G06Q

Claim Text:
1. A system comprising: a crane; and a computer configured to: receive a current state of a plurality of stacks, wherein a stack from the plurality of stacks is used to store stackable inventory, and a state of the stacks comprises an order in which the stackable inventory is stored in the stacks; determine a target state of the plurality of stacks based on a production schedule that is indicative of a sequence in which the stackable inventory is to be used; identify one or more sequences of transitionable states to rearrange the inventory according to the target state from the current state, wherein a difference between consecutive transitionable states is a single operation; calculate an operation cost of each of the sequences of transitionable states, based on a cost associated with movement of the inventory according to the transitionable states, and by identification of a plurality of cut-positions in the current state based on a comparison of the current state and the target state, wherein each cut-position is indicative of a separation for the crane to operate at least once, and wherein a first cut-position from the plurality of cut-positions is identified at a first position in the current state in response to: select a sequence of transitionable states to rearrange the inventory from the current state to the target state that minimizes the operation cost by using a heuristic search algorithm to minimize a number of cut-positions; and instruct the crane to arrange the inventory according to the sequence of transitionable states selected from the one or more sequences of transitionable states.