Patent ID: 8626548
Filing Date: 2014-01-07
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of assigning one or more tasks to a plurality of warehouse employees, the method comprising: receiving at a warehouse management system an order for an item stored in a warehouse; determining with the warehouse management system a stored X-Y coordinate location of the item in the warehouse, wherein the warehouse management system stores for each item a rack, row, and bin location within the warehouse and the X-Y coordinate location of the item in the warehouse; determining with the warehouse management system a current X-Y coordinate location of each of the plurality of warehouse employees within the warehouse, the current X-Y coordinate location determined at a time of receiving the order and based on a strength of a signal from a wireless device assigned to each of the plurality of warehouse employees, the signal detected by at least two wireless access points at different known locations in the warehouse; assigning with the warehouse management system a weighted distance score to each of the plurality of warehouse employees based on a distance between the X-Y coordinate location of the item and the current X-Y coordinate location of each of the plurality of warehouse employees, wherein the employees of the plurality of employees are not assigned to zones within the warehouse; accumulating an overall score for each of the plurality of warehouse employees including the weighted distance score; and selecting with the warehouse management system at least one of the plurality of warehouse employees to fill the order based on the overall score for each of the plurality of warehouse employees, wherein selecting at least one of the plurality of warehouse employees to fill the order further comprises determining whether the selected warehouse employee is available based on a time schedule for the selected warehouse employee, wherein the selected employee is considered available for a pre-defined period of time prior to a start time indicated by the time schedule for the selected employee and wherein the selected employee is considered unavailable for a pre-determined period of time prior to a quitting time indicated by the time schedule for the selected employee.