Patent ID: 6285951
Filing Date: 2001-09-04
Classification: G05D,G06Q

Abstract:
A method for selecting one of a plurality of vehicle routes for a vehicle in a materials transport system from a initial location to a destination location and passing through at least one intermediate node in the materials transport system, the method comprising the steps of:(a) determining for each of the plurality of routes each of the intermediate nodes and the order of the intermediate nodes;(b) receiving for each pair of consecutive nodes for each of the plurality of routes a predetermined output length for each pair of consecutive intermediate nodes;(c) receiving for each node for each of the plurality of routes, a predetermined node crossing value;(d) receiving for each node for each of the plurality of routes, the size of the queue of vehicles at each node for each of the plurality of routes;(e) determining for each of the plurality of routes a metric function of the output length for each pair of consecutive nodes in each of the plurality of routes, the predetermined crossing value for each node in each of the plurality of routes; and(f) selecting a route of said plurality of routes that has the smallest metric function.