Patent ID: 8718815

Claim:
An automated warehouse system, comprising: a storage station to which an article is brought to be stored; a retrieval station from which the article is retrieved; a plurality of shelves arranged to store the article; a moving device configured to move the article between the storage station, the retrieval station, and the shelves; and a controller programmed to keep track of an amount of storage time an article has been stored, and to control the moving device such that the moving device moves the article from a shelf located in a first area to a shelf located in a second area when the controller determines that the article has been stored on the shelf in the first area for at least a predetermined amount of time, the first area being defined to be within a prescribed distance from the retrieval station and the second area being farther from the retrieval station than the first area; wherein the controller is programmed to keep track of an inventory situation of the shelves in the first area, and to shift a border delineating the shelves in the first area and the shelves in the second area toward the second area when a number of vacant shelves in the first area becomes insufficient, such that at least one shelf of the second area is re-assigned to the first area.