Patent ID: 7321984

Claim:
An automatic storage unit comprising: a storage area having assigned locations for a plurality of stored items; a manipulator traveling on a manipulator track, said manipulator connected to carry ones of the plurality of stored items between said assigned locations and a presentation area; a processor connected to control said manipulator; and a program running on said processor to receive input from a user regarding placement and retrieval of items in said storage area; a computer storage device for storing a textual description and a plurality of digital photographs of each one of said plurality of stored items; wherein said program provides a first mode in which a particular photograph of a first one of said stored items and a particular photograph of a second one of said stored items are combined to produce a composite photograph of said first one and said second one of said stored items that is displayed on a screen prior to selecting said first and said second one of said stored items together for retrieval and a second mode in which ones of said stored items are selected for retrieval without combining photographs of said ones of said stored items.