Patent ID: 7853371

Claim:
An article transport method for an article transport apparatus that comprises a plurality of article transporting vehicles that run along a path that is arranged along a plurality of article transferring locations and that has a first end and a second end, and a controller that controls movement of the plurality of article transporting vehicles, and that processes transport request data that includes information specifying an article transferring location for transfer from among the plurality of article transferring locations, the method comprising: a step in which, when the transport request data is generated, the controller that processes said generated transport request data determines whether or not there is an article transporting vehicle currently performing a transport process; a step in which, when it is determined that there is no article transporting vehicle currently performing a transport process, the controller processes the transport request data by selecting an article transporting vehicle that is closest to the article transferring location specified by the generated transport request data as an article transporting vehicle for a transport process corresponding to the generated transport request data, and moving the selected article transporting vehicle to the specified article transferring location; and a step in which, when it is determined that there is a first article transporting vehicle currently performing a transport process, the controller processes the transport request data while allowing the transport process of the first article transporting vehicle by setting an interference range along a lengthwise direction of the path that originates from the article transferring location for transfer by the first article transporting vehicle, selecting a second article transporting vehicle different from the first article transporting vehicle as an article transporting vehicle for a transport process corresponding to the generated transport request data, as long as a run range of the second article transporting vehicle does not overlap with the interference range, and moving the second article transporting vehicle to the specified article transferring location; the controller selects the second article transporting vehicle based on the relative run directions of the first and second article transporting vehicles; and wherein when the transport process of the first article transporting vehicle is a receiving transport process for receiving an article, the interference range is set originating from the article transferring location for transfer from which the article is to be received, and when the transport process of the first article transporting vehicle is a delivering transport process for delivering an article, the interference range is set originating from the article transferring location for transfer to which the article is to be delivered.