Patent ID: 7722307

Claim:
In combination: a) a system for handling stocked items to be picked in a warehouse, the system comprising: a first support assembly having a support surface upon which a plurality of items can be placed and stored in a predetermined array, comprising a plurality of rows and at least first and second columns, and from which stored items can be picked from a first location, the first support assembly having at least (a) a first state with no item upon the first support assembly, (b) a second state with at least one item in at least one of the columns and at least one of the rows and no items in another of the rows, and (c) a third state with at least one item in at least one column in each of the plurality of rows; a repositioning assembly that is operable to cause i) an item upon the first support assembly in the first column to be shifted from a first row to a second row and ii) an item upon the first support assembly in the second column to be shifted from the first row to the second row, an item upon the first support assembly situated to be more accessible to an operator for picking from the first location with the item in the second row than with the item in the first row; a controller through which the repositioning assembly is selectively operated; and a sensing assembly capable of sensing at least the second state; and b) a plurality of items on the first support assembly including i) a first item in the first column and the first row and ii) a second item in the second column and the first row, with no items in the second row in either of the first and second columns, the plurality of items upon the first support assembly each having at least one surface extending upwardly from the support surface, the repositioning assembly comprising at least a first movable pusher, the sensing assembly, as an incident of sensing the second state, capable of generating a signal that is indicative of the second state to the controller that causes the repositioning assembly to be operated to thereby cause the first pusher to bear against the upwardly extending surfaces on the first and second items to cause the first and second items to be shifted simultaneously from the first row into the second row.