Patent ID: 7702546

Claim:
An article storage apparatus comprising: a plurality of storage units adapted to store articles; a reading unit adapted to read out information on an article to be stored in each of said plurality of storage units; a memory unit adapted to store first category information indicative of categories assigned to the respective plurality of storage units and second category information indicative of categories of the articles from among information on the articles read out by said reading unit; a first comparing unit adapted to compare the first category information indicative of a category assigned to a storage unit selected from said plurality of storage units with the second category information indicative of a category of an article to be stored in the selected storage unit; a second comparing unit adapted to compare the second category information indicative of the category of the article to be stored in the selected storage unit with the first category information assigned to another storage unit selected from said plurality of storage units, in a case where the comparison result of said first comparing unit exhibits that the first category information indicative of the category assigned to the selected storage unit is identical to the second category information indicative of the category of the article to be stored in the selected storage unit; a determining unit adapted to determine whether more than one storage unit among the plurality of storing units are associated with the first category information that is identical to the second category information indicative of the category of the article to be stored in the selected storage unit as a comparison result of said second comparing unit; a selecting unit adapted to, in a case where more than one storage unit among the plurality of storing units are associated with the first category information that is identical to the second category information indicative of the category of the article to be stored in the selected storage unit as a comparison result of said second comparing unit, select at least one storage unit having a largest or smallest vacant space among the plurality of storage units associated with the first category information; and a navigating unit adapted to navigate the article to be stored to the selected at least one storage unit among the plurality of storage units associated with the first category information.