Patent ID: 8055554

Claim:
A system for maintaining an inventory of multiple items in a facility in which a load-handling vehicle has a chassis maneuverable on a ground and a lifting device that is movable relative to the chassis, the vehicle being operable to move a selected one or more of the items from one storage location to another storage location, the system comprising: means for storing a database reflecting a storage location relative to three-dimensional coordinates and item identification information for each of the items; means for determining a desired position and orientation of the vehicle to provide access to the storage location corresponding to a selected one of the items; means for detecting a present orientation and location of the chassis of the vehicle relative to the three dimensional coordinates; means for maneuvering the vehicle so that the present position and orientation matches the desired position and orientation information; means for detecting a position of the lifting device relative to the chassis; means for determining a position of the lifting device relative to the three-dimensional coordinates based on the three-dimensional position of the chassis and the position of the lifting device relative to the chassis; and means for updating the database to set the three-dimensional storage location of the item as the three-dimensional location of the lifting device when the lifting device unlatches the item.