Patents by Inventor Stephen E. Hoffman

Stephen E. Hoffman has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230242345
    Abstract: An automated warehouse system and method are provided for controlling internal microclimates of totes within a warehouse or order fulfilment facility. The system provides independent environmental condition monitoring and regulation for each tote. The system enables individual totes to be maintained at adequate or substantially ideal conditions, independent of its position within a storage system or the environmental conditions of adjacent totes. The storage system includes environmental control inputs at individual storage locations to adjust or maintain environmental conditions within a tote at a particular storage location. The totes engage the environmental control inputs when they are stored at a storage location. The system may utilize standard or commercially available totes. The system is operable to monitor and control the microclimate of a tote while it is stored at a storage location and may be operable to monitor the totes while they travel throughout the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Stephen E. Hoffman, William R. Boer, Matthew Inbody, Alexander Dale
  • Publication number: 20230242344
    Abstract: An automated warehouse system and method are provided for controlling the internal microclimate of receptacles within a warehouse or order fulfilment facility. The system provides independent environmental condition monitoring and regulation for each tote. The system enables individual totes to be maintained at adequate or substantially ideal conditions, independent of its position within a storage system or the environmental conditions of adjacent totes in the storage system. The totes may include self-contained environmental control systems and/or the storage system may include environmental control inputs to adjust or maintain the environmental conditions within a particular tote. The system is operable to monitor and control the microclimate of a tote while it is stored at a storage location within the storage system or in a buffer, and may be operable to monitor and/or control the microclimates of the totes while they travel throughout the system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Stephen E. Hoffman, William R. Boer, Matthew Inbody, Alexander Dale
  • Publication number: 20220164771
    Abstract: A confirmation system including a touchless sensor and method for confirming that an order fulfilment operation has been performed. The system includes at least one touchless sensor to sense or recognize a gesture given by an operator, wherein the gesture confirms that a desired operation has been performed. The touchless sensor is connected to a workflow control system configured to transmit order fulfilment information to and from the touchless sensor. The touchless sensor is configurable to recognize a plurality of gestures, and may be configured to recognize those gestures at a plurality of distances away from the touchless sensor. The touchless system is configurable to provide alerts to operators to indicate locations requiring action. The confirmation system may be provided with a cubby or bin order fulfilment system. Additional features include placement or retrieval sensors, cubby illumination lights, pick-to and put-to lights, and information scanners.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: Daniel J. Nowicki, Stephen E. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 11001445
    Abstract: A mobile lighted pick or put cart includes a frame and transport members on the frame that facilitate movement of the frame. The frame defines a plurality of vertically spaced shelves. An electronic system supported with the frame includes a portable computing device and a plurality of lamp strips, one mounted to each of the shelves. An application program that is operated by the portable computing device is adapted to determine a quantity of items to be picked from or put to a physical location and illuminate a number of individual lamps on one of the strips at a particular location on one of said shelves. The number of individual lamps illuminated is equal to the quantity of items to be picked from or put to the physical location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Dematic Corp.
    Inventor: Stephen E. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20180354719
    Abstract: A mobile lighted pick or put cart includes a frame and transport members on the frame that facilitate movement of the frame. The frame defines a plurality of vertically spaced shelves. An electronic system supported with the frame includes a portable computing device and a plurality of lamp strips, one mounted to each of the shelves. An application program that is operated by the portable computing device is adapted to determine a quantity of items to be picked from or put to a physical location and illuminate a number of individual lamps on one of the strips at a particular location on one of said shelves. The number of individual lamps illuminated is equal to the quantity of items to be picked from or put to the physical location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Inventor: Stephen E. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 9613334
    Abstract: A picking method includes having in a mobile device data and an application running on the mobile device. An order made up of a number of items to be picked from the warehouse is communicated from a host to a client application of the mobile device. The mobile device provides instructions of a sequence of locations to pick and the items to be picked at each location without further communications from the host. A corresponding picking system is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Dematic Corp.
    Inventors: Dale A. Moore, Stephen E. Hoffman
  • Publication number: 20140336814
    Abstract: A picking method includes having in a mobile device data and an application running on the mobile device. An order made up of a number of items to be picked from the warehouse is communicated from a host to a client application of the mobile device. The mobile device provides instructions of a sequence of locations to pick and the items to be picked at each location without further communications from the host. A corresponding picking system is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Applicant: DEMATIC CORP.
    Inventors: Dale A. Moore, Stephen E. Hoffman