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US 11,820,604 B1Granted
Packaging sizer
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Scott Kalm, Kushal Patel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A packaging sizer can receive and segment packaging into two or more segments. The packaging sizer can receive the packaging on a conveyance surface and convey the packaging to a position for segmenting. A segmenting assembly can segment the packaging to form two or more segments. The resulting segments can be directed in different directions for different purposes. For example, one or more of the segments can be removed from the packaging sizer and one or more segments can be moved to a position for manipulation by a packaging manipulator.
Claims11
A system comprising:
- a feeder configured to convey a bag in a storage orientation;
- a bag sizer comprising:
- a conveyance pathway at least partially defined by a conveyance surface and configured to receive the bag from the feeder and convey the bag in the storage orientation;
- a segmenting assembly positionable to segment the bag in the storage orientation into a plurality of segments;
- and
- a diverter positionable between a first position for directing a first segment of the plurality of segments in a first direction and a second position for directing a second segment of the plurality of segments in a second direction;
- a bag manipulator configured to reorient the bag from the storage orientation to a loading orientation for loading of one or more items into the bag;
- and
- a controller operable to:
- access one or more dimensions of one or more items to be packaged within the bag;
- instruct the conveyance surface to convey the bag in the storage orientation to a position for segmenting of the bag;
- instruct the segmenting assembly to segment the bag into the first and second segments based on the one or more dimensions accessed regarding the one or more items to be packaged within the bag;
- instruct the diverter to pivot to the first position and the conveyance surface to convey the first segment out of the conveyance pathway in the first direction;
- and
- instruct the diverter to pivot to the second position and the conveyance surface to convey the second segment in the second direction;
- wherein the controller is further operable such that instructing the segmenting assembly to segment the bag further comprises instructing positioning of the segmenting assembly to change along a conveyance direction of the conveyance pathway based on the one or more dimensions accessed regarding the one or more items to be packaged within the bag.
13 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a conveyance pathway at least partially defined by at least one conveyance surface, the at least one conveyance surface being configured to receive and convey a package in a storage orientation;
- a segmenting device configured to segment the package into a plurality of segments, wherein the segmenting device comprises a cutting device and an actuator configured to position the cutting device among different positions along the package for varying resulting sizes of the plurality of segments of the package;
- a diverter positionable between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position the diverter is configured to direct a first segment of the plurality of segments in a first direction, and in the second position the diverter is configured to direct a second segment of the plurality of segments in a second direction;
- and
- a sensor configured to detect package position data associated with a portion of the package and communicate with a controller, the controller configured to send instructions to stop a conveyance of the package based on at least the package position data being indicative that a portion of the package is at or adjacent to the diverter and suitably positioned to facilitate segmenting of the package by the segmenting device prior to the package engaging or passing the diverter.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.