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US 12,179,234 B2Granted
Article sorting control apparatus, article sorting system, and computer readable storage medium
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation
InventorsYusuke Usami, Kazuya Saimei
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Abstract
An article sorting control apparatus includes a memory, a processor, and a communication interface. The memory stores sorting destination management information including reference conveyance route information, fixed sorting destination information, and dynamic sorting destination information. The processor selects a first diverging control signal or a second diverging control signal. The communication interface transmits the first or the second diverging control signal to an article sorting apparatus.
Claims10
An article sorting control apparatus, comprising:
- a memory that stores sorting destination management information for conveying an article from a main conveyance path to a circulation conveyance path, via one of a first conveyance route connected to the circulation conveyance path from the main conveyance path via a first sub-conveyance path, and a second conveyance route connected to the circulation conveyance path from the main conveyance path via a second sub-conveyance path, and for sorting the article to a designated sorting destination among a plurality of sorting destinations while circulating the article in one direction via the circulation conveyance path, the sorting destination management information including reference conveyance route information to allocate one of the first conveyance route and the second conveyance route in accordance with each of the sorting destinations, fixed sorting destination information associating a fixed sorting destination among the sorting destinations to a destination, and dynamic sorting destination information associating a dynamic sorting destination among the sorting destinations to a destination that is allocated in accordance with a situation;
- a processor configured to select a first diverging control signal or a second diverging control signal based on a designated sorting destination of the article acquired from information read from the article, the sorting destination management information, and degree of congestion of the first and second sub-conveyance paths, and to allocate an arbitrary destination to the dynamic sorting destination;
- and
- a communication interface configured to transmit the first or the second diverging control signal selected by the processor to an article sorting apparatus configured to distribute the article from the main conveyance path to the first or the second sub-conveyance path based on the first or the second diverging control signal.
1 more element
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing an article sorting control program for causing a computer to execute:
- a procedure to set sorting destination management information, for conveying an article from a main conveyance path to a circulation conveyance path via one of a first conveyance route connected to a circulation conveyance path from a main conveyance path via a first sub-conveyance path, and a second conveyance route connected to the circulation conveyance path from the main conveyance path via a second sub-conveyance path, and for sorting the article to a designated sorting destination among a plurality of sorting destinations while circulating the article in one direction via the circulation conveyance path, the sorting destination management information including reference conveyance route information to allocate one of the first conveyance route and the second conveyance route in accordance with each of the sorting destinations, fixed sorting destination information associating a fixed sorting destination among the sorting destinations to a destination, and dynamic sorting destination information associating a dynamic sorting destination among the sorting destinations to a destination that is allocated in accordance with a situation;
- a procedure to select a first diverging control signal or a second diverging control signal based on a designated sorting destination of the article acquired from information read from the article, the sorting destination management information, and a degree of congestion of the first and second sub-conveyance paths, and to allocate an arbitrary destination to the dynamic sorting destination;
- and
- a procedure to transmit the first or the second diverging control signal to an article sorting apparatus configured to distribute the article from the main conveyance path to the first or the second sub-conveyance path based on the first or the second diverging control signal.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.