Coordinated conveyers in an automated system
AssigneeTeam Conveyer Royalty A LLC
InventorJohn G. Gorman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Coordinated conveyors in an automated system. A system comprises a plurality of conveyors, which each comprise a plurality of segments, and one or more stations. An instruction is received to perform an operation that requires at least one station to process at least a first item held by a first segment of a first conveyor and a second item held by a second segment of a second conveyor. In response to the instruction, one or both of the first and second conveyors are moved, such that the first segment and the second segment are aligned at the station. After alignment, one or more instruments of the station process the first item and the second item.
Claims18
A transport system for use in a diagnostic testing system comprising:
- a plurality of conveyors, wherein each of the plurality of conveyors comprises a plurality of segments configured to hold at least one item;
- one or more stations, wherein each of the one or more stations comprises one or more instruments;
- wherein at least one item is configured to hold test cells, wherein each test cell comprises one or more microwells,
- each microwell comprises a receptacle portion and a well portion,
- the well portion is configured to rest horizontally on a top surface of the at least one conveyor, and
- the receptacle portion comprises an opening that is accessible to the one or more instruments while the well portion is resting horizontally on the top surface of the at least one conveyor;
- each test cell comprises a plurality of microwells arranged in an annulus sector, the annulus sector is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the top surface of the at least one conveyor, such that, upon the annulus sector being attached to the top surface of the at least one conveyor, the plurality of microwells longitudinally extend along a radial line of the plurality of conveyors, and a peripheral curve of the annulus sector matches a peripheral curve of the top surface of the at least one conveyor;
- at least one hardware processor;
- and
- software configured to, when executed by the at least one hardware processor,
- receive an instruction to perform an operation that requires at least one of the one or more stations to simultaneously process at least a first item held by a first segment of a first one of the plurality of conveyors and a second item held by a second segment of a second one of the plurality of conveyors,
- in response to receiving the instruction, control one or both of the first conveyor and the second conveyor to move, such that the first segment and the second segment are aligned at the at least one station at a same time, and
- after the first segment and the second segment have been aligned at the at least one station, control the one or more instruments of the at least one station to simultaneously process the first item and the second item.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, wherein the instructions, when executed by the hardware processor, within the transport system of, cause the processor to:
- receive an instruction to perform an operation that requires the at least one of the one or more stations to simultaneously process at least the first item held by the first segment of a first one of the plurality of conveyors and the second item held by the second segment of the second one of the plurality of conveyors;
- in response to receiving the instruction, control one or both of the first conveyor and the second conveyor to move, such that the first segment and the second segment are aligned at the at least one station at a same time;
- and
- after the first segment and the second segment have been aligned at the at least one station, control the one or more instruments of the at least one station to simultaneously process the first item and the second item.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.