US 12,753,017 B1Granted

System and method for singulation in a conveyor system

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsSumant Girish Joshi, Rajeev Dwivedi, Prithivi Krishna Jayapathy, Vikram Marthandam

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Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for singulation of items in a conveyor system. As items flow though conveyors and the like in a facility, such items may be directed onto a singulator that comprises a matrix of singulation conveyors. A camera is provided that has a field of view directed to the matrix of singulation conveyors. A singulation controller detects, in an image from the camera, a first one of the items and a second one of the items positioned on the matrix of singulation conveyors that require singulation in a direction of a flow of the items. The speed of at least one of the singulation conveyors is controlled to generate a relative movement between the first one of the items and the second one of the items positioned on the singulator to create a predefined gap therebetween on a downstream conveyor positioned downstream from the singulator.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying instructions executable in at least one computing device, the instructions causing the at least one computing device to:

identify, in an image from a camera directed toward a singulator comprising a matrix of singulation conveyors, a plurality of items on the matrix of singulation conveyors that require singulation in a direction of a flow of items;
creating a bounding box around individual ones of the items identified in the image;
assigning numbers to the items in an order starting from an upstream side to a downstream side of the image;
determining whether singulation is required for a plurality of numerically consecutive pairs of the items starting from the highest and second highest ones of the numbers assigned to the items and proceeding to the lowest and second lowest ones of the numbers assigned to the items;
for at least one of the consecutive pairs, generating a relative movement between the items in the at least one of the consecutive pairs to create a predefined gap between the items in the at least one of the consecutive pairs by:
increasing a speed at which a first one of the items is moved across the singulator by increasing a speed of at least one first one of the singulation conveyors;
and
decreasing a speed at which a second one of the items is moved across the singulator or stopping a movement of the second one of the items by decreasing a speed of or stopping at least one second one of the singulation conveyors.

5 more elements

A method, comprising:

moving a plurality of packages using a feed conveyor toward a singulator, the singulator comprising a matrix of singulation conveyors;
selecting a first one of the packages and a second one of the packages as a numerically consecutive pair based on numbers assigned to the first one of the packages and the second one of the packages;
determining whether a predefined gap exists between the first one of the packages and the second one of the packages when the first and second ones of the packages are positioned on the singulator;
identifying at least one of the singulation conveyors that is associated with a movement of the first one of the packages;
and
controlling a speed of the at least one of the singulation conveyors in the matrix to generate a relative movement between the first and second ones of the packages to create the predefined gap between the first and second ones of the packages on a downstream conveyor.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.