Delivery point merge and packaging device and method of use
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorsBruce H. Hanson, J. Edward Roth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device and method for merging pre-sequenced products includes at least a first and a second feeder mechanism. The first feeder mechanism feeds a stream of first pre-sequenced product and the second feeder mechanism feeds a stream of second pre-sequenced product. A reading device reads product information of each product of the stream of the first and second pre-sequenced product. A pausing device pauses one of the first stream of pre-sequenced product and the second stream of pre-sequenced product based on the information read from the reading device. The product from one or both of the stream of first and second pre-sequenced product having the same product information is organized into a sequentially merged order.
Claims30
A device for merging pre-sequenced products, comprising:
- at least a first feeder mechanism feeding a stream of first pre-sequenced product;
- at least a second feeder mechanism feeding a stream of second pre-sequenced product;
- a reading device reading product information of each product of the stream of the first and second pre-sequenced product;
- and
- a pausing device pausing one of the first stream of pre-sequenced product and the second stream of pre-sequenced product based on the information read from the reading device such that product from one or both of the stream of first and second pre-sequenced product having same product information determined in the reading step is organized into a sequentially merged order.
A method for merging in a sequential order a first type of product and a second type of product, the method comprising the steps of:
- reading product information from a first stream of pre-sequenced products of the first type of product;
- reading product information from a second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type of product;
- and
- pausing one of the first stream and the second stream to merge in sequential order the first and second type of product of the first and second stream of pre-sequenced product having same product information determined in the reading steps.
A method for merging in a sequential order a first type of product and a second type of product, the method comprising the steps of:
- reading product information from a first stream of pre-sequenced products of the first type of product:
- reading product information from a second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type of product:
- pausing one of the first stream and the second stream to merge in sequential order the first and second type of product of the first and second stream of pre-sequenced product having same product information determined in the reading steps;
- passing the first type of product of the first stream of pre-sequenced products with the same product information to a destination bin;
- pausing the second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type of product having the same product information until all of the first type of the product has been provided to the destination bin;
- and
- moving the second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type having the same product information to the destination bin thereby forming a defacto package.
A method for merging in a sequential order disparate product types comprising the steps of:
- reading product information from a first stream of pre-sequenced products of the first type of product;
- reading product information from a second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type of product;
- and
- pausing one of the first stream and the second stream to merge into a sequential stream the first and second type of product of the first and second stream of pre-sequenced product having same product information as determined in the reading steps;
- providing the merged sequential stream of the first and second type of product to separate destinations based on delivery point segments for parallel processing such that packages are formed of the first and second type of product having the same product information;
- and
- removing the formed packages in delivery point sequence.
A machine readable medium containing code for merging in a sequential order a first type of product and a second type of product, comprising:
- a module for reading product information from a first stream of pre-sequenced products of the first type of product;
- a module for reading product information from a second stream of pre-sequenced products of the second type of product;
- and
- a module for merging in sequential order the first and second type of product of the first and second stream of pre-sequenced product having same product information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.