US 8,301,298 B2Granted

System and method for parcel singulation based on collision detection

AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft

InventorEmmanuel Bisse

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for detecting collisions of parcels on a moving conveyor belt, including the steps of representing each belt with a rectangular cell mesh of columns and rows, for each parcel on the belt system, identifying those cells on a belt where each parcel contacts the belt, marking a parcel's new cell position after a predetermined time frame in a direction parallel to the motion, for each marked cell, incrementing a corresponding collision detector counter in a collision detection table, marking a parcel's new cell position after the predetermined time frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion, for each marked cell, incrementing a corresponding collision detector counter in the collision detection table, and checking the collision detector counter value in each cell, where a value greater than or equal to 3 indicates a parcel collision.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A computer-assisted method for detecting collisions of parcels on a conveyor belt system comprising a rectangular array of individual conveyor belts, the method performed by said computer comprising the steps of:

representing each belt of a conveyor belt system with a rectangular cell mesh of columns and rows, wherein each belt moves with an associated belt speed;
for each parcel on said belt system,
identifying those cells on a belt where each said parcel contacts said belt;
predicting a parcel's cell position after a predetermined time frame in a direction parallel to the motion of said conveyor belt system;
marking a corresponding entry in a parallel motion table representing motion in a parallel direction;
for each marked cell in said parallel motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in a collision detection table;
predicting a parcel's cell position after said predetermined time frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion of said conveyor belt system;
marking a corresponding entry in a perpendicular motion table representing motion in a perpendicular direction;
and
for each marked cell in said perpendicular motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in said collision detection table;
and
checking the collision detector counter value in each cell in said collision detection table, wherein a value greater than or equal to 3 is indicative of a parcel collision.

9 more elements

representing each belt of a conveyor belt system with a rectangular cell mesh of columns and rows, wherein each belt moves with an associated belt speed;
for each parcel on said belt system,
identifying those cells on a belt where each said parcel contacts said belt;
marking a parcel's new cell position after a predetermined time frame in a direction parallel to the motion of said conveyor belt system;
marking a parcel's new cell position after said predetermined time frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion of said conveyor belt system,
wherein when a parcel's new cell position after a predetermined time frame is on a subsequent belt,
shifting a bit map for a subsequent belt by a number of units representing a number of cells corresponding to a distance said parcel is displaced on said subsequent belt during said time frame, and
for each marked new cell position in said parallel direction and said perpendicular direction,
creating an temporary bit table with all bits initialized to zero,
setting a first bit set to one and shifting said temporary table in a same direction as said bit map by a number of bits representing a final cell position of said parcel on said subsequent belt, and
performing a bitwise OR operation of bits in said temporary table with said bit map.

8 more elements

A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps for detecting collisions of parcels on a conveyor belt system comprising a rectangular array of individual conveyor belts, said method comprising the steps of:

representing each belt of a conveyor belt system with a rectangular cell mesh of columns and rows, wherein each belt moves with an associated belt speed;
for each parcel on said belt system,
identifying those cells on a belt where each said parcel contacts said belt;
predicting a parcel's cell position after a predetermined time frame in a direction parallel to the motion of said conveyor belt system;
marking a corresponding entry in a parallel motion table representing motion in a parallel direction;
for each marked cell in said parallel motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in a collision detection table;
predicting a parcel's cell position after said predetermined time frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion of said conveyor belt system;
marking a corresponding entry in a perpendicular motion table representing motion in a perpendicular direction;
and
for each marked cell in said perpendicular motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in said collision detection table;
and
checking the collision detector counter value in each cell in said collision detection table, wherein a value greater than or equal to 3 is indicative of a parcel collision.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.