Distribution installation for moving piece goods

• US 4,544,064 A
• Filed: 02/02/1983
• Issued: 10/01/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/1982
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gebhardt Foerdertechnik GmbH
• Original Assignee: Gebhardt Foerdertechnik GmbH
• Inventors: Felder, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Reeves, Robert B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wacyra, Edward M.
• Application Number:
  US06/463,319
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: 209/3.1-3.3, 209/583, 235/470, 235/471, 235/462, 382/61, 382/36, 382/48, 250/566
• US Class Current: 209/583
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10871 randomly oriented data-fields, code-marks therefore, e.g. concentric circles-code

Abstract

A distribution installation for piece goods moved on a conveyor track which are distributed from a common feed conveyor to several stations of a distribution conveyor; each piece good is provided for that purpose with a coding containing an information which is detected or scanned within the area of an objective field of a scanning station arranged upstream of the distribution conveyor by a video camera connected to an electrical evaluation circuit in order to determine an exit information; to speed up and simplify the distribution, the video camera is arranged vertically above the detection station and each piece good is moved through the objective field non-oriented in the transverse direction and angularly independent about the vertical axis with a coding disposed at the top thereof which consists of a single bar group or the like whose precise detection for position and content is made possible by positioning bars and is thus reduced to a short period of time; the detection efficiency is thus unequivocal and numerically high.

Claims

1. A distribution installation for piece goods moved along a conveyor track which are distributed from a common feed track to several stations of a distribution track, each piece good being provided with a coding containing an information which is contactlessly detected within the area of an objective field of a detection station located upstream of the distribution track by a video camera means connected to an electrical evaluating circuit means for determining the exit information belonging to an associated station of the distribution track, said video camera means being directed from above and substantially perpendicularly onto the conveyor track plane of the detection station, each said piece good being conveyed through the objective field of the video camera means in a non-oriented manner in the transverse direction and angularly independently about the vertical axis with an upwardly facing coding within the objective field, the coding including a single bar group containing the information, the bar group including at least one positioning bar means utilized for determining the angular position of the coding when detected at said detection station, said circuit means evaluating the coding subsequent to detection of the orientation of the positioning bar means in order to determine the exit information and subsequent further transmittal of the respective piece good to the coordinated station of the distribution track, the search operation for searching the coding inside of the objective field being so constructed that image points are initially examined for a predetermined length of time on a center search line parallel the conveyance direction and subsequently alternately on right and left search lines disposed laterally adjacent the center search line until a light-dark transition takes place, upon said light-dark transition occurring a predetermined number of successive image points in the search direction and thereafter a predetermined number of image points at a right angle to the search line are examined until a dark-light transition is detected.

2. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the coding is arranged on a rectangular area, inside of which are arranged the bar group containing the information and the positioning bar means, the bar group and the positioning bar means being separated from one another by a gap.

3. A distribution arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the coding is arranged inside a square area.

4. A distribution installation according to claim 2, wherein a positioning bar means is provided at least at one edge of the coding.

5. A distribution installation according to claim 4, wherein one positioning bar is provided at mutually oppositely disposed edges of the coding.

6. A distribution installation according to claim 4, wherein the objective field detected by the video camera means has an edge length about five times the edge length of the coding.

7. A distribution installation according to claim 6, wherein the objective field is subdivided into several search gaps extending parallelly to one another and to the conveying direction and optically separated by search lines and in that the two outer search lines are provided with a spacing from the outer edge of the objective field by the formation of rims.

8. A distribution installation according to claim 7, wherein the lateral distance of the search lines amounts to about 80 image points and the width of the rims to about 96 image points.

9. A distribution installation according to claim 8, wherein the subsequent search operation includes the placement of about ten successive image points in the search direction and thereafter up to ten successive image points at a right angle toward the right until a dark-light transition is detected.

10. A distribution installation according to claim 9, wherein for purposes of determining the position of the coding the foremost corner point and subsequently the rearmost corner point is searched for and the center point of the coding is then determined by determining the center between the two end points.

11. A distribution installation according to claim 10, wherein for evaluating the coding, an intersecting line disposed parallel to the search lines is placed through the center point of the coding which has the scale of the intersected coding.

12. A distribution installation according to claim 11, wherein the bar group of the coding includes plain language lines of the address.

13. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the objective field is subdivided into several search gaps extending parallelly to one another and to the conveying direction and optically separated by search lines and in that the two outer search lines are provided with a spacing from the outer edge of the objective field by the formation of rims.

14. A distribution installation according to claim 13, wherein the lateral distance of the search lines amounts to about 80 image points and the width of the rims to about 96 image points.

15. A distribution installation according to claim 13, wherein the subsequent search operation includes the placement of about ten successive image points in the search direction and thereafter up to ten successive image points at a right angle toward the right until a dark-light transition is detected.

16. A distribution installation according to claim 15, wherein for purposes of determining the position of the coding the foremost corner point and subsequently the rearmost corner point is searched for and the center point of the coding is then determined by determining the center between the two end points.

17. A distribution installation according to claim 16, wherein for evaluating the coding, an intersecting line disposed parallel to the search lines is placed through the center point of the coding which has the scale of the intersected coding.

18. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the bar group of the coding includes plain language lines of the address.

19. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the objective field detected by the video camera means has an edge length about five times the edge length of the coding.

20. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein a positioning bar means is provided at least at one edge of the coding.

21. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the initially examined image points on the center search line are examined for a predetermined length of time opposite the conveyance direction.

22. A distribution installation according to claim 21, wherein the image points examined at a right angle subsequent to the occurrence of the light-dark transition are at a right angle to the right.

23. A distribution installation according to claim 1, wherein the image points examined at a right angle subsequent to the occurrence of the light-dark transition are at a right angle to the right.