Method and apparatus for assembling food ingredients
First Claim
1. The method of verifying the delivery of the proper container of a group of containers from a product-dispensing station to a particular product-receiving station, comprising:
- providing respectively different machine-readable container-identifying means secured to said containers;
presenting one of said group of containers at said product-dispensing station;
machine-reading said container-identifying means of said one container at said product-dispensing station to produce first signals representative of said container-identifying means of said one container;
thereafter delivering said one container to said product-receiving station;
at said product-receiving station, machine-reading said container-identifying means of said one container to produce second signals representative of said container-identifying means secured to said one container; and
comparing said first and second signals to produce at said delivery station third signals indicating that said one container presented at said product-receiving station is said proper container.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for verifying that the proper ingredient-containing transport containers have been assembled at a particular soup-blending kettle, in which a hole-coded metal key is permanently affixed to each container and provided with an array of machine-readable holes corresponding to a number unique to each container. At the ingredient-dispensing station, a key-reader reads out the identifying number of the container and transmits it to that kettle station to which the container is to be delivered. The transport container is then delivered to the kettle station, where the key code is again machine read; the container number thus read out at the kettle station is compared with that previously transmitted from the ingredient-dispensing station, and if they both represent the same number then the proper container has been delivered to the kettle station and its contents are dumped into the kettle. To prevent dumping of ingredients of a "wrong" container, the container can be locked at the dispensing station and only unlocked at the kettle station in response to a control signal indicative of identity between the remotely-read key and the key read at the kettle occurs. In other cases an unlocked transport container is delivered onto an automatic dumper, which is enabled only in response to an indication by the control signal that the proper container is present.
35 Citations
19 Claims
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1. The method of verifying the delivery of the proper container of a group of containers from a product-dispensing station to a particular product-receiving station, comprising:
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providing respectively different machine-readable container-identifying means secured to said containers; presenting one of said group of containers at said product-dispensing station; machine-reading said container-identifying means of said one container at said product-dispensing station to produce first signals representative of said container-identifying means of said one container; thereafter delivering said one container to said product-receiving station; at said product-receiving station, machine-reading said container-identifying means of said one container to produce second signals representative of said container-identifying means secured to said one container; and comparing said first and second signals to produce at said delivery station third signals indicating that said one container presented at said product-receiving station is said proper container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. Apparatus for enhancing the reliability of delivery of an ingredient into a particular blending kettle at a kettle station, from an ingredient-dispensing station remotely positioned with respect to said kettle, comprising:
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a transport container having container-identifying machine-readable indicia means secured thereto; first indicia-reading means at said ingredient-dispensing station for reading said machine-readable indicia means to produce first signals representative thereof; second indicia-reading means at said kettle station for reading said machine-readable indicia means to produce second signals representative thereof; means for storing said first signals and for comparing them with said second signals to produce third signals only if said first and second signals represent the same machine-read indicia; transfer inhibiting means for inhibiting the transfer of ingredients from said transport container to said blending kettle; and control means for controlling said transfer inhibiting means to permit said transfer upon the occurrence of said third signals. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A food-ingredient assembling system for helping to assure that a particular type and/or amount of ingredients deposited in one of a plurality of transport containers is transported by said one of said transport containers to a particular one of a plurality of ingredient-receiving containers, and that said ingredients are transferred from said one transport container to said particular one of said plurality of ingredient-receiving containers, comprising:
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a plurality of transport containers having respectively different machine-readable identification means affixed thereto identifying each container; at least one ingredient-dispensing station for dispensing ingredients into said transport containers; a plurality of ingredient-receiving containers for receiving ingredients carried thereto from said ingredient-dispensing station in said transport containers; first identification-reading means at said at least one ingredient-dispensing station for reading said identification means of each of said transport containers presented thereto to produce first electrical signals representative of the identities of the transport containers presented to it; second identification-reading means associated with each of said ingredient-receiving containers for reading said identification means of each of said transport containers presented thereto to produce second electrical signals representative of the identities of the transport containers presented to each of said ingredient-receiving containers; means for comparing said first electrical signals with said second electrical signals to produce third signals indicative of when said one transport container is presented to said particular one of said plurality of ingredient-receiving containers; ingredient transfer means for transferring said ingredients from said transport containers to said ingredient-receiving containers; and transfer control means for disabling said ingredient transfer means at said particular ingredient-receiving container in the absence of said third signals, and for enabling said ingredient transfer means in response to said third signals, to permit transfer of said ingredients from said one transport container only to said particular one of said plurality of ingredient-receiving containers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for assembling relatively large batches of bulk ingredients and relatively small batches of small-quantity ingredients at a particular one of a plurality of blending kettles positioned at a particular kettle station, for subsequent dumping therein to make soup, comprising:
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a first plurality of bulk-ingredient storage stations remote from said particular kettle station; a second plurality of stations storing small-quantity ingredients; a plurality of microprocessor units, one at each of said first and second plurality of stations and one at each of said blending kettles; data communication lines providing digital information exchange between the mircoprocessors at each of said first and second plurality of stations and those at said blending kettles; a plurality of transport containers each having a machine-readable coded key permamently affixed thereto representing a number assigned to that container; a plurality of key readers, one at each of said first and second plurality of stations and one at each of said blending kettles, each adapted to read out to the associated microprocessor the coded number of any of said keys submitted to it for reading; means for transmitting the coded number read out at any of said first and second plurality of stations to the kettle station to which the particular ingredients are to be delivered; means at each of said kettle station for storing said coded numbers transmitted thereto until the corresponding container has been delivered to that kettle station; means for comparing said transmitted number at said particular kettle station with that read from the coded keys of containers presented at said particular kettle station, to produce a control signal indicative of whether these two numbers are the same; inhibiting means for preventing dumping of said containers into said kettles; and means responsive to said control signal to enable said dumping of said containers into said particular kettle. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification