Methods and systems for sensing and rectifying pellet shaped articles for subsequent processing
First Claim
1. A pellet shaped article orienting apparatus, comprising:
- a conveyor that conveys a plurality of pellet shaped articles along a predefined path, the pellet shaped articles having at least a first side and a second side, at least one of the first and second sides including a predetermined characteristic;
a dispenser that dispenses the pellet shaped articles on the conveyor;
a sensor that senses the pellet shaped articles on the conveyor; and
a manipulating device associated with the sensor that manipulates selected ones of the pellet shaped articles to uniformly orient all of the pellet shaped articles depending on whether a predetermined characteristic is detected by the sensor.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A dispenser dispenses pellet shaped articles onto a conveyer. The conveyer conveys the pellet shaped articles past a video sensor that senses any pellet shaped articles needing rotation so that they are uniformly oriented. The sensor provides a signal to a manipulating device which manipulates certain pellet shaped articles so that all of the articles are uniformly oriented. The conveyer transports the pellet shaped articles to a first pellet shaped article modifying device that, for example, prints indicia on the pellet shaped articles. A rectifying drum reorients all of the pellet shaped articles in order for printing to be performed on a reverse side. A second sensor and a second manipulating device may also be provided. An inspection system to determine whether a pellet shaped article is defective after a performed modification is also provided.
69 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A pellet shaped article orienting apparatus, comprising:
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a conveyor that conveys a plurality of pellet shaped articles along a predefined path, the pellet shaped articles having at least a first side and a second side, at least one of the first and second sides including a predetermined characteristic; a dispenser that dispenses the pellet shaped articles on the conveyor; a sensor that senses the pellet shaped articles on the conveyor; and a manipulating device associated with the sensor that manipulates selected ones of the pellet shaped articles to uniformly orient all of the pellet shaped articles depending on whether a predetermined characteristic is detected by the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A pellet shaped article rectifying and modifying apparatus, comprising:
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a conveyer to convey a plurality of pellet shaped articles along a predefined path, the pellet shaped articles having a first side having a first base color and a second side having a second base color different from the first base color; a pellet shaped article dispenser to dispense the pellet shaped articles onto the conveyer; a pellet shaped article sensor located downstream of the pellet shaped article dispenser, the pellet shaped article sensor sensing at least one of the first and second base colors of the pellet shaped articles within a scanning area of the pellet shaped article sensor; a manipulation device located downstream from the pellet shaped article sensor to manipulate selected ones of the pellet shaped articles in response to the base color detected by the pellet shaped article sensor so that all of the pellet shaped articles are uniformly oriented; and a pellet shaped article modifying device located downstream from the manipulation device for modifying the pellet shaped articles. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A pellet shaped article rectifying and modifying apparatus, comprising:
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conveying means for conveying a plurality of pellet shaped articles along a predefined path, the pellet shaped articles having a first side having a first base color and a second side having a second base color; dispensing means for dispensing the pellet shaped articles onto the conveying means; sensing means for sensing at least one of the first and second base colors of the pellet shaped articles within a scanning area of the sensing means; manipulating means for manipulating selected ones of the pellet shaped articles in response to the base color detected by the sensing means so that all of the pellet shaped articles are uniformly oriented; and pellet shaped article modifying means for modifying the pellet shaped articles. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A pellet shaped article inspection apparatus, comprising:
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a conveyor that conveys a plurality of pellet shaped articles along a predefined path; a pellet shaped article sensor located substantially adjacent to the conveyor, the pellet shaped article sensor being configured to determine whether any of the pellet shaped articles are defective; a vacuum drum positioned above the conveyor and being associated with the pellet shaped article sensor, the vacuum drum having a plurality of vacuum receiving holes each receiving one of the pellet shaped articles, the vacuum drum including a control device for selectively activating the vacuum receiving holes in response to the determination of the pellet-shaped article sensor, wherein defective articles are not received in the vacuum receiving holes of the vacuum drum. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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38. A method of orienting pellet shaped articles, comprising:
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dispensing a plurality of pellet shaped articles on a conveyor; conveying the pellet shaped articles along a predefined path, the plurality of pellet shaped articles having at least first and second sides, one of said first and second sides including a predetermined characteristic; sensing the pellet shaped articles on the conveyor; and rectifying selected pellet shaped articles while on the conveyor depending on whether the predetermined characteristic is sensed so that the pellet shaped articles are uniformly oriented on the conveyor. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. An apparatus for orienting pellet shaped articles, comprising:
- means for dispensing a plurality of pellet shaped articles on a conveyor;
means for conveying the pellet articles along a predefined path, the plurality of pellet shaped articles having at least first and second sides, one of said first and second sides including a predetermined characteristic; means for sensing the pellet shaped articles on the conveying means; and means for rectifying selected pellet shaped articles while on the conveying means depending on whether the predetermined characteristic is sensed so that the pellet shaped articles are uniformly oriented on the conveying means.
- means for dispensing a plurality of pellet shaped articles on a conveyor;
Specification