Patent ID: 11878862
Assignee: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 10:
11. A method for sorting merchandise items using a conveyor assembly, the method comprising:
by a scanner, receiving identifying information about merchandise items to be sorted by the conveyor assembly;
providing a plurality of sorters for moving and sorting the merchandise items, each sorter comprising:
a sorting portion with a set of rollers configured to divert merchandise items to a first sortation destination or to a second sortation destination;
a controller operatively coupled to the set of rollers and configured to divert merchandise items to the first and second sortation destinations, the controller configured to receive an Internet Protocol (IP) address corresponding to the sorter;

coupling the plurality of sorters to one another to define a chain of sorters;
storing records in a merchandise database corresponding to merchandise items to be sorted;
by a control circuit:
receiving identifying information about an unsorted merchandise item to be sorted by the conveyor assembly from the scanner;
assigning a unique IP address to each sorter, each IP address corresponding to a position of each sorter in the chain of sorters when in an assembled state;
determining a sortation destination for the unsorted merchandise item to be sorted by the conveyor assembly based on the merchandise database;
determining the sorter corresponding to the determined sortation destination; and
instructing the controller of the sorter corresponding to the determined sortation destination to energize the set of rollers to divert the unsorted merchandise item to the determined sortation destination.