Patent ID: 9555977
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: B65G,G05B,Y02P

Claim:
1. A method of controlling at least a portion of a conveyor with a controller, the method comprising: operating, by the controller, a motorized roller to rotate in a first direction corresponding to a direction of travel for moving an article on the at least a portion of the conveyer; detecting that a jam has occurred by evaluating indications from a sensor that an article is present on the at least a portion of the conveyor; in response to detecting that a jam has occurred, operating, by the controller, the motorized roller to rotate in a second direction opposite the first direction; operating, by the controller, the motorized roller to again rotate in the first direction following rotation in the second direction; if the indication from the sensor still indicates detection that the article is present on the at least a portion of the conveyor, then repeating the operation of the motorized roller to rotate in the first direction for a plurality of times and incrementing a count; if the count reaches a target value, stopping the motorized roller.