Patent ID: 6622845
Filing Date: 2003-09-23
Classification: B65G,H01L,H05K

Abstract:
A transport system for transporting a multiplicity of individual items, comprising:a multiplicity of conveying devices for transporting individual items under a decentralized control; a multiplicity of branching devices connected to respective said conveying devices for selectively branching the items to different conveying devices under a decentralized control, each of said branching devices adapted to selectively branch the items dependent upon neighboring ones of said branching devices for optimizing transport distance and time; a multiplicity of processing devices for processing the items, said processing devices having inlets and outlets connected to respective said conveying devices; a multiplicity of storage devices for temporarily storing the items; an information medium attached to each item storing at least one first destination address identifying a specific processing device to which the respective item is to be transported for controlling transport of each item under a decentralized control; a writing device at each outlet of a respective one of said processing devices for writing a second destination address after a processing operation and upon transferring the item to a respective one of said conveying devices; and each of said branching devices having an internal destination address list and configured to read said information medium of each item and to utilize said internal destination address list to define a branching direction for the respective item.