Patent ID: 8412366
Filing Date: 2013-04-02
Classification: A22C,B26D,B26F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of automatically portioning a food workpiece into one or more final pieces, comprising: (a) receiving multiple acceptable specific combinations of two or more directly-controlled specifications of a final piece to be portioned from each workpiece, said directly-controlled specifications each being a desired, predetermined physical specification of a final piece, and one or more indirectly-controlled specifications of a final piece to be portioned from each workpiece, said indirectly-controlled specifications each being a desired, predetermined physical specification of a final piece that results from applying two or more directly-controlled specifications to a workpiece; (b) wherein said specific combinations of two or more directly controlled specifications of the final piece and the resulting one or more indirectly controlled specifications resulting from applying the directly controlled specifications to the workpiece, selected from the group consisting of: (c) scanning a workpiece to obtain scanning information pertaining to the physical attributes of the workpiece; (d) simulating portioning the scanned workpiece according to specific combinations of two or more directly-controlled specifications and calculating the one or more indirectly-controlled specifications of the final piece to be portioned resulting from applying each of the specific combinations of the two or more directly-controlled specifications to the scanned workpiece; (e) using a algorithm to analyze the various specific combination of the two or more directly-controlled specifications and the resulting one or more indirectly-controlled specifications from step (d), and based on the results of such analysis selecting an acceptable specific combination of two or more directly-controlled specification and the resulting one or more indirectly-controlled specifications; and (f) portioning the workpiece according to the selected acceptable predetermined combination of two or more directly-controlled specifications and the resulting one or more indirectly-controlled specification as determined in step (e).