Patent ID: 8077050

Claim:
An evaluating apparatus arranged to evaluate an item-transport system having a flow path along which items are transported, the apparatus comprising: one or more position markers positioned adjacent the flow path of the item-transport system; an evaluating device configured to sense the position markers and conditions of the item-transport system while the evaluating device is being transported along the flow path through the item-transport system, the evaluating device including: an evaluating-device body; at least one evaluation sensor connected adjacent the evaluating-device body and configured to: (A) sense conditions of the item-transport system while the evaluating device is being transported through the item-transport system and (B) produce evaluation-sensor data based on the sensed conditions; a position-marker sensor connected adjacent the evaluating-device body and configured to sense said position markers and produce position-marker data; and a distance meter connected adjacent the evaluating-device body and configured to produce distance data; and at least one computing device configured to receive said data from the evaluation sensor, the position-marker sensor, and the distance meter and determine a particular location at which the evaluating device was along the flow path of the item-transport system when a particular condition of said conditions of the item-transport system was sensed, wherein the computing device is configured to determine said particular location based at least in part on the evaluation-sensor data, the distance data, and the position-marker data.