Patent ID: 8424430

Claim:
An apparatus for assembling sliced food products, the apparatus comprising: an upstream conveyor that transports a plurality of sliced food products; a discrete carrier sheet that supports a predetermined number of sliced food products, wherein the upstream conveyor deposits the sliced food products on the discrete carrier sheet that is supported upon a downstream conveyor; the downstream conveyor that supports and advances the discrete carrier sheet both prior to and after the sliced food products have been deposited on the discrete carrier sheet, wherein the discrete carrier sheet advances along the downstream conveyor, the downstream conveyor having operative and paused modes of operation wherein the downstream conveyor is in the operative mode before entering the paused mode; a control that calculates whether the discrete carrier sheet contains less than the predetermined number of sliced food products; and a controller in communication with the control and the downstream conveyor such that the downstream conveyor operates in a paused mode after advancing the discrete carrier sheet along the downstream conveyor when the controller communicates that the discrete carrier sheet contains less than the predetermined number of sliced food products based on control calculations and operates in an operative mode again when the controller communicates that the discrete carrier sheet contains the predetermined number of sliced food products based on control calculations, remaining in the paused mode until the predetermined number of sliced food products have been deposited on the discrete carrier sheet.