Patent ID: 8301298

Claim:
A computer-assisted method for detecting collisions of parcels on a conveyor belt system comprising a rectangular array of individual conveyor belts, the method performed by said computer comprising the steps of: representing each belt of a conveyor belt system with a rectangular cell mesh of columns and rows, wherein each belt moves with an associated belt speed; for each parcel on said belt system, identifying those cells on a belt where each said parcel contacts said belt; predicting a parcel's cell position after a predetermined time frame in a direction parallel to the motion of said conveyor belt system; marking a corresponding entry in a parallel motion table representing motion in a parallel direction; for each marked cell in said parallel motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in a collision detection table; predicting a parcel's cell position after said predetermined time frame in a direction perpendicular to the motion of said conveyor belt system; marking a corresponding entry in a perpendicular motion table representing motion in a perpendicular direction; and for each marked cell in said perpendicular motion table, incrementing a collision detector counter in a corresponding cell in said collision detection table; and checking the collision detector counter value in each cell in said collision detection table, wherein a value greater than or equal to 3 is indicative of a parcel collision.