Patent ID: 8060245

Claim:
A sortation system, comprising: a sorter assembly, said sorter assembly receiving product and sorting that product to a plurality of sortation lines; a supply system made up of a plurality of conveyors and a merge assembly, wherein said merge assembly supplies product to said conveyors and said conveyors supply product to said sorter assembly; and a control system, said control system monitoring product supplied to the sorter assembly and determining a parameter, said parameter indicative of an excess of product supplied to said sorter assembly with respect to product being sorted by said sorter assembly; said control system controlling a speed of said conveyors as a function of a value of the parameter in order to maintain a balance between a rate of supply of product by said supply system and a rate at which product are sorted by said sorter assembly by reducing the speed of said conveyors in response to an increase in said parameter and by increasing the speed of said conveyors in response to a decrease in said parameter.