Patent ID: 7983779

Claim:
A fail-to-safe fault detection system, comprising: a) a sensor system to monitor a container as said container moves along a continuous production line, said container having machine readable indicia thereon, wherein the sensor system comprises at least two first sensors to detect said container when said container moves along the production line past the sensor system, and at least one second sensor separate from the at least two first sensors and the sensor system activates the at least one second sensor based on the detection, the sensor system being operative to: read said indicia of said container when said container moves along the production line and past the at least one second sensor and compare data encoded therein with reference data stored in the sensor system or to apply an algorithm to the data encoded, determine whether the encoded data are associated with a match condition, said match condition reflecting that the encoded data is associated with predetermined properties or characteristics; in response to a match condition, determine a pass result; and otherwise determine a fail result; the sensor system having at least the following operating states: a first state in which the sensor system provides a first output associated with the pass result, a second state in which the sensor system provides a second output associated with the fail result, said second state being a default operating state; and a third state in which the sensor system provides a third output indicative of a failure or malfunction of at least one component of the sensor system; and b) a fail-to-safe controller to detect the third output and, in response thereto, transmit an alert signal to a production line control system, said production line control system being operative to start and stop the production line and to notify a line operator that the sensor system has failed or is malfunctioning.