Patent ID: 6843362

Claim:
A zone controller for a particular zone picked from a plurality of zones for control into which a roller conveyor line is divided and which are arrangeable in a row in the direction of conveyance, being capable of controlling operation of a driving roller for conveyance provided in the particular zone, having a mode-setting means capable of switching between a slug mode and a singulation mode: wherein in the slug mode operation of the driving roller is controlled so that articles in the zones are conveyed uniformly to downstream, maintaining the order of the articles in the conveying line; wherein in the singulation mode operation of the driving roller is controlled so that the articles are conveyed separately to downstream with a predetermined number of zones in which no article exists kept between the zones in which the articles exist; wherein the zone controller is capable of receiving presence signals and a driving status signal, the presence signals indicating whether an article exists in the particular zone, in a zone upstream of the particular zone, and in a zone downstream of the particular zone, the driving status signal indicating a driving status of a driving roller for conveyance in a zone downstream of the particular zone; and wherein the zone controller generates a controlling signal for controlling operation of the driving roller in the particular zone, taking the presence signals into account if the mode-selling means is switched in the singulation mode, taking the presence signals and the driving status signal into account if the mode-setting means is switched in the slug mode.