Patent ID: 8118034

Claim:
A brand control method for an automatic tobacco article processing machine ( 1 ); the automatic machine ( 1 ) producing an end product from materials supplied to the automatic machine ( 1 ), and comprising a number of electrically controlled operating parts ( 14 ) controlled by a control unit ( 9 ) using control parameters ( 15 ); the brand control method comprising the steps of: defining a number of end product brands that can be produced on the automatic machine ( 1 ); creating a number of configurations ( 17 ), each associated with a respective brand and comprising a set of values ( 16 ) of the control parameters ( 15 ) controlling the electrically controlled operating parts ( 14 ) to produce the brand; selecting a desired end product brand; and loading the configuration ( 17 ) corresponding to the desired end product brand onto the control unit ( 9 ) to commence production of the desired brand; the method being characterized by comprising the further steps of: defining a number of sections ( 18 ), each comprising a set of control parameters ( 15 ) and independent of the other sections ( 18 ); defining a number of recipes ( 19 ) by assigning each section ( 18 ) at least one respective set of values ( 16 ) of the corresponding control parameters ( 15 ), so each recipe ( 19 ) corresponds to a respective section ( 18 ) and contains the values ( 16 ) of the control parameters ( 15 ) in that particular section ( 18 ); and defining each configuration ( 17 ) by combining a number of compatible recipes ( 19 ), so that each recipe ( 19 ) may potentially form part of a number of different configurations ( 17 ).