Patent ID: 7773209

Claim:
A machine-vision system comprising: a first inspection station that performs a machine-vision inspection of a plurality of devices held in a tray, the tray being one of a plurality of trays that are successively inspected at the first inspection station; a tray-moving mechanism; and a plurality of output elevators including a first output elevator and a second output elevator, wherein the first output elevator holds a plurality of trays and to receive a tray to a top tray position of the first output elevator and to then move the plurality of trays held at the first output elevator to lower positions of the first output elevator, wherein the second output elevator holds a plurality of trays and to receive a tray to a top tray position of the second output elevator and to then move the plurality of trays held at the second output elevator to lower positions of the second output elevator, and wherein the tray-moving mechanism successively moves each of the plurality of trays from the first inspection station to the top position of one of the plurality of output elevators and such that a first subset of the plurality of trays is moved to the first elevator and a second subset of the plurality of trays is moved to the second elevator.