PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15883248
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["700", "230000"]

Abstract:
In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to automatically balance and buffer the return of empty containers or other totes to a plurality of areas. In some embodiments, a control circuit employs a logic system in which empty totes are directed along primary, secondary, or tertiary paths depending on information gathered from sensors regarding the availability of space for empty totes at a plurality of potential destinations. In this way, the return of empty totes to one or more points of origin may be buffered to balance the number of empty totes in one or more areas.

Claim (Index 1):
A system for distributing empty totes from a plurality of consolidation areas to a plurality of picking areas and to balance the number of empty totes at the plurality of picking areas, the system comprising:\n a first conveyor line connecting a first consolidation area to a first picking area; a first plurality of sensors configured to detect partial and full capacity near the first picking area; a second conveyor line coupled to the buffer component, the second conveyor line connecting a second consolidation area to a second picking area; a second plurality of sensors configured to detect partial and full capacity near the second picking area; a first buffer component for conveying totes from the first conveyor line to the second conveyor line, the first buffer component connected to the first conveyor line by a first pop-up transfer unit located between the first picking area and first consolidation area; a second buffer component for conveying totes from the second conveyor line to the first conveyor line, the second buffer component connected to the second conveyor line by a second pop-up transfer unit; a dense storage area coupled to the first buffer component; and a control circuit in communication with the first plurality of sensors and the first buffer component, the control circuit configured for output signaling to direct the empty totes from the first consolidation area to the first picking area when the first plurality of sensors detects an absence of totes in at least one location proximate the first picking area and output signaling to direct at least one empty tote to the first buffer component by activating the first pop-up transfer unit of the first buffer component when the first plurality of sensors does not detect an absence of totes.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 17.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.71429
- Patent Class: 700.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14435562', '11265747', '13591950', '14966774', '14808235']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.4035332251303706
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4903204436223999
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.4122119469795736
- Mean Citation Score: 193.13478
- Max Citation Score: 244.6572
- Similarity Product: 176.06636557116508

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test