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 10):
A system for distributing empty totes from a plurality of emptying areas, the system comprising:\n first and second conveyor lines, the first conveyor line connecting a first emptying area to a first filling area and the second conveyor line connecting a second emptying area to a second filling area, the first and second conveyor lines connected by a buffer line; third and fourth conveyor lines, the third conveyor line connecting a third emptying area to a third filling area and the fourth conveyor line connecting a fourth emptying area to a fourth filling area; first and second transfer lines separate from the first and second buffer lines, the first and second transfer lines each being unidirectional, each of the first and second transfer lines connecting the first, second, third, and fourth conveyor lines; at least one dense storage area connected to the transfer lines; a first sensor configured to detect a need for empty totes at the first filling area, a second sensor configured to detect a need for empty totes at the second filling area, a third sensor configured to detect a need for empty totes at the third filling area, and a fourth sensor configured to detect a need for empty totes at the fourth filling area; and a control circuit in communication with the first, second, third, and fourth sensors, the control circuit configured to signal at least one transfer device to move empty totes from one of the first, second, third, or fourth conveyor lines in response to signals from the first, second, third, or fourth sensors.

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): 0.4032158335627128
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.491784243792096
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.4120726745856511
- Mean Citation Score: 193.13478
- Max Citation Score: 244.6572
- Similarity Product: 172.44282574367523

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

Dataset: test