PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15937323
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["198", "396000"]

Abstract:
A system, and associated method, for launching and delivering separated food product in organized groups to a robotized packaging station for the product. The system initiates the delivery via a metered hopper of food product delivering the product to a launch V-belt that aligns the product end to end. A successive singulator belt, positioned adjacent to and receiving product from the launch belt, further organizes the product into a single file alignment. An optional separator belt may follow the singulator belt to create gaps between successive product units. The product is then delivered to a pick belt for product to be provided to the packaging robot. The system product information is from a single (per product delivery line) sensor, enabling intergrated end-to-end control from hopper to robot, and a nearly continuous motion of said pick belt.

Claim (Index 5):
A method of handling a plurality of de-linked tubular food products, comprising the steps of:\n receiving de-linked tubular food products in a metering hopper; supplying randomly and loosely oriented tubular food products from the metering hopper to a singulator; orienting the tubular food products in a single-file line with little or no overlap by the singulator, the singulator configured to allow only one unit of the tubular food products to move through the singulator at a time; placing the tubular food products from the singulator to a pick belt conveyor one unit of the tubular food products at a time; sensing a position of the food product using a sensor near a feed end of the singulator, and supplying a signal representing a food product to a system controller; and, thereafter, indexing the pick belt in accord with the signal to receive food product from the singulator, and transporting the de-linked tubular food products in a nearly continuous motion by the pick belt conveyor to a loading machine.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 23.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.94805
- Patent Class: 198.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15255419', '14022447', '12912249', '14318903', '12271632']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7153782246897611
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5354893358739354
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6973893358081785
- Mean Citation Score: 235.882982
- Max Citation Score: 427.9109
- Similarity Product: 382.9043175326526

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

Dataset: test