Lockheed Martin Corporation

Joe C Bollinger

Jack E Olson

Willson L Mayerberg, Ii

William Wheeler

John T Rathbone

Willson L Mayerberg Ii

The present invention is directed to a synchronous I/O interface buss system. The system includes a master-buss controller that generates a system timing signal. The master-buss controller transmits a time-division multiplexed (TDM) slave output data signal and receives a time-division multiplexed (TDM) slave input data signal. The TDM slave output data signal and the TDM slave input data signal are synchronous relative to the system timing signal. A buss is coupled to the master-buss controller. The buss propagates the system timing signal, the TDM slave output data signal, and the TDM slave input data signal. At least one slave device is coupled to the buss. The at least one slave device is in synchronicity with the system timing signal. The at least one slave device demultiplexed slave device output data in device-ready format from the TDM slave output data signal during a predetermined output data signal time slot. The at least one slave device also multiplexes slave input data in file-ready format into the TDM slave input data signal during a predetermined input data signal time slot.

Synchronous low voltage differential I/O buss

A new and improved article or mail-piece conveyor system has a vacuum plenum system integrally incorporated therein which effectively withdraws ambient air ahead or downstream of the oncoming conveyed articles or mail pieces such that the oncoming conveyed articles or mail pieces will not be subjected to tip vortices and/or other disruptive aerodynamic forces. In this manner, the articles or mail pieces will not be subjected to destabilizing aerodynamic circulation, currents, downflow, downwash, or momentum forces so as not to, in turn, exhibit flutter, fluctuations, or oscillation movements. Accordingly, extremely high speed conveyance of the articles or mail pieces, within the range of, for example, two hundred inches per second (200 ips) can in fact be achieved.

Vacuum plenum system for facilitating the high-speed conveyance of mail pieces

A mail article transportation and stabilization system, and a method of operating the same, for use in conjunction with a camera-based optical character recognition (OCR), bar code reader (BCR), or similar image capture scanning system, comprises a conveyor drive belt for conveying the articles, pieces, or units of mail across a platen assembly within which an optical character recognition (OCR), bar code reader (BCR), or similar image capture camera or the like is positioned and in conjunction with which there is provided a serial array of air plenums for effectively creating an air bearing or air layer upon which the conveyor belt and the articles, pieces, or units of mail are conveyed in a relatively frictionless manner. The incoming pieces, articles, or units of mail are therefore able to be conveyed in a smooth, jitter-free, and stabilized manner whereby scanning, imaging, and reading of the address information contained upon the articles, pieces, or units of mail, as the articles, pieces or units of mail are conveyed past the camera view port, are able to be accurately, clearly, and completely achieved.

Adaptive, product control and stabilization sub-system for camera-based optical character recognition, and a method of operating the same

An article or mail-piece conveyor system comprises a conveyor mechanism which has a substantially horizontally oriented product transportation surface upon which the articles can be conveyed in an upstanding mode as a result of the articles effectively being supported upon lower edge portions thereof, and an inclined surface against which the major or primary surface portions of each article is supported so as to permit the articles to be readily and easily conveyed by means of the horizontally oriented product transportation surface. Vacuum plenum chambers are fluidically connected to the inclined surface so as to withdraw ambient air from the article transportation path and thereby maintain the articles attracted to the inclined surface of the product transportation system, and in addition, positive air plenum chambers are also fluidically connected to the inclined surface so as to provide air to the article transportation path so as to effectively form an air bearing structure for the articles so as to facilitate the smooth and easy transportation of the articles along the transportation flow path in a relatively frictionless manner. Air discharge ports also facilitate the routing or sorting of the articles or mail pieces.

Conveyor system having inclined structure utilizing vacuum and air bearing means for facilitating edgewise product transportation

An object arresting device prevents rebounding effects when an object is decelerated from a high velocity by causing an impact-induced flow of fluid such as ambient air through a lattice membrane to develop vacuum effects and vortex activity while absorbing and dissipating energy to prevent damage to the object and preventing collisions between objects in a high-speed, high-capacity sorting/transport system. The lattice membrane is preferably formed as a woven fabric of a smooth polymer or synthetic fiber of preferably circular cross-section which causes laminar flow over the fibers and rotational vortex effects in the corners of each aperture which produce a combination of vacuum effects in a direction to oppose rebound motion and energy dissipation effects. The effects produced are proportional to the impact energy and the device is thus adaptive to a wide range of mass and energy limited only by the forces the device can mechanically withstand.

Mass and impact energy adaptive compensating converter

A conveyor system for synchronously combining the conveying paths of at least two asynchronously operated upstream conveyors for synchronized merger into at least one downstream conveyor comprises a synchronizing conveyor belt disposed upstream of the merger point of the at least two upstream asynchronously operated conveyors. When articles, such as, for example, postal mail pieces being conveyed along the at least two upstream asynchronously operated conveyors are detected as being likely to undergo a collision or overlap at the merge point of the at least two upstream asynchronously operated conveyors, the synchronizing conveyor belt is appropriately sped up or slowed down so as to not only avoid such interference, collision, or overlap of the postal mail pieces, but in addition, to provide sufficient spacing of the same upon the at least one downstream conveyor.

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Tulsa, OK, United States of America

Joe C Bollinger