The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 30, 2024
Filed:
Sep. 04, 2020
Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc., Indianapolis, IN (US);
Yannic Hafner, Munich, DE;
Thomas Lienert, Munich, DE;
Florian Wenzler, Gilching, DE;
Dominik Schnarwiler, Emmenbruecke, CH;
Philipp Heinz, Rotkreuz, CH;
Bert Taeymans, Aesch, CH;
ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS OPERATIONS, INC., Indianapolis, IN (US);
Abstract
A method of operating a laboratory sample distribution system is presented. The system comprises container carriers, a transport plane, and drive elements. The container carriers carry sample containers. The transport plane supports the container carriers. The drive elements move the container carriers on the transport plane. The method comprises planning a movement path for a container carrier from a start to a goal on the transport plane modelled by nodes. The nodes are free for one time-window or reserved for one-time window. The planning comprises analyzing the reachability out of a free time-window of one node to free time-windows of a next node and an over-next node such that planned movement of the container carrier is nonstop. The method comprises reserving the planned movement path comprising a sequence of time-windows of nodes and moving the container carrier along the reserved movement path on the transport plane by a drive element.