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:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 05, 1995
Russell James Edwards, Jacksonville, FL (US);
Mary Louis Dolan, Jacksonville, FL (US);
Svend Christensen, Allinge, DK;
Borge Peter Gundersen, Tikob, DK;
John Mark Lepper, Jacksonville, FL (US);
Daniel Tsu-Fang Wang, Jacksonville, FL (US);
Richard Wayne Abrams, Jacksonville, FL (US);
Thomas Christian Ravn, Helsignor, DK;
Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc., Jacksonville, FL (US);
Abstract
An automated apparatus for controlling the automatic packaging of contact lenses in a contact lens fabrication facility includes: a first robotic transfer device for periodically transferring a first predetermined amount of individual packages from an inspection station to an intermediate consolidation buffer and depositing the packages on the consolidation buffer; a control device for tracking and identifying each individual contact lens conveyed from the inspection station to the consolidation buffer and including memory and logic circuits for staring the identity of individual packages containing contact lenses that have been previously determined at the inspection station as being out of specification, and, generating a signal to enable the first robotic device to discard any individual package identified as out of specification; and, a second robotic assembly for periodically transferring a second predetermined amount of individual packages from the consolidation buffer to a second processing station, the control device enabling the first robotic device to provide a sufficient amount of individual packages to the consolidation buffer to enable the second robotic assembly to continuously transfer the second predetermined amount of packages to the second processing station in every period.