Appeal No. 2004-0588
Application No. 09/387,174
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to a scheduling method for automated work-cell
transfer system. An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of
exemplary claim 1, which is reproduced below.
1. A method for routing material in a computer controlled
manufacturing environment having a plurality of alternate locations for a
plurality of manufacturing processes, wherein at least two objects meet at
a junction of at least two routes, the method comprising:
establishing a distribution of events indicative of the alternate
locations at which material is processed;
in response to establishing the distribution of events, formulating a
routing decision for the at least two objects;
determining an interval at which to re-establish the distribution of
events;
in response to determining the interval, re-establishing the
distribution of events and reformulating a routing decision for the two
objects.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims are:
Burney 4,829,445 May 9, 1989
Lin et al. (Lin) 5,880,960 Mar. 9, 1999
2
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