1. A method of packaging articles, comprising:
moving a series of articles along a packaging path, and engaging the articles with a series of selector wedges to form article groups;
depositing each of the article groups on a carton contained within a flight of a carton conveyor;
wrapping a portion of each carton about the groups of articles received thereon; and
as the cartons are wrapped about the groups of articles, moving a cam follower along a cam track, and in response, reciprocating gusset tucking fingers arranged along the selector wedges toward and away from engagement with gussets of the cartons to cause side panels of the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles.
2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising closing a top panel of each carton about each article group received thereon to form an article package.
3. The method of claim 1, and further comprising engaging one of the end panels with the top panel of each carton as the top and end panels are folded toward the group of articles to close the carton thereabout.
4. A method of packaging articles, comprising:
moving a series of cartons received on a carton conveyor along a packaging path;
engaging the articles with a series of selector wedges as the articles approach a loading position so as to form article groups;
depositing each of the article groups on a carton contained within a flight of the carton conveyor;
as the cartons, with the article groups loaded thereon are moved by the selector wedges, urging a portion of each carton over the groups of articles loaded therein; and
as the cartons are urged over the groups of articles, extending gusset tucking fingers from the selector wedges and engaging and tucking gussets of the cartons inwardly with gusset tucking fingers arranged along upstream and downstream side walls of selector wedges on each side of the flight in which the carton is contained.
5. The method of claim 4 and wherein engaging the gussets of the cartons with the gusset tucking fingers comprises reciprocating the gusset tucking fingers toward and away from engagement with the gussets of the cartons so as to cause side panels of the cartons to be folded inwardly about the groups of articles.
6. The method of claim 4 and wherein urging a portion of each carton over the group of articles loaded thereon comprises folding opposing end panels of each carton upwardly and inwardly toward the group of articles and folding a top panel downwardly toward the group of articles.
7. A system for packaging articles within a series of cartons, comprising:
an article infeed conveyor for feeding a series of articles along a first path of travel;
a carton conveyor having a series of flights in which the cartons are received and conveyed along a second path of travel;
a series of selector wedges fixedly mounted in spaced series along said carton conveyor and defining said flights therebetween, said selector wedges each comprising a body having upstream and downstream walls and adapted to engage and separate the series of articles into article groups received within said flights, and at least one gusset tucking finger moveable between a non-engaging position and an engaging position projecting from said body and into one of said flights so as to engage and tuck a gusset of a carton within said one of said flight as the carton is folded about a group of articles therein; and
a guide mechanism mounted along said carton conveyor and adapted to cause the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles in said flights.
8. The system of claim 7 and further comprising a drive mechanism mounted to each selector wedge and linked to said at least one gusset tucking finger for reciprocating said at least one gusset tucking finger into and out of engagement with the gusset of the carton.
9. The system of claim 8 and wherein said drive mechanism comprises a drive shaft extending through each of said selector wedges and connected to said at least one gusset tucking finger, and a cam arm for causing rotation of said drive shaft to reciprocate said at least one gusset tucking finger between engaging and non-engaging positions.
10. A system for packaging articles within a series of cartons, comprising:
an article infeed conveyor for feeding a series of articles along a first path of travel;
a carton conveyor having a series of flights in which the cartons are received and conveyed along a second path of travel;
a series of selector wedges fixedly mounted in spaced series along said carton conveyor and defining said flights therebetween, said selector wedges adapted to engage and separate the series of articles into article groups received within said flights and each including a series of gusset tucking fingers arranged along upstream and downstream faces of said selector wedges and moveable between a non-engaging position and an engaging position projecting into one of said flights so as to engage and tuck a gusset of a carton within said one of said flight as the carton is folded about a group of articles therein; and
a guide mechanism mounted along said carton conveyor and adapted to cause the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles in said flights.
11. A system for packaging articles within a series of cartons, comprising:
an article infeed conveyor for feeding a series of articles along a first path of travel;
a carton conveyor having a series of flights in which the cartons are received and conveyed along a second path of travel;
a series of selector wedges fixedly mounted in spaced series along said carton conveyor and defining said flights therebetween, said selector wedges adapted to engage and separate the series of articles into article groups received within said flights and each including at least one gusset tucking finger moveable between a non-engaging position and an engaging position projecting into one of said flights so as to engage and tuck a gusset of a carton within said one of said flight as the carton is folded about a group of articles therein;
wherein said selector wedges each comprise a body having upstream and downstream side walls each oriented toward one of said flights, and further comprising a gusset tucking finger received and reciprocally moveable through each of said upstream and downstream walls of each selector wedge, said gusset tucking fingers moving between their engaging position, projecting outwardly from said upstream and downstream walls, and their non-engaging position, retracted through said upstream and downstream walls into said body of each of said selector wedges; and
a guide mechanism mounted along said carton conveyor and adapted to cause the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles in said flights.
12. A system for packaging articles within a series of cartons, comprising:
a carton conveyor having a series of flights in which the cartons are received and conveyed along a path of travel;
a series of selector wedges mounted in spaced series along said carton conveyor and defining said flights therebetween, said selector wedges adapted to engage and separate the articles into article groups received within said flights of said conveyor, said selector wedges each including at least two gusset tucking fingers located along opposite sides of said selector wedges and each moveable between a retracted, non-engaging position and an engaging position projecting into said flights so as to engage and tuck gussets of a carton within each of said flights as the carton is folded about a group of articles therein; and
a guide mechanism mounted along said carton conveyor and adapted to cause the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles in said flights;
wherein said guide mechanism comprises a folding wheel positioned alone said path of travel and having a series of arms rotated into engagement with an end panel of each carton as each carton is moved along its path of travel so that the end panel is guided upwardly toward a group of articles received on the carton, after which said arms are further rotated to a lowered position to enable said selector wedges to pass thereover.
13. The system of claim 12 and further comprising an article infeed conveyor feeding a series of articles toward said carton conveyor and having a series of lane guides extending across for directing the articles in lines toward a loading position along said carton conveyor.
14. A system for packaging articles within a series of cartons, comprising:
a carton conveyor having a series of flights within which the cartons are received and conveyed along a path of travel;
an article infeed conveyor adjacent the carton conveyor for feeding the articles onto a base panel of the carton in each flight;
a series of selector wedges mounted in spaced series along said carton conveyor in fixed positions along upstream and downstream sides of said flights, said selector wedges adapted to engage and separate the articles into article groups received within said flights of said carton conveyor between said selector wedges, wherein each of said selector wedges includes at least one gusset tucking finger moveable between a non-engaging position and an engaging position projecting into one of said flights so as to engage and tuck a gusset of a carton within said one of said flight as the carton is folded about a group of articles received thereon; and
a guide mechanism mounted along said carton conveyor and adapted to engage and cause side and top panels of each of the cartons to be folded about the groups of articles in said flights so as to enclose the groups of articles within their cartons.
15. The system of claim 14 and further comprising:
a cam track extending adjacent said carton conveyor, and wherein each of said selector wedges further includes a cam arm linked to said at least one gusset tucking finger and having a cam follower adapted to engage and move along said cam track for moving said at least one gusset tucking finger between its non-engaging position and its engaging position for tucking the gussets of the cartons within the flights as the cartons are wrapped about their article groups.
16. The system of claim 14 and further comprising a pair of drive shafts extending along each of said selector wedges and a series of gusset tucking fingers positioned along opposite sides of each of said selector wedges, said gusset tucking fingers mounted in spaced series along said drive shafts, and wherein said drive shafts are linked to said cam arm for rotating said drive shafts as said cam follower of said cam arm moves along said cam track.
17. The system of claim 14 and wherein said selector wedges each comprise a body having upstream and downstream side walls each oriented toward one of said flights, and further comprising a gusset tucking finger received and reciprocally moveable through each of said upstream and downstream walls of each selector wedge, said gusset tucking fingers moveable between their engaging positions extending from said upstream and downstream walls and their non-engaging position retracted through said upstream and downstream walls into said body of each of said selector wedges.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of synchronizing execution of state transition commands in a cluster of message oriented middleware servers, comprising the steps of:
providing a lock transferable among the servers;
providing a lock manager on each server, wherein each lock
manager further comprises:
an available server list;
a lock holder field;
a lock request list;
an allow command lock flag;
a have lock flag;
a locked command field; and
a grant to flag;
executing a state transition command handling process by a server receiving a state transition command;
executing a received lock request process by a server receiving a request lock command from another server; and
executing an engage lock request process by a server receiving an engage lock command from another server.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the state transition command handling process further comprises:
determining if an allow command lock flag of the server receiving the state transition command (\u201cfirst server\u201d) is true or false;
executing a first sub process by the first server if the allow command lock flag is false, the first sub process including:
executing a request lock process by the first server;
waiting until the first server receives a grant lock command from a server possessing the lock;
executing an engage lock process by the first server;
waiting until the allow command lock flag is true;
executing a second sub process by the first server if the allow command lock flag is true, the second sub process including:
setting a locked command field on the first server to the state transition command; and
executing the locked command field by the first server.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request lock process further comprises the first server sending the request lock command to all other servers in the cluster if an identity corresponding to the first server is not present on a lock request list of the first server.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the engage lock process further comprises:
sending the engage lock command by the first server to all other servers in the cluster;
setting a have lock flag of the first server to true;
setting the allow command lock flag of the first server to true;
setting a lock holder field of the first server to an identity corresponding to the first server;
removing the identity corresponding to the first server from a lock request list of the first server;
executing a lock timer process by the first server after an expiration of a first time duration; and
notifying a lock guardian process that the engage lock process has been executed.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first time duration is a function of a quantity of message server identities present on the lock request list of the first server.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the lock timer process further comprises:
determining if one or more identities corresponding to servers are present on the lock request list of the first server;
executing the engage lock process by the first server if no identities corresponding to servers are present on the lock request list of the first server;
executing a lock timer sub process by the first server if identities corresponding to servers are present on the lock request list of the first server, the lock timer sub process including:
setting the allow command lock flag of the first server to false;
waiting until the locked command field is empty or null;
removing from the lock request list of the first server an identification corresponding to a server present on the lock request list of the first server for a longest amount of time;
setting a grant to flag of the first server to true;
sending the grant lock command from the first server to all other servers in the cluster; and
executing a max grant time process.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the max grant time process further comprises:
terminating the max grant time process if the first server receives the engage lock command from a server in the cluster; and
executing the engage lock process if the first server does not receive the engage lock command within a time duration equal to a max grant wait time.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the received lock request process further comprises:
determining if an identity corresponding to the server sending the request lock command (\u201cfirst server\u201d) is present on a lock request list of the server receiving the request lock command (\u201csecond server\u201d);
adding the identity corresponding to the first server to the lock request list of the second server if the identity corresponding to the first server is not present on the lock request list of the second server;
adding the identity corresponding to the first server to an available server list of the second server; and
removing an oldest entry from the available server list of the second server if a quantity of identities present on the available server list of the second server exceeds an average cluster size.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the engage lock request process further comprises:
setting a lock holder field of the server receiving the engage lock command (\u201csecond server\u201d) to an identity corresponding to the server sending the engage lock command (\u201cfirst server\u201d);
setting a have lock flag of the second server to false if the have lock flag of the second server is set to true;
setting a grant to flag of the second server to false if the grant to flag of the second server is set to true;
removing the identity corresponding to the first server from a lock request list of the second server; and
notifying a lock guardian process of the second server that an engage lock process has been executed.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising executing a lock guardian process on each server in the cluster on a periodic basis.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the periodic basis of each lock guardian process is determined during an initialization of a server hosting the lock guardian process.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the lock guardian process further comprises executing an engage lock process by a server hosting the lock guardian process if the server hosting the lock guardian process has not received an engage lock command since a previous execution of the lock guardian process.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising a process for initializing the lock manager, comprising:
determining if a server hosting the lock manager (\u201chost server\u201d) is an only known server within the cluster;
executing an engage lock process on the host server if the host server is the only known server within the cluster;
executing a initialization sub process if the host server is not the only known server within the cluster, the initialization sub process including:
setting a lock holder field of the host server to a value corresponding to unknown;
setting an allow command lock flag to false;
setting a have lock flag to false; and
determining a random time interval to be used by a lock guardian process.
14. A method of transferring a lock for synchronizing execution of state transition commands in a cluster of message oriented middleware servers, comprising the steps of:
sending a request lock command by a first server to all servers in the cluster in response to the first server receiving a state transition command;
sending a grant lock command by a second server currently possessing the lock to the first server;
executing an engage lock process by the first server; and
the second server executing a received lock request process in response to the second server receiving the request lock command from the first server, the received lock request process including:
adding an identity corresponding to the first server to a lock request list of the second server if the lock request list of the second server does not contain the identity corresponding to the first server;
adding the identity corresponding to the first server to an available server list of the second server; and
removing an oldest entry from the available server list of the second server if a quantity of identities presented on the available server list of the second server exceeds an average cluster size.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the engage lock process further comprises:
sending an engage lock command by the first server to all other servers in the cluster;
setting a have lock flag of the first server to true;
setting an allow command lock flag of the first server to true;
setting a lock holder field of the first server to an identity corresponding to the first server;
removing the identity corresponding to the first server from a lock request list of the first server;
executing a lock timer process on the first server after an expiration of a first time duration; and
notifying a lock guardian process of the first server that the engage lock process has been executed.
16. A method of facilitating sharing of a lock in a cluster of message oriented middleware servers, comprising the steps of:
executing a lock timer process on a first server a first time duration after the first server has engaged the lock, wherein the lock timer process further comprises:
executing an engage lock process by the first server if a lock request list of the first server contains no entries;
executing a lock timer sub process by the first server if the lock request list of the first server contains identities corresponding to servers of the cluster, the lock timer sub process including:
setting an allow command lock flag of the first server to false;
waiting until a locked command field is empty or null;
removing from the lock request list of the first server an identification corresponding to a server present on the lock request list of the first server for a longest amount of time;
setting a grant to flag of the first server to true;
sending a grant lock command from the first server to all other servers in the cluster; and
executing a max grant time process; and
engaging a lock guardian process on each server of the cluster on a periodic basis.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the lock guardian process further comprises executing an engage lock process by a server hosting the lock guardian process if the server hosting the lock guardian process has not received an engage lock command since a previous execution of the lock guardian process.