Patents by Inventor Daniel J. Carley

Daniel J. Carley has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Sorting Apparatus with Arbitrary User-Specified Sequence Control
    Publication number: 20080243302
    Abstract: A sorting system may include a sorting apparatus coupled to a programmable control system which is configured to actuate the sorting apparatus so that it assembles similar products for packaging in an arbitrary, user imposed order or selection bias. In preferred implementations, a user may activate a biasing protocol pursuant to which items bearing certain images appear with a disproportionate frequency on the top of a stack of items such that the selected images are the most common images viewable through a transparent product packaging. In certain implementations, empirical sales data is used to determine weighting factors used in the biasing protocol. In still other implementations, a more specific ordering protocol is imposed by a user such that some or all of the sequence of items in a stack or collection is arbitrarily imposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2008
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Applicant: HALLMARK CARDS, INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Daniel J. Carley, Robert R. Montgomery, James B. Scherer, George Smith, Terry Wessel, John George, Barbara Enright-Anderson
  • Sorting apparatus with arbitrary user-specified sequence control
    Patent number: 7398134
    Abstract: A sorting system may include a sorting apparatus coupled to a programmable control system which is configured to actuate the sorting apparatus so that it assembles similar products for packaging in an arbitrary, user imposed order or selection bias. In preferred implementations, a user may activate a biasing protocol pursuant to which items bearing certain images appear with a disproportionate frequency on the top of a stack of items such that the selected images are the most common images viewable through a transparent product packaging. In certain implementations, empirical sales data is used to determine weighting factors used in the biasing protocol. In still other implementations, a more specific ordering protocol is imposed by a user such that some or all of the sequence of items in a stack or collection is arbitrarily imposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Hallmark Cards, Incorporated
    Inventors: Daniel J. Carley, Robert R. Montgomery, James B. Scherer, George Smith, Terry Wessel, John George, Barbara Enright-Anderson