Electronic device handling system and method

Classifying – separating – and assorting solids – Precedent preparation of items or materials to facilitate... – Sorting special items or sorting by methods and apparatus...

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C209S922000, C414S788700, C414S789800, C414S790100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06227373

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a system and method for handling electronic devices, and more particularly to a system and method for loading untested electronic devices into a machine, and for sorting tested electronic devices into multiple categories according to a sort category code assigned by a tester attached to the machine.
Conventional handlers, as described below and illustrated in
FIG. 1A
, are very expensive and occupy a large amount of floor space in the manufacturing facility. Thus, it is desirable to provide a handling system that can supply untested electronic devices to the tester at the necessary speed as well as sort tested electronic devices quickly into a plurality of sort categories, is less expensive to build than conventional handling systems and occupies less floor space than conventional handing systems.
In a conventional system for handling devices in a testing environment, the sort bins are horizontally located with respect to each other. This conventional handling system is slow because a second pick-and-place head must move horizontally a great distance in order to place a tested electronic device in either a pass category bin or a rejected category bin, or otherwise place it in a bin corresponding to its performance characteristics. As the number of sort category bins increases, the travel time required for the second pick-and-place head to place an electronic device into a sort category bin increases to unacceptable levels. In addition, the size of the handling machine, known as a footprint, increases dramatically because each additional sort category increases the footprint.
Conventional handling systems provide some ability to sort and handle electronic devices, but none of the conventional handling systems provide an electronic device handling system that can rapidly sort electronic devices into a plurality of sort categories, is less expensive to build than conventional handling systems, and has a small footprint even for a system with a plurality of sort category bins.
There is a need for such a system and method for handling electronic devices, and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention addresses the foregoing and other problems attendant to known electronic device handling systems and methods by providing an electronic device handling system and method which is fast enough to handle electronic devices in any testing system with any number of sort categories. The invention also provides an electronic device handling system and method that is less expensive to build because a single pick-and-place head may be used to access all of the input and sort category platforms. In addition, the invention also provides an electronic device handling system that may have a smaller footprint because the sort category platforms are stacked vertically.
The invention also provides vertical stacking of an input stack of one or more input trays, and a plurality of sort category stacks which provides various advantages. The overall floor space occupied by the handler system (i.e., the footprint) is reduced as compared to conventional handling systems and does not increase when additional sort categories are added. In addition, any sort category or input stack may be accessed by a single pick-and-place head and the pick-and-place assembly must move only a small distance in order to access any of the sort categories. In addition, the total number of trays within each sort category is dynamically allocable so that the system cannot run out of storage space for a particular sort category. In addition, only the single pick-and-place tray position needs to be aligned unlike a conventional system in which each sort category stack requires precise alignment.
In accordance with the invention, an apparatus for handling electronic devices in a system that assigns a category corresponding to one of a plurality of predetermined categories to said electronic devices and sorts said electronic devices according to said categories, is provided wherein a plurality of platforms, each for supporting one or more trays that carries one or more electronic devices, and each platform corresponding to one of said categories, are vertically stacked in a predetermined order according to said plurality of categories, and a group of the stacked platforms are separated from a platform located at a first position corresponding to a particular category corresponding to the category of an electronic device to expose a tray and enable the electronic device to be placed on said tray. A method of handling electronic devices is also provided.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4878659 (1989-11-01), Besemann
patent: 5255584 (1993-10-01), Fakler
patent: 5669755 (1997-09-01), Zahn
patent: 5807066 (1998-09-01), Smith
patent: 63-208432 (1988-08-01), None

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