{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","research_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_light_screen_20260805","cell_id":"synchronized_release_dampening__accounting_auditing","search_lanes":{"direct_problem_and_intervention":{"queries":["multi-lane conveyor merge checkweigher carton overlap settling singulation escapement","checkweigher multiple products on weighing table product spacing accuracy"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"],"no_result_note":null},"synonyms_and_historical_terms":{"queries":["mechanical conveyor traffic cop cam alternating lanes one at a time","case conveyor metering escapement stop gate singulator","article converger conveyor cam successive gates multiple rows"],"source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3"],"no_result_note":null},"products_practices_and_standards":{"queries":["checkweigher infeed spacing one product on weigh table official manufacturer","mechanical traffic cop merge conveyor boxes cartons","OSHA conveyor nip point guarding lockout guidance"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":null},"component_combination":{"queries":["mechanical conveyor escapement downstream clear interlock one carton at a time","Geneva cam conveyor indexing multi-lane cartons checkweigher","passive multi-lane merge scale-clear flap interlock governed dwell"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"],"no_result_note":"No retained source disclosed the full combination of a capacity-one pocket, multi-lane cyclic indexing, all-inlet mechanical lock, physical scale-deck-clear reset, and mechanically governed minimum interval tied to checkweigher settling."}},"sources":[{"source_id":"SRC1","title":"Versa Chain Checkweigher - FAQs","publisher":"Thermo Fisher Scientific","url":"https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/70.181/faqs","source_type":"FIRST_PARTY_PRODUCT","claims_supported":["Checkweigher accuracy depends on product speed, size, transfer, alignment, and spacing.","Spacing must prevent more than one product from occupying the weighing table at once.","Ideal inter-package spacing permits zeroing for maximum accuracy."]},{"source_id":"SRC2","title":"Traffic Cop Merge Conveyor","publisher":"Thomas Conveyor & Equipment Company","url":"https://www.tceconveyors.com/traffic-cop","source_type":"FIRST_PARTY_PRODUCT","claims_supported":["A commercial purely mechanical device uses a cam and paddles to merge two lanes.","It can direct packages one at a time, retain the other lane, and create a gap without electrical controls or photoeyes.","The product is offered for boxes and cases in warehouses and distribution operations to reduce collisions and flow disruption."]},{"source_id":"SRC3","title":"Traffic Cop","publisher":"Nercon Eng. & Mfg., Inc.","url":"https://www.nerconconveyors.com/Conveyor/Conveyor-Equipment/Mergers-Combiners/Traffic-Cop","source_type":"FIRST_PARTY_PRODUCT","claims_supported":["A mechanical traffic-cop merger holds cases back until the receiving merge lane is clear.","Its paired gates are mechanically coordinated: movement through one line locks the other until the first gate returns to neutral.","The product is expressly applicable to boxes, cartons, cases, and bundles."]},{"source_id":"SRC4","title":"Safeguarding Equipment and Protecting Employees from Amputations","publisher":"Occupational Safety and Health Administration","url":"https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA3170.pdf","source_type":"OFFICIAL_GUIDANCE","claims_supported":["Conveyor transfers, adjoining conveyors, rollers, chains, sprockets, and other moving mechanisms present nip, shear, entanglement, and hazardous-energy risks.","Conveyor applications require assessment of guarding and energy-control practices.","Mechanical barriers, enclosures, fencing, safe distance, and lockout/tagout are recognized controls."]}],"problem_evidence":{"status":"PARTLY_SUPPORTED","finding":"The physical measurement problem is visible: first-party guidance says spacing must keep multiple products off a checkweigher table and support zeroing, while commercial traffic-cop mergers explicitly address collisions and disrupted flow when lanes converge. The retained evidence does not establish the prevalence of synchronized releases during period-close inventory audits, their concentration within a scale settle-and-clear interval, or their accounting consequences.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"]},"closest_prior_art":[{"name":"Cam-operated mechanical Traffic Cop merge conveyor","source_ids":["SRC2"],"overlap":"Mechanically alternates two package lanes with cam-controlled paddles, can release packages one at a time, retains the competing lane, creates gaps, and requires neither photoeyes nor electrical controls. This substantially overlaps the proposal's passive cyclic lane selection and mechanical admission-gating core.","remaining_difference":"The disclosed product does not establish a geometrically capacity-one transfer pocket, a reset actuated only by trailing-edge clearance of a checkweigher deck, or a minimum index interval calibrated to scale settling."},{"name":"Clear-lane interlocked Traffic Cop merger","source_ids":["SRC3"],"overlap":"Holds cartons back until the merge lane is clear and mechanically locks one lane while the other is moving, closely paralleling common inlet locking and downstream-capacity recovery.","remaining_difference":"Its clearance state concerns the merge gate rather than verified clearance of an isolated scale deck, and the source does not disclose round-robin fairness, scale-settle dwell governance, or a slip-clutch-limited accumulation system."},{"name":"Established checkweigher product-spacing practice","source_ids":["SRC1"],"overlap":"Requires controlled transfer and enough spacing to ensure that only one product occupies the weighing table, matching the intervention's intended measurement condition.","remaining_difference":"The source describes the required presentation condition but not the proposed passive multi-lane mechanism for enforcing it under simultaneous release."}],"prior_art_disposition":"ADJACENT_PRIOR_ART","contrastive_claim_remaining":"For simultaneously released cartons within a validated size envelope, when sustained single-carton capacity is adequate, adding both a geometrically capacity-one pocket and a physical interlock that cannot reset until the prior carton clears the scale deck will bound scale admission to one carton per validated settle-and-clear window more reliably than the disclosed mechanical traffic-cop mergers, an equal-length ungated buffer, or operator-timed release. Generic passive lane alternation, collision prevention, singulation, and checkweigher spacing are not remaining claims.","contrastive_claim_falsifier":"The remaining claim is falsified if matched simultaneous-release trials show that the prototype permits concurrent deck contact or force transmission, resets before trailing-edge deck clearance, fails to preserve the configured settle-and-clear interval, does not outperform a commercial-style mechanical traffic-cop or ungated comparator, shifts mass beyond baseline repeatability, or merely relocates collisions into unsafe or unbounded upstream retention.","gates":{"adequate_source_search":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The bounded search covered direct checkweigher failure terminology, older singulation and converger terminology, commercial mechanical merger products, component combinations, and official conveyor-safety guidance. Four opened sources from four publishers were retained. This suffices for coarse researchability but is not an exhaustive patent or engineering-literature search.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"supported_problem":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The general need for one-product checkweigher occupancy and collision-free merging is directly supported, although the exact inventory-audit trigger and its prevalence are unverified; therefore problem evidence is partly supported.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"]},"distinct_testable_claim":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The broad concepts of passive cam-operated lane alternation, mechanical mutual exclusion, and checkweigher spacing collide with established products and practice. A narrower observable claim remains around capacity-one geometry combined with reset only after physical scale-deck clearance and a settle-time-bound minimum interval.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"]},"bounded_next_test":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"A guarded offline three-lane prototype test using inert numbered cartons, reference weights, balanced simultaneous-release trials, direct video, and an unconnected test scale can compare concurrent deck contact, separation, settling, mass deviation, jams, damage, and lane wait against ungated and mechanical-traffic-cop comparators in one session.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"no_obvious_safety_or_authority_stop":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"No categorical stop is evident for a removable, guarded, offline, non-reporting prototype. Machinery-safety and metrology owners must approve the setup; moving cams, gates, rails, transfers, and drive components require guarding and hazardous-energy controls, and production inventory or audit evidence must remain excluded.","source_ids":["SRC4"]}},"screen_survival":true,"world_novelty_boundary":"This bounded four-source public-web screen establishes only that the problem is coarsely researchable and that close adjacent mechanical-merger and checkweigher-spacing practices exist. It cannot establish world novelty, patentability, freedom to operate, market size, prevalence, expert acceptance, audit admissibility, safety certification, or realized operational or financial value."}