US Patent 7156730 Method and system for achieving acceptable process time

A method and system for automatically portioning workpieces, such as meat products, into pieces having acceptable process time (e.g., acceptable cook time) are provided. The method includes generally five steps. First, measurement data of a workpiece carried on a conveyor are obtained. Second, a tentative cut path to portion the workpiece into one or more portions is defined based on the measurement data. Third, each portion is divided into one or more virtual sections and process-time data (i.e., cook-time data) for each virtual section is calculated according to a predefined process-time algorithm. Fourth, it is determined whether the process-time data of each of all the virtual sections of the portion to be cut from the workpiece fall within predefined process-time constraints. If no, fifth, the tentative cut path is redefined, and the method returns to the third step until the process-time data for all the virtual sections fall within the predefined process-time constraints.