| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 348091000 | Sorting, distributing or classifying | 14 |
| 20090251536 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING AND SORTING MATERIAL - An automatic sorting system is for identifying and sorting non-homogenous material. The system includes a conveyor belt and an identification unit cooperable with the conveyor belt and placed above the conveying surface thereof for identifying material traveling therealong. The identification unit includes at least one projector for projecting a beam of light downwardly towards the conveying surface, at a given height above the conveying surface, and onto a given material to be identified, so that a portion of projected light may be reflected back from the given material and upwardly towards the identification unit. The identification unit also includes at least one lens positioned about the identification unit for receiving the portion of reflected light from the given material to be identified. The identification unit also includes a first processing unit operatively linked to the at least one lens for carrying a spectral analysis of the portion of reflected light captured by the at least one lens so as to determine the nature of the given material, and a second processing unit operatively linked to the first processing unit for comparing results of the spectral analysis with corresponding data associated to a variety of different materials stored in a given database of the second processing unit. The present system also includes a sorting unit operatively linked to the second processing unit and operatively cooperating with the second end of the conveyor so as to sort material released from the second end of the conveyor depending on signals received from the second processing unit. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20110317001 | MULTISENSOR ARRAY FOR THE OPTICAL INSPECTION AND SORTING OF BULK MATERIALS - A Multisensor array optically inspects and sorts bulk materials into different fractions, in which the bulk material stream is detected from a short distance compared to the width of the bulk material stream with at least two identical camera and lighting modules arranged adjacent to each other. The width of the image of the cameras is smaller than the width of the bulk material stream. The image sensors and lighting devices are limited to the range of the wavelengths of 380 nm to 1,000 nm covered by CMOS and/or CCD image sensors. Each camera is connected by a mechanical bracket and is equipped with at least one and preferably with a set of linearly lighting semiconductor light sources, which emit in a narrow band and are pulsed synchronously with the line frequency of the camera. The linearly lighting light sources can be replaced by a changing mechanism of the bracket, which mechanism is connected to the camera, to other light sources, especially ones having different system parameters. The actuating signals of the lighting sources pulsed synchronously with the line cycle of the image sensors can be generated by an electronic device according to a variable synchronization diagram, which can be optimized for the discrimination of the fractions of the bulk material stream. The signals of the camera or cameras are analyzed by at least one image computer by pattern recognition and classification for recognizing, assigning and rating the particles of the at least two fractions. Timely ejection signals are generated by a control device by real-time image processing operators in order to remove particles of at least one fraction to be removed from the bulk material stream with ejectors. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20120092485 | TIME OF FLIGHT (TOF) SENSORS AS REPLACEMENT FOR STANDARD PHOTOELECTRIC SENSORS - Systems and methods are provided for utilizing time of flight sensors in an industrial automation environment. The method includes employing a multi pixel camera associated with a time of flight sensor to detect an object located within a defined or bounded target area, comparing pixels with adjacent pixels associated with an image of the object captured by the multi pixel camera, identifying the object as being a colored, texture, or highly reflective object, and controlling industrial machinery based on the identification of the object entering the target area. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120188366 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD USING A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE - Sorting apparatus comprises a feed system for delivering a stream of articles in free flight to a sorting zone. Ejectors at the sorting zone are selectively activated to eject articles from the stream. A camera is disposed at an imaging zone up-stream of the sorting zone to generate image data to be processed by a computer to identify articles to be ejected at the sorting zone according to one or more sorting criteria. The computer instructs the ejectors on the basis of the processed data. The computer is also coupled to a graphical user interface to display an image of the product stream at the imaging zone, and show the areas of intersection with the product stream of activated ejectors. The ejectors are normally operable to discharge a fluid such as a gas or air, in pulses, and the areas of intersection with the product stream are those directly intersected by the ejector fluid. Provision can be made for adjusting ejection parameters to move the boundaries of these areas of intersection. | 07-26-2012 |
| 20120218403 | System to determine product density - A system for determining the product density value of a zone of preferable small fungible products within an acceptable size range and potentially in an acceptable color range. The system differentiates among products even if in close contact to determine acceptable product. The system may store data for later review or for dispensing of product in real time. The system includes a scale to determine a sample's weight, a camera to image the sample, an imaging table to permit viewing of the sample, a processor to determine the number of products in the sample, and a processor to determine the density of desired product. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120293649 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INSPECTING DOSAGE FORMS HAVING CODE IMPRINTS AND SORTING THE INSPECTED DOSAGE FORMS - Method and system for inspecting dosage forms having code imprints and sorting the inspected dosage forms are provided. The method includes imaging a viewable first surface of each dosage form at a first vision station to obtain a first set of the images of the dosage forms including any code imprints. The method further includes imaging a viewable second surface of each dosage form at a second vision station to obtain a second set of images of the dosage forms including any code imprints. The method still further includes processing each image of the first and second sets of images with at least one machine vision algorithm to identify dosage forms having unacceptable defects including defective or nonexistent code imprints. The method finally includes directing dosage forms identified as having unacceptable defects to a defective dosage form area. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20130044207 | Imaging apparatus - An imaging apparatus is described, and which includes a first light source, which when energized, emits nonvisible near infrared electromagnetic radiation which is directed at an object of interest to be imaged, and which is reflected therefrom; a second light source, which when energized, emits a given wavelength of invisible electromagnetic radiation which is directed at the object of interest to be imaged, and which is reflected therefrom; a first optical filter which is operable to pass, at least in part, both the reflected near infrared, and invisible electromagnetic radiation reflected from the object of interest; and a single camera operably positioned to receive the electromagnetic radiation passed by the first optical filter and produce a resulting image of the object of interest from both the invisible and near infrared electromagnetic radiation which is passed by the optical filter. | 02-21-2013 |
| 20130113918 | MULTI-CHROMATIC IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD - An imaging system for and method of imaging product in a product flow (F), the system comprising: an illumination unit for illuminating product in the product flow with illumination at first and second, different wavelengths or ranges of different wavelengths; a detector unit ( | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130162809 | LIGHT-HOMOGENIZING IMAGING DEVICE FOR A BEAD SORTING MACHINE - A light-homogenizing imaging device for a bead sorting machine comprises: a light permeable ball carrier, two light sources, and an image pick-up device. The light permeable ball carrier is formed with a hole for holding a ball to be checked, a depth of the hole is larger than a diameter of the ball, and a cross sectional area of the hole is larger than or equal to a cross sectional area of the ball. The two light sources are disposed at both sides of the light permeable ball carrier and located in the direction of the hole. The image pick-up device is located toward the hole of the light permeable ball carrier. The light permeability of the light permeable carrier enables the light to be evenly dispersed over the surface of the ball without producing shadows that has influence on the ball checking, thus improving the checking accuracy. | 06-27-2013 |
| 20130229510 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INDIVIDUAL GRAIN SORTING OF OBJECTS FROM BULK MATERIALS - Individual grain sorting of objects from bulk materials ( | 09-05-2013 |
| 20150049182 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INSPECTING OBJECTS PROVIDED WITH A GAS-BARRIER LAYER - Disclosed are a method and an accompanying system for inspecting objects ( | 02-19-2015 |
| 20150291371 | TRANSPORT SYSTEM - The present invention provides a system that transports a tray in a horizontal attitude, the tray including a plurality of work placement portions arranged in a matrix. The system includes first and second transport units, a transfer device transferring the tray between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, a shooting unit including a line sensor shooting, between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, an image of the tray transferred by the transfer device and a moving device moving the transfer device and the shooting unit in a direction to traverse a plurality of transport lines of the first transport unit. | 10-15-2015 |
| 20150356710 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CREATING AN IMPROVED COLOR IMAGE WITH A SENSOR WITH A COLOR FILTER - The invention relates to an image processing device for processing image data from a digital camera comprising an image sensor with a regular pixel arrangement and an associated color filter with a predetermined color pattern. Said image processing device is designed to carry out all image processing operations with respect to a pixel of interest using image data from a single predetermined environment comprising several pixels. | 12-10-2015 |
| 20180025487 | LABEL INSPECTION AND REJECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USE THEREOF | 01-25-2018 |
