Other

Johnson & Johnson Vision Products Inc.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Sangamo Weston, Inc.

Object Recognition Systems, Inc.

Joseph Wilder

Franklin G Reick

David Dreyfuss

Thomas G Davis

Maurice S Kanbar

Walter F Kosonocky

Richard James Mammone

Adam B Fineberg

William E Mayo

Mark C Croft

Zwi Kalman

Cynthia K Wilder

Frederick R Picut

Rajarshi Ray

A system for inspecting ophthalmic lenses and including transport, illumination, imaging and image processing subsystems. The transport system moves a multitude of ophthalmic lenses along a predetermined path to move each of those lenses, one at a time, into a lens inspection position, and the illumination subsystem generates a series of light pulses and directs a respective one light pulse through each ophthalmic lens. The imaging subsystem generates a set of signals representing selected portions of the light pulses transmitted through the ophthalmic lenses, and the image processing subsystem receives those signals from the imaging subsystem and processes those signals according to a predetermined program to identify at least one condition of each of the lenses.

Lens inspection system

Energy dispersive x-ray diffraction spectra are obtained from numerous volume elements within an object. A feature set such as a set of cepstrum coefficients is extracted from each spectrum and classified by a trained classifier such as a neural network to provide an indication of whether or not contraband such as explosives is present in the volume element. Indications for adjacent volume elements are evaluated in conjunction with one another, as by an erosion process, to suppress isolated indications and thereby suppress false alarms.

Analysis methods for energy dispersive X-ray diffraction patterns

A method and system for automatically inspecting an ophthalmic lens. The method includes the steps of directing a light beam through the lens and onto an array of pixels, and assigning to each pixel a data value representing the intensity of the light beam on the pixel. The data values are then processed according to a predetermined program to determine if the lens contains any one of a group of predetermined conditions.

Method and system for automatically inspecting ophthalmic lenses

An image sensor comprised of an array of photo elements (pixels) includes a device for randomly addressing individual pixels and a device for selectively varying the number of pixels which can be read out on any one reading cycle. The random addressing of pixels enables the readout of pixels located in selected regions of interest. Limiting the readout of the images to areas of interest allows an increase in the frame rate of the images. Relatively large groups of pixels can be read out simultaneously and the resulting signals can be merged into superpixel signals to provide high speed data capture, albeit at relatively lower resolution, since there will be a reduced number of data samples in each image. This feature is useful to rapidly scan and analyze a scene being viewed in order to locate an area of interest. Once an area of interest is located, the number of pixels read out on each cycle may be reduced to provide a higher resolution, lower speed, readout of the area of interest.

Multiple resolution image sensor

Apparatus for the quality control inspection of a product (such as a computer keyboard or a printed circuit board) consisting of an array of elements (such as keys or shapes) each having at least one identifying graphic pattern. A video camera views the elements one at a time in sequence. A predetermined electronic window surrounds each graphic pattern on each element. Edge signals representing the vertical and horizontal edges of a graphic pattern on an element are derived from the video signal during scan through the window surrounding the pattern. The edge signals are transformed to data-reduced feature signals which are compared with similar signals from a prototype key to determine whether the patterns represented thereby match.

Electro-optical quality control inspection of elements on a product

A robotic apparatus and method of acquiring jumbled objects or workpieces from a bin, and transferring them to a final site, or to an intermediate site for quality inspection. A video camera system produces a video signal representing a brightness image of the jumbled objects. An intermediate amplitude range of the video signal is selected, expanded, stored, and quantized into digital pixels. A computer enhances the image using histogram techniques, performs edge suppression, performs repeated shrinking with progressively-increased pixel thresholds until an area limit is reached, performs clustering of closely-spaced pixels, and commands movement of the robot gripper to a computed grip site on a recognized object. The gripper may limit its gripping pressure as a function of the deformation of the object gripped.

Robotic acquisition of objects by means including histogram techniques

A detachable holder for immobilizing a flexible tubing at a site adjacent its point of connection to a medical device inserted in a patient to feed a therapeutic fluid into a vein or artery or to withdraw fluid from the patient. The holder is formed by a flexible plastic strip having upstanding end wings provided with snap-in key hole slots in axial alignment. These slots are adapted to receive a short section of the tubing which then bridges the wings and is held thereby. Attached to the underside of the strip is one component of a hook and loop fabric fastener whose other component is bonded to the outer face of an adhesive tape. By adhering the tape to the skin of the patient at a position adjacent the inserted medical device and then fastening the holder thereto, one is able to immobilize the tubing to prevent a tug thereon from displacing the inserted medical device.

Medical tubing holder

A disposable surgical clip-on light pipe illumination assembly constituted by a manually-operated clamp adapted to clip onto an abdominal or other tissue wall surrouding a surgical site. The clamp is provided with a holder to retain a short, flexible light pipe at a position at which the front section of the pipe which terminates in an optical outlet projects into the surgical site. The rear end of the pipe terminates in an optical inlet coupled to a light source whereby light transmitted through the pipe is discharged from its optical outlet into the site. The front section of the pipe is sheathed in a bendable sleeve having dead soft characteristics, thereby making it possible for the surgeon, by bending the sleeve, to orient the light outlet to direct the light emanating therefrom toward a desired region of the surgical site.

Surgical clip-on light pipe illumination assembly

A disposable medical instrument and light pipe illumination assembly fabricated of synthetic plastic material. When put to use, the instrument, such as a surgical retractor, assumes a position at which its operative section lies adjacent the field of medical interest, such as a body cavity or surgical site. Joined to the instrument is a short flexible light pipe whose optical inlet end is coupled to a light source and whose optical outlet end is next to the operative section to project light into the field. The outlet end of the light pipe is sheathed in a bendable tubular neck having dead-soft characteristics whereby by bending the neck, the user is able to orient the outlet to direct the projected light toward a desired region in the field of interest.

Medical instrument and light pipe illumination assembly

A manually-operated surgical evacuator for draining fluids from the human body. The evacuator is constituted by a cup of rigid material covered by an elastic membrane to define a sump chamber, the cup being provided with an inlet fixture and an exhaust fixture communicating with the chamber. The inlet fixture is coupled by a suitable tube to the wound to be drained, and the exhaust fixture is provided with a removable plug or other means to open and shut the exhaust. Attached to the membrane is a rigid disc functioning as an actuator, such that when the plug is removed and the disc pressed into the cup, the membrane is stretched inwardly and acts to displace the atmosphere through the open exhaust fixture. After the exhaust fixture is shut and the disc released, the membrane proceeds to return to its original form, thereby creating a negative pressure which acts to draw fluid from the wound through the tube and into the sump chamber.

Surgical evacuator

A system for finding the position of a workpiece surface relative to a reference through non-contact gauging. The system uses a radiant energy beam projected such that an illuminated spot moves along the workpiece surface with movement of that surface relative to the reference along a measurement direction. An array-type image detector, which is out of physical contact with the workpiece, detects the illumination at each of a number of small areas of the workpiece surface and generates signals representative of the detected illumination. These signals are converted into a test signal which is a function of the difference in overall illumination between larger areas of the workpiece surface. A reference signal is produced and stored for two known positions of a workpiece surface. The test signal and the reference signal are combined with each other to produce a measurement signal indicative of the position of the workpiece surface relative to the reference.

Non-contacting workpiece gauging system

Disclosed is a system for inspecting and identifying workpieces in an industrial environment. Workpieces such as metal parts with markings that are punch-stamped or engraved are successively registered with a device which derives an electrical signal corresponding to each marking. The markings can be serial numbers or any other markings of arbitrary shape. Each electrical signal is extensively modified to minimize the effect of irrelevant and confusing characteristics such as the surface roughness of the workpiece, rust spots, depth of the stamping or engraving, and the like, and to make the electrical signal more representative of the important characteristics of the marking, such as the overall shape of the marking and the differences of the marking from other markings which have different meanings. The resulting modified electrical signal is combined with prototype electrical signals to find out which of the prototype signals most closely corresonds to the modified electrical signal, and to thereby identify the marking from which the modified electrical signal is derived. The prototype electrical signals are generated through training the system by exposing it to sample markings that are of the general type of the markings on the workpieces that will be ultimately inspected. The training of the system is similar to the normal, inspecting operation of the system, and can be done by relatively unskilled operators. This system can be retrained, again by relatively unskilled operators, for inspection of different types of markings or of different types of workpieces.

Industrial system for inspecting and identifying workpieces

An assembly for maintaining the leg of a patient lying on a table at an elevated position thereabove to facilitate examination or treatment of the leg. The assembly is constituted by a stand having a hooked head at a height well above the table surface, and a sling formed by a loosely woven, open mesh net in a hammock-like formation, the ends of the sling having extensions terminating in rings or other couplers which are attachable to the hooked head of the stand. When the heel of the patient's foot is nested in the hammock, the net conforms to the contours of the foot to securely hold the leg in a raised position without masking the foot, whereby an antiseptic solution may be applied to the foot surface through the interstices of the net.

Growing community of inventors

Princeton, NJ, United States of America

Joseph Wilder