United Technologies Corporation

Leonard A Messman

Glenn C Waehner

Harold C Wooding, Jr

A non-interlaced video camera has twenty four light pipes orthogonally terminated at its field of view, each light pipe having a lens at its distal end focused at a spot on one of a plurality of spinning, labeled bottles. For each of the spinning bottles, the vidicon camera output is quantized, stored, and compared repetitively, over successive cycles, with an 8-bit pattern of four digital 'dark' bits followed by four digital 'white' bits, a match indicating that a label edge has passed a sensing station several cycles previously so that the bottle may be stopped in a desired position following a settable delay. Video threshold and successive samplings ensure integrity of stored data; processing hardware is time shared; digital timing synchronizes processing with the vidicon camera; and a cursor aids initial alignment. Data which changes modulo 192 is stored in a preloaded memory (RAM) modulo 193, advancing data in each cycle group in a caterpillar fashion, in a last-in/first-out basis. As to each bottle during each cycle, the reading in of new data is instantaneously followed by read out of such new data along with data acquired in seven previous cycles corresponding to seven previous incremental angular displacements of the bottle as it is turning. In a second embodiment, photodetectors replace the light pipes and vidicon camera; a serial memory replaces the RAM; and label patterns are sensed, with optional 'don't care' bits.

Labeled container orientation processor

A non-interlaced video camera has 24 light pipes orthogonally terminated at its field of view, each light pipe having a lens at its distal end focused at a spot on one of a plurality of spinning, labeled bottles. For each of the spinning bottles, the vidicon camera output is quantized, stored, and compared repetitively, over successive cycles, with an 8-bit pattern of four digital 'dark' bits followed by four digital 'white' bits, a match indicating that a label edge has passed a sensing station several cycles previously so that the bottle may be stopped in a desired position following a settable delay. Video threshold and successive samplings ensure integrity of stored data; processing hardware is time shared; digital timing synchronizes processing with the vidicon camera; and a cursor aids initial alignment. Data which changes modulo 192 is stored in a preloaded memory (RAM) modulo 193, advancing data in each cycle group in a caterpillar fashion, in a last-in/first-out basis. As to each bottle during each cycle, the reading in of new data is instantaneously followed by read out of such new data along with data acquired in seven previous cycles corresponding to seven previous incremental angular displacements of the bottle as it is turning. In a second embodiment, photodetectors replace the light pipes and vidicon camera; a serial memory replaces the RAM; and label patterns are sensed, with optional 'don't care' bits.

Container orientation system cursor and processing

A programmable image processor compares successive vertical frames of the received video image of an object placed within a television camera field of view with a similar object video image stored in memory, and provides a signal manifestation of the video mismatches therebetween. The programmable image processor provides for the scanning of the received video image by the stored video image in one, or both, of two orthogonal directions within the camera field of view, to distinguish between video mismatches resulting from dissimilarities in the video images and mismatches resulting from the misalignment of the object in one, or both of the orthogonal directions within the camera field of view.

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Brookfield Center, CT, United States of America

Leonard A Messman