Key Technology Corporation

Thomas C Madsen

Maurice Jarold Hunking

Anthony Vannelli

An object stabilizing device for use with a continuous moving surface is disclosed and which includes a drive roller disposed in spaced relation relative to a continuous moving surface; and a flexible continuous belt having a proximal end driven by the drive roller and an unentrained distal end which is disposed in rested relation on the continuous moving surface.

Object stabilizing device

Described herein is an automated quality inspection station for evaluating color component characteristics of a product. The inspection station includes a color video camera, for capturing video frames of product images, and a control system for analyzing those video frames. The control system is programmed to perform a reference calibration and then a sample calibration. During the reference calibration an operator identifies component type areas from a displayed reference frame of a typical product assortment. The control system calculates color value density curves from the identified areas. The density curves are then calibrated to each other by scaling each of the density curves by a scaling factor. The scaling factors can either be provided directly by the operator or default values can be calculated by the control system. Default scaling factor values are calculated by summing the product of the corresponding density curve and an overall histogram of a sample video frame over a range of color values. Individual pixels are classified as one of a plurality of component types according to the highest calibrated density curve at the pixels' color value.

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Walla Walla, WA, United States of America

Thomas C Madsen