The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 24, 2020
Filed:
May. 15, 2018
The United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC (US);
Seung C. Yoon, Athens, GA (US);
Brian C. Bowker, Bogart, GA (US);
Hong Zhuang, Bishop, GA (US);
Kurt C. Lawrence, Bogart, GA (US);
Gerald W. Heitschmidt, Athens, GA (US);
Tae Sung Shin, Athens, GA (US);
The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The image sorting system sorts normal chicken breast meat fillets from chicken fillets that exhibit wooden breast myopathy (i.e. WB fillets). In the preferred embodiment, a camera and associated controller gather data and construct a digital image of a chicken breast fillet as it travels on a conveyer belt. The digital image is used to calculate a centroid (i.e. center of mass) of the fillet. As the fillet moves over a nose of the conveyor belt and free-falls to a lower conveyor belt, the controller determines the distance between the fillet centroid and a reference point (preferably the conveyer belt axis of rotation). If the distance exceeds a predetermined minimum distance, the fillet is designated a WB fillet.