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:
Dec. 20, 1994
Filed:
Dec. 21, 1992
Ronald D Wertz, Boulder, CO (US);
Jeffrey P Davies, Louisville, CO (US);
Ball Corporation, Muncie, IN (US);
Abstract
An optical inspection system which inspects for the presence of color defects in a stream of material (e.g. carpeting, fabric, wall paper, printed matter, or a series of discrete objects) traveling along a production line. The optical inspection system positions one or more optical heads near the stream of material as it moves along the production line without physically interfering or interacting with the movement. Each optical head senses a preselected number of different colors appearing in a predetermined field of view on the stream of material. The optical head produces electrical signals corresponding to the intensity of each sensed color within its field of view during each sample. A computer is utilized to process these electrical signals from each optical head. The computer first generates a number of two color signatures based upon the selected number of colors for each optical head. After a sufficient number of samples have been sensed by the optical head so that all two color signatures are fully developed, the computer senses the colors from each successive sample and compares it to the generated color signatures. If the color pattern from a sample falls outside the generated color signatures, then an error signal is generated.