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:
Oct. 12, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 11, 1997
Gordon H Bokelman, Chesterfield, VA (US);
Thomas A Fletcher, Chesterfield, VA (US);
Harold T Hinson, Farnham, VA (US);
Steven F Spiers, Richmond, VA (US);
Yeu-Hwa Shyy, Fairfax, VA (US);
Timothy F Gacek, McLean, VA (US);
Philip Morris Incorporated, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A rewinder machine optically inspects banded paper unwound from a first bobbin by directing an elongated beam of light laterally across the paper. The elongated beam impinges the surface of the paper and forms reflections. A line scan camera containing a linear CCD array receives the reflections and generates output signals. A line scan processor processes the output signals to generate data indicative of the spacing between bands, the width of the bands, and the contrast of the bands. These calculations may be periodically transferred to a separate computer workstation over a network. The workstation generates statistical reports on the basis of the calculations, such as the band width, band spacing and band contrast as a function of lane number, and as a function of time. After being inspected by the camera, the paper is rewound on a rewind bobbin. Various mechanical features of the rewind machine allow rapid mounting and removal of bobbins of paper, and provide for high speed operation.