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:
Feb. 22, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1997
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
An article inspection apparatus is capable of inspecting an article which cannot be sorted out by image processing or a diagnostic process that employs energy to be transmitted through the article. A hitting sound is generated by a hitting sound generating device when an article is hit, and is detected by a sound detecting device and analyzed by a detected-sound analyzer. The analyzed result is converted into a pattern by a detected-sound pattern generator, and the pattern is matched with registered reference patterns from a reference pattern registering device by a pattern matching device. Based on the result of matching, the article is sorted out by an article sorting device. It is possible to detect the material of a container, such as cans of aluminum and iron which are identical in shape and size to each other. It is also possible to check the amount of a substance in a container that cannot directly be seen, or inspect baked articles for pores contained therein.