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:
Jan. 30, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 10, 1997
Armando Neri, Bologna, IT;
Stefano Chini, San Lazzaro di Savena, IT;
Giuseppe Di Stefano, Ferrara, IT;
G.D S.p.A., Bologna, IT;
Abstract
The external integrity of cigarettes is verified by a method that involves directing single cigarettes, carried on a conveyor, along a route of which one section affords a monitoring path equipped with a line scan camera; the advancing cigarette can be made selectively to rotate about its longitudinal axis while the camera, a solid state type using CCD arrays, makes a succession of scans on respective closely ordered parallel lines, which are pulsed at a programmed frequency and synchronously with the movement of the cigarette in such a way that each successive scan line will fall on one and the same generator of the cylindrical surface. Repeated scanning of the same limited surface area eliminates quality control errors attributable to the presence of particulates in the space between the cigarettes and the camera.