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. 19, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2014
R.j. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Gary Lee Wood, Rural Hall, NC (US);
Derwin Hiatt, Walnut Cove, NC (US);
Larry McCann, King, NC (US);
Mike Shockley, Tobaccoville, NC (US);
Eddie Nuckols, Mocksville, NC (US);
David R. Hall, Kernersville, NC (US);
Frank Brantley, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Isaac Martin, Lewisville, NC (US);
Martin Sama, Tobaccoville, NC (US);
Charles Reddell, Mount Airy, NC (US);
Mike Whitley, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Abstract
Smoking article inspection systems configured to inspect smoking articles are provided. The systems may include imaging devices configured to capture images of an exterior of the smoking article and an analysis unit configured to analyze the images captured by the imaging devices. The analysis unit may execute an edge detection tool configured to determine a position of the smoking article based on an edge location of the smoking article and a defect detection tool configured to determine whether the smoking article is defective after the position of the smoking article is determined. The imaging devices may be configured to capture images of the smoking articles during the assembly thereof. Thereby, the analysis unit may determine any operations during assembly causing damage to the smoking article from analysis of the images of the smoking article captured during assembly. Related methods are also provided.