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:
Mar. 20, 2018
Filed:
Sep. 06, 2016
The United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC (US);
Renfu Lu, Okemos, MI (US);
Anand Kumar Pothula, Okemos, MI (US);
Akira Mizushima, West Des Moines, IA (US);
Mario Vandyke, Conklin, MI (US);
Zhao Zhang, Okemos, MI (US);
The United States of America, as represented by The secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
As fruit (preferably apples) are harvested, the fruit is placed on a conveyor that conveys the fruit to a fruit singulating section. In the singulating section, the fruit is directed into slots in a lane formed by two cooperating helical drives. The helical drives rotate the fruit and convey the fruit into an imaging chamber where a camera acquires an image of the fruit. The fruit image is evaluated by a processor in communication with the camera. The fruit is then directed into a rotary sorter which sorts the fruit based on the image evaluation by the processor.