Edge detection using patterned background
First Claim
1. An apparatus for manipulating substantially flat, rectangular workpieces having at least one edge;
- comprising;
a support surface for said workpieces, said support surface being patterned with parallel, mutually contrasting, elongated stripes;
transport means coupled to at least said workpieces for causing motion of said workpieces in a direction parallel with said stripes;
imaging means optically coupled to at least a portion of said support surface for forming an image of said portion of said support surface, and such portions of said stripes, and such workpieces as may be thereupon, and for generating video signals representing said image;
location signal generating means coupled to said imaging means, for processing said video signals in such a manner as to generate location signals representative of the location along at least some of said stripes of said edge of said workpiece;
line fitting processing means coupled to said location signal generating means for fitting data representative of at least one line to at least some of said location signals, whereby said data represents the location of at least one edge of said workpiece; and
manipulating means coupled to said line fitting processing means and responsive to said data for manipulating said workpiece.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for singulating mailpieces such as envelopes spread out on a moving conveyor belt includes a robot for picking up the mailpiece associated with a leading edge. The conveyor belt has alternate black-and-white longitudinal stripes. A TV camera views the belt surface, and produces video representing the stripes and any mailpieces. The video is processed to produce signals representative of the locations of transitions in the video along the centers of the black and/or white stripes. The location representative signals are processed by calculating lines corresponding to one or more leading edges of the mailpiece, which may then be used for controlling the robot in known manner.
47 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for manipulating substantially flat, rectangular workpieces having at least one edge;
- comprising;
a support surface for said workpieces, said support surface being patterned with parallel, mutually contrasting, elongated stripes; transport means coupled to at least said workpieces for causing motion of said workpieces in a direction parallel with said stripes; imaging means optically coupled to at least a portion of said support surface for forming an image of said portion of said support surface, and such portions of said stripes, and such workpieces as may be thereupon, and for generating video signals representing said image; location signal generating means coupled to said imaging means, for processing said video signals in such a manner as to generate location signals representative of the location along at least some of said stripes of said edge of said workpiece; line fitting processing means coupled to said location signal generating means for fitting data representative of at least one line to at least some of said location signals, whereby said data represents the location of at least one edge of said workpiece; and manipulating means coupled to said line fitting processing means and responsive to said data for manipulating said workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- comprising;
-
2. An apparatus for manipulating substantially flat, rectangular workpieces having at least one edge, comprising:
-
an elongated conveyor belt for supporting said workpieces, said conveyor belt being patterned with parallel, mutually contrasting, elongated stripes; transport means coupled to at least said workpieces for causing motion of said workpieces in a direction parallel with said stripes; imaging means optically coupled to at least a portion of said conveyor belt for forming an image of said portion of said conveyor belt, and such portions of said stripes and workpieces as may be thereupon, and for generating video signals representing said image; location signal generating means coupled to said imaging means, for processing said video signals in such a manner as to generate location signals representative of the location along at least some of said stripes of said edge of said workpiece; line fitting processing means coupled to said location signal generating means for fitting data representative of at least one line to at least some of said location signals, whereby said data represents the location of at least one edge of said workpiece; and manipulating means coupled to said line fitting processing means and responsive to said data for manipulating said workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (3)
-
-
15. A method for determining the location of an edge of a workpiece, comprising the steps of:
-
placing said workpiece on a surface bearing a pattern of a plurality of mutually contrasting stripes; illuminating a portion of said surface; imaging said portion of said surface and any workpiece overlying said stripes to thereby produce video signals representing scans parallel to said stripes; generating transition signals representative of the transitions between at least some of said stripes and an edge of said workpiece; measuring the time between a reference signal and each of said transition signals to produce location signals representative of the location of said edge of said workpiece; gating at least some of said location signals corresponding to edges of said stripes to produce gated location signals, to thereby eliminate spurious transitions attributable to deviations of said scans and said stripes from a mutually parallel condition; and identifying top and bottom locations representing upper and lower extremes of said edge of said workpiece from said gated location signals, and calculating a line between said top and bottom locations. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
-
16. A method for determining the location of the edge of a workpiece, comprising the steps of:
-
placing said workpiece on a surface bearing a pattern of a plurality of mutually contrasting stripes; illuminating at least a portion of said surface with incoherent light; imaging said portion of said surface and any workpiece overlying said stripes to thereby produce video signals representing scans parallel to said stripes; generating transition signals representative of the transitions between at least some of said stripes and an edge of said workpiece; measuring the time between a reference signal and each of said transition signals to produce location signals representative of the location of said edge of said workpiece; gating at least some of said location signals corresponding to edges of said stripes to produce gated location signals, to thereby eliminate spurious transitions attributable to deviations of said scans and said stripes from a mutually parallel condition; and identifying top and bottom locations representing upper and lower extremes of said edge of said workpiece from said gated location signals, and calculating a line between said top and bottom locations.
-
Specification