Wood tracking by identification of surface characteristics
First Claim
1. A method for tracking multiple pieces of wood in a wood processing system, comprising:
- obtaining first inherent wood characteristic information from first and second pieces of wood as they move in a first order of a first queue through a first station;
associating the first inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood with first respective sequential queue positions in the first queue in which the first inherent wood characteristic information is obtained;
obtaining second inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood in a second order of a second queue at a second station, the second order being the same as or different from in the first order;
associating the second inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood with second respective sequential queue positions in the second queue in which the second inherent wood characteristic information is obtained; and
comparing the second inherent wood characteristic information of a given first or second piece of wood associated with a primary queue position within the second queue to the first inherent wood characteristic information of a given first or second piece of wood associated with a corresponding primary queue position within the first queue to make an evaluation of similarity between the first and second inherent wood characteristic information associated with the corresponding primary queue positions.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A “woodprint™” characterization and identification technique unique employs cameras (16), lighting (14), camera interface hardware (18), a computer (20), and/or image processing software to collect and analyze surface characteristics of pieces of wood (8) to track them through an automated production process in real-time with information that is specific to each wood piece (8), such as what machining is required, its value, and/or its destination. When a wood piece (8) reaches a point in the production process where a decision is required, its unique identity is used to retrieve appropriate information previously determined and assigned to the wood piece (8).
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Citations
69 Claims
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1. A method for tracking multiple pieces of wood in a wood processing system, comprising:
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obtaining first inherent wood characteristic information from first and second pieces of wood as they move in a first order of a first queue through a first station; associating the first inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood with first respective sequential queue positions in the first queue in which the first inherent wood characteristic information is obtained; obtaining second inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood in a second order of a second queue at a second station, the second order being the same as or different from in the first order; associating the second inherent wood characteristic information from the first and second pieces of wood with second respective sequential queue positions in the second queue in which the second inherent wood characteristic information is obtained; and comparing the second inherent wood characteristic information of a given first or second piece of wood associated with a primary queue position within the second queue to the first inherent wood characteristic information of a given first or second piece of wood associated with a corresponding primary queue position within the first queue to make an evaluation of similarity between the first and second inherent wood characteristic information associated with the corresponding primary queue positions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A wood tracking system, comprising:
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first image acquisition hardware for collecting a first image of at least a first portion of a surface of a piece of wood as it travels across a first image collection area; second image acquisition hardware for collecting a second image of at least a second portion of the surface of the piece of wood as it travels across a second image collection area at a different location than the first image collection area, the second portion including some or all of the first portion; image processing software adapted for independently adjusting first and second portions of respective first and second images to conform to a predetermined size and orientation; image characterization software located on one or more computers for characterizing an inherent wood surface characteristic appearing in the first and second portions of the respective first and second images to create values for the inherent wood surface characteristics within the respective first and second image portions; and comparison software located on one or more computers for comparing the values of the inherent wood surface characteristics within the respective first and second image portions and for determining whether the values have sufficient similarities to he presented as a match or sufficient differences to be presented as a nonmatch. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method for characterizing a piece of wood, comprising:
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capturing a first image of at least a first portion of a surface of each of multiple primary pieces of wood as they travel across a first station; dividing the first portions into respective similar first virtual arrays of respective multiple first corresponding cells; assigning for some or all of the first multiple corresponding cells one or more characteristic values based on an inherent wood surface characteristic as it appears in the respective multiple first corresponding cells; capturing a second image of at least a second portion of a surface of a secondary piece of wood as it travels across a second station, the secondary piece of wood being one of the multiple primary pieces of wood; dividing the second portion into a second virtual array of multiple second corresponding cells corresponding to respective similar multiple first corresponding cells; assigning for some or all of the multiple second corresponding cells a characteristic value based on the inherent wood surface characteristic as it appears in the respective multiple second corresponding cells; comparing the characteristic value of the inherent wood surface characteristic for some or all of the multiple second corresponding cells to the characteristic value of the inherent wood surface characteristic for some or all of the corresponding multiple first corresponding cells associated with any given primary piece of wood; and determining whether a sufficient number of the respective multiple first and second corresponding cells have sufficiently similar characteristic values to indicate that the secondary piece of wood and the given primary piece of wood are the same or have sufficiently different characteristic values to indicate that the secondary piece of wood and the given primary piece of wood are different. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification