Computer assisted bag screening system
First Claim
1. A method for inspecting a series of articles containing discrete objects and selecting for further examination certain objects comprising the steps of:
- conveying said series of articles into and through an inspection zone;
irradiating each article of said series of articles with incident electromagnetic radiation while said article is in said inspection zone;
measuring the electromagnetic radiation emanating from each article within said series of articles;
processing said measured electronic radiation to create an electronic image of each article, said electronic image including images of any discrete objects within said article;
selecting one of a plurality of inspectors to inspect the image of an article from said series on an interactive display assigned to that inspector;
displaying the image of said article on the interactive display screen assigned to the selected inspector;
repeating said selecting and displaying steps so that each of said plurality of inspectors has the image of a different article displayed on the interactive display dedicated to that inspector;
visually inspecting the image of said article by the selected inspector on that inspector'"'"'s interactive display for any objects that would require further examination;
selecting any objects within said article by the selected inspector on that inspector'"'"'s interactive display that require further examination;
marking any selected objects within said image of said specific article;
creating a marked-up image of said specific article if any objects were previously selected for further examination;
storing said marked-up image of said specific article; and
assigning a new image to said inspector.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for screening articles utilizing a plurality of operators, with each operator utilizing an interactive display to identify and electronically mark objects within an article to be further examined. An operator positioned at an interactive display views electronic images of an article to be screened after it has been conveyed past a sensor array which transmits sequences of images of the series either directly or through a computer to the interactive display. The operator selects objects within the article displayed on the screen for further examination using the interactive feature of the display thereby registering the objects selected within the computer. The computer then provides sequential information identifying actions to be taken and information and data to be recorded.
30 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for inspecting a series of articles containing discrete objects and selecting for further examination certain objects comprising the steps of:
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conveying said series of articles into and through an inspection zone; irradiating each article of said series of articles with incident electromagnetic radiation while said article is in said inspection zone; measuring the electromagnetic radiation emanating from each article within said series of articles; processing said measured electronic radiation to create an electronic image of each article, said electronic image including images of any discrete objects within said article; selecting one of a plurality of inspectors to inspect the image of an article from said series on an interactive display assigned to that inspector; displaying the image of said article on the interactive display screen assigned to the selected inspector; repeating said selecting and displaying steps so that each of said plurality of inspectors has the image of a different article displayed on the interactive display dedicated to that inspector; visually inspecting the image of said article by the selected inspector on that inspector'"'"'s interactive display for any objects that would require further examination; selecting any objects within said article by the selected inspector on that inspector'"'"'s interactive display that require further examination; marking any selected objects within said image of said specific article; creating a marked-up image of said specific article if any objects were previously selected for further examination; storing said marked-up image of said specific article; and assigning a new image to said inspector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-assisted screening system utilizing a plurality of inspectors for inspecting a series of articles containing discrete objects to select certain objects for further examination comprising:
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a conveyor that conveys each article within said series of articles through an inspection zone; an electromagnetic radiation source that irradiates each of said articles; a sensor that measures the electromagnetic radiation emanating from each article when said article is irradiated; a computer system that processes said measurement of said electromagnetic radiation emanating from each article to generate an electronic image of each article revealing any discrete objects within said article and selects which of said one or more inspectors to display each image to; an interactive video display for each of said plurality of inspectors on which said image is displayed and on which said inspector selects any discrete objects that require further examination; and means for transmitting said images to one or more additional video displays. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification