Apparatus and method for determining and numerically displaying a volume dependent characteristic of any unseparated part of an item
First Claim
1. An apparatus for generating and displaying numeric values corresponding to the volume of any selected segment of an item comprising:
- a support defining a generally horizontally planar surface for supporting said item placed thereon;
a hand held sensor member freely movable horizontally and vertically over said support surface and an item resting thereon;
a horizontal movement detector arrangement which generates signals corresponding to the extent of horizontal movement of said sensor member over said support surface in a direction along said item;
a sensor arrangement on said sensor member including sensors generating signals corresponding the distances between a series of points along the sensor member and a series of points on an upper surface of said item lying beneath said points on said sensor member arranged extending across each of successive sections of said item passing beneath said sensor member as said sensor member is moved along and over said item;
a height detector arrangement producing signals corresponding to the height of said points along said sensor member above said support surface at each successive horizontal position to which said sensor member is moved along said item;
a signal processor receiving said signals generated by said horizontal movement detector arrangement, said sensor arrangement, and said height detector arrangement and computing from said sensor arrangement signals and said height detector arrangement signals the cross sectional area of successive sections of said item passed over by said sensor member and from said computed cross sectional area values and said horizontal movement detector arrangement signals computing a volume of said selected segment of said item defined by movement of said sensor member in being passed over and along said item from a reference position to another position displaced horizontally in said direction along said item; and
,a display displaying a numeric value corresponding to said computed volume of said selected segment of said item as computed by said signal processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for determining and numerically displaying the volume of an item or any part of the item by passing a manually held sensor member freely movable in both vertical and horizontal directions over and along an item lying on a support surface. Sensor and movement detector arrangements generate signals from which the volume of any segment of the item passed over is calculated. The calculated volume of part or all of the item may be converted into numeric values corresponding to the calculated volume such as weight or price numeric values based on an item density or cost per unit weight factor for the particular type of item on the support surface, whereby numeric weight and cost values of any segment of the item are displayed in a numeric display as the sensor member is passed along the item.
48 Citations
27 Claims
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1. An apparatus for generating and displaying numeric values corresponding to the volume of any selected segment of an item comprising:
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a support defining a generally horizontally planar surface for supporting said item placed thereon; a hand held sensor member freely movable horizontally and vertically over said support surface and an item resting thereon; a horizontal movement detector arrangement which generates signals corresponding to the extent of horizontal movement of said sensor member over said support surface in a direction along said item; a sensor arrangement on said sensor member including sensors generating signals corresponding the distances between a series of points along the sensor member and a series of points on an upper surface of said item lying beneath said points on said sensor member arranged extending across each of successive sections of said item passing beneath said sensor member as said sensor member is moved along and over said item; a height detector arrangement producing signals corresponding to the height of said points along said sensor member above said support surface at each successive horizontal position to which said sensor member is moved along said item; a signal processor receiving said signals generated by said horizontal movement detector arrangement, said sensor arrangement, and said height detector arrangement and computing from said sensor arrangement signals and said height detector arrangement signals the cross sectional area of successive sections of said item passed over by said sensor member and from said computed cross sectional area values and said horizontal movement detector arrangement signals computing a volume of said selected segment of said item defined by movement of said sensor member in being passed over and along said item from a reference position to another position displaced horizontally in said direction along said item; and
,a display displaying a numeric value corresponding to said computed volume of said selected segment of said item as computed by said signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of displaying a numeric value corresponding to the volume of any selected segment of an item comprising:
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disposing said item on a support defining a generally horizontal planar support surface; moving an unsupported and manually held sensor member freely movable in both vertical and horizontal directions to a first selected position extending completely across said item at a selected vertical height above said support surface, and horizontal position over and along said item on said support surface, said first selected position comprising a reference position with respect to said item; manually moving said hand held sensor member from said reference position to pass over and along said item from said reference position to a second horizontally displaced selected position along said item extending completely across said item at a selected height thereabove; generating sensor signals corresponding to distances between points along said sensor member to corresponding points on an upper surface of each successive section of said item lying beneath said sensor member as said sensor member is moved over and along said item to said second selected position; detecting the extent and direction of horizontal movement of said sensor member in passing said sensor member over and along successive sections of said item to said second position and generating signals corresponding to said movement; detecting the height of said points along said sensor member above said support surface at each successive horizontal position of said sensor member as said sensor member is moved manually along said item and generating corresponding signals to said height of said points along said sensor member; processing said generated sensor distance signals, said detected horizontal movement signals and said detected height signals to calculate therefrom the volume of the segment of said item lying between said first reference position and said second displaced horizontal selected positions of said sensor member; deriving a numeric value corresponding to said calculated volume of said segment of said item; and
,displaying said numeric value thereby derived. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification