Method for scoring and controlling quality of food products in a dynamic production line
First Claim
1. A method for scoring and controlling quality of a plurality of moving food products, the method comprising the steps of:
- capturing an image of a plurality of moving food products;
performing image analysis on the image to determine varying intensities of at least one color;
scoring the plurality of moving food products as a group based on a percentage of the color, thereby obtaining an overall calculated group appearance score; and
scoring each individual food product based on image analysis applied to individual food product, thereby obtaining a plurality of individual product scores.
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Abstract
A method for scoring and controlling the quality of dynamic food products transitioning in the processing steps is performed using image analysis. An image of a plurality of moving food products on a conveyor system is captured by on-line vision equipment and image analysis is performed on the image via an algorithm that determines the percentage of pixels having varying intensities of colors and applies predetermined preferences to predict consumer dissatisfaction. The entire group of food products of one or more images is given an overall appearance score and each individual food product is also scored such that each may be ranked from least to more acceptable. The ranked food products can then be ejected in the order of worst to better rank to increase the overall quality score of the entire group.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for scoring and controlling quality of a plurality of moving food products, the method comprising the steps of:
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capturing an image of a plurality of moving food products; performing image analysis on the image to determine varying intensities of at least one color; scoring the plurality of moving food products as a group based on a percentage of the color, thereby obtaining an overall calculated group appearance score; and scoring each individual food product based on image analysis applied to individual food product, thereby obtaining a plurality of individual product scores. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for the monitoring defects in a dynamic food production system comprising:
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an image capturing device; and a central processing unit having an algorithm programmed therein, wherein a basis of the algorithm comprises preference threshold quantified based on visual perceptions of colored defects within food products and an overall calculated group appearance score, wherein said colored defects are predetermined colorings in the visible spectrum. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification