Patent US5309374A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5309374A
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Acoustic and video imaging system for quality determination of agricultural products
Assignee: Iowa State University Research Foundation Inc
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Filing: 1992-08-03
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Granted: 1994-05-03
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Expires: 2012-08-03
Abstract
Abstract A flexible system for determining the quality of agricultural products based on characteristics such as, for example, mass, shape, hardness, size, color and surface texture is disclosed herein. The quality determination apparatus includes a feeder assembly for sequentially dropping individual product samples upon an impact transducer arrangement. The impact transducer generates transducer signals indicative of the physical characteristics of each product sample. In addition, an imaging device operates to synthesize a digital image representation of each product sample. The transducer signal and digital image representation corresponding to each product are analyzed so as to determine the appropriate degree of quality to be associated therewith.
Inventors
- 👤 Manjit K. Misra
- 👤 Yuh-Yuan Shyy
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-31 14:23
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06T; G06T7/00; G06T7/0002; G06T7/0004; B; B07; B07C; B07C5/00; B07C5/34; G01; G01N; G01N15/00; G01N15/02; G01N15/0205; G01N15/0227; G01N15/10; G01N15/14; G01N15/1429; G01N15/1433; G01N29/00; G01N29/04; G01N29/045; G01N33/00; G01N33/02; G01N33/025; G06T7/10; G06T7/13; G01N15/01; G01N15/149; G01N2015/0288; G01N2015/0294; G01N2015/1497; G06T2207/00; G06T2207/30; G06T2207/30108; G06T2207/30128
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 25
Claim 1
Independent Claim
68 words
An apparatus for determining quality of an agricultural product, comprising: acoustical transducer means for generating a transducer signal indicative of a set of physical characteristics of said product; imaging means for synthesizing a digital image representation of said product; and signal processing means for analyzing said transducer signal and said digital image representation; whereby, based on said analysis, a degree of quality is associated with said agricultural product.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
68 words
An apparatus for determining quality of an agricultural product, comprising: acoustical transducer means for generating a transducer signal indicative of a set of physical characteristics of said product; imaging means for synthesizing a digital image representation of said product; and signal processing means for analyzing said transducer signal and said digital image representation; whereby, based on said analysis, a degree of quality is associated with said agricultural product.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said acoustical transducer means further includes a drop tube feeder apparatus for dropping said agricultural product upon said transducer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said imaging means includes camera means for providing an image of said agricultural product and for digitizing said image so as to create said digital image representation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said physical characteristics include mass and hardness.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said digital image representation includes information pertaining to shape and boundary roughness of said agricultural product.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
63 words
The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said signal processing means includes means for determining said shape of said agricultural product based on said digital image representation, said shape determining means including means for identifying a portion of said digital image representation as corresponding to an edge of said agricultural product and means for determining a center of said product relative to said edge.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said signal processing means includes means for determining roughness of said agricultural product by plotting separation between predefined sections of said edge and said center and comparing said plot with a reference plot.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said acoustical transducer means includes an impact transducer, said transducer signal being generated in response to impact of said agricultural product upon said transducer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said signal processing means includes means for performing a time-domain analysis of said transducer signal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said time-domain analysis means includes means for detecting a peak region of said transducer signal, wherein magnitude of said transducer signal at said peak region corresponds to said mass of said agricultural product.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 10 wherein a slope of said peak signal at a predefined magnitude thereof corresponds to said hardness of said agricultural product.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
117 words
An apparatus for quality determination of beans, comprising: acoustical transducer means for generating a transducer signal indicative of mass and hardness of said beans, said transducer means having a drop tube feeder apparatus coupled to an impact transducer; imaging means for synthesizing a digital image representation of said product, said digital image representation including information pertaining to at least one characteristic from the set of bean characteristics consisting of shape, texture, area and color; and signal processing means for performing a time-domain analysis upon said transducer signal and for analyzing said digital image representation; whereby, based on said time-domain analysis and upon said analysis of said digital image representation, degrees of quality are associated with said beans.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
117 words
An apparatus for quality determination of beans, comprising: acoustical transducer means for generating a transducer signal indicative of mass and hardness of said beans, said transducer means having a drop tube feeder apparatus coupled to an impact transducer; imaging means for synthesizing a digital image representation of said product, said digital image representation including information pertaining to at least one characteristic from the set of bean characteristics consisting of shape, texture, area and color; and signal processing means for performing a time-domain analysis upon said transducer signal and for analyzing said digital image representation; whereby, based on said time-domain analysis and upon said analysis of said digital image representation, degrees of quality are associated with said beans.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for determining quality of an agricultural product comprising the steps of: dropping said product upon an impact transducer, said transducer being disposed to generate a transducer signal indicative of a set of physical characteristics of said product; creating an image of said product; digitizing said image so as to create a digital image representation of said product; storing said digital image representation in computer memory; analyzing said transducer signal and digital image representation in accordance with predefined criteria; whereby, based on said analysis, a degree of quality is associated with said agricultural product.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for determining quality of an agricultural product comprising the steps of: dropping said product upon an impact transducer, said transducer being disposed to generate a transducer signal indicative of a set of physical characteristics of said product; creating an image of said product; digitizing said image so as to create a digital image representation of said product; storing said digital image representation in computer memory; analyzing said transducer signal and digital image representation in accordance with predefined criteria; whereby, based on said analysis, a degree of quality is associated with said agricultural product.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 13 wherein said digital image representation includes information pertaining to at least one characteristic included within the set of product characteristics consisting of surface texture, area and color.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
63 words
The method of claim 13 wherein said step of analyzing includes the step of determining said shape of said agricultural product based on said digital image representation, said shape determining step including the steps of: identifying a portion of said digital image representation as corresponding to an edge of said agricultural product, and determining a center of said product relative to said edge.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 15 wherein said step of analyzing includes the step of determining boundary roughness of said agricultural product by plotting separation between predefined sections of said edge and said center and comparing said plot with a reference plot.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 16 wherein said agricultural product comprises a bean.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 13 wherein said physical characteristics include mass and hardness.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 18 wherein said digital image representation includes information pertaining to shape and boundary roughness of said agricultural product.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 19 wherein said step of analyzing includes the step of performing a time-domain analysis upon said transducer signal.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 20 wherein said time-domain analysis step includes the step of detecting a peak region of said transducer signal, wherein magnitude of said transducer signal at said peak region corresponds to said mass of said agricultural product.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 21 wherein said time-domain analysis step includes the step of determining the slope of said transducer signal at a predefined magnitude thereof wherein said slope corresponds to said hardness of said agricultural product.
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