Inspection apparatus and method with inspection auditing for images presented on a display

Claim 1

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of one or more images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image having at least one predetermined area of interest for which a review by an operator for classification is to be performed; b) enabling an operator to cause an event to occur at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set of at least one image from being displayed, despite action by the operator intended to cause such new set to be displayed, to facilitate an adequate classification; d) detecting at least one occurrence of such event at a predetermined location in each predetermined area of interest; and e) permitting action by the operator to cause a new set of at least one image to be displayed only after such event has been detected as having occurred at each predetermined location in each predetermined area of interest in the current display.

Claim 2

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of one or more images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image having at least one predetermined area of interest for which a review by an operator for classification is to be performed; b) enabling an operator to cause an event to occur at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set of at least one image from being displayed, despite action by the operator intended to cause such new set to be displayed, to facilitate an adequate classification; d) detecting at least one occurrence of such event at a predetermined location in each predetermined area of interest; and e) permitting action by the operator to cause a new set of at least one image to be displayed only after such event has been detected as having occurred at each predetermined location in each predetermined area of interest in the current display.

Claim 9

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of plural images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying concurrently a set of plural images and starting a timer; b) enabling the operator to enter a command intended to cause a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed; c) temporarily preventing a new set of plural images from being concurrently displayed despite action from the operator intended to cause a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed; and d) permitting a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed only after a predetermined duration has elapsed since starting such timer, such predetermined duration being sufficient to enable the operator adequately to classify each displayed image.

Claim 10

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of plural images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying concurrently a set of plural images and starting a timer; b) enabling the operator to enter a command intended to cause a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed; c) temporarily preventing a new set of plural images from being concurrently displayed despite action from the operator intended to cause a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed; and d) permitting a new set of plural images to be concurrently displayed only after a predetermined duration has elapsed since starting such timer, such predetermined duration being sufficient to enable the operator adequately to classify each displayed image.

Claim 11

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of at least one image displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image; b) enabling the operator to position a cursor at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set from being displayed; d) checking the position of such cursor at a set interval to determine if the cursor is positioned at approximately the center of an image of such at least one image; and e) permitting a new set of at least one image to be displayed after such cursor has been detected as having been positioned at approximately the center of each image of such set in the current display a predetermined plural number of times, such predetermined plural number of times being sufficient to permit the operator adequately to classify such set.

Claim 12

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of at least one image displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image; b) enabling the operator to position a cursor at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set from being displayed; d) checking the position of such cursor at a set interval to determine if the cursor is positioned at approximately the center of an image of such at least one image; and e) permitting a new set of at least one image to be displayed after such cursor has been detected as having been positioned at approximately the center of each image of such set in the current display a predetermined plural number of times, such predetermined plural number of times being sufficient to permit the operator adequately to classify such set.

Claim 13

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of plural images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image having at least one predetermined location of interest; b) enabling the operator to position a cursor at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set of plural images from being displayed despite action from the operator intended to cause a new set of plural images to be displayed; d) detecting an occurrence of such cursor at a predetermined location of interest and determining the duration that such cursor continues to be detected at the same predetermined location of interest; and e) permitting a new set of images to be displayed if such duration at each predetermined location of interest is of at least a prescribed duration.

Claim 14

A method of auditing a process of visual review by an operator of successive sets of plural images displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: a) displaying a set of at least one image having at least one predetermined location of interest; b) enabling the operator to position a cursor at a location on the screen determined by the operator; c) temporarily preventing a new set of plural images from being displayed despite action from the operator intended to cause a new set of plural images to be displayed; d) detecting an occurrence of such cursor at a predetermined location of interest and determining the duration that such cursor continues to be detected at the same predetermined location of interest; and e) permitting a new set of images to be displayed if such duration at each predetermined location of interest is of at least a prescribed duration.