Patent ID: 8718371
Filing Date: 2014-05-06
Classification: G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for inspecting a pre-engineered structural component, comprising: a) passing said pre-engineered structural component through an inspection apparatus; b) capturing at least one image with a camera of said inspection apparatus, said at least one image being from at least one side of said pre-engineered structural component, said pre-engineered structural component comprising two or more pieces of lumber and at least one support plate; c) sending said at least one image to a processing unit of said inspection apparatus; d) identifying a pre-engineered structural component design of said pre-engineered structural component using a digital image processing algorithm on at least a portion of at least one support plate in said image; e) selecting a reference array that corresponds to said identified pre-engineered structural component design from a plurality of reference arrays stored in an internal memory of said inspection apparatus; f) said processing unit performing the steps of (1) detecting one or more characteristics of said pre-engineered structural component contained in said at least one image, including at least one of the presence of a piece of lumber, the relative position of a piece of lumber, the presence of said at least one support plate, and relative position of said at least one support plate, and (2) comparing said one or more characteristics of said pre-engineered structural component with corresponding characteristics in said selected reference array; g) measuring at least one dimension of said pre-engineered structural component contained in said at least one image; h) comparing said at least one dimension to a corresponding dimension in said reference array; and i) reporting a result of the comparison.