Patent ID: 6483935
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: G01N,G06M

Abstract:
A system for counting objects on an elongated surface comprising:a camera that defines an area of interest with respect to an elongated direction of the surface, the camera and the surface being in relative movement with respect to each other in an upstream-to-downstream direction; a vision system for identifying locations of objects occurring within the area of interest within a predetermined interval; a trigger mechanism that operates at predetermined times to enable the vision system to acquire an image within the area of interest each time the surface moves a predetermined distance along the elongated direction, the trigger mechanism being constructed and arranged so that each acquired image overlaps an adjacent acquired image by a predetermined overlap distance along the elongated direction, thereby defining, in each area of interest, a central section, an upstream overlapping section upstream of the central section, and a downstream overlapping section downstream of the central section; and a counter constructed and arranged to count (a) objects identified that are located at least partially in the central section and (b) objects identified that are located fully within only one of either the upstream overlapping section and the downstream overlapping section in the area of interest for each acquired image.