Patent ID: 7430480
Filing Date: 2008-09-30
Classification: G01N,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of determining independence of a particulate, used as a measurement target, according to a specific signal pattern that appears when a memory expressing a distribution of an electric signal is scanned along a predetermined scanning direction, said method comprising: irradiating the particulate with a laser beam having one kind of wavelength, and photoelectrically converting light reflected in the particulate to obtain an electric signal; a data storage step of storing a plurality of different recognition conditions, based on signal levels of the specific signal pattern included in the electric signal, a first flag for each result of determinations according to the plurality of respective recognition conditions that is true, and a second flag for each result of determinations according to the plurality of respective recognition conditions that is false, as arrays in a plurality of memories each of which corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of recognition conditions, the flags representing a distribution of the electric signal; a particulate determination step of scanning flags in the arrays that are respectively stored in the plurality of memories using scanning windows having a same predetermined size, comparing rows of the flags that are in a same region of the arrays stored in the plurality of memories, and determining independence of the particulate; and outputting a result of the particulate determination step, wherein: