Patent ID: 8733656

Claim:
An apparatus for associating codes on parts with part spaces on a conveyor wherein each part has a leading edge and a trailing edge that define a part space and each part is to be marked with at least one code, the apparatus comprising: an area scan camera having a two dimensional field of view (FOV), the area scan camera supported adjacent the conveyor so that parts conveyed by the conveyor pass through the FOV; a processor linked to the area scan camera, the processor programmed to perform the steps of: (i) receiving images from the area scan camera; (ii) identifying the locations of codes on parts in at least one of the images wherein a code located is a located code; (iii) identifying the locations of leading and trailing edges of parts wherein the leading and trailing edges define part spaces; and (iv) associating each located code with a part space that includes the location of the located code.