Patent ID: 7688437

Claim:
A machine for inspecting the finish area of a glass container rotating at an inspection station and discriminating between blisters and checks comprising; a rotating device for rotating a bottle about its axis; a lighting device for illuminating the finish area of the rotating bottle; a camera for imaging the finish area of the rotating bottle; and a control configured to: define an array of objects captured by said camera at a predetermined number of angular increments of rotation; define a plurality of adjacent bands which include the captured objects; and analyze the adjacent bands to identify a check or a blister; wherein said control configured to analyze the adjacent bands to identify a check or a blister comprises means for defining clusters of captured objects including: means for determining the band having the most captured objects; means for deleting the objects in the band having the most objects from the rest of the bands which include objects; and means for repeatedly determining the band of the rest of the bands having the most objects and deleting the objects in the band of the rest of the bands having the most objects from the remainder of the bands until the objects in each band are unique, the unique objects in each band defining a cluster.