Patent ID: 7449655

Claim:
An apparatus for classifying objects in a mixed waste stream including multiple material types, the apparatus comprising; a sensor wherein the sensor is a hyperspectral sensor responsive in at least ten spectral bands; a conveyor for moving objects in the waste stream relative to the sensor and through a sensing region thereof; a processor for classifying objects of multiple material types in the waste stream on the basis of signals output from the sensor to the processor; and a broadband camera arranged to generate pixellated image data of a region of the input waste stream and to provide said pixellated image data to the processor, and wherein the processor is arranged to (i) classify material within each pixel of the pixellated image data using the pixellated image data and signals output from the hyperspectral sensor; (ii) associate a group of contiguous pixels identified as involving the same material with an object; and (iii) associate a material with the object and wherein the processor is arranged to identify material within each pixel of the pixellated image data by performing spectral signature analysis by means of a Support Vector Machine algorithm using said image data and signals output from the hyperspectral sensor.