Patent ID: 8860802

Claim:
An inspection station for optically inspecting sealed packages to identify artifacts in sealing areas defining a boundary and inspection area of two sides and a top and bottom surrounding at least one sterile object contained within the sealed packages, comprising: a multi-head optical scanner including: a first set of an at least two fiber optic sensor arrangement with each set comprising more than one optical fiber from a bundle of optical fibers arranged into a linear face and mounted on a conveyance system to acquire optical feedback of the sealing areas moving linearly in a y-direction that is parallel with movement of the conveyance system and that are located on each of the two sides of the at least one sterile object contained in sealed packages during movement of the conveyance system, and a second set of an at least two fiber optic sensor arrangement with each set comprising more than one optical fiber from a bundle of optical fibers arranged into a linear face and mounted on a movable axis above the conveyance system to provide scanning of sealed areas along a x-direction that is perpendicular to the motion of the conveyance system and to acquire optical feedback of the sealing areas of the boundary and inspection area oriented in the x-direction with respect to movement of the conveyance system, wherein boundary areas of the sealing areas targeted by the second set are located on top and bottom of the at least one sterile object contained in sealed packages, wherein the optical feedback is received from the sealing areas by the two sets of multi-head optical scanners as the sealed packages move through a conveyance system located beneath the multi-head optical scanners; and an image processing module analyzing input from the two sets of at least two fiber optic sensor arrangements to identify whether artifacts exist in the sealing areas of the sealed packages defining the boundary surrounding at least one sterile object contained within the sealed packages.