Patent ID: 8131008

Claim:
A system for inspecting a pre-engineered structural component, comprising: a) a light source that illuminates a portion of said pre-engineered structural component, said pre-engineered structural component comprising lumber and at least one support plate; b) a camera that (i) receives a reflection of said light source from said pre-engineered structural component and (ii) generates an image output corresponding to said reflection; c) a memory storage that stores at least one reference data, said at least one reference data corresponding to at least one reference structural component design; d) a processing unit with an internal memory in communication with said light source, said camera, and said memory storage; and e) programming in said processing unit that (i) receives said camera image output into internal memory, (ii) detects a characteristic of said pre-engineered structural component from said camera image output, said characteristic selected from the group of: the presence of a lumber piece, the relative position of a lumber piece, the presence of a support plate, the relative position of a support plate, and combinations thereof, (iii) compares said characteristic to a corresponding characteristic of said at least one reference data, and (iv) provides a result of said comparison.