Patent ID: 7010457

Claim:
An apparatus for displaying a numeric value corresponding to the volume of a segment of an item comprising: a support surface for supporting said item; a sensor bar; a support for positioning said sensor bar spaced above said item in a manner allowing said sensor bar to be passed over said item and positioned above any selected section of said item from any other position along said item; a motion detector accelerometer arrangement which generates signals corresponding to the motion of said sensor bar in moving from said any other position to be positioned above said any selected section; a sensor arrangement generating signals corresponding to the cross sectional contour of successive sections of said item passed by said sensor bar as said sensor bar is moved to be positioned above said any selected section of said item; a signal processor responsive to said signals generated by said motion detector arrangement and said sensor arrangement to compute therefrom the volume of a selected segment of said item defined by movement of said sensor bar in moving over said item from said other position to a position over said selected section of said item; and a display displaying a numeric value corresponding to said volume of said selected segment of the item as computed by said signal processor with said sensor bar in position above said any selected section of said item.