Patent ID: 7447353

Claim:
A method for the qualitative evaluation of a material having at least one identifying characteristic including: providing an electronic image sensor; recording a color image of said identifying characteristic of said material using said electronic image sensor; obtaining at least one first electrical signal from said electronic image sensor, said at least one first electronic signal being correlated with said color image; providing an evaluating device connected with said electronic image sensor; using said evaluating device for evaluating said at least first electronic signal; providing at least one reference image of the material having at least one identifying characteristic; obtaining a second electrical signal from said at least one reference image; storing said at least one reference signal in a data memory; providing reference variables in said second electronic signal for at least two different properties of a reference image of said first electrical signal; comparing said first electrical signal with at least said two reference variables contained in said second electrical signal; checking at least said color image of said identifying characteristic for a deviation from said reference image; and checking said identifying characteristic regarding its association with one of a defined class of identifying characteristics and a defined geometrical contour and a relative arrangement with respect to at least one further identifying characteristic of said material.