Patent ID: 7155369

Claim:
An inspection system to detect imperfections in materials being inspected comprising: at least one imperfection detection sensor with an output, said output comprising imperfection signals, from materials being inspected, in a time-varying electrical form; at least one computer having at least one imperfection detection interface, wherein said output is in communication with said at least one computer, and wherein said at least one computer converts the imperfection signals to a digital format; at least one set of constrains, wherein said at least one set of constrains are inputted into said at least one computer, and wherein said at least one set of constrains guide evaluations by said at least one computer for recognizing the types of imperfections detected by said at least one imperfection detection sensor; at least one memory storage for said at least one computer, wherein said at least one set of constrains and said output can be stored; a program, said program being executed on said at least one computer, and said program being configured to operate on said converted imperfection signals, wherein said operation is guided by inputted data comprising knowledge of imperfections and/or knowledge of imperfections previously found in the materials being inspected and/or rules for recognizing the types of imperfections; said program further comprising at least one mathematical array of coefficients, wherein said coefficients comprise converted and/or decomposed signals from said at least one imperfections detection sensor, and/or baseline data comprising data from known material imperfections and/or historical data comprising data previously gathered from the materials being inspected; and said at least one set of constrains further comprise rules, and/or baseline data comprising data from known material imperfection, and/or historical data comprising data previously gathered from the material from the materials being inspected, and wherein said rules, and/or baseline data, and/or historical data are inputted into said at least one computer to manage and evaluate the imperfection signals, wherein said historical data is compiled from a prior non analogous inspection technique, and wherein said historical data is inputted into said at least one computer, to manage and evaluate the imperfection signals.