Patent ID: 7373217

Claim:
An apparatus for slicing a food product, having a non-uniform cross-sectional area along a longitudinal axis, capable of being sliced along a cutting line orthogonal to said longitudinal axis to obtain a plurality of slices of said food product having a predetermined weight, comprising: a cutting device positioned along said cutting line; a cutting table capable of moving said food product along said longitudinal axis and along an axis parallel to said cutting line; a laser line scanner capable of scanning a cut face of said food product with a scanning line along an orientation as said food product is moved orthogonal to said longitudinal axis; a line scan camera capable of receiving light reflected from said cut face of said food product, said line scan camera having a line field of view along an orientation; said orientation of said laser line scanner matching said orientation of said line scan camera; said line scan camera being positioned such that said line field of view of said line scan camera intersects said scanning line of said laser line scanner at said cut face of said food product; a controller determining an area of said cut face of said food product using said light reflected from said cut face of said food product and advancing said food product to be cut by said cutting device by an amount such that a next slice of said food product cut by said cutting device will have a thickness such that said next slice will be of said predetermined weight based upon said area of said cut face.