AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMAGING CONTAINERS

• Main Authors: CLANCY, Tom, POPOV, Ivaylo, MAKRIS, Christos
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 09.03.2022
• Subjects: CALCULATING; CLEANING; CLEANING IN GENERAL; COMPUTING; CONVEYING; COUNTING; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; POSTAL SORTING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL; RECOGNITION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTEDPIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING; STORING; TESTING; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING

A control unit is disclosed to control an imaging unit to perform imaging of a tray/container. The control unit can cause the performance of actions on the container using automated machines and/or directing humans to perform an action. For example, the presence of contamination in a container can be detected based on an image of the container captured by an imaging unit. The control unit can receive an image of the container from the imaging unit, determine whether the container is contaminated, and direct the container to a cleaning unit. Moreover, the control unit can detect a product based on an image of the product, determine an identity of the product based on the received image, and command an indicating unit to indicate a failure to determine the identity of the product.