SORTING AND INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD

Sorting and inspection apparatus and methods which may be used for the identification and separation of articles of different characteristics, or the inspection of articles of similar characteristics to reject those of below minimum standards. A typical system will include a transport system for individually transporting the articles past a television camera so that the camera may view the distinctive portions of the articles to be sorted or the area of the articles to be inspected. The output of the television camera is digitized based upon the number of transitions of light to dark (or dark to light) in the scan lines. A correlator then performs a specialized correlation between the digitized image and various previously digitized images representing the different items being sorted or inspected, to determine which of the previously stored images best correlates with the digitized image from the television camera. A second correlation may be done using a different correlation technique, if desired, to make the final decision based upon the extent of differences between the prestored digitized images and the digitized image from the television camera. The prestored digitized images may be initially created or stored by placing an article with the characteristic to be recognized in front of the television camera and then recording the digitized image. Many refinements and alternate embodiments are disclosed.