EP0095948A2 — Detecting article edges

Claim 1

Independent Claim 140 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance provided with a light source array including a plurality of light sources L 1 , L 2 , ---, L n and a photosensor array including a plurality of photosensors PS 1 , PS 2 , ---, PS n comprising a means which selects said light sources and said photosensors in pairs; a means for driving a pair of said light source and said photosensor which are selected by said selection circuit, a means which compares the output of each said photosensor when there is no detected substance between said light source array and said photosensor array with the corresponding output of each said photosensor when there is a detected substance between said light source array and said photosensor array, thereby detecting the edge portion of said detected substance.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 140 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance provided with a light source array including a plurality of light sources L 1 , L 2 , ---, L n and a photosensor array including a plurality of photosensors PS 1 , PS 2 , ---, PS n comprising a means which selects said light sources and said photosensors in pairs; a means for driving a pair of said light source and said photosensor which are selected by said selection circuit, a means which compares the output of each said photosensor when there is no detected substance between said light source array and said photosensor array with the corresponding output of each said photosensor when there is a detected substance between said light source array and said photosensor array, thereby detecting the edge portion of said detected substance.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 59 words

2 An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein the light axis of said light sources and the light axis of said photosensors are arranged so as to coincide, and said selection means select said light source and said photosensor which are positioned on the same light axis as a pair.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 118 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein the light axis of said light sources L 1 , L 2 , ---, L n and the light axis of said photosensors PS 1 , PS 2 , ---, PS n are shifted from each other, and said selection means selects at first L 1 , PS 1 ; L 2 , PS 2 ; ---L n , PS m ; --- L , PS as a pair, and selects at second L 2 , PS 1 ; L 3 , PS 2 ; --- L m+1 , PS m --- ; L n , PS n-1 ; as a pair.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 99 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein the light axis of said light sources L 1 , L 2 , ---, L n and the light axis of said photosensors PS 1 , PS 2 , ---, PS n are arranged so as to be shifted from each other, and said selection means selects L 1 , PS 1 ; PS 1 , L2; L 2 , PS3; ---; L m , PS m ; PS m , L m+1 ; --- PS n-1 , L ; as a pair.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 78 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein P denotes a pitch of the light sources and the photosensors, L denotes a width between the right and left standard measuring points, ℓ denotes a width of the semitransparent plane substance, Δℓ denotes an increment of the width of ℓ, and m, n denote integers, the relationship between P, L, ℓ, Δℓ, m, and n is expressed as the following equation:

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 81 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein said driving means comprises a control operation circuit, a signal bus for supplying a selection signal to said selection means, an analog-to-digital circuit which converts an analog value of the output of each photosensor to a digital values and which supplies said digital values to said control operation circuit, and a memory which stores the output of said analog-to-digital circuit when no detected substance exists.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 91 words

An apparatus for detecting an edge of a semitransparent plane substance according to claim 1, wherein said driving means comprises a control operation circuit, a signal bus for supplying a selection signal to said selection means, a digital-to-analog circuit which controls the output current of said light sources by the control of said control operation cirucit, an analog comparator circuit which compares the outputs of said photosensor with analog reference levels, and a light amount compensation memory which stores the output of the analog comparator circuit when no detected substance exists.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 154 words

Apparatus including mutually opposed first and. second arrays of radiation sources (12) and radiation sensors (13) for detecting the position of an edge of an article (11) inserted in a space between the two arrays when the apparatus is in use, characterised by means connected with the radiation sources for causing them to emit radiation one after another in a predetermined sequence, and means connected with the radiation sensors for activating them, to be responsive to such radiation, one after another in a sequence corresponding to the said predetermined sequence so that the radiation sources and sensors are employed as a set of source/sensor pairs which supply respective signals in sequence to discrimination means for detecting whether the intensity of radiation received by each sensor in turn, from the corresponding source, is reduced by more than a predetermined extent as compared with a situation in which the space between the two arrays is empty.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 154 words

Apparatus including mutually opposed first and. second arrays of radiation sources (12) and radiation sensors (13) for detecting the position of an edge of an article (11) inserted in a space between the two arrays when the apparatus is in use, characterised by means connected with the radiation sources for causing them to emit radiation one after another in a predetermined sequence, and means connected with the radiation sensors for activating them, to be responsive to such radiation, one after another in a sequence corresponding to the said predetermined sequence so that the radiation sources and sensors are employed as a set of source/sensor pairs which supply respective signals in sequence to discrimination means for detecting whether the intensity of radiation received by each sensor in turn, from the corresponding source, is reduced by more than a predetermined extent as compared with a situation in which the space between the two arrays is empty.

Claim 11

Independent Claim 141 words

A method of employing mutually opposed first and second arrays of radiation sources and radiation sensors to detect the position of an edge of an article inserted in a space between the two arrays, characterised in that the radiation sources are caused to emit radiation one after another in a predetermined sequence, and the radiation sensors are activated, to be responsive to such radiation, one after another in a sequence corresponding to the said predetermined sequence so that the radiation sources and sensors are employed as a set of aource/sensor pairs which supply respective signals in sequence to discrimination means serving to detect whether the intensity of radiation received by each sensor in turn, from the curresponding source, is reduced by more than a predetermined extent as compared with a situation in which the space between the two arrays is empty.

Claim 12

Independent Claim 141 words

A method of employing mutually opposed first and second arrays of radiation sources and radiation sensors to detect the position of an edge of an article inserted in a space between the two arrays, characterised in that the radiation sources are caused to emit radiation one after another in a predetermined sequence, and the radiation sensors are activated, to be responsive to such radiation, one after another in a sequence corresponding to the said predetermined sequence so that the radiation sources and sensors are employed as a set of aource/sensor pairs which supply respective signals in sequence to discrimination means serving to detect whether the intensity of radiation received by each sensor in turn, from the curresponding source, is reduced by more than a predetermined extent as compared with a situation in which the space between the two arrays is empty.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 19 words

A method as claimed in claim 9, employing apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 7.

Detecting article edges

Abstract

Inventors

Bibliographic Details

Claims Analysis

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Assigned Categories & Tags

Assign Category Tag