Primal tracking
US6104966A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 28, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 15, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 28, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06K17/0022
- WIPO fieldOther special machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A method and system for tracking and identifying food products as they are being processed is disclosed, wherein no tags or encodings are attached to the food products, and wherein there is no extraneous manipulation of the food products. The tracking system of the present invention utilizes sensor input from substantially any sensor capable of detecting a food product in some manner. That is, the tracking system uses binary detect/no detect inputs for determining whether a food product can be identified at each sensor along a predetermined path. Thus, given that a food product has been identified at a particular sensor, the tracking system generates an hypothesis indicative of when the food product is expected to be at the next sensor along the predetermined path. Accordingly, if the next sensor detects a food product within an allotted window, then the food product detected is assumed to be the one to which the hypothesis applies. The tracking system is particularly useful in tracking sections of meat through a meat processing plant so that each section of meat can be associated with data identifying, the animal from which the meat section was obtained, and data indicative of mea…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.