US 4,070,584 A · Object-identification system with sequentially activated photocell array

Abstract

An object-identifying system is described comprising at least one device for remotely identifying a plurality of objects bearing each a characteristic code in the form of a badge which has alternating reflective and non-reflective strip zones. The objects may be moving past the device but could also be motionless. When illuminated by a light source, the badge reflects a part of the incident light beam to an opto-electrical transducer which is formed by a number of diodes in a row. Control means allow the photodiodes to be switched on and off in succession to scan the badge. The length of the row of diodes is generally greater than the length of the code support in the scanning direction to allow for any possible disalignment between the support and the identification device.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A system for the remote identification of objects each provided with an area carrying a multiplicity of light-reflecting zones separated by non-reflecting zones, said zones forming a code identifying the respective object, comprising:

a source of light emitting a steady beam for illuminating said area;
an array of photoelectric sensors;
optical means trained upon said area for imaging said zones upon said array, thereby casting a pattern of shadows and light spots onto said sensors;
scanning means for sequentially actuating said sensors in a predetermined order, thereby generating signal pulses in the outputs of sensors illuminated by a light spot of said pattern;
quantizing means connected to said sensors for suppressing signal pulses below a predetermined threshold;
processing means connected to said quantizing means for determining the distribution of said zones from the sequence of occurrence of unsuppressed signal pulses;
and
storage means connected to said processing means for registering a representation of said sequence.

5 more elements

A system for the remote identification of vehicles each provided with a badge divided into a plurality of generally rectangular vertical columns, each column consisting of a multiplicity of vertically superposed zones of varying height which are alternately reflective and non-reflective of incident light to provide a code identifying the respective vehicles, comprising:

a source of light;
first optical means juxtaposed with said source for producing a steady beam illuminating a generally rectangular vertical area along the path of said vehicles positioned to register with the zones of a column of a badge on a vehicle passing along said path;
a linear array of photoelectric sensors remote from said path;
second optical means trained upon said area for imaging said zones upon said array, thereby casting a pattern of shadows and light spots onto said sensors;
scanning means for sequentially actuating said sensors in a predetermined order, thereby generating signal pulses in the outputs of sensors illuminated by a light spot of said pattern;
quantizing means connected to said sensors for suppressing signal pulses below a predetermined threshold;
processing means connected to said quantizing means for determining the vertical distribution of said zones in each column of a badge from the sequence of occurrence of said signal pulses;
and
storage means connected to said processing means for registering a representation of said sequence.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Object-identification system with sequentially activated photocell array

Life of this patent

Object-identification system with sequentially activated photocell array

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims10