Lumber inspection and optimization system

A method for optimizing the product utilization of raw material having flaws of irregular shapes and sizes randomly disposed along its surfaces wherein the surfaces of the material are electro-optically scanned to generate encoded scan data, indicative of the size, shape, and location of the flaws including the surface of the material on which they occur, said method comprising the steps of:

• processing said encoded scan data to generate edge location data indicative of the location of the edges of rectangles formed about each flaw;
• storing said edge location data in a flaw data buffer;
• generating order entry data in response to an input from an external source indicative of the physical description and priority of the products desired to be obtained from the raw material;
• storing said order entry data in an order entry buffer, in a descending order of the priority;
• selecting products to be cut from said raw material in accordance with said stored descending order of the priority from the usable material between the flaws determined from the edge location data stored in said flaw data buffer;
• and
• storing the beginning and the end locations of each selected product to generate a cut line buffer storing the locations where the material is to be cut to optimize the utilization.

A method for optimizing the board product utilization of raw lumber having flaws of irregular shapes and sizes randomly disposed along its surfaces wherein the surfaces of the lumber are electro-optically scanned to generate encoded scan data indicative of the size, shape, and location of the flaws including the surface on which the flaws occur, said method comprising the steps of:

• processing said encoded scan data to generate edge location data indicative of the edge locations of a rectangle formed about each flaw;
• computing from said edge location data in accordance with a predetermined set of rules new edge location data indicative of rectangles about each flaw enlarged to encompass defective wood normally adjacent to each flaw;
• storing said new edge location data to generate a flaw data buffer;
• generating order entry data in response to an input from an external source indicative of the physical description and priority of the board products desired to be obtained from the raw lumber;
• storing said order entry data to generate an order entry buffer storing the physical description of each board product in the order of its priority;
• processing said flaw data to generate segment data indicative of the beginning and end locations of usable segments of lumber between the detected flaws;
• storing said segment data to generate a segment buffer;
• comparing in the order of their priority, the length of the board products stored in the order entry buffer with the lengths of the usable segments of lumber stored in the segment buffer to identify the highest priority board product that may be taken from each usable segment;
• computing the beginning and end locations of the identified highest priority board products taken from usable segments to generate cut line data indicative of the locations where the raw lumber is to be cut to obtain the identified board product;
• subtracting said cut line data from said segment data to generate remainder data indicative of the beginning and end locations of usable remainder lumber;
• storing said remainder data to generate a remainder buffer;
• comparing in the order of priority, the lengths of the board products stored in the order entry buffer with the length of usable remainder stored in the remainder buffer to identify the highest priority board product that may be taken from each usable remainder;
• computing the beginning and end location of the identified highest priority board products taken from usable remainder to generate cut line data indicative of the locations where the raw lumber is to be cut to obtain the identified board product;
• subtracting said cut line data from said remainder data to generate new remainder data indicative of the beginning and end locations of remaining remainder lumber;
• repeating the steps of comparing to identify highest priority board products, computing to generate cut line data, and subtracting to generate new remainder data until no board products stored in the order entry buffer can be extracted from the usable remainder material;
• and
• storing said cut line data to generate a cut line buffer.