Candidate article recognition with assignation of reference points and respective relative weights

Image recognition apparatus for recognizing a condition of a candidate article with respect to a reference condition, said apparatus comprising:

• first memory means for storing a bi-level reference image;
• display means connected to said first memory means for displaying said reference image;
• selecting means connected to said first memory means and said display means for manually designating a plurality of selected reference points of said reference image;
• detecting means that has at least one adjustable parameter and is connected to said selecting means for detecting signal levels at each of said reference points;
• second memory means connected to said detecting means for storing said detected signal levels;
• and
• comparison means connected to said second memory means for making a comparison of said detected signal levels with bi-level signals at points that correspond to said reference points but are proper to a bi-level candidate image corresponding to a candidate article;
• said comparison indicating a condition of said candidate article with respect to a corresponding condition of said reference image, and said display means displaying the results of said comparison;
• wherein each of said points correspond to a plurality of picture elements and said detecting means comprises means for adjustably assigning relative weights to said picture elements.