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US 7,974,459 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for the automated marking of defects on webs of material
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsSteven P. Floeder, James A. Masterman, Carl J. Skeps
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for the characterization of webs that permits the identification of anomalous regions on the web to be performed at a first time and place, and permits the localization and marking of actual defects to be performed at a second time and place.
Claims6
A method of analyzing a web of material containing at least two anomalies, comprising:
- receiving a web of material having upon it regularly spaced fiducial marks that uniquely identify a plurality of distinct positions on the web;
- imaging at least a portion of the web as part of a first web operation, to provide digital information;
- processing the digital information with an initial algorithm to identify regions on the web containing the at least two anomalies;
- recording positional information localizing the identified regions relative to at least one of the fiducial marks;
- winding the web onto a roll;
- subsequent to the winding step, as part of a second web operation that is temporally distinguished from the first web operation by at least the winding step, unwinding the web and applying locating marks to the web identifying the position of at least one of the identified regions, using the positional information and the fiducial marks as a guide.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.