• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:
    This invention relates to method of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed, comprising acquiring image data of the food object (101), cutting the food object into smaller food pieces (102), determining, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects (103), and in case such undesired objects are detected, identifying which of the smaller food pieces contain the undesired objects (104).
    公开号:DK201670965A1
    申请号:DKP201670965
    申请日:2016-12-06
    公开日:2018-06-14
    发明作者:Gunnar Atli Thoroddsen；Stella Gudjonsdottir；Sigurdur Halldor Adalsteinsson；Thomas Thorsteinsson
    申请人:Marel Iceland Ehf；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    A METHOD OF PROCESSING A FOOD OBJECT FIELD OF THE INVENTION
    The present invention relates to a method of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed.
    BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
    Imaging equipment’s such an X-ray devices are becoming more and more important within the food industry. One implementation is to use X-ray devices in processing fish fillets, where the X-ray data are used as an operation parameter for operating cutting device, e.g. a high pressure water jet cutter, in cutting the fish fillets (or any other food products) into pieces. If the X-ray device however detects an undesired object, e.g. bones, the whole fish fillet will not be cut and rejected and sent to a rework station where typically an operator manually removes the undesired object. Subsequently, the processed fish fillet is recirculated into the X-ray device, but this recirculation is typically performed manually. The problem with this approach is that finding the undesired object can be a tedious and time consuming process. This approach also leads to excessive handling of the raw material.
    SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
    It would be advantageous to achieve an improved solution in processing food objects where the throughput is increased.
    In general, the invention preferably seeks to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages singly or in any combination. In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of processing food objects that solves the above mentioned problems, or other problems, of the prior art.
    According to a first aspect of the invention, a method is provided of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed, comprising: • acquiring image data of the food object, • cutting the food object into smaller food pieces, • determining, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects, and in case such undesired objects are detected, • identifying which of the smaller food pieces contain the undesired objects.
    Accordingly, the food object will not be treated differently depending on whether such undesired objects are detected or not and therefore the time needed to convey the food object is utilized in performing the cutting step. Thus, valuable time is saved which enhances the throughput. The food objet may by any type of a food object, such as a fish fillet, meat pieces, poultry meat etc.
    Also, less raw material will be exposed which facilitates looking for the undesired objects meaning that less time will be spent on the rework and thus the overall throughput is further enhanced. The undesired object may include, but is not limited to, bones, blotspots, gapings, or nematodes.
    In one embodiment, said step of cutting the food object is determined dynamically in accordance to said acquired image data. In that way, depending on e.g. the size and/shape and/or thickness, the cutting of the food object is determined, preferably aiming at maximizing the yield.
    In one embodiment, said image data comprise X-ray data obtained by means of exposing the food object with an X-ray beam and processing the intensities of the X-ray beam after penetrating through the food object. In that way, undesired objects such as bones, metals and the like may be detected. Moreover, the detected intensities may be processed to estimate the weight of the food object, which may be used as an additional operation parameter is cutting the food object into e.g. fixed portions.
    In one embodiment, the method further comprises automatically separating those smaller food pieces containing the undesired objects from the food object. This may e.g. be performed using a robotic system comprising a robotic arm, where the smaller food piece or pieces containing undesired objects is used as a control signal to the robotic system for automatically removing these piece or pieces.
    Another alternative to automatically separating those smaller food pieces containing the undesired objects from the food object may comprise using a conveyor assembly, e.g. slidable conveyor or conveyor part, a pivotable conveyor or conveyor part or the like, which is well known to a person skilled in the art, which enables rejection of only the piece or pieces containing undesired objects.
    In one embodiment, the step of determining, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects comprises detecting whether detected objects are above a pre-defined size range, wherein if the detected objects exceed the pre-defined size range the detected objects are considered to be undesired objects. Accordingly, it may be decided that if such objects are e.g. bones, that the length of the bones may be the pre-defined size range, e.g. all bones being 1mm or less are not considered to be undesired objects, whereas all bones above 1mm are considered to be undesired objects. The width of the detected objects may also be considered as an additional or a dominant factor in this predefined size range.
    In general the various aspects of the invention may be combined and coupled in any way possible within the scope of the invention. These and other aspects, features and/or advantages of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.
    BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
    Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which figure 1 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method according to the present invention of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed, and figures 2 and 3 show two examples of where a fish fillet, a white fish, has been automatically cut into smaller pieces.
    DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
    Figure 1 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method according to the present invention of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed. The food object may be a fish fillet, poultry meat, beef, pork and the like. In the following, it will be assumed that the food object is a fish fillet.
    In step (SI) 101 image data of the food object is acquired. The image data include in one embodiment X-ray data obtained by means of exposing the food object with an X-ray beam and processing the intensities of the X-ray beam after penetrating through the food object. This is especially suitable in detecting bones, metal objects or any other undesired objects in the fish fillet.
    The image data may also include digital data obtained by means of an inspection device and where said undesired objects are selected from one or more of: blotspots, nematodes or gapings.
    In step (S2) 102 the food object is cut into smaller food pieces, e.g. loin part, belly part, tail part etc.. This may be performed based on pre-fixed cutting patterns. In a preferred embodiment this cutting is determined dynamically in accordance to said acquired image data. This means that depending on the size/shape/geometry of the food object the cutting is determined accordingly.
    In step (S3) 103 it is determined, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects.
    In step (S4) 104, in case such undesired objects in (S4) are detected, it is identified which of the smaller food pieces contain the undesired objects.
    In step (S5) 105, the method may further comprise automatically separating those smaller food pieces containing the undesired objects from the food object. This may be performed via any type of a reject conveyor device or conveyor assembly such as by arranging two conveyors in an end-to-end arrangement and temporarily withdrawing one of the ends and create a gap there between through which the food pieces containing the undesired objects may be dropped. This may also be done using any type of a robotic arm, or an operator may be informed via any type of a device, e.g. via a display, which of the food piece(s) containing the undesired objects.
    Figure 2 shows one example where a fish fillet, a white fish, has been automatically cut into smaller pieces and where the cut includes cutting around the pin bones 205 in the fish fillet, where the pieces include a loin part 201, a belly part 202 and belly portion 203, and a tail part 204. This cutting may e.g. be performed using a high pressure water jet, but other cutting tools well known to a skilled person in the art may of cause be used.
    The image date comprise X-ray data that are processed and based thereon it is decided how to cut this particular fish fillet depending on the size/shape of the fish fillet, i.e. the cutting is performed in a dynamic way. Moreover, the X-ray data are processed to determine whether any of the cut pieces contain undesired objects, such as bones or any other undesired fragments. In this case, the X-ray data indicate is a small piece of a bone within the box 207 (in addition to the pin bone area 205) in the tail part 204, and another bone within the box 206 at the loin part. In this case, the size of these bone fragments are determined and based thereon it is determined whether or not they should be considered as being undesired objects. As an example, a bone of 2mm long or less may be considered as not being undesired object, whereas bone fragments above 2mm is considered as being an undesired object. In this particular case, only the size of the bone within box 206 may be categorized as being an undesired object and thus only this loin part is to be removed/rejected, as discussed above, instead of removing the whole fish fillet.
    Figure 3 shows another fillet that has been cut into similar pieces, but where not undesired object has been detected and thus no piece needs to be rejected.
    While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.
    Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
    权利要求:
    Claims (8)
    [1] 1. A method of processing a food object while the food object is being conveyed, comprising: • acquiring image data of the food object (101), • cutting the food object into smaller food pieces (102), • determining, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects (103), and in case such undesired objects are detected, • identifying which of the smaller food pieces contain the undesired objects (104).
    [2] 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of cutting the food object is determined dynamically in accordance to said acquired image data.
    [3] 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said image data comprise X-ray data obtained by means of exposing the food object with an X-ray beam and processing the intensities of the X-ray beam after penetrating through the food object.
    [4] 4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising automatically separating those smaller food pieces containing the undesired objects from the food object (105).
    [5] 5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said undesired objects include one or more of the following: bones, blotspots, gapings, or nematodes.
    [6] 6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, where said acquired image data comprise digital data obtained by means of an inspection device and where said undesired objects are selected from one or more of: blotspots, nematodes or gapings.
    [7] 7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the food object is a fish fillet.
    [8] 8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the step of determining, based on the acquired image data, whether the food object contains undesired objects comprises detecting whether detected objects are above a pre-defmed size range, wherein if the detected objects exceed the pre-defmed size range the detected objects are considered to be undesired objects.
    类似技术:
    公开号 | 公开日 | 专利标题
    Dowlati et al.2012|Application of machine-vision techniques to fish-quality assessment
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    DK179426B1|2018-06-18|A method of processing a food object
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    JPH06242102A|1994-09-02|Inspection method and apparatus for flesh tissue
    WO2020161229A1|2020-08-13|Imaging based portion cutting
    Thorarinsdottir2015|APRICOT-Automated Pinbone Removal in Cod and Whitefish
    Christensen et al.2015|Development of an objective method to perform quality classification of comminuted poultry meat
    WO2021043747A1|2021-03-11|Automatic removal of contamination on carcasses
    CN113747794A|2021-12-03|Method and device for processing a carcass part of a pig suspended from a carrier
    DK201670034A1|2016-02-01|A method and a device for automatically cutting meat products such as beef tenderloin into portions
    Usher et al.2013|Development and evaluation of a vision based poultry debone line monitoring system
    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    DK179426B1|2018-06-18|
    IS3009B|2019-03-15|
    US20200060294A1|2020-02-27|
    WO2018104373A1|2018-06-14|
    EP3550982A1|2019-10-16|
    DK179426B9|2018-07-12|
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    US20040029512A1|1998-07-31|2004-02-12|Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader Gmbh & Co Kg, Federal Republic Of Germany|Device and method respectively for processing flesh|
    US20020067797A1|2000-12-01|2002-06-06|Fmc Corporation|Apparatus and method for detecting and removing undesirable material from workpieces|
    WO2006064521A1|2004-12-16|2006-06-22|Skaginn Hf.|A method and an apparatus for automatic bone removal|
    EP2353395A1|2010-02-07|2011-08-10|Valka Ehf|Food processing apparatus for detecting and cutting tissues from food items|
    WO2016008926A2|2014-07-15|2016-01-21|Marel Iceland Ehf|A pin bone removal system|
    EP2636495A1|2012-03-08|2013-09-11|Marel Iceland EHF|A cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt and food processing system comprising such apparatus|DK180343B1|2018-11-26|2021-01-15|Teknologisk Inst|System and method for automatic removal of foreign objects from a food surface|
    法律状态:
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    DKPA201670965A|DK179426B9|2016-12-06|2016-12-06|A method of processing a food object|DKPA201670965A| DK179426B9|2016-12-06|2016-12-06|A method of processing a food object|
    EP17825131.0A| EP3550982A1|2016-12-06|2017-12-06|A method of processing a food object|
    US16/466,448| US20200060294A1|2016-12-06|2017-12-06|A method of processing a food object|
    PCT/EP2017/081643| WO2018104373A1|2016-12-06|2017-12-06|A method of processing a food object|
    IS050240A| IS3009B|2016-12-06|2018-09-28|A method of processing a food object|
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