Method for determining an angular orientation of a log (2) about one of its longitudinal development axes, comprising a first generation step, during which one or more first digital images are generated of the lateral surface of the log placed in a reference position, using one or more first digital photographs, a second generation step, during which one or more second digital images are generated of the lateral surface (1) of the log (2) placed in a second position using the one or more second digital photographs, a step of comparing the one or more second digital images with the one or more first digital images, and a step of determining the angular orientation of the log (2) in the second position with reference to a reference angular orientation of the log (2) in the reference position, based on information related to the first digital images and the second digital images for which a match was identified. Also claimed is a device which can implement is programmed to perform the following of the steps described above: the second generation step, the comparison step and the determination step.

A method assess the quality of varnished wood surfaces. The method includes the following steps: a) creating a brightness map of the surface, b) creating a curvature map of the surface, c) ascertaining a cross-correlation of brightness map and curvature map, and d) evaluating the result of the cross-correlation to ascertain the proportion of the irregularities of the surface to be attributed to varnish flaws.

A method for identifying charcoal products includes capturing, by a camera, an image of a sample of charcoal. The method also includes analyzing, by a processor in communication with the camera, the image of the sample to identify characteristics of the sample. The method also includes comparing, by the processor, the identified characteristics to a plurality of signatures to determine a match between the identified characteristics and known characteristics associated with each signature in the plurality of signatures. The method further includes generating, by the processor, an output based on the comparison.

Provided are a damage diagram creation method, a damage diagram creation device, a damage diagram creation system, and a recording medium capable of detecting damage with high accuracy based on a plurality of images acquired by subjecting a subject to split imaging. In a damage diagram creation method, damage of a subject is detected from each image (each image in a state of being not composed) constituting a plurality of images (a plurality of images acquired by subjecting the subject to split imaging), and thus, damage detection performance is not deteriorated due to deterioration of image quality in an overlapping area. Therefore, it is possible to detect damage with high accuracy based on a plurality of images acquired by subjecting the subject to split imaging. Detection results for the respective images can be composed using a composition parameter calculated based on correspondence points between the images.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, is used to accurately determine the strength of the green veneer sheet or other wood product. Based on the determined strength for a given green veneer sheet or other wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to green veneer sheet or other wood product to ensure the green veneer sheet or other wood product is put the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

A light 2 for reflected light that emits visible light for reflected light onto a front side of a veneer 6, a light 32 for invisible light that emits near-infrared light for transmitted light onto a back side of the veneer 6, and an image processing device 1 that detects defects of the veneer 6 by analyzing a captured image generated by a line sensor camera 4 are provided. Defects of the veneer 6 are discriminated on the basis of a set of shading and shapes in an infrared-transmitted-light image based on the transmitted light, and colors in a visible-light image based on the reflected light. Consequently, even if a defect has a small color difference from a normal part in the visible-light image, difference of shading between the defective part and the normal part appears in the infrared-transmitted-light image, and a defect that is difficult to detect by seeing only a color difference in a visible-light image can be relatively easily detected.

Provided are a damage diagram creation method, a damage diagram creation device, a damage diagram creation system, and a recording medium capable of detecting damage with high accuracy based on a plurality of images acquired by subjecting a subject to split imaging.

In a damage diagram creation method, damage of a subject is detected from each image (each image in a state of being not composed) constituting a plurality of images (a plurality of images acquired by subjecting the subject to split imaging), and thus, damage detection performance is not deteriorated due to deterioration of image quality in an overlapping area. Therefore, it is possible to detect damage with high accuracy based on a plurality of images acquired by subjecting the subject to split imaging. Detection results for the respective images can be composed using a composition parameter calculated based on correspondence points between the images.

A computer-implemented method for estimating a pith location with regard to a timber board, including: receiving a pixelated actual digital image of each lateral face of at least a longitudinal part of the timber board, extending along a longitudinal axis of the timber board; identifying an input portion in said longitudinal part of the timber board, where the input portion is a portion of the timber board which extends along the longitudinal axis; extracting from each pixelated actual digital image of the longitudinal part of the timber board, an input image representing said input portion, so obtaining four input images representing an appearance of the input portion at each lateral face of the timber board; inputting said four input images into the input layer of an artificial neural network and making the artificial neural network operate; and reading, at an output layer of the artificial neural network, output data defining a location of a pith of a log from which the timber board has been obtained, in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the timber board at the input portion.

A method for identifying a log of origin of a first board, comprising an identification step, during which a second board (12) is identified which was obtained from the same log (2) as the first board (11) was obtained from, a studying step, during which identifying features of the second board (12) are identified, and a recognition step during which the log (2) of origin of the first board (11) is recognised, among a plurality of known logs (2) about which saved information is available, and this is done by identifying the log of origin of the second board (12), using the identifying features of the second board (12) itself.

A pallet inspection system includes a frame configured to have a pallet receiving area to receive a wooden pallet to be inspected for having at least one mark indicating that wood in the pallet has been heat treated. Cameras are carried by the frame to generate images of the wooden pallet in response to the wooden pallet being in the pallet receiving area. A processor is to perform object detection on each image to detect if the mark is present, crop each image having the mark so that an area surrounding the mark within the image is removed, and perform image segmentation on each cropped image so that pixels within the cropped image are classified into regions. The processor determines readability of the regions in each cropped image based on respective readability criteria thresholds. The mark is classified in each cropped image as readable based on the mark meeting the respective readability criteria thresholds.