Abstract: A rigid carton of packets of cigarettes, having a first container, which houses a group of packets of cigarettes and is in turn housed inside a second container so as to slide, with respect to the second container, between a closed position wherein the first container is fully inserted inside the second container, and an open position wherein part of the first container is extracted from the second container.

Abstract: A rigid carton of packets of cigarettes, having a first container, which houses a group of packets of cigarettes and is in turn housed inside a second container so as to slide, with respect to the second container, between a closed position wherein the first container is fully inserted inside the second container, and an open position wherein part of the first container is extracted from the second container.

Abstract: A method of controlling banknotes provides for acquiring a first image of a banknote having two successive prints; determining a relative deviation of the prints; determining deformation of the banknote; forming a second image as a function of the relative deviation, of the deformation, and of a third and fourth image characteristic of the respective successive prints; and emitting an error signal when the luminance values of the first image are outside first ranges relating to luminance values of the second image, or when the relative deviation is outside a second range.

Abstract: A method of controlling an object having a first and a second print executed at different stages, the method providing for acquiring an image of the object; calculating a relative deviation between the first print and the second print of the object; forming a virtual specimen image by superimposing a reference image of the first print and a reference image of the second print and taking into account the relative deviation; comparing the image with the specimen image; and emitting an error signal in the event the luminance values of the image fail to fall within an acceptance range of the luminance values of the specimen image, and the relative deviation is above a given value.

Abstract: A method of controlling banknotes provides for acquiring a first image of a banknote having two successive prints; determining a relative deviation of the prints; determining deformation of the banknote; forming a second image as a function of the relative deviation, of the deformation, and of a third and fourth image characteristic of the respective successive prints; and emitting an error signal when the luminance values of the first image are outside first ranges relating to luminance values of the second image, or when the relative deviation is outside a second range.

Abstract: A method of controlling printed items, in particular banknotes, involving two printing stages, the method including the steps of acquiring a controlled-item image; acquiring from the controlled-item image a deviation value between images printed in the two printing stages; acquiring a specimen-item image having the aforementioned deviation value; and comparing the controlled-item image with the specimen-item image; the specimen-item image being selected from a number of images memorized beforehand in a specimen image memory.

Abstract: A method of controlling printed items, in particular banknotes, involving two printing stages, the method including the steps of acquiring a controlled-item image; acquiring from the controlled-item image a deviation value between images printed in the two printing stages; acquiring a specimen-item image having the aforementioned deviation value; and comparing the controlled-item image with the specimen-item image; the specimen-item image being selected from a number of images memorized beforehand in a specimen image memory.

Abstract: A method of detecting adhesive material applied to a blank from which to form a container for tobacco articles, wherein the adhesive material forms at least one continuous mass of adhesive material on one face of the blank; the method providing for reproducing an image of at least one part of the face including a first portion corresponding to the face portion covered by the mass, and a second portion corresponding to the face portion free of the mass; electronically defining an application region in the image; and emitting a cover signal depending on the portion of the application region occupied by the first image portion.

Abstract: The external integrity of cigarettes is verified by a method that involves directing single cigarettes, carried on a conveyor, along a route of which one section affords a monitoring path equipped with a line scan camera; the advancing cigarette can be made selectively to rotate about its longitudinal axis while the camera, a solid state type using CCD arrays, makes a succession of scans on respective closely ordered parallel lines, which are pulsed at a programmed frequency and synchronously with the movement of the cigarette in such a way that each successive scan line will fall on one and the same generator of the cylindrical surface. Repeated scanning of the same limited surface area eliminates quality control errors attributable to the presence of particulates in the space between the cigarettes and the camera.

Abstract: A pickup system comprising a robot having a gripping member fitted with a camera for acquiring an image of the object to be picked up, which image is supplied to a control section by which it is processed for determining a predetermined point, typically the center, of the object by generating shifted inverted images of the object and intersecting the shifted inverted images and the original image.

Abstract: Cigarettes on a conveyor are surface checked, in at least one observation station, by means of at least one optical unit having a light source for directing light rays on to one half of the outer surface of the cigarette, and a pair of prismatic bodies facing respective quarters of the surface of the cigarette, and which provide for directing all the rays reflected from the aforementioned half of the surface into one beam directed towards one monitoring unit.