Abstract: A plastic item, such as a beverage bottle, conveys two distinct digital watermarks, encoded using two distinct signaling protocols. A first, printed label watermark conveys a retailing payload, including a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) used by a point-of-sale scanner in a retail store to identify and price the item when presented for checkout. A second, plastic texture watermark conveys a recycling payload, including data identifying the composition of the plastic. The use of two different signaling protocols assures that a point-of-sale scanner will not spend its limited time and computational resources working to decode the recycling watermark, which lacks the data needed for retail checkout. In some embodiments, a recycling apparatus makes advantageous use of both types of watermarks to identify the plastic composition of the item (e.g., relating GTIN to plastic type using an associated database), thereby increasing the fraction of items that are correctly identified for sorting and recycling.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: An unpeeled potato is cut into wedge-shaped pieces having a substantially triangular cross-section, the base of which is a section of the exterior surface of said potato having the peel retained thereon and the sides of which have no peel thereon. The pieces are then cooked, parfried, frozen and packaged.