Device for counting stacked products

1. A device for counting thin products ( 1 ) that can be stacked side-by-side in a tray ( 2 ), characterized in that it comprises at least one counting station comprised of at least one contact image sensor (CIS) module ( 3 ; 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ), whose overall length is at least equal to the length of the tray ( 2 ) in which the products ( 1 ) are stacked and means for performing multiple scans in a direction transverse to the tray ( 2 ), each CIS module ( 3 ; 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ) comprising at least means ( 31 ) for longitudinally illuminating the products ( 1 ) with a linear light beam and at least one CIS circuit ( 33 ), said CIS circuit comprising a plurality of photosensitive elements connected to at least one printed circuit ( 34 ), means for detecting positioning of the tray ( 2 ), means for moving the tray or CIS modules in a direction perpendicular to the linear light beam, means for storing signals representative of data derived from the linear light beam reflected by the products ( 1 ), and means for processing said data for determining the number of products.

2. The counting device according to claim 1 , further comprising a means ( 6 ) for transport and successive presentation of trays ( 2 ) in front of the counting station.

3. The counting device according to claim 1 , characterized in that each CIS module ( 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ) comprises a lens ( 32 ) for focusing the beam reflected by the products ( 1 ) onto the CIS circuit ( 33 ).

4. The counting device according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of adjacent CIS modules arranged such that the illuminating beams of adjacent CIS modules partly overlap and means for calibrating the CIS modules ( 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ), to define a useful read area for each CIS module, the useful read area of a CIS module starting at the point where the useful read area of the preceding CIS module ends, and wherein the processing means joins the images read end to end by the useful read areas of the different CIS modules.

5. The counting device according to claim 2 , comprising a plurality of adjacent CIS modules arranged such that the illuminating beams of adjacent CIS modules partly overlap and means for calibrating the CIS modules ( 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ), to define a useful read area for each CIS module, the useful read area of a CIS module starting at the point where the useful read area of the preceding CIS module ends, and wherein the processing means joins the images read end to end by the useful read areas of the different CIS modules.

6. The counting device according to claim 3 , comprising a plurality of adjacent CIS modules arranged such that the illuminating beams of adjacent CIS modules partly overlap and means for calibrating the CIS modules ( 3 1 , 3 2 , 3 3 ), to define a useful read area for each CIS module, the useful read area of a CIS module starting at the point where the useful read area of the preceding CIS module ends, and wherein the processing means joins the images read end to end by the useful read areas of the different CIS modules.

7. The counting device according to claim 4 , characterized in that the storage means comprises at least as many memory bytes as there are CIS module useful photosensitive elements.

8. The counting device according to claim 5 , characterized in that the storage means comprises at least as many memory bytes as there are CIS module useful photosensitive elements.

9. The counting device according to claim 6 , characterized in that the storage means comprises at least as many memory bytes as there are CIS module useful photosensitive elements.

10. The counting device according to claim 7 , wherein each photosensitive element comprises 256 brightness levels forming a pixel, and each pixel is combined with the adjacent pixels to determine the presence of products ( 1 ) and to count them.

11. The counting device according to claim 8 , wherein each photosensitive element comprises 256 brightness levels forming a pixel, and each pixel is combined with the adjacent pixels to determine the presence of products ( 1 ) and to count them.

12. The counting device according to claim 9 , wherein each photosensitive element comprises 256 brightness levels forming a pixel, and each pixel is combined with the adjacent pixels to determine the presence of products ( 1 ) and to count them.

13. The counting device according to claim 7 , wherein the CIS is a color CIS and each photosensitive element represents one combination of colors for the color CIS.

14. The counting device according to claim 10 , wherein the CIS is a color CIS and each photosensitive element represents one combination of colors for the color CIS.

15. The counting device according to claim 7 , wherein the CIS is a monochrome CIS and each photosensitive element represents one combination of gray level images for the monochrome CIS.

16. The counting device according to claim 10 , wherein the CIS is a monochrome CIS and each photosensitive element represents one combination of gray level images for the monochrome CIS.

17. The device according to claim 4 , wherein each counting station is disposed to detect alternate peaks and valleys, each peak corresponding either to a tray ( 2 ) edge or to a product ( 1 ) to be counted, and the processing means counts peaks and valleys constituting a stored sinusoidal signal representative of the stored linear beam of a scan.

18. The device according to claim 7 , wherein each counting station is disposed to detect alternate peaks and valleys, each peak corresponding either to a tray ( 2 ) edge or to a product ( 1 ) to be counted, and the processing means counts peaks and valleys constituting a stored sinusoidal signal representative of the stored linear beam of a scan.

19. The device according to claim 10 , wherein each counting station is disposed to detect alternate peaks and valleys, each peak corresponding either to a tray ( 2 ) edge or to a product ( 1 ) to be counted, and the processing means counts peaks and valleys constituting a stored sinusoidal signal representative of the stored linear beam of a scan.

20. The device according to claim 13 , wherein each counting station is disposed to detect alternate peaks and valleys, each peak corresponding either to a tray ( 2 ) edge or to a product ( 1 ) to be counted, and the processing means counts peaks and valleys constituting a stored sinusoidal signal representative of the stored linear beam of a scan.

21. The counting device according to claim 4 , characterized in that the processing means enable pre-processing of a concatenated image by averaging and/or by autocorrelation of the image.

22. The counting device according to claim 7 , characterized in that the processing means enable pre-processing of a concatenated image by averaging and/or by autocorrelation of the image.

23. The counting device according to claim 10 , characterized in that the processing means enable pre-processing of a concatenated image by averaging and/or by autocorrelation of the image.

24. The counting device according to claim 13 , characterized in that the processing means enable pre-processing of a concatenated image by averaging and/or by autocorrelation of the image.

25. The counting device according to claim 17 , characterized in that the processing means enable pre-processing of a concatenated image by averaging and/or by autocorrelation of the image.