Tracing with vision

1. An apparatus for tracing items, the apparatus comprising:

a conveyor, where the conveyor has a continuous cleated conveyor belt for transporting single items between each two cleats, said conveyor further comprising an axis raising the cleated conveyor belt between an in-feed end and an out-feed end forming a highest point of the continuous cleated conveyor belt and wherein the in-feed portion of the belt inclines to the highest point of the continuous cleated conveyor belt and an out feed-portion declines from the highest point of the continuous conveyor belt,

at least one image means, which determines at least one characteristic property of the items being transported on the cleated conveyor belt, said at least one image means being positioned above the top position of the cleated conveyor belt,

at least one diverting means,

at least one collection bin, said at least one collection bin being a part of a packing station, and

computing means;

wherein transporting the items over the top position of the cleated conveyor belt rolls the items from side to side providing more than one image view of the items and based on data from the at least one image means and the computing means, selected items are diverted to a collection bin by the diverting means and the computing means and packed in a unit which is given an ID, and in that the at least one characteristic property of each item and the ID of the unit, which the item is packed in, is stored in a database.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a scale is positioned before or after the conveyor belt.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a flow scale/dynamic scale is positioned under the belt of the conveyor.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an electronic nose is positioned by the conveyor where the items pass by.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises:

an in-feed means, and

an in-feed station.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the in-feed means is an in-feed conveyor.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the distance between two adjacent cleats of the conveyor belt allows conveying one item only in a space between two adjacent cleats.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a second image means directed to the in-feed station to detect the volume of items in the in-feed station.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyor is configured to alter a position of the items while being transported such that the apparatus obtains more than one view of the items.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyor is configured to change a position of the items on the conveyor and the at least one image means is configured to obtain images of the items before, during and after the position of the items is changed.

11. A method for tracing items, the method comprising:

transporting the items on a conveyor, where the conveyor has a continuous cleated conveyor belt for transporting single items between each two cleats, wherein an in-feed portion of the continuous cleated conveyor belt inclines to a highest point of the continuous cleated conveyor belt and an out feed-portion declines from the highest point of the continuous conveyor belt,

determining at least one characteristic property of the items being transported on the continuous cleated conveyor belt by at least one image means,

diverting selected items to a collection bin by a diverting means, said collection bin being a part of a packing station;

wherein two or more views of the items are obtained by the at least one image means and based on data from the at least one image means and a computing means, selected items are diverted to the collection bin by the diverting means and a computing means and packed in a unit which is given a ID, and in that the at least one characteristic property of each item and the ID of the unit the item is packed in is stored in a database.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein a portion of the conveyor belt is raised by an axle between an in-feed and an out feed end of the cleated conveyor belt.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the apparatus further comprises:

an in-feed means, and

an in-feed station.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the items to be traced are fish.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the computing means stores information on the characteristics of the fish directly after the information has been obtained in a database or a cloud, where controllers can access the data in real-time or at a later time point.

16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the two or more views of the items are obtained by the at least one image means or two or more image means positioned at different positions before and above the cleated conveyor belt.

17. A fishing vessel for catching and slaughtering fish, said fishing vessel comprising an apparatus for tracing items, the apparatus comprising:

a conveyor, where the conveyor has a continuous cleated conveyor belt for transporting single items between each two cleats, wherein an in-feed portion of the continuous cleated conveyor belt inclines to a highest point of the continuous cleated conveyor belt and an out feed-portion declines from the highest point of the continuous conveyor belt,

at least one image means, which determines at least one characteristic property of the items being transported on the cleated conveyor belt,

at least one diverting means,

at least one collection bin, said at least one collection bin being a part of a packing station, and

computing means;

wherein two or more views of the items are obtained by the at least one image means and based on data from the at least one image means and the computing means, selected items are diverted to a collection bin by the diverting means and the computing means and packed in a unit which is given an ID, and in that the at least one characteristic property of each item and the ID of the unit, which the item is packed in, is stored in a database.