JP2001239221A - Image forming device and assorting/classifying/judging device used for assorting of agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device for agricultural products which improves the reliability of grade decision in assorting the agricultural products. SOLUTION: This device has a camera 202 for picking up the images of at least the flanks of the agricultural products P which are placed on agricultural product loading surfaces having recesses and are transported and an arithmetic controller 3 which determines the regions of the appearance decision images for making decision relating to the appearance of the agricultural products P by removing the pickup image information within the prescribed width along the contours of the resulted lateral pickup images of the agricultural products. The arithmetic controller 3 is constituted to have removal width changing sections 302 which are capable of dividing the blocks along the image contours and changing the same by dividing the blocks to the blocks of the lateral pickup images dividing the sizes of the prescribed widths to be removed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to tangerines, apples,
Tomato, watermelon, related to devices used in sorting facilities and the like for sorting agricultural products such as melon, specifically, an image generation device used for sorting agricultural products that measures the appearance of agricultural products used as one of the sorting information, And a sorting classification determining apparatus using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits are sorted according to their individual qualities in a sorting place or the like, and the appropriateness of the sorting is regarded as important. this is,
This is because quality evaluations in consumers and trading markets are directly linked to the price paid to agricultural producers.

[0003] Elements for sorting agricultural products are generally classified into class elements (weight and size), grade elements (appearance such as surface flaws and colors, sugar content, ripeness, etc.). In consideration of the characteristic properties of various agricultural products, class and grade elements are measured with a camera or other equipment, and sorted using an MPU (microprocessor unit) or the like. The classification is determined, or partly determined depending on the skill of the worker. Among these, the factors related to the appearance of agricultural products are the ones that are stable in terms of objectivity and Equipment measurement that is excellent in terms of efficiency and efficiency is mainly performed.

[0004] Such a device for measuring the appearance is constituted, for example, by arranging a plurality of cameras around a conveyor or the like for transporting agricultural products, or by combining a mirror and a camera.
An image of a three-dimensional appearance is taken from a flat surface, from the side of the transport path, diagonally forward, diagonally rear, and the like.

[0005] The appearance information of the agricultural product imaged as described above, for example, the information of the class element of the size, the information of the grade element such as the color and the flaw, etc. is used to determine the sorting category of the agricultural product according to a predetermined determination program or the like. .

[0006] By the way, since the above-mentioned captured image is an agricultural product, for example, a spherical mass, it is inevitable that information of an uncertain part is included in the image even if the lighting and the imaging method are devised. Is common. Specifically, there are halation and blurring of the contour portion, image missing due to insufficient illumination, and the like. Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-307357 proposes an image processing for removing a range (peripheral portion) of a predetermined width from a contour in a captured image of an agricultural product from image information used for determination.

[0007] By adopting the above-mentioned proposal, it is possible to prevent a problem that an agricultural product is inappropriately determined and evaluated by abnormal information included in an uncertain portion of a captured image.

[0008]

In the image processing for removing an uncertain part included in a captured image as described above, it is necessary to make the area as small as possible (increase the area of the certain part). It is desirable to evaluate the classification of agricultural products as accurately as possible.

From such a viewpoint, the image processing for removing the width of a predetermined range from the contour of the captured image as an uncertain part was further studied.
The part where blur, image missing, etc. are likely to occur is defined as a normal line (a line perpendicular to the curved surface) established at an arbitrary point on the agricultural product surface, assuming that the surface of the agricultural product is a smooth curved surface. The inventor of the present invention considered that an area where the point is located corresponds to an angle formed between the point and a line connecting the light receiving unit of the imaging unit to a predetermined angle or more. In other words, it is considered that an image in a region where the oblique angle is large has a great influence on information other than the information derived from the original agricultural product surface.

According to this idea, the size of the width to be removed is not constant depending on the relationship between the imaging direction and the shape of the agricultural product, such as a sphere, and, for example, a flat image when the agricultural product has a rugby ball shape. The size of the width to be removed is not the same in the side image, and the same width is not necessarily the same in the side region and the top region even for the same side image. Also,
The width of the width to be removed is not the same between relatively flat agricultural products such as Unshu Mandarin orange and the above-mentioned rugby ball type agricultural products.

Apart from the above, when a tray called a free tray, which is often used for sorting agricultural products in recent years, is used, the agricultural product is usually provided in a depression (recess) provided at the center of the tray. Is transported in a state in which it sinks to some extent, so that the part that sinks in the pan is not captured as an image of agricultural products. Nevertheless, even in this case, if image processing for removing a range of a fixed width from the outline of the captured image is performed, there is a possibility that a region that does not correspond to an originally uncertain portion may be removed. If there is a flaw or the like that affects the grade determination, the determination is ignored, and there is a problem that the reliability of the determination / evaluation by the instrument measurement is impaired.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an agricultural product image generation device capable of improving the reliability of determination / evaluation and a sorting classification determination device using the same.

[0013]

The above object is achieved by the following inventions (1) to (8) described in the claims of the present application.

(1) The invention of an image generating apparatus used for judging the sorting of agricultural products is provided by: an imaging means for imaging at least a side surface of the agricultural product conveyed on a slightly depressed agricultural product mounting surface; Image processing means for removing the captured image information within a predetermined width along the outline from the side captured image to determine the area of the appearance determination image for determining the appearance of the grade element of the agricultural product, This image processing means divides the section into a plurality of sections along the image outline, and sets the removal width of the lower surface area of at least the side captured image of the agricultural product to zero, or makes the removal width of the lower surface area smaller than the removal width of the upper surface area. It is characterized by having a small width.

In the above configuration, the term "slightly concave agricultural product mounting surface" refers to a receiving portion (recess) for stably mounting agricultural products placed on the conveyor so as not to move, and is fixedly provided on the conveyor. Agricultural product mounting surfaces such as a bucket type or a similar type, and a so-called free tray in which a recess (recess) is provided in a tray not mechanically connected to a conveyor are exemplified. .

The "imaging means" is constituted by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera, another imaging device, or a combination of the imaging device and a mirror. , Y matrix is used as an image signal for each pixel signal. An illumination lamp and the like also constitute a part of the imaging means.

The "image processing means" is usually constructed using a computer technology such as an MPU, and the image processing is arithmetically controlled by a predetermined program.

The above configuration specifies an image for generating an image of a side surface of an agricultural product in the appearance determination image, which is an area suitable for performing a grade determination based on the appearance of the agricultural product. Since it is common to use a plane image together for the grading judgment based on the area, means for capturing this plane image, an area from the plane captured image that may contain uncertain information of a predetermined width along the image contour It does not exclude having an image processing means for removing the image, and also excluding having a means for measuring the internal quality of agricultural products and a means for measuring other class elements separately from the generation of the appearance image. Needless to say, it is not a thing. In the processing according to the configuration of the above invention (1), a class / class element for determining these other sorting categories is measured, and image processing is performed.
The determination process can be performed in parallel or sequentially.

According to the present invention (1), a region (uncertain portion) that may contain abnormal information is appropriately excluded at the time of class determination according to different shapes depending on the types of agricultural products. Since determination and evaluation can be performed, the accuracy of the determination is improved, and highly reliable sorting of agricultural products can be realized.
In particular, by imaging the plane together with the side surface, and further imaging the bottom surface as needed, the area of the appearance determination image can be allocated to more appropriate captured images (side surface, plane surface, and bottom surface). Reliability can be further improved.

Further, even if the width (width from the contour) of a region where abnormal information may be included in one agricultural product is not the same due to its shape, for example, the distance between the normal line and the light receiving line is formed. Since the removal width can be partially and appropriately changed according to the above-mentioned removal reference angle, highly accurate sorting of agricultural products with high determination accuracy can be realized. Note that dividing the range in which the removal width is changed along the image contour into a plurality of sections means, for example, a case where the side captured image is divided into a top area, a side area, and a bottom area.

(2) The invention of an image generating apparatus used for judging the sorting of agricultural products is provided by an image pickup means for imaging at least a side surface of the agricultural product conveyed on a slightly recessed agricultural product mounting surface, and an obtained agricultural product. Image processing means for determining a region of an appearance determination image for making a determination relating to the appearance of the agricultural product by removing captured image information within a predetermined width along the contour from the side captured image of the image processing means; Is characterized by having a removal width changing unit that divides a section into a plurality of sections along an image outline, and that can change the size of the predetermined width to be removed by dividing the section into the divided side captured image.

In the present invention, the "removal width changing means" included in the image processing determines an appropriate width to be removed empirically or experimentally in accordance with the kind of the agricultural product to be selected. In general, as described above, when the surface of an agricultural product is assumed to be a smooth curved surface, a normal line (line perpendicular to the curved surface) set at an arbitrary point on the agricultural product surface, and the point of Determining the removal width based on the fact that the angle formed between the line connecting the light receiving parts (hereinafter referred to as “light receiving line” for convenience) is equal to or greater than a predetermined angle (hereinafter referred to as “removal guide angle”). Can be. The removal target angle is not uniform depending on the type of agricultural products, but can be generally set in a range of 40 ° to 50 °, for example, empirically in a range of 45 ° or more. Or by repeated testing.

According to the invention (2), by changing the removal width, an uncertain portion suitable for each target agricultural product can be appropriately selected.

According to the invention of (3), in the invention of (2), the removal width changing means sets at least the removal width of the lower surface area of the side image of the agricultural product to zero, or sets the removal width of the lower surface area to the upper surface. The width is smaller than the removal width of the area.

In the above description, the reason why the removal width of the lower surface area is set to zero is that, for example, if the length of sinking in a concave portion such as a saucer is larger than the removal width of the lower surface area when the agricultural product is placed on a flat surface.
This is because the portion of the lower surface area appearing on the pan is a portion that does not need to be removed below the above removal reference angle (removal rather reduces the determination accuracy), and the side surface captured image is not removed in this lower surface area. In addition, the removal width of the lower surface area is made smaller than the removal width of the upper surface area because the amount of the agricultural product sinking into the concave portion is small, and the surface equal to or larger than the removal reference angle is fixed to the lower surface area in the side surface image. If it exists. In this case, it is sufficient to remove the lower surface area of the side surface captured image in a necessary small width range.

According to the invention (3), although not limited, an area effective for determining the grade based on the appearance of the agricultural product placed so as to sink into the central recess of the free tray can be widely used. It can realize highly accurate and reliable sorting of agricultural products.

The invention of (4) is based on each of the above inventions.
The removal width changing means uses the side image of the agricultural product and a plurality of shift images obtained by shifting the side image by a predetermined number of pixels in a plurality of directions, and determines an area of the appearance determination image by AND processing of each pixel. There is a feature.

In the above description, the "shifted image shifted by a predetermined number of pixels" is used only for determining the area of the appearance determination image. For example, the shifted image is shifted from the side image in the vertical direction of each pixel. Address down 10
If the pixel is shifted, the upper 10 pixels of the side image are removed from the area of the appearance determination image by the AND processing of each pixel. However, in the invention of the above (1) or (3), since the removal width of the lower surface area of the side image is set to zero or small, the removal of the lower 10 pixels in the appearance determination image is not removed or shifted. The number of pixels to be processed is reduced.

According to the present invention (4), a process for generating an appearance judgment image suitable for judging the grade of a target agricultural product from the side image by the shrinking process and the correction process added thereto in the image processing technique. There is an advantage that it can be easily performed.

The invention of (5) is characterized in that, in each of the above inventions,
The removal width changing means sets the removal width of the upper surface area of the side captured image to be larger than the removal width of the side area when the agricultural product to be imaged has a substantially elliptical shape whose vertical direction is short when viewed from the side. There is a feature.

According to the present invention, when sorting agricultural products having the above shapes, for example, agricultural products such as Unshu mandarin oranges, tomatoes, persimmons, etc., appropriately remove (exclude) regions that may contain abnormal information. can do.

(6) The invention of an apparatus for determining sorting of agricultural products according to the invention comprises an image generating apparatus comprising the image processing means according to any one of the above-mentioned inventions (1) to (5) for determining an area of an appearance determination image. Grade determining means for using the appearance determination image in the area as one of the grade determinations of the agricultural product.

The above-mentioned "grade judging means" is usually constituted by using computer technology including MPU. Specifically, when the spread of the low portion exceeds a certain area by comparing the measured luminance in the image with a predetermined threshold value, the portion having that area is determined to be a “flaw”, A pass filter is arranged to determine the color of agricultural products through detection of light of a predetermined wavelength, or color histogram analysis of the detected light is used to determine the color, or it matches the grade factor required for the type of agricultural product Means for performing a grade evaluation can be used.

According to the present invention, it is possible to make a grade judgment based on a captured image of a side surface of an agricultural product (usually, a captured image of a flat surface) with respect to the appearance, and the reliability of the product must be within an appropriate range. Since it can be decided, it can be secured high.

(7) The invention of the apparatus for classifying and sorting agricultural products according to the present invention is characterized in that the invention of (6) is further provided with a class determining means for using the taken image before image processing as one of the classes of agricultural products. Features.

According to this invention, in addition to the above-mentioned invention (6), there is an advantage that the appearance captured image can be used for determining the size (class element) of the agricultural product.

The invention of (8) is characterized in that the grade judging means of the invention of (6) or (7) judges the grade at least based on the color and / or the flaw of the agricultural product.

According to the present invention, a grade determination based on a picked-up image of a side surface of an agricultural product can be performed with a high degree of reliability regarding important colors and / or flaws in appearance.

[0039]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiment 1 In the present embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 9, FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of an agricultural product sorting apparatus 1, and 101 shows a transport conveyor for transporting agricultural products P for sorting. Is shown. On the upstream side of the transport, a measuring stage for measuring the appearance of agricultural products is arranged, and on the downstream side of the transport, a sorting stage in which branch conveyors 102, 102,... ing. In this example, for the sake of convenience of description, only a device for external appearance imaging is shown for measurement, but another device for measuring internal quality or the like may be provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the transport conveyor 101 in this example is configured to form a transport surface in which a central portion is depressed along the transport horizontal direction.

On the measurement stage arranged on the upstream side of the conveyor 1, an illumination lamp 201 and an imaging camera (for example, an RGB camera) 202 which constitute a measurement section of the image generating apparatus 2 are provided. Figures 2 and 3
Is shown in Numeral 3 denotes an arithmetic and control unit composed of a microcomputer. In this example, the arithmetic and control unit 3 includes a side image of the agricultural product P imaged by the imaging camera 202 and a planar image.
An image processing unit 301 that determines the area of each appearance determination image on the side surface and the plane, and a removal width changing unit 302 that changes the removal width along the contour of the captured image by the image processing unit 301 are provided. Together with the camera 202 and the like, the image generation device 2 used for determining the sorting classification is configured. Although the image processing unit 301 and the removal width changing unit 302 are shown in the block diagram in the figure, they are actually set as computer programs. The removal width changing unit 302 is configured as a means for changing a shift amount of a shift image, which will be described later, but may be omitted in an agricultural product sorting apparatus specialized for one type.

Further, the arithmetic and control unit 3 determines and evaluates the size of the agricultural product based on the appearance captured image that is not subjected to the image processing, and based on the plane appearance determination image after the image processing and the side appearance determination image. A judgment unit 303 for judging and evaluating the grade of the agricultural product is provided, and the classification of the agricultural product is determined based on these determination results.

The evaluation and evaluation of the grade include, for example, a case where a low-brightness portion is larger than a predetermined size, which is judged as a flaw, or a case where the color of an agricultural product is judged by color analysis. .

The obtained sorting classification information of each agricultural product is stored in the branch conveyors 102 and 10 branch-connected to the downstream side of the transportation.
Control unit of discharge device linked to 2,.
And is discharged to the branch conveyor 102 corresponding to the determined sorting category.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a measuring section of the image generating apparatus 2, wherein a pair of vertically long inclined mirrors 203 are arranged on both sides of the transport path of the transport conveyor 101, The light is reflected on both side surfaces of the agricultural product P, and the reflected light from the mirror 203 is imaged by the upper camera 202 to be a side image. Similarly, the reflected light reflected on the upper surface of the agricultural product is imaged by the upper camera to be a plane image.

In such imaging, as shown in FIG. 4, a portion (a hatched portion) sinking into the dent of the conveyor 101 cannot be imaged. In such a case, if the removal (removal area B ′) is performed along the contour of the captured image with a constant width as shown in FIG. Is included in the removed portion of the lower surface area.

Therefore, in this example, when determining the area A of the side-surface appearance judgment image, as shown in FIG. 5, the shifted images S1, S2, which are shifted by a predetermined number of pixels in the horizontal and downward directions. S3 (for example, 9 mm laterally (S1, S
2) A shift image in which the shift width is shifted downward by 11 mm (S3)) is created, and an area where the original captured image and the AND signal output of the three shift images (S1 to S3) are provided for each pixel is defined as a side surface. It was set as the area A of the appearance determination image. Therefore, since a shifted image in which the captured image is shifted upward is not used, removal of a fixed width along the contour of the captured image (removal region B) is not performed in the lower surface area of the image, as shown in FIG. Then, the area A of the side surface appearance determination image from which the fixed width is removed from the outline in the side surface area and the upper surface area of the captured image is determined. It should be noted that, regarding the planar appearance determination image a,
Since there is no problem of cutting the imaging area by the conveyor as in the case of the side image, the inside of the outline of the image except for the removal area b in which a portion of a fixed width (for example, 7 mm) has been removed from the outline of the image is shown in FIG. Was determined as the appearance determination image a.

FIG. 7 schematically shows the relationship between the captured image of the side surface obtained by the above operation, the area A of the appearance judgment image, the flaws present in the appearance of the agricultural product, and the erroneous detection part due to halation and the like. According to this example, the flaw existing at a position close to the lower surface area in this figure can be reliably detected because it is included in the area A of the side surface appearance judgment image, but as shown in FIG. In the case of the region A ′ of the side surface appearance determination image generated by removing, there is a possibility that the same flaw may be included in the removed area B ′, so that it is high despite the presence of the flaw. It is determined that the classification is of a grade, and the reliability of the determination device is impaired.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the signal processing performed by the arithmetic and control unit 3 described above. The captured image information comprising the RGB luminance signals (digital signals) of each pixel captured by the camera 202 is input to the image input device. Then, this is binarized as one process, and the outer shape of the agricultural product is calculated and calculated by comparison with a predetermined threshold value, and the size thereof is obtained to determine the class. Also, the degree of deformation is obtained and used as one piece of information for class determination. Further, the binarized signal is subjected to the above-described method using the shifted image to remove an uncertain portion along the outline of the captured image, to generate a region A of the side surface appearance determination image, and to determine the planar appearance determination. As for the image, the area a of the planar appearance determination image is generated by removing a portion having a constant width from the outline of the planar captured image.

Another processing using the captured image information in the arithmetic and control unit 3 is to perform color conversion on each pixel signal, for example, to determine whether a low brightness portion exists in the areas A and a of the appearance determination image. According to this, it is regarded as another information of the grade judgment as the presence or absence of injury. Further, the degree of coloring is obtained by color histogram analysis using the information obtained by the color conversion, and this is used as further information for class determination.

The grade of the agricultural product is determined based on the above three grade information.

Then, a classification is obtained from the obtained result of the class judgment and the result of the class judgment, and is sent to the control unit 4 of the discharge device described in FIG.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment described above,
Although the determination of agricultural products is performed only by the plane captured image and the side captured image, it is also possible to add a bottom captured image to this, for example, as described in Japanese Patent No. 2812466, When the agricultural product moves on the conveyor, a method of imaging from below the gap of the transfer portion can be used.

In the above example, the side of the agricultural product P is imaged using the pair of mirrors 203 facing each other to image the agricultural product passing therethrough. However, as shown in FIG. Divide (the four divided sides are P
1, P2, P3, and P4), and each of these divided planes is imaged obliquely in front of and on both sides of the conveyor, so as to substantially eliminate uncertainty in the side area of the side image. (Tokuhei 7-9)
9326). Note that P5 indicates the upper surface on which planar imaging is performed.

[0054]

According to the invention of the present application, a region (uncertain portion) that may contain abnormal information is appropriately excluded at the time of class determination according to the shape that varies depending on the type of agricultural product. Since determination and evaluation can be performed, the accuracy of the determination is improved, and highly reliable sorting of agricultural products can be realized.

Further, according to the invention (2) of the present application, even if the width (width from the contour) of a region where abnormal information may be included in one agricultural product is not the same due to its shape, For example, the removal width can be partially and appropriately changed according to the above-mentioned removal reference angle formed between the normal line and the light receiving line, so that highly accurate sorting of agricultural products with high determination accuracy can be realized.

According to the invention (3) of the present application, an effective area for the grade judgment based on the appearance of the agricultural product placed so as to sink into the central recess of the free tray can be widely used, so that the accuracy and the reliability are high. High-quality agricultural products can be sorted.

According to the invention (4) of the present application, the contraction processing in the image processing technique and the correction processing added thereto enable the
There is an advantage that a process of generating an appearance determination image suitable for determining the grade of a target agricultural product can be easily performed from the side surface captured image.

According to the invention (5) of the present application, when sorting a specific agricultural product, an area that may contain uncertain information is appropriately and partially removed according to the shape of the agricultural product. Can be.

According to the invention (6) of the present application, it is possible to make a grade determination based on a captured image of a side surface of an agricultural product (usually a captured image of a flat surface) with respect to the appearance, and the reliability is within an appropriate range. Can be determined as necessary and sufficiently, so that it can be secured at a high level.

According to the invention (7) of the present application, in addition to the invention of the above (6), the appearance captured image can be used for determining the size (class element) of the agricultural product.

According to the invention (8) of the present application, the grading judgment based on the picked-up image of the side surface of the agricultural product can be performed with respect to the important color and / or flaw in the appearance with high reliability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of the configuration of an agricultural product selection device to which an image generation device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an image measurement unit of the image generation device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the image measuring unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a region of a captured image of a side surface of an agricultural product.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an operation of generating an appearance determination image from a side captured image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a region of a generated side surface appearance determination image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relationship between an appearance determination image on a side surface and a flaw or the like present on the surface of an agricultural product.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a region of a planar appearance determination image.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a procedure from imaging of the appearance of agricultural products to determination of sorting.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the appearance imaging of agricultural products.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a region of an appearance determination image generated from a side surface captured image by a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Agricultural product sorting apparatus 101 ... Conveyer conveyor 102 ... Branch conveyor 2 ... Image generation apparatus 201 ... Illumination lamp 202 ... Imaging camera 203 ... Mirror 3 ... Calculation control apparatus Reference numeral 301: Image processing unit 302: Removal width changing unit 303: Determination unit 4: Control unit of the discharge device P: Agricultural products S1, S2, S3: Shift images A, A ', a: Area of appearance judgment image B, B ', b: Removal area P1, P2, P3, P4: Four divided side surfaces to be imaged P5: Upper surface to be imaged

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06T 7/60 250 G01B 11/24 AH K F Term (Reference) 2F065 AA51 AA61 CC00 DD04 FF04 GG12 JJ26 KK02 LL12 PP15 QQ04 QQ21 QQ24 RR05 TT03 UU05 3F079 AC06 CA21 CA32 CA42 CB25 CB29 CB35 DA11 DA21 5B057 AA15 BA15 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB08 CB12 CB16 CC03 CE09 DA07 DA08 DB02 DB09 DC05 DC09 DC16 DC22 5L0904 CA1417

Claims (8)

[Claims] An imaging means for imaging at least a side surface of an agricultural product carried on a slightly depressed agricultural product mounting surface, and a predetermined width along a contour from an obtained side image of the agricultural product. Image processing means for determining an area of an appearance determination image for removing the captured image information and making a determination relating to the appearance of the agricultural product, the image processing means dividing a section into a plurality of sections along the image outline, An image generating apparatus for use in agricultural product sorting determination, wherein a removal width of a lower surface area of a side image of a farm product is set to zero or a removal width of a lower surface area is made smaller than a removal width of an upper surface area. 2. An imaging means for imaging at least a side surface of an agricultural product conveyed on a slightly recessed agricultural product mounting surface, and a predetermined width along a contour from an obtained side image of the agricultural product. Image processing means for determining an area of an appearance determination image for removing the captured image information and making a determination relating to the appearance of the agricultural product, wherein the image processing means divides the section into a plurality of sections along the image outline and removes the section. An image generating apparatus for use in agricultural product sorting determination, comprising: a removal width changing unit that allows the size of the predetermined width to be changed and divided into sections of the divided side captured image. 3. The removal width changing means sets at least the removal width of the lower surface area of the side image of the agricultural product to zero or makes the removal width of the lower surface area smaller than the removal width of the upper surface area. 3. The image generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus is used for determination of sorting of agricultural products. 4. The image processing means uses an image of a side surface of an agricultural product and a plurality of shift images obtained by shifting the image of the side surface by a predetermined number of pixels in a plurality of directions. 4. The image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area is determined. 5. The image processing means according to claim 1, wherein when the agricultural product to be imaged has a substantially elliptical shape whose vertical direction is short when viewed from the side, the removal width of the upper surface area of the captured side image is smaller than the removal width of the side area. 5. The image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image generating apparatus is set to a large value. 6. An image generating apparatus comprising the image processing means according to claim 1 for determining an area of an appearance determination image, and an image determination apparatus in the area for determining a grade of an agricultural product. An apparatus for classifying and classifying agricultural products, comprising: a grade judging means used as one. 7. An image generating apparatus comprising the image processing means according to claim 1 for determining an area of an appearance determination image, and an image determination apparatus for determining a grade of an agricultural product in the area. An apparatus for classifying and classifying agricultural products, comprising: a class determining means used as one; and a class determining means using a captured image before image processing as one of the class determinations of agricultural products. 8. The agricultural product sorting classification judging device according to claim 6, wherein the grade judging means judges the grade based on at least a color and / or a flaw of the agricultural product.