METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING ROD-SHAPED TOBACCO PRODUCTS

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for checking products (10, 48) in the tobacco industry with a respectively essentially circular end contour (40, 53), particularly cigarettes, in which an electro-optical checking element (23), preferably a camera, records an electronic image of the end (24, 55) of at least one product (10, 48), wherein the recorded image (47, 50) is evaluated for the purpose of identifying the product (10, 48) in the image (47, 50). The invention is characterized in that the evaluation of image information in the recorded image (47, 50) along at least three evaluation lines (31), which each extend from an inner image position (32), at which the end (24, 55) of the product (10, 48) is expected in the image (47, 50), to an outer image position (33), at which the surroundings of the end (24, 55) of the product (10, 48) are expected in the image (47, 50), ascertains boundary points for the end contour (40, 53) of the product (10, 48) which are situated on the evaluation lines (31), with the centre (43) of a circle that extends through the boundary points being calculated from at least three ascertained boundary points.