Abstract:
A grade indication part (4) is printed on a side 10a of a corrugated box (10) in which agricultural products are packed. The color of the frame (41) and grade table (42) of the grade indication part (4) is red. The color of image reference marks (43) is black. The color of grade stamps (5 and 5') is also black. Illuminating light whose color is red which is the color of the grade table (42) is applied to the side (10a) of the corrugated box (10) by an illuminating device and the image of the side (10a) is picked up by a CCD camera. The image of the image reference marks (43) and the image of the grade stamps (5 and 5') are extracted from the image data. The positions of the grade stamps (5 and 5') are judged based on the positions of the image reference marks (43). Thus, the grade stamps can be read with a high precision automatically from the grade table of the corrugated box of agricultural products.