Software-based analysis of static digital images or those acquired and processed from single video frames allows for real-time monitoring of the production process, detection of extremely small defects, automatic rejection of errors, extremely precise measurement of complex surfaces (number of pixels associated with an image), real-time determination of the speed of a moving object, counting identical pieces moving very quickly, assigning each piece its own unique ID number, and real-time monitoring and intervention to modify the ongoing process. The figure shows some application examples that can be implemented on mini PCs and/or dedicated cards (Linux operating systems).