Automated inspection systems and methods
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for detecting defects in electronic displays, the method comprising:
- providing image data for a test display, the image data comprising values for one or more characteristics of the test display as a function of spatial position on the test display and a set of reference vectors, the reference vectors generated from reference image data of one or more reference displays known to be good;
generating from the image data a plurality of test vectors, each of the test vectors having a spatial part corresponding to a spatial position on the test display and a characteristic part;
for each of the test vectors;
identifying a subset of the set of reference vectors based upon at least the spatial part of the test vector; and
, determining a degree of similarity between the test vector and one or more reference vectors of the subset of the set of reference vectors; and
, identifying any of the test vectors for which the degree of similarity fails to satisfy a similarity criterion.
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Abstract
An automatic defect detection system may be applied to detecting defects in electronic displays. The system acquires an image of a display being tested and generates test vectors from the image. Each test vector has a spatial part and a characteristic part. The test vectors are compared to a set of representative reference vectors. A poor match to any of the representative reference vectors indicates a possible defect.
50 Citations
82 Claims
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1. A method for detecting defects in electronic displays, the method comprising:
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providing image data for a test display, the image data comprising values for one or more characteristics of the test display as a function of spatial position on the test display and a set of reference vectors, the reference vectors generated from reference image data of one or more reference displays known to be good;
generating from the image data a plurality of test vectors, each of the test vectors having a spatial part corresponding to a spatial position on the test display and a characteristic part;
for each of the test vectors;
identifying a subset of the set of reference vectors based upon at least the spatial part of the test vector; and
, determining a degree of similarity between the test vector and one or more reference vectors of the subset of the set of reference vectors; and
,identifying any of the test vectors for which the degree of similarity fails to satisfy a similarity criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 78)
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66. A method for detecting defects in electronic displays, the method comprising:
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providing image data for a test display, the image data comprising values for one or more characteristics of the test display as a function of spatial position on the test display and a set of reference vectors, the reference vectors generated from reference image data of one or more reference displays known to be good;
generating from the image data a plurality of test vectors, for each of the test vectors;
determining a degree of similarity between the test vector and a vector derived from one or more reference vectors of the set of reference vectors based upon a distance between the test and reference vectors according to a metric, wherein the metric is defined at least in part by a statistical property of the set of reference vectors. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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73. A method for generating a reduced set of reference vectors from one or more sets of reference image data for use in testing electronic displays, the method comprising:
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providing an initial set of reference vectors derived from one or more sets of reference image data;
selecting from the initial set of reference vectors a reduced set of reference vectors based upon similarities of the reference vectors to one another. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77)
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79. Apparatus for automatic detection of defects in electronic displays, the apparatus comprising:
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a data processor; and
,a data store accessible to the data processor and capable of storing image data for a test display, the image data comprising values for one or more characteristics of the test display as a function of spatial position on the test display and a set of reference vectors generated from reference image data of one or more reference displays known to be good;
a program memory containing software instructions which cause the data processor to;
retrieve from the data store image data for a test display;
generate from the image data a plurality of test vectors, each of the test vectors having a spatial part corresponding to a spatial position on the test display and a characteristic part;
for each of the test vectors;
identify a subset of the set of reference vectors based upon at least the spatial part of the test vector; and
, determine a degree of similarity between the test vector and one or more reference vectors of the subset of the set of reference vectors; and
,identify any of the test vectors for which the degree of similarity fails to satisfy a similarity criterion. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81)
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82. Apparatus for automatic detection of defects in electronic displays, the apparatus comprising:
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imaging means for obtaining image data for a test display, the image data comprising values for one or more characteristics of the test display as a function of spatial position on the test display;
reference vector storage means providing a set of reference vectors generated from reference image data of one or more reference displays known to be good;
test vector generating means for generating from image data for a test display a plurality of test vectors, each of the test vectors having a spatial part corresponding to a spatial position on the test display and a characteristic part;
reference vector selecting means for identifying a subset of the set of reference vectors corresponding to a test vector generated by the test vector generating means based upon at least the spatial part of the test vector; and
,vector comparison means for determining a degree of similarity between a test vector and one or more reference vectors of the subset of the set of reference vectors identified by the reference vector selecting means; and
,means for identifying any of the test vectors for which the degree of similarity determined by the vector comparison means fails to satisfy a similarity criterion.
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Specification