MACHINE VISION METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20190137410A1
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Published: 05/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Procemex Oy
• Original Assignee: Procemex Oy
• Inventors: VALKONEN, Mika
• Granted Patent: US 10,451,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8909 Scan signal processing specially adapted for inspection of running sheets
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/89 in moving material, e.g. running paper or textiles G01N21/90, G01N21/91, G01N21/94 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8901 Optical details; Scanning details per se G02B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8983 for testing textile webs, i.e. woven material
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/14 using acoustic emission techniques echo of particles G01N29/046; measuring mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in solids in general G01H1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/37208 Vision, visual inspection of workpiece
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/37337 Noise, acoustic emission, sound
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0297 Reconfiguration of monitoring system, e.g. use of virtual sensors; change monitoring method as a response to monitoring results
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30164 Workpiece; Machine component
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, comprising capturing an image of an object to be monitored at a first image capturing frequency by an image sensor of a machine vision system, transmitting said captured image data to an image data processing device and analysing said received image data by said image data processing device, and wherein if the image data is detected to comprise a deviation, a trigger signal is transmitted for triggering an image sensor for reconfiguring it to capture an image burst and for transmitting the captured image burst data to said image data processing device for further analysis. The invention further relates to a machine vision system and a computer program product performing the method.

Claims

1. A method, comprising steps of:

capturing an image of an object to be monitored at a first image capturing frequency by an image sensor of a machine vision system;

transmitting captured image data to a data processing device; and

analysing said received image data by said data processing device, and wherein

if said received image data is detected to comprise a deviation, said data processing device is arranged to transmit a trigger signal for triggering at least the image sensor that captured the image data comprising the deviation so that at least that image sensor is reconfigured to capture an image burst at a second image capturing frequency, wherein the trigger signal defines the duration of the image burst, and wherein the second image capturing frequency of the image burst is higher than the first image capturing frequency, and to transmit the captured image burst data to said data processing device for further analysis.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a steps of:

recording acoustic environment around machine vision system;

transmitting said recorded acoustic environment data comprising acoustic representation of process machinery to the data processing device; and

analysing said received acoustic environment data by said data processing device, and wherein

if said received acoustic environment data is detected to comprise a change in the acoustic representation of process machinery during the first image capturing mod, said data processing device is arranged to transmit a trigger signal for triggering an image sensor so that at least one image sensor is reconfigured to capture an image burst at the second image capturing frequency and to transmit the captured image burst data to said data processing device for further analysis.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises steps of:

defining inter-relationships between deviations of the object to be monitored and their causes;

determining a cause of the detected deviation; and

determining the image sensor reconfigured to capture the image burst on the basis of the cause, wherein the image sensor is in such a location wherein the cause caused the detected deviation.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the image sensor continues capturing images at the first image capturing frequency after the image burst.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger signal determines image capturing frequency of the image burst.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger signal determines image resolution of images captured during the image burst.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger signal determines length of time of the image burst.

15. A computer program product, stored on a computer readable medium and executable in a computing device, wherein the computer program product comprises instructions to perform a method according to claim 1.

8. A machine vision system for monitoring an object to be monitored comprising an image sensor and a data processing device, wherein said image sensor is arranged to capture an image of said object to be monitored at a first image capturing frequency and to transmit said captured image data to the data processing device for analysing, and wherein if said received image data is detected to comprise a deviation, said data processing device is arranged to transmit a trigger signal for triggering at least the image sensor that captured the image data comprising the deviation so that at least that image sensor is reconfigured to capture an image burst at a second image capturing frequency, wherein the trigger signal defines the duration of the image burst, and wherein the second image capturing frequency of the image burst is higher than the first image capturing frequency, and to transmit the captured image burst data to said data processing device for further analysis.

9. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the machine vision system further comprises an acoustic sensor, wherein said acoustic sensor is arranged to record acoustic environment around the machine vision system and wherein the acoustic sensor is further arranged to transmit said recorded acoustic environment data comprising acoustic representation of process machinery to the data processing device for analysing, and wherein if said received acoustic environment data is detected to comprise a change in the acoustic representation of process machinery during the first image capturing mod, said data processing device is arranged to transmit a trigger signal for triggering an image sensor so that at least one image sensor is reconfigured to capture an image burst at the second image capturing frequency and to transmit the captured image burst data to said data processing device for further analysis.

10. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the data processing device further:

defines inter-relationships between deviations of the object to be monitored and their causes;

determines a cause of the detected deviation; and

determines the image sensor reconfigured to capture the image burst on the basis of the cause, wherein the image sensor is in such a location wherein the cause caused the detected deviation.

11. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the image sensor continues capturing images at the first image capturing frequency after the image burst.

12. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the trigger signal determines image capturing frequency of the image burst.

13. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the trigger signal determines image resolution of images captured during the image burst.

14. The machine vision system according to claim 8, wherein the trigger signal determines length of time of the image burst.