Method and apparatus for color recognition and defect detection of objects such as capsules
First Claim
1. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis of single- and multi-colored objects such as pharmaceutical dose forms based on a standard representative of desired color(s) and a time varying shape signature standard, and for classifying the objects as acceptable or non-acceptable comprising:
- (a) first means including electro-optic means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from an object and for converting same into corresponding electrical signals including signals constituting at least one color vector of the object and signals constituting the time-varying shape signature of the object, and further including means for effecting relative translational movement between said electro-optic means and the objects and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the object;
(b) second means for storing a standard signal representative of the desired object color and a standard time-varying signal representative of the desired object shape; and
(c) third means operatively connected to said first and second means for comparing the derived signals of the object with the stored standard signals and determining therefrom the acceptability/non-acceptability of that object.
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Abstract
Method and apparatus for high-speed automatic inspection and processing of large numbers of solid discrete particular objects such as multicolored capsule dose forms in regard to color and/or defect detection, in which virtually all unacceptable material is isolated and an accurate running and total count of acceptable material is provided. The objects are transported in a number of channels past respective optical heads comprising an electro-optics system, the transport mechanism being arranged to provide signals representative of relative object location. The electro-optics system is comprised operatively of separate color recognition and shape inspection subsystems. For the former, a plurality of optical channels are arranged in each optical head operatively in P groups of R optical channels each. The R optical channels of each group view different object segments to provide a spatially integrated output for minimizing noise and particularly the effects of printing on the objects. The P outputs constitute a multidimensional (vector) color signature. For defect detection, a pair of optical channels are provided with each optical head to provide signals constituting the shape signature of the object. The color and shape signature information of an object is obtained by sampling photodetector outputs in dependence on the object position information from the transport mechanism and also the sensed specular peak by a computer-controlled arrangement. The signatures obtained are compared to stored reference signatures for color and shape, and output signals are developed from the comparison which are transmitted to a reject arrangement for isolating the unacceptable material.
69 Citations
87 Claims
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1. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis of single- and multi-colored objects such as pharmaceutical dose forms based on a standard representative of desired color(s) and a time varying shape signature standard, and for classifying the objects as acceptable or non-acceptable comprising:
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(a) first means including electro-optic means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from an object and for converting same into corresponding electrical signals including signals constituting at least one color vector of the object and signals constituting the time-varying shape signature of the object, and further including means for effecting relative translational movement between said electro-optic means and the objects and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the object; (b) second means for storing a standard signal representative of the desired object color and a standard time-varying signal representative of the desired object shape; and (c) third means operatively connected to said first and second means for comparing the derived signals of the object with the stored standard signals and determining therefrom the acceptability/non-acceptability of that object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. System for high speed, continuous automated surface analysis of a batch of capsule dose forms in which such material is classified into acceptable and non-acceptable categories based on both color and shape comprising:
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(a) means for derandomizing the capsules and for transporting same in a plurality of streams, with the capsules each having a predetermined orientation with respect to their major axes of symmetry and relative to their direction of movement; (b) a plurality of light source means at least one of which is arranged relative to each capsule stream for providing light to illuminate the capsules of the associated stream; (c) a plurality of optical head means at least one of which is associated with each capsule stream for directing light from said source onto the objects of the associated stream, each said optical head means having associated therewith a plurality of optical channel means transmitting in respect to each capsule light reflected from segments of the illuminated portion thereof; (d) a plurality of optical filter means for filtering the light received from predetermined ones of said optical channel means, each said optical filter means being selected to pass light energy within a respective preestablished frequency range; (e) first converting means for converting the optical signals of said filter means to respective electrical signals; (f) means for analyzing said electrical signals relative to references representative of the desired color and shape of the capsules and for generating output signals in response thereto; (g) said first converting means and said analyzing means comprising color vector forming means wherein the color of an illuminated portion of a capsule is quantified by said color vector forming means; and (h) means for separating the acceptable and non-acceptable capsules in dependence upon said output signals. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 86)
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34. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis of single and multicolored objects such as pharmaceutical dose forms, including the determination of the correctness of the color(s) and shape of the objects relative to respective standards, and classifying the objects into acceptable and nonacceptable categories, comprising:
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(a) electro-optic means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from an object and for generating in response thereto electrical signals representative of color and shape, including means for illuminating the object and first means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from the object in at least one band of the electromagnetic radiation specturm and for providing for each a time-varying output signal representative thereof; (b) second means for effecting relative translational movement between said electro-optic means and the objects and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the objects; and (c) third means connected to said electro-optic means and said second means for selectively sampling the signals from said first means at least in part in dependence on object location and for processing said sampled signals from said first means into a form representative of the color(s) and shape of the object, said third means including fourth means for storing a first standard representative of the desired color(s) of the object and a second, time-varying standard representative of the desired shape of the object, and fifth means for comparing the processed sample signals representative of the color(s) and constituting the time-varying shape signature of the object respectively with said first and second standards and for generating an output signal representative of the acceptability or nonacceptability of each object.
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35. System for high-speed, continuous automated surface analysis of a batch of capsule dose forms in which such material is classified into acceptable and non-acceptable categories based on both color and shape comprising:
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(a) means for derandomizing the capsules and for transporting same in a plurality of streams, with the capsules each having a predetermined orientation with respect to their major axes of symmetry and relative to their direction of movement; (b) a plurality of light source means at least one of which is arranged relative to each capsule stream for providing light to illuminate the capsules of the associated stream; (c) a plurality of optical head means at least one of which is associated with each capsule stream for directing light from said source onto the objects of the associated stream, each said optical head means having associated therewith a plurality of optical channel means transmitting in respect to each capsule light reflected from segments of the illuminated portion thereof; (d) a plurality of optical filter means for filtering the light received from predetermined ones of said optical channel means, each said optical filter means being selected to pass light energy within a respective pre-established frequency range; (e) first converting means for converting the optical signals of said filter means to respective electrical signals; (f) means for analyzing said electrical signals relative to references representative of a desired color and shape of the capsules and for generating output signals in response thereto, said analyzing means including means for determining color vectors of the first and second halves of the capsules by sampling the color vectors generated from different portions along the longitudinal axes of each capsule half and averaging said samples values; and (g) means for separating the acceptable and nonacceptable capsules in dependence upon said output signals.
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36. System for high-speed continuous automated surface analysis of a batch of capsule dose forms in which such material is classified into acceptable and nonacceptable categories based on both color and shape comprising:
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(a) means for derandomizing the capsules and for transporting same in a plurality of streams, with the capsules each having a predetermined orientation with respect to their major axes of symmetry and relative to their direction of movement; (b) a plurality of light source means at least one of which is arranged relative to each capsule stream for providing light to illuminate the capsules of the associated stream; (c) a plurality of optical head means at least one of which is associated with each capsule stream for directing light from said source onto the objects of the associated stream, each said optical head means having associated therewith a plurality of optical channel means transmitting in respect to each capsule light reflected from segments of the illuminated portion thereof; (d) a plurality of optical filter means for filtering the light received from predetermined ones of said optical channel means, each said optical filter means being selected to pass light energy within a respective pre-established frequency range; (e) first converting means for converting the optical signals of said filter means to respective electrical signals; (f) means for analyzing said electrical signals relative to references representative of a desired color and shape of the capsules and for generating output signals in response thereto, said analyzing means including means for determining whether a capsule is an acceptable color by comparing the generated capsule half color vectors to previously determined acceptable ranges of said vectors, said determining means having means for considering two sets of acceptable ranges, one for cap-first-oriented capsules and one for body-first-oriented capsules; and (g) means for separating the acceptable and nonacceptable capsules in dependence upon said output signals.
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37. System for high speed, continuous automated surface analysis of a batch of capsule dose forms in which such material is classified into acceptable and non-acceptable categories based on both color and shape comprising:
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(a) means for derandomizing the capsules and for transporting same in a plurality of streams, with the capsules each having a predetermined orientation with respect to their major axes of symmetry and relative to their direction of movement; (b) a plurality of light source means at least one of which is arranged relative to each capsule stream for providing light to illuminate the capsules of the associated stream; (c) a plurality of optical head means at least one of which is associated with each capsule stream for directing light from said source onto the objects of the associated stream, each said optical head means having associated therewith a plurality of optical channel means transmitting in respect to each capsule light reflected from segments of the illuminated portion thereof; (d) a plurality of optical filter means for filtering the light received from predetermined ones of said optical channel means, each said optical filter means being selected to pass light energy within a respective pre-established frequency range; (e) first converting means for converting the optical signals of said filter means to respective electrical signals; (f) means for analyzing said electrical signals relative to references representative of desired color and shape of the capsules and for generating output signals in response thereto; (g) means for separating the acceptable and non-acceptable capsules in dependence upon said output signals; (h) said analyzing means including means for constructing signatures representative of a capsule'"'"'s shape by sampling at certain times transformed outputs of certain ones of said optical channel means, said analyzing means being arranged to quantify the shape of a viewed capsule by computing certain predefined parameters of signatures and to determine if a viewed capsule is acceptable by way of means for comparing computed signature parameters to previously determined acceptable ranges.
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38. Method for automatically determining the colors of objects of pre-established shape and having at least two distinct major portions thereof of different color, said determination being substantially independently of the sequence in which the different colored portions of the objects are encountered, comprising:
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(a) providing a light source to illuminate the objects; (b) conveying the objects past the light source so as to enable the differently colored portions thereof to be illuminated; (c) optically scanning each object based at least in part on the relative instantaneous location thereof to provide a plurality of output signals representative of the diffuse reflectance received by said optical scanning in a corresponding number of different portions of the light spectrum for each colored portion of the object; (d) prestoring reference signals representative of each object color which may be encountered; and (e) comparing the signals derived through optically scanning the object with said reference signals to provide an output indicative of the colors of the object. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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41. An arrangement for comparing the colors of solid discrete particular objects which are multicolored in predetermined manner to standards representative of a desired multicolor combination and for classifying on the basis of color comparison the objects as acceptable or non-acceptable comprising:
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(a) light source means for illuminating the objects and first means for detecting diffusely reflected light from an object in each of N distinct spectral bands for each colored portion of the objects, where N ≧
3, and converting same to N respective electrical signals for each said colored portion to thereby form a color vector in electrical signal form for each colored portion of the object;(b) second means for storing a plurality of standard color vectors representative of the desired multicolor combination for the objects; and (c) third means connected to said first and second means for comparing the derived color vectors of an object with the standard color vectors and determining therefrom whether that object is acceptable or non-acceptable. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis, in particular the color(s), of single and multicolored objects such as pharmaceutical dose forms based on a standard representative of desired color(s), and for classifying the objects as acceptable or non-acceptable, comprising:
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(a) first means comprising light source means for illuminating the objects and means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from preselected portions of the surface of an object based on the shape of the object and for converting same into electrical signals, said receiving means including photo-detecting means arranged to receive light reflected from the objects in a plurality of color bands of the light spectrum, said first means further comprising means for effecting relative movement between said electro-optic means and the object and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the object; (b) second means for storing a standard signal representative of the desired object color(s), said second means being comprised of means for storing a pre-established standard for each of said bands of the spectrum representative of the desired object color(s); and (c) third means operatively connected to said first and second means for comparing derived signals of the object with the stored standard signal and determining therefrom and acceptability/non-acceptability of that object, said third means being comprised of fourth means, operatively connected to said electro-optic means and said means for effecting relative movement, for selectively sampling the signals generated by said electro-optic means based at least in part on object location and processing said sampled signals into a form representative of object color(s). - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. An arrangement for determining the correctness of color(s) of articles relative to a standard and classifying said articles into acceptable and non-acceptable categories, comprising:
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(a) electro-optic means including light source means for illuminating the articles and photodetecting means arranged to receive light reflected from the articles in at least three color bands of the light spectrum and for generating electrical signals corresponding thereto; (b) first means for effecting relative movement between said electro-optic means and the articles and for providng output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the articles; and (c) control sampling and processing means operatively connected to said electro-optic means and said first means for selectively sampling the signals generated by said electro-optic means and derived from a predetermined plurality of different surface areas of an article based at least in part on article location and processing said sampled signals into a form representative of article color(s), said control sampling and processing means including means for storing a pre-established reference for each of said bands of the spectrum representative of the correct article color(s), and means for comparing the processed sampled signals associated to the respective spectrum bands to corresponding ones of said references and for generating output signals representative of the acceptability/non-acceptability of each article.
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65. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis of multicolored objects, such as pharmaceutical dose forms, including the determination of the correctness of the color of each observed colored portion of the objects relative to a standard, and classifying the objects into acceptable and non-acceptable categories, comprising:
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(a) electro-optic means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from each colored portion and for generating in response thereto electrical signals representative of color, including means for illuminating the object and first means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from the object in a plurality of different color bands of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum and for providing for each an output signal representative thereof; (b) second means for effecting relative movement between said electro-optic means and the objects and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the objects; and (c) third means connected to said electro-optic means and said second means for selectively sampling the signals from said first means at least in part in dependence on object location and for processing said sampled signals from said first means into a form representative of the colors of the object, said third means including fourth means for storing standards representative of the desired colors of the object and fifth means for comparing the processed sampled signals representative of the colors of the object with said standards and for generating an output signal representative of the acceptability or non-acceptability of each object irrespective of the order in which the colored portions of the objects are presented to said electro-optic means.
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66. A method of automated surface inspection of objects of known shape for surface defects, comprising:
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(a) providing a light source for illuminating the objects; (b) translationally conveying the objects relative to the light source for illuminating same, said object being conveyed in predetermined orientation relative to the major axis of symmetry thereof; (c) providing an electro-optical system relative to the direction of movement of the objects arranged to receive specular reflectance from an object as the same is illuminated by said light source and obtaining thereby a time-varying electrical signal representative of the object shape; and (d) analyzing said electrical signals based on a standard representative of desired object shape.
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67. Apparatus for the automated surface analysis of objects, such as pharmaceutical dose forms, including the determination of the correctness of the shape of the objects relative to a time-varying standard shape signature, and classifying the objects into acceptable/non-acceptable categories, comprising:
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(a) electro-optic means for receiving electromagnetic radiation from an object and for generating in response thereto electrical signals representative of shape, including means for illuminating the object and first means for receiving electro-magnetic radiation from the object in at least one band of electromagnetic radiation spectrum and for providing for each an output signal representative thereof; (b) second means for effecting relative translational movement between said electro-optic means and the objects and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the objects; and (c) third means connecting to said electro-optic means and said second means for selectively sampling the signals from said first means at least in part in dependence an object location and for processing said sampled signals from said first means into a form representative of the shape of the object, said third means including fourth means for storing a time-varying standard shape signature representative of the desired shape of the object, and fifth means for comparing the processed sampled signals constituting the time-varying shape signature of the object with said standard and for generating an output signal representative of the acceptability or non-acceptability of each object. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
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83. Apparatus for comparing the shape of solid discrete particular objects to standard representative of a desired shape and for classifying the objects as acceptable or non-acceptable on the basis of said comparison, comprising:
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(a) first means for sensing the specular reflectance from a plurality of predetermined portions of an object, said portions being selected on the basis of the desired object'"'"'s shape, and for converting same into respective electrical signals, said plurality of electrical signals collectively constituting a time-varying shape signature of that object; (b) second means for storing a time-varying standard shape signature of the desired object shape; and (c) third means connected to said first and second means for comparing the derived signature of the object with the stored standard signature and determining therefrom the acceptability/non-acceptability of that object. - View Dependent Claims (84, 85)
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87. Apparatus for determining the correctness of shape of articles relative to a time-varying shape signature standard and classifying said articles into acceptable and non-acceptable categories, comprising:
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(a) electro-optic means including light source means for illuminating the articles and photodetecting means arranged to receive light reflected from the articles and for generating electrical signals corresponding thereto, said photodetecting means having means for accentuating the specular reflectance from the articles; (b) first means for effecting relative translational movement between said electro-optic means and the articles and for providing output signals which are utilized in determining the instantaneous relative location of the articles; and (c) control sampling and processing means connected to said electro-optic means and said first means for selectively sampling the signals generated by said electro-optic means based at least on part on article location and processing said sampled signals into a form representative of article shape, said control sampling and processing means including means for storing a pre-established time varying reference signal representative of the correct shape of the articles and means for comparing the processed sample signal constituting the time-varying shape signature of an article with the stored reference and for generating an output signal representative of the acceptability or non-acceptability of each article.
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Specification