Surface defect inspection system
First Claim
1. A surface defect inspection system comprising:
- an image pick-up means for picking up an image by sequentially raster scanning the surface of an object two-dimensionally in abscissa and ordinate directions;
threshold means for quantizing an image signal produced from said image pick-up means as a binary signal in accordance with a predetermined threshold and sampling the quantized signal;
register means having a storage capacity corresponding to at least one raster scan line for sequentially and temporarily storing the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means;
holding means for, when the sampled quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern is delivered from said threshold meansfor the first time at a certain abscissa in a certain ordinate corresponding to a certain raster scan line, holding the sampled quantized signal corresponding to the defect pattern at a portion corresponding to the abscissa of the corresponding defect pattern in said register means during succeeding scanning operations in the ordinate direction as long as the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means includes at least one quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern in an abscissa area having an abscissa of the defect pattern where said register means includes quantized signals corresponding to a defect pattern continuously in the abscissa direction, in each of succeeding raster scan lines;
pattern region end decision means for deciding that the defect pattern region has ended in the ordinate direction when the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means includes no quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern in the abscissa area having an abscissa of the defect pattern in a succeeding raster scan line;
pattern feature extracting means for extracting features of the defect pattern in accordance with the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means in synchronism with the scanning in the abscissa direction;
memory means having a storage capacity corresponding to at least one raster scan line for temporarily and sequentially storing the result of the calculation delivered from said pattern feature extracting means to a storage area corresponding to the abscissa where the defect pattern exists;
reading means for, when said pattern region end decision means decides that the defect pattern region has ended in the ordinate direction, reading the features of the defect pattern from the storage area of said memory means corresponding to the abscissa where the defect pattern exists; and
defect decision means for comparing the features of each of the defect patterns separately read out of said reading means with a predetermined reference to thereby decide whether the defect pattern is acceptable or not.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A surface defect inspection system comprises an image pick-up device for picking up an image by sequentially scanning the surface of an object two-dimensionally, a threshold circuit for quantizing the image signal produced from the image pick-up device as a binary code, a pattern feature extracting device for making calculations for extracting the features of image patterns from the quantized signal in synchronism with the scanning, and for temporarily storing the result of the calculations, a pattern region end decision device for deciding that individual pattern regions have ended in one direction, and a defect decision device for reading out from the pattern feature extracting device the result of the calculations on the pattern features corresponding to the positions each of the patterns in the direction perpendicular to the one direction each time of the decision that each pattern region has ended, so that the feature of each pattern scanned is compared with a predetermined reference, thus deciding and an indication of producing the presence or absence of a defect.
66 Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A surface defect inspection system comprising:
-
an image pick-up means for picking up an image by sequentially raster scanning the surface of an object two-dimensionally in abscissa and ordinate directions; threshold means for quantizing an image signal produced from said image pick-up means as a binary signal in accordance with a predetermined threshold and sampling the quantized signal; register means having a storage capacity corresponding to at least one raster scan line for sequentially and temporarily storing the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means; holding means for, when the sampled quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern is delivered from said threshold means for the first time at a certain abscissa in a certain ordinate corresponding to a certain raster scan line, holding the sampled quantized signal corresponding to the defect pattern at a portion corresponding to the abscissa of the corresponding defect pattern in said register means during succeeding scanning operations in the ordinate direction as long as the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means includes at least one quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern in an abscissa area having an abscissa of the defect pattern where said register means includes quantized signals corresponding to a defect pattern continuously in the abscissa direction, in each of succeeding raster scan lines; pattern region end decision means for deciding that the defect pattern region has ended in the ordinate direction when the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means includes no quantized signal corresponding to a defect pattern in the abscissa area having an abscissa of the defect pattern in a succeeding raster scan line; pattern feature extracting means for extracting features of the defect pattern in accordance with the sampled quantized signal delivered from said threshold means in synchronism with the scanning in the abscissa direction; memory means having a storage capacity corresponding to at least one raster scan line for temporarily and sequentially storing the result of the calculation delivered from said pattern feature extracting means to a storage area corresponding to the abscissa where the defect pattern exists; reading means for, when said pattern region end decision means decides that the defect pattern region has ended in the ordinate direction, reading the features of the defect pattern from the storage area of said memory means corresponding to the abscissa where the defect pattern exists; and defect decision means for comparing the features of each of the defect patterns separately read out of said reading means with a predetermined reference to thereby decide whether the defect pattern is acceptable or not. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
- 8. A surface defect inspection system comprising image pick-up means for picking up an image of a surface of an object including defect patterns by sequentially scanning the surface of an object line by line, binary converter means for converting the image signal produced from said image pick-up means into a binary code signal which represents the patterns on the surface, means for extending each pattern in a direction perpendicular to the direction of scan line to an end scan line for the pattern beyond which the pattern no longer exists and combining extended patterns, when they overlap to each other during said extending, into one extended pattern, pattern feature extracting means for extracting features of each extended pattern including at least one pattern in synchronism with the scanning, and for temporarily storing the features being extracted, pattern region end detection means for detecting the end scan line of each extended pattern, and defect discrimination means for reading out from said pattern feature extracting means the features of the extended pattern upon detection of the end scan line of the extended pattern, comparing the features of each extended pattern with at least one predetermined reference, and discriminating the extended pattern according to a predetermined classification based on the result of said comparison.
Specification