Machine vision system utilizing programmable optical parallel processing
First Claim
1. A vision system for an industrial robot, said vision system identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object being viewed and comprising:
- input means for producing an object signal indicative of said object being viewed;
reference generator means for producing a reference signal indicative of a spatial orientation of a desired object to be identified;
correlation means for cross-correlating said object signal and said reference signal to produce a correlated signal; and
discrimination means for determining the degree of correlation between said object signal and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed is said desired object to be identified arranged in the spatial orientation of said reference signal;
said reference generator means iteratively producing new reference signals indicative of a new spatial orientation of said desired object to be identified for cross-correlation and determination by said correlation means and said discrimination means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An object or scene viewed by the programmable optical processor based machine vision system is converted into a video signal representative of a spatial orientation and position of a viewed object being viewed. Reference information stored within a system control processor and indicative of a desired object to be identified and its spatial orientation and position of is used to produce a reference video signal. Both the object video signal representative of the object being viewed and the reference video signal representative of the desired object to be identified are converted into incoherent optical representations of these signals which are optically parallel processed in order to obtain a cross-correlation of the respective signals. This cross-correlation is converted into an electrical signal and is evaluated using any suitable known correlation evaluation technique in order to determine whether a high degree of correlation exists between the object being viewed and its position and orientation and the reference signal indicative of a desired object to be identified and its orientation. If a high degree of correlation exists, the effector control processor is provided with information related to the object so that the effector control processor may control a robotic manipulator in a desired manner. If a high degree of correlation does not exist between the respective signals, new object signal or reference signal information related to the object being viewed is iteratively correlated with the remaining original signal in order to determine the degree of correlation between these two signals.
97 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A vision system for an industrial robot, said vision system identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object being viewed and comprising:
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input means for producing an object signal indicative of said object being viewed; reference generator means for producing a reference signal indicative of a spatial orientation of a desired object to be identified; correlation means for cross-correlating said object signal and said reference signal to produce a correlated signal; and discrimination means for determining the degree of correlation between said object signal and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed is said desired object to be identified arranged in the spatial orientation of said reference signal; said reference generator means iteratively producing new reference signals indicative of a new spatial orientation of said desired object to be identified for cross-correlation and determination by said correlation means and said discrimination means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 40)
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19. A vision system for a industrial robot, said vision system identifying and determining the location and orientation of an object being viewed and comprising:
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input means for viewing said object from a plurality of directions and sequentially generating object signals, each indicative of a particular viewed spatial orientation of said object being viewed; reference generator means for producing a reference signal indicative of a desired object to be identified; correlation means for cross-correlating each of said object signals with said reference signal to produce a correlation signal; and discrimination means for evaluating the degree of correlation between each of said object signals and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed is said desired object arranged in the spatial orientation indicated by said object signal under determination. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A vision system for an industrial robot, said vision system identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object being viewed and comprising:
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illumination means for incoherently lighting said object; input means for viewing said object and producing an object signal indicative of said object as viewed; coherent modulator means for converting said object signal into a corresponding coherent light object signal; object optical processing means for taking the Fourier transform of said coherent light object signal; display means for producing a coherent light reference signal representative of a desired object to be identified; reference optical processing means for taking the Fourier transform of said coherent light reference signal; combination means for summing the Fourier transform of said coherent light object signal and that of said coherent light reference signal to produce a sum therebetween; squaring means for receiving said sum produced by said combination means and squaring said sum to produce a product signal; inverse transform means for taking the universe Fourier transform of said product signal to produce a cross-correlation signal indicative of the correlation between said object signal and reference signal; determination means for evaluating the degree of correlation between said object signal and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed visually corresponds to the desired object to be identified.
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41. A method of identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object, said method including the steps of;
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viewing said object; producing an object signal indicative of said object being viewed; sequentially producing a plurality of reference signals, each indicative of a desired object to be identified and its possible spatial orientation; cross-correlating said object signal with each sequentially produced reference signal to produce a correlation signal; determining the degree of correlation between said object signal and each of said reference signals, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed is said desired object arranged in the spatial orientation of said reference signal. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 56, 57)
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49. A method of identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object, said method including the steps of:
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viewing said object from a plurality of directions and sequentially generating object signals, each indicative of a particular viewed spatial orientation of said object being viewed; producing a reference signal indicative of a desired object to be identified; cross-correlating each of said object signals with said reference signal to produce a correlation signal; determining the degree of correlation between each of said object signals and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed is said desired object arranged in the spatial orientation indicated by said object signal. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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58. A method of identifying and determining the location and spatial orientation of an object, said method including the steps of:
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illuminating said object in incoherent light; viewing said object and producing an object signal indicative of said object as viewed; converting said signal into a corresponding coherent light object signal; taking the Fourier transform of said coherent light object signal; producing a coherent light reference signal representative of a desired object to be identified; taking the Fourier transform of said coherent light reference signal; combining the Fourier transform of said coherent light object signal and that of said coherent light reference signal to produce a sum therebetween; squaring said sum to produce a product; taking the inverse Fourier transform of said product to produce a cross-correlation signal indicative of the correlation between said object signal and reference signal; determining the degree of correlation between said object signal and said reference signal, a high degree of correlation indicating that said object being viewed visually corresponds to the desired object to be identified.
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Specification