Shape detecting apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A shape detecting apparatus comprising:
- a slit projector for projecting a slit-like bright line on a plurality of objects arranged in a line;
an image forming lens for forming a bright line image from said slit-like bright line;
image scanning means for scanning the bright line image obtained through said image forming lens in a direction of the height of said objects;
a one-dimensional image sensing device having a plurality of image sensing elements arranged in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of said image scanning means, including means for self-scanning said bright line image formed by said image forming lens by scanning said plurality of image sensing elements in said perpendicular direction;
a Z-coordinate generating circuit for generating a Z-coordinate in a direction of the height of said object on the basis of a trigger signal of said one-dimensional image sensing device;
an A/D converting circuit for A/D converting a video signal obtained from said one-dimensional image sensing device; and
memory means for storing a Z-coordinate obtained from said Z-coordinate generating circuit corresponding to each X-coordinate representing the image sensing elements of said one-dimensional image sensing device, said Z-coordinate representing a maximum value of the video signal at said each X-coordinate, which is obtained by means of searching from the digital video signal A/D converted by said A/D converting circuit,whereby a contour of each of the objects is detected from the Z-coordinate corresponding to each X-coordinate produced from said memory means,said apparatus further comprising;
a histogram forming means for forming for each frame a frequency distribution of the Z-coordinate representing the maximum value of the video signal at said each X-coordinate;
a peak position detecting means for detecting a peak Z-position which provides a maximum in said frequency distribution formed by said histogram forming means; and
automatic control means for relatively moving a light segmented-image detecting head comprising said image forming lens, image scanning means, and the one-dimensional image sensing device, with respect to the objects and vice versa so that a focal point of said image forming lens coincides with a peak Z-position detected by said peak position detecting means.
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Abstract
Disclosed is a shape detecting apparatus comprising a slit projector for projecting a slit bright line on a number of objects arrayed in a line, an image forming lens for forming the bright line image, an image scanning mechanism for the bright line image formed through the image forming lens in a height direction of the object and a one-dimensional image sensing device for self-scanning the bright line image formed therein with an array of image sensing elements orthogonal to the scanning direction by the image scanning mechanism.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A shape detecting apparatus comprising:
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a slit projector for projecting a slit-like bright line on a plurality of objects arranged in a line; an image forming lens for forming a bright line image from said slit-like bright line; image scanning means for scanning the bright line image obtained through said image forming lens in a direction of the height of said objects; a one-dimensional image sensing device having a plurality of image sensing elements arranged in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of said image scanning means, including means for self-scanning said bright line image formed by said image forming lens by scanning said plurality of image sensing elements in said perpendicular direction; a Z-coordinate generating circuit for generating a Z-coordinate in a direction of the height of said object on the basis of a trigger signal of said one-dimensional image sensing device; an A/D converting circuit for A/D converting a video signal obtained from said one-dimensional image sensing device; and memory means for storing a Z-coordinate obtained from said Z-coordinate generating circuit corresponding to each X-coordinate representing the image sensing elements of said one-dimensional image sensing device, said Z-coordinate representing a maximum value of the video signal at said each X-coordinate, which is obtained by means of searching from the digital video signal A/D converted by said A/D converting circuit, whereby a contour of each of the objects is detected from the Z-coordinate corresponding to each X-coordinate produced from said memory means, said apparatus further comprising; a histogram forming means for forming for each frame a frequency distribution of the Z-coordinate representing the maximum value of the video signal at said each X-coordinate; a peak position detecting means for detecting a peak Z-position which provides a maximum in said frequency distribution formed by said histogram forming means; and automatic control means for relatively moving a light segmented-image detecting head comprising said image forming lens, image scanning means, and the one-dimensional image sensing device, with respect to the objects and vice versa so that a focal point of said image forming lens coincides with a peak Z-position detected by said peak position detecting means. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A shape detecting apparatus comprising:
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a slit projector for projecting a slit-like bright line on a plurality of objects arranged in a line; a light segmented-image detecting head comprising an image forming lens for forming a bright line image from said slit-like bright line and a scanning type image detector for scanning said bright line image formed by said image forming lens to produce a corresponding video signal; a histogram forming means for forming for each frame a frequency distribution of a Z-coordinate in a direction of the height of said objects, representing the maximum value of the video signal at each X-coordinate in a direction arranged parallel to a direction of said slit-like bright line projected on said objects; a peak position detecting means for detecting a peak Z-position which provides a maximum in said frequency distribution formed by said histogram forming means; and automatic control means for relatively moving said light segmented-image detecting head with respect to the objects and vice versa so that a focal point of said image forming lens coincides with a peak Z-position detected by said peak position detecting means. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6)
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Specification