Method and apparatus for inspecting a solderless terminal by image processing
First Claim
1. An apparatus for inspecting a solderless terminal by image processing, the solderless terminal including a resin barrel adapted to hold an end portion of an electric conductor comprised of a plurality of core wires enclosed in a resin cover, the end portion of the electric conductor having the resin cover partially removed therefrom to expose the core wires at the end portion, a core barrel and the resin barrel adapted to hold the exposed core wires of the electric conductor to electrically connect the conductor to the solderless terminal, said apparatus for inspecting a solderless terminal comprising:
- main illuminating means disposed substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the resin barrel for illuminating the solderless terminal from a first direction, the main illuminating means having at least one illuminating element extending substantially in the same direction as a length of the solderless terminal;
auxiliary illuminating means for illuminating a background area of the solderless terminal from a second direction substantially opposite to said first direction;
image receiving means for receiving an image of the solderless terminal produced by said main illuminating means and said auxiliary illuminating means; and
image processing means for processing the image received by said image receiving means, the image processing means including means for determining whether the solderless terminal is correctly crimped to the electric conductor.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A solderless terminal inspecting method and apparatus for determining if a solderless terminal has been satisfactorily crimped against an electric conductor has a main illuminating device for illuminating a solderless terminal having illuminating elements extending in substantially the same direction as a length of a solderless terminal. The inspecting apparatus also includes an auxiliary illuminating device for illuminating a solderless terminal in a direction opposite to the illuminating direction of the main illuminating device. The apparatus also includes an illuminated image receiving device for receiving the illuminated image of the solderless terminal. The image of the solderless terminal received by the image receiving device is binary-coded by using at least one binary level determined according to an area histogram which has been obtained in advance, and an image processing device determines from the image whether the solderless terminal is correctly crimped to the electric conductor.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An apparatus for inspecting a solderless terminal by image processing, the solderless terminal including a resin barrel adapted to hold an end portion of an electric conductor comprised of a plurality of core wires enclosed in a resin cover, the end portion of the electric conductor having the resin cover partially removed therefrom to expose the core wires at the end portion, a core barrel and the resin barrel adapted to hold the exposed core wires of the electric conductor to electrically connect the conductor to the solderless terminal, said apparatus for inspecting a solderless terminal comprising:
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main illuminating means disposed substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the resin barrel for illuminating the solderless terminal from a first direction, the main illuminating means having at least one illuminating element extending substantially in the same direction as a length of the solderless terminal; auxiliary illuminating means for illuminating a background area of the solderless terminal from a second direction substantially opposite to said first direction; image receiving means for receiving an image of the solderless terminal produced by said main illuminating means and said auxiliary illuminating means; and image processing means for processing the image received by said image receiving means, the image processing means including means for determining whether the solderless terminal is correctly crimped to the electric conductor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for inspecting a solderless terminal by image processing, the solderless terminal including a resin barrel adapted to hold an end portion of an electric conductor comprised of a plurality of core wires enclosed in a resin cover, the end portion of the electric conductor having the resin cover partially removed therefrom to expose the core wires at the end portion, a core barrel and the resin barrel adapted to hold the exposed core wires of the electric conductor to electrically connect the conductor to the solderless terminal, said method for inspecting a solderless terminal comprising the steps of:
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illuminating the solderless terminal from a first direction with a main illuminating means disposed substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the resin barrel and illuminating a background area of the solderless terminal from a second direction substantially opposite to said first direction; receiving an image of the solderless terminal formed by light reflected from the illuminated solderless terminal; and processing the image received into luminance data to determine whether the solderless terminal is correctly crimped to the electric conductor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification