Method and apparatus for locating, inspecting, and placing large leaded devices
First Claim
1. In a machine vision system capable of capturing an optical image of a leaded part and digitizing said optical image as a two-dimensional image, a method for locating, inspecting, and placing leaded devices, comprising:
- a) estimating an approximate location of a set of leads by locating at least one edge for a lead of a lead set by applying a region of interest window to said image containing a group of leads;
projecting a two-dimensional image into a one-dimensional image;
plotting edge values;
applying an edge filter to locate each edge that may constitute a tip or a base;
scoring the results of the filtering;
selecting from the scoring of the filtering the positions that meet the expected values for a tip edge or a base edge;
b) computing the center and angle of a lead scan search rectangle within which leads in said set of leads must be located by computing two points at either end of a lead set and calculating the average of the points and the angle of a line connecting them;
c) scanning said lead scan search rectangle to locate lead edges and compile a list of edges by covering the search rectangle with a series of stepped calipers, each of said calipers aligned in a non-rotated manner with said image'"'"'s axis and applied in such a way as to guarantee that each lead edge will appear in at least one caliper window and then projecting edge positions along the axis of said lead scan search rectangle, locating projected positions of two edges from different stepped calipers within a specified threshold of each other and selecting the edge with the stronger contrast to compile a single edge list;
d) extracting lead positions;
e) updating a part location estimate; and
f) repeating steps a) through e) for each lead set to find all leads and lead centerlines.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a machine vision system capable of capturing an optical image of a semiconductor electronic component part and digitizing the optical image, a method for locating, inspecting and placing parts known as large leaded devices, by estimating a part'"'"'s location; estimating the approximate location of a group of leads; computing the center and angle of a lead scan search rectangle within which the leads in a group of leads must be located; scanning a lead scan search rectangle to locate lead edges and compile a list of edges; extracting lead positions; updating the part location estimate; and repeating these steps for each lead set to find all leads and lead centerlines; then calculating an optimal part position estimate by matching found lead positions with expected lead centerlines; and finally, inspecting the leads. A statistical lead rejection procedure is included during lead extraction.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. In a machine vision system capable of capturing an optical image of a leaded part and digitizing said optical image as a two-dimensional image, a method for locating, inspecting, and placing leaded devices, comprising:
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a) estimating an approximate location of a set of leads by locating at least one edge for a lead of a lead set by applying a region of interest window to said image containing a group of leads;
projecting a two-dimensional image into a one-dimensional image;
plotting edge values;
applying an edge filter to locate each edge that may constitute a tip or a base;
scoring the results of the filtering;
selecting from the scoring of the filtering the positions that meet the expected values for a tip edge or a base edge;b) computing the center and angle of a lead scan search rectangle within which leads in said set of leads must be located by computing two points at either end of a lead set and calculating the average of the points and the angle of a line connecting them; c) scanning said lead scan search rectangle to locate lead edges and compile a list of edges by covering the search rectangle with a series of stepped calipers, each of said calipers aligned in a non-rotated manner with said image'"'"'s axis and applied in such a way as to guarantee that each lead edge will appear in at least one caliper window and then projecting edge positions along the axis of said lead scan search rectangle, locating projected positions of two edges from different stepped calipers within a specified threshold of each other and selecting the edge with the stronger contrast to compile a single edge list; d) extracting lead positions; e) updating a part location estimate; and f) repeating steps a) through e) for each lead set to find all leads and lead centerlines. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. In a machine vision system capable of capturing an optical image of a leaded part and digitizing said optical image as a two-dimensional image, an apparatus for locating, inspecting and placing leaded devices, comprising:
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a) a means for estimating an approximate location of a set of leads by locating at least one edge for a lead of a lead set by applying a region of interest window to said image containing a group of leads;
projecting a two-dimensional image into a one dimensional image;
plotting edge values;
applying an edge filter to locate each edge that may constitute a tip or a base;
scoring the results of the filtering;
selecting from the scoring of the filtering the positions that meet the expected values for a tip edge or a base edge;b) means for computing the center and angle of a lead scan search rectangle within which leads in said set of leads must be located by computing two points at either end of a lead set and calculating the average of the points and the angle of a line connecting them; c) means for scanning said lead scan search rectangle to locate lead edges and compile a list of edges by covering the search rectangle with a series of stepped calipers, each of said calipers aligned in a non-rotated manner with said image'"'"'s axis and applied in such a way as to guarantee that each lead edge will appear in at least one caliper window, the means for scanning also communicating with a means for projecting edge positions along the axis of said lead scan search rectangle, and a means for locating projected positions of two edges from different stepped calipers within a specified threshold of each other and a means for selecting the edge with the stronger contrast to compile a single edge list; d) means for extracting lead positions; e) means for updating a part location estimate; and f) means for iterating through each lead set to find all leads and lead centerlines. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In a machine vision system capable of capturing an optical image of a part and digitizing said optical image, to enable the locating, inspecting and placing of leaded devices, a method for statistically rejecting spurious leads comprising:
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a) compiling statistics on the properties of a lead group as a whole, heavily weighting the characteristics of leads found in the middle; b) assigning each lead in a group a grade indicating its typicality compared to said group as a whole; c) computing a histogram of the grades of a group; d) analyzing the histogram; e) calculating the number of extraneous leads (n) found in a group; f) selecting from said histogram values, those extraneous leads n with the worst scores; g) verifying that the n worst grades are significantly worse than the grades of the rest of the leads; h) verifying that these n worst graded leads are also at the ends of a lead set; and i) rejecting said n worst leads. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification