Method and apparatus for inspecting distorted patterns
First Claim
1. A method for training a system to inspect a spatially distorted pattern, the method comprising:
- receiving a digitized image of an object, the digitized image including a region of interest;
dividing the region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting tool can reliably inspect each of the sub-regions;
training only a fine search tool and an image-feature-position-based inspection tool for a respective single model for each of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions;
building a single search tree for determining an order for inspecting each non-overlapping sub-region of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions at a run-time; and
training a coarse alignment tool for the region of interest in its entirety so as to enable providing at run time an approximate location for a root sub-region of the single search tree.
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Abstract
An embodiment of the invention provides a method for training a system to inspect a spatially distorted pattern. A digitized image of an object, including a region of interest, is received. The region of interest is further divided in to a plurality of sub-regions. A size of each of the sub-regions is small enough such that a conventional inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the sub-regions. A search tool and an inspecting tool are trained for a respective model for each of the sub-regions. A search tree is built for determining an order for inspecting the sub-regions. A coarse alignment tool is trained for the region of interest. Another embodiment of the invention provides a method for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern. A coarse alignment tool is run to approximately locate a pattern. Search tree information and an approximate location of a root image, found by the coarse alignment tool, is used to locate sub-regions sequentially in an order according to the search tree information. Each of the sub-regions is inspected, the sub regions being small enough such that a conventional inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the sub-regions.
48 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for training a system to inspect a spatially distorted pattern, the method comprising:
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receiving a digitized image of an object, the digitized image including a region of interest; dividing the region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting tool can reliably inspect each of the sub-regions; training only a fine search tool and an image-feature-position-based inspection tool for a respective single model for each of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions; building a single search tree for determining an order for inspecting each non-overlapping sub-region of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions at a run-time; and training a coarse alignment tool for the region of interest in its entirety so as to enable providing at run time an approximate location for a root sub-region of the single search tree. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern, the method comprising:
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running a coarse alignment tool to approximately locate the spatially distorted pattern in its entirety within a region of interest so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree; running only a fine alignment tool in an order according to the single search tree, and using the approximate location of the root sub-region to locate a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions within the region of interest so as to provide fine location information, the non-overlapping sub-regions covering the region of interest in its entirety, each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being of a size small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions using respective single models; inspecting each of the non-overlapping sub-regions using the fine location information and the image-feature-position-based inspecting method so as to produce a difference image for each of the non-overlapping sub-regions. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory for storing a digitized image of an object; a region divider for dividing the digitized image of a region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions, the non-overlapping sub-regions covering the region of interest completely, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; a coarse alignment tool for approximately locating the pattern so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree; a fine search tool only for locating each of the non-overlapping sub-regions sequentially in an order based on the single search tree; and an image-feature-position-based inspector for inspecting each of the non-overlapping sub-regions. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern, the apparatus comprising:
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a storage for storing a digitized image of an object, the digitized image including a region of interest; a region divider for dividing the region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; a trainer for training a respective single model for a fine search tool only and for an image-feature-position-based inspector for each of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions; a search tree builder for building a single search tree for determining an order for image-feature-position-based inspecting of each sub-region of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions at a run time; a coarse alignment trainer; a coarse alignment tool for approximately locating the pattern so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree, the coarse alignment tool being configured to be trained by the coarse alignment trainer; a fine search tool only for locating each of the non-overlapping sub-regions sequentially in an order based on the single search tree, the root sub-region of the single search tree being provided by the coarse alignment tool; and an image-based inspector for inspecting each of the non-overlapping sub-regions. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A medium having a stored therein machine-readable information, such that when the machine-readable information is read into a memory of a computer and executed, the machine-readable information causes the computer:
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to receive a digitized image of an object, the digitized image including a region of interest; to divide the region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping subregions, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; to train a respective single model for a fine search tool only and for an image-feature-position-based inspection tool for each of the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions; to build a single search tree for determining an order for inspecting the plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions at a run-time; and to train a respective model for a coarse alignment tool so as to enable providing at run time an approximate location for a root sub-region of the single search tree. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern, the method comprising:
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running a coarse alignment tool to approximately locate the pattern so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree; running only a fine alignment tool in an order according to the single search tree, and using the approximate location of the root sub-region, to locate a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions so as to provide fine location information, each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being of a size small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; comparing the fine location information with model location information so as to provide a distortion vector for each non-overlapping sub-region; combining all distortion vectors, one for each non-overlapping sub-region, so as to produce a distortion vector field; and using the distortion vector field to make a pass/fail decision based on user-specified tolerances.
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35. An apparatus for inspecting a spatially distorted pattern, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory for storing a digitized image of an object; a region divider for dividing the digitized image of a region of interest in its entirety into a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions, a size of each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; a coarse alignment tool for approximately locating the pattern so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree; a fine search tool only for locating each of the non-overlapping sub-regions sequentially in an order based on the single search tree so as to provide fine location information; a vector field producer for comparing the fine location information with model location information so as to provide a distortion vector for each non-overlapping sub-region, and for combining the distortion vectors to produce a distortion vector field; and a comparing mechanism for using the distortion vector field to make a pass/fail decision based on user specified tolerances.
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36. A medium having stored therein machine-readable information, such that when the machine-readable information is read into a memory of a computer and executed, the machine-readable information causes the computer:
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to run a coarse alignment tool to approximately locate a pattern so as to provide an approximate location for a root sub-region of a single search tree; to run only a fine alignment tool in an order according to the single search tree using the root sub-region approximately located by the coarse alignment to locate a plurality of non-overlapping sub-regions so as to provide fine location information, each of the non-overlapping sub-regions being of a size small enough such that an image-feature-position-based inspecting method can reliably inspect each of the non-overlapping sub-regions; to compare the fine location information with model location information so as to provide a distortion vector for each non-overlapping subregion; to combine all distortion vectors, one for each non-overlapping sub-region, so as to produce a distortion vector field; and to use the distortion vector field to make a pass/fail decision based on user-specified tolerances.
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Specification