Method for recognizing a structure to be applied to a substrate, with the aid of several cameras and device therefore

• US 8,538,125 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QuISS Qualitäts-Inspektionssysteme und Service AG (Atlas Copco AB)
• Original Assignee: Quiss GmbH
• Inventors: Linnenkohl, Jan Anders, Tomtschko, Andreas, Berger, Mirko, Raab, Roman
• Primary Examiner(s): Carter, Aaron W
• Application Number:
  US10/584,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20120039524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,190 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382/141, 382/153, 348/125, 348/143, 348/169, 700/259
• US Class Current: 382/141
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/126 responsive to target velocity, e.g. to relative velocity between spray apparatus and target B05B9/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05C 5/0216 by relative movement of article and outlet according to a predetermined path
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/88 Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/24 Aligning, centring, orientation detection or correction of the image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/10 Methods of surface bonding and/or assembly therefor

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for automatic application and monitoring of a structure to be applied onto substrate. A plurality of cameras positioned around an application facility are utilized to monitor the automatic application of a structure on a substrate by means of a stereometry procedure. Three-dimensional recognition of a reference contour position results in the overlapping area to be used for gross adjustment of the application facility prior to applying the structure.

Claims

1. A method for recognizing a structure to be applied onto a substrate, the method comprising:

acquiring, by means of a single scan of a reference application structure using multiple cameras, a teach-in of the reference application structure; and

storing a sequence of images of the reference application structure;

wherein each of the cameras records each corresponding image as an image strip that forms part of the sequence of images, and wherein image recording rate is increased in line with a data reduction achieved by recording each image as an image strip.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying the structure onto the substrate and processing a scan of the applied structure as an optical representation.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising joining the sequence of images into a single image.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein for each camera, approximately one quarter of associated image lines are used for each corresponding image strip.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

parameterizing the sequence of images by means of a one-time external marking of the reference application structure.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the parameterization comprises a robot travel path, a robot travel time, a direction, a width and a quality of an adhesive trail.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising applying the structure to the substrate as an adhesive trail, and analyzing the adhesive trail utilizing an assessment function, wherein the assessment function comprises a fuzzy assessment.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein a calculation by means of the assessment function is determined by at least one of a width of a pair of edges comprising a right edge and a left edge of the adhesive trail, a mean gray scale value of a projected gray scale value profile between the pair of edges, an edge contrast, and a position of the progression of the adhesive trail.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising applying the structure to the substrate as an adhesive trail, wherein an edge of the adhesive trail is determined on a surrounding track that is approximately a circular line, and wherein the adhesive trail is applied such that the adhesive trail progresses within the surrounding track.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein each camera monitors at least one overlapping area with at least one adjacent camera.

18. The method according to claim 1 further comprising utilizing a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the structure with a color that is a suitable contrast to the color of the structure.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the LEDs comprise infrared LEDs, ultra-violet (UV) LEDs and/or Red-Green-Blue (RGB) LEDs.

20. The method according to claim 1 further comprising determining a reference contour utilizing at least two cameras to perform a three-dimensional positional correction for an application facility by means of a stereometry procedure.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the at least two cameras each record an image comprising at least one of a full image and a large image of at least one of the substrate, a section of a component, and a plurality of components.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the full images or the large images of the at least two cameras comprise an overlapping area in a leading direction.

23. The method according to claim 20 further comprising adjusting the application facility prior to applying the structure by utilizing a three-dimensional recognition of the reference contour position.

24. The method according to claim 20 further comprising applying a plurality of laser lines to the substrate to form a projection onto the area of the reference contour for a three-dimensional analysis.

25. The method according to claim 1 further comprising utilizing a calibrating device having marker points located at 0°

, 120°

, and 240°

of a circular arc to calibrate the cameras, wherein the individual cameras are calibrated in order to assign an angle assignment.

26. The method according to claim 1 further comprising applying the structure onto the substrate using an application facility, and measuring a distance from the application facility to a component to perform a positional test of the applied structure.

27. The method according to claim 18 further comprising flashing the LEDs by applying pulses of current ranging in duration from 1.0 to 0.01 ms to the LEDs.

28. The method according to claim 26 wherein a line-shaped gray scale value scan is used for distance measurement.

2. A method for recognizing a structure to be applied onto a substrate, the method comprising:

acquiring, by means of a single scan of a reference application structure using multiple cameras, a teach-in of the reference application structure; and

storing a sequence of images of the reference application structure;

wherein each of the cameras records each corresponding image as an image strip that forms part of the sequence of images, and wherein for each camera, approximately one quarter of associated image lines are used for each corresponding image strip.

3. A method for recognizing a structure to be applied onto a substrate, the method comprising:

acquiring, by means of a single scan of a reference application structure using multiple cameras, a teach-in of the reference application structure;

storing a sequence of images of the reference application structure, wherein each of the cameras records each corresponding image as an image strip that forms part of the sequence of images; and

applying the structure to the substrate as an adhesive trail, wherein an edge of the adhesive trail is determined on a surrounding track that is approximately a circular line, and wherein the adhesive trail is applied such that the adhesive trail progresses within the surrounding track.

12. The method according to claim 3 wherein a center of the circular line approximately coincides with a site from which an adhesive emanates to form the adhesive trail.

13. The method according to claim 3 wherein each camera monitors at least a segment of at least one of the circular line and an orbit formed by the circular line.

15. The method according to claim 3 wherein a segment of the circular line is assigned to the images of a respective camera, and wherein the angle values of the circular line range from 0°

to 360° and

comprise a global coordinate system.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the multiple cameras include first, second and third cameras, wherein the first camera covers at least a range of angles between −

10°

to 130°

, the second camera covers at least a range of angles between 110°

to 250°

, and the third camera covers at least a range of angles between 230°

to 10°

.

17. The method according to claim 13 further comprising automatically switching from one camera to another camera when the adhesive trail progresses from the segment of the circular line of the one camera via an overlapping area to the segment of the circular line of the another camera.