Graphical re-inspection user setup interface

• US 20050273720A1
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pressco Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pressco Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Morgan, Noel E. Jr., Batty, Kevin E., Cochran, David W., SirLouis, Timothy, Cochran, Don W., Palombo, Thomas H., Gilliland, Patrick, Yoder, Michael L., Awig, Fredrick F. II, Booher, Jesse C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,074,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41875 characterised by quality surveillance of production
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31472 Graphical display of process
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The invention provides for a graphical user interface which provides for very simple and intuitive ways of changing single or multiple inspection parameters. The graphical display immediately shows what the monitoring or inspection result would have been if the effected change had been in place during the inspection of the last “N” parts. This retrospective graphical “look-back” invokes immediate re-inspection facilitating an estimation of what the future inspection or process monitoring results will be if future production looks similar to the recent past production. The re-inspection results are immediately shown with a combination of visualization for ease of understanding and settings optimization. The visualization also shows selected other associated data to each specific inspection for ease of tracking and optimizing production processes.

Claims

1. A graphical user interface for an inspection or monitoring system, the interface comprising:

a graphical display operative to provide a visualization of selected historical data on results of an inspection or monitoring process; and

,

at least one control or threshold setting wherein an adjustment thereof changes the visualization of the results to reflect the adjustment of the setting.

2. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adjustment comprises manipulation of a graphical threshold line on the graphical display, the manipulation triggering re-inspection or re-calculation of the selected historical data and the corresponding re-visualization thereof.

3. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adjustment comprises manipulation of graphical elements on the graphical display, the manipulation triggering re-inspection or re-calculation of the selected historical data and the corresponding re-visualization thereof.

4. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization is operative to trigger additional selected images or data to be displayed upon manipulation of a pointer or graphical actuator.

5. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 4 wherein the additional selected data includes at least one of time, temperature information, color information, manufacturing path information, mass information, measurement information, identification information, batch information, pressure information, machinery settings information, and maintenance history information.

6. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 4 wherein the manipulation comprises selecting a bar element of a bar graph to display at least one image correlating to a sample.

7. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization is operative to display of a subset or superset of the selected historical data upon pointing to or selecting a graphical element.

8. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the selected historical data represents a population of images obtained during the inspection or monitoring process and the graphical user interface facilitates adjustment of machine vision inspection parameters while simultaneously viewing inspection results on a selected population of images.

9. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 8 wherein the visualization is a single visualization screen on the display device.

10. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the adjustment comprises use of sliders, mouse clicking, knobs or touch screens.

11. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the change of the visualization includes a recalculation for each of the corresponding inspection or process monitoring events to account for the adjustment of the threshold, and further wherein the recalculation is shown in a subsequent visualization.

12. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 11 wherein the recalculation includes a re-inspection of an image and/or re-analysis of the selected historical data.

13. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inspection or monitoring process is an industrial on-line process.

14. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 13 wherein the visualization of the historical data is a visualization of relevant indicators relating to a measured product or process parameter being monitored.

15. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 14 wherein the visualization further includes the visualization of at least one selected control limit setting.

16. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 14 wherein the visualization further includes the concurrent visualization of multiple selected control limit settings.

17. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 14 wherein the visualization of historical data is a visualization of related or correlated information to respective historical samples.

18. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 17 wherein the correlated information includes at least one of process controlled machine parts, molds, fixtures, or process elements that effect the process.

19. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 12 wherein the re-inspection comprises an immediate re-inspection based on at least one setting change on the graphical user interface.

20. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the historical data includes saved data stored in at least one of a solid-state digital memory, rotating memory, optical memory or other computer storage media.

21. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 20 wherein the historical data includes images relating to the indicator values of measured product or process parameters shown by the visualization.

22. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 20 wherein the historical data includes non-image forms of raw sensor data relating to indicator values of the measured product or process parameters shown by the visualization.

23. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 13 wherein the changes facilitated by the graphical visualization invoke changes in the on-line inspection or process monitoring system.

24. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 23 wherein the on-line inspection or process monitoring systems includes multiple channels.

25. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 24 wherein the multiple channels comprise connected, independent inspection or process monitoring stations or nodes.

26. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 13 wherein the graphical visualization is used for at least one of the following actions:

1) evaluation,

     2) making further adjustments, or

     3) invoking changes in the inspection or process monitoring system.

27. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 26 wherein a further action is taken to accept the invoking of the changes.

28. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 27 wherein a final acceptance of the changes in the inspection or process monitoring system is security protected.

29. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization comprises a bar graph representing a population of selected historical samples.

30. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 29 wherein a height of each respective bar is an indicator value of a measure of badness or goodness computed by the system for each respective sample.

31. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 29 wherein the bar graph includes bar elements having colors which are indicative of a selected characteristic or a display of information relating to the bar elements.

32. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the selected historical data represents a predetermined sampling of data corresponding to parts or events being inspected or monitored.

33. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 32 wherein the predetermined sampling comprises at least one of time-based sampling, count-based sampling, periodic sampling, event-based sampling, sampling plan theory based sampling, shift-based sampling, random-based sampling, algorithm-based sampling, military-based sampling, frequency-based sampling, percent-based sampling, location-based sampling, station-based sampling, and manufacturing path based sampling.

34. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization shows a selected mix of samples from production wherein the selected mix of samples from production represents a comparison of a first type of selected samples with at least a second type of selected samples.

35. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 34 wherein the first type comprises samples having a particular characteristic.

36. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 34 wherein the second type comprises samples obtained using at least one of time-based sampling, count-based sampling, periodic sampling, event-based sampling, sampling plan theory based sampling, shift-based sampling, random-based sampling, algorithm-based sampling, military-based sampling, frequency-based sampling, percent-based sampling, location-based sampling, station-based sampling, and manufacturing path based sampling.

37. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 34 wherein the second type comprises samples having a particular characteristic.

38. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization results are expressed in terms specifically useful to a user.

39. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 38 wherein the terms are defined as at least one of dimension, mass, percentage, monetary impact, measurement, visual attribute and numbers of parts.

41. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the at least one threshold setting comprises a sensitivity level and a defect scale.

47. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein the visualization includes a holographic image display.

48. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 1 wherein visualization of specific defect types is in a form of a holographic display.

40. A graphical user interface comprising:

a graphical display operative to provide a visualization of historical data on results of an inspection or monitoring process; and

,

at least one threshold setting wherein an adjustment thereof changes the visualization to reflect the adjustment.

42. A method comprising:

displaying historical data in a graphical user interface to provide a visualization of results of an inspection or monitoring process; and

,

changing the visualization to reflect an adjustment of at least one threshold setting.

43. A method used in a process or monitoring system, the method comprising:

displaying selected historical data in a graphical user interface to provide a visualization of results of an inspection or monitoring process; and

,

changing the visualization of the results to reflect an adjustment of at least one threshold setting.

44. A graphical user interface for use in a machine vision inspection system, the interface comprising:

a display operative to provide a single screen visualization of selected historical data on results of an on-line machine vision inspection process, the selected historical data representing a population of inspected parts, and the selected historical data comprising images of selected regions of interest of the inspected parts and selected non-image data; and

,

at least one threshold setting wherein an adjustment thereof changes the single screen visualization to reflect the adjustment.

45. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 44 wherein the single screen visualization comprises an unwrapped view of a selected region of interest of a selected image of an inspected part.

46. The graphical user interface as set forth in claim 44 wherein the images comprise a plurality of thumbnail images.