WO2000007145A1 - A production line quality control method and apparatus - Google Patents
A production line quality control method and apparatus Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2000007145A1 WO2000007145A1 PCT/IB1999/001335 IB9901335W WO0007145A1 WO 2000007145 A1 WO2000007145 A1 WO 2000007145A1 IB 9901335 W IB9901335 W IB 9901335W WO 0007145 A1 WO0007145 A1 WO 0007145A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- product
- image
- parameter
- reference image
- distance
- Prior art date
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Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T7/00—Image analysis
- G06T7/0002—Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
- G06T7/0004—Industrial image inspection
- G06T7/001—Industrial image inspection using an image reference approach
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
- G06T2207/10—Image acquisition modality
- G06T2207/10141—Special mode during image acquisition
- G06T2207/10152—Varying illumination
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
- G06T2207/20—Special algorithmic details
- G06T2207/20048—Transform domain processing
- G06T2207/20056—Discrete and fast Fourier transform, [DFT, FFT]
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
- G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
- G06T2207/30108—Industrial image inspection
- G06T2207/30164—Workpiece; Machine component
Definitions
- a production line quality control method and apparatus A production line quality control method and apparatus
- the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling quality on a production line.
- defects of different kinds may be introduced in the structure of the product (irregular edges, uneven surfaces, blistering, pitting, cracking, rolling defects, incorrect position of components, etc.) or in the design printed on it (irregularities, non-uniformity of colour shades, stains, print defects, etc.).
- other apparent defects are usually introduced by the image capturing system as a result of random fluctuations in pixel intensity.
- the aim of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus to automatically and instantaneously identify the production defects of an object with reference to preset control parameters, irrespective of the noise introduced by the image capturing system.
- the invention has for an aim to provide a computerized quality control system for a production line whose sensitivity in identifying defects in a product is similar to and not less than that of the human eye.
- Another aim of the invention is to provide a system that is capable of measuring the differences between the image of a product and a reference image of the product and, hence, to identify products whose images differ from the reference image to an extent greater than a preset threshold value, thus being capable of sorting products according to quality classes defined at the very beginning of production with the procedure described below.
- Yet another aim of the invention is to provide a system for comparing images acquired by a video camera with a reference image and applying a single procedure to identify differences in geometry, flatness, pattern, or colour, between the images acquired and the reference images, even in the presence of translations, rotations or scale variations.
- FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an apparatus made according to the present invention
- FIG. 2 is a flow chart which schematically illustrates the procedure used by the apparatus made according to the present invention
- FIG. 3 is a schematic axonometric view of an apparatus constituting another embodiment of the present invention
- - Figure 4 is a schematic cross section of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 3
- - Figure 5 is a schematic cross section of another embodiment of some of the parts of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1;
- FIG. 6 is a schematic axonometric view of some of the parts of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 5;
- - Figure 7 schematically illustrates yet another embodiment of the invention, comprising some of the parts shown in Figures 3 and 4 and others shown in Figures 5 and 6.
- an apparatus made according to the present invention essentially comprises a video camera 1, a lighting system 2, a frame grabber 3 and a processing and control unit 4.
- the video camera 1 may be of the linear, colour type, with medium luminosity lenses and a colour temperature conversion filter.
- the video camera 1 is positioned above a conveyor belt 5 on which the products 21 (for example, ceramic tiles) lie, and is preferably pivotally mounted so that it can be directed in the ideal direction to capture the best images according to the product conveying system.
- the video camera 1 is preferably mounted in such a way that its height can be varied according to the size of the objects it has to focus on and according to the optical characteristics of the system.
- the lighting system 2 which may consist of halogen lamps 20, is made in such a way as to appropriately illuminate the object, depending on the inspection to be made. For example, to identify differences in colour shades, the light beam must be perpendicular to the surface of the object.
- the system may also advantageously comprise a dichroic filter to improve the lighting of the field by the lamps 20, a lenticular array and means 30 for tilting the lamps 20 relative to the vertical.
- the lighting system 2 comprises a plurality of halogen lamps 22 housed in a centring mask 23, a dichroic filter 24, a lenticular array 25, and means 26 for cooling the lamps 22.
- the lamps 22 are connected to the power supply (not illustrated) through connectors 28 and are fixed to the centring mask 23 by springs 27.
- the lamps 22 may be positioned in the centring mask at a distance L of approximately 110 mm from each other and at a distance HI of approximately 10-15 mm from the dichroic filter 24.
- the dichroic filter 24 is in turn approximately 10-15 mm from the lenticular array 25.
- the lighting system 102 comprises a diffuser 121 which makes it possible to suitably illuminate the field to be imaged with fluorescent lamps 120.
- the two lighting systems 2 and 102 can be combined in a single production line: the halogen lamps 20 of the lighting system 2 are more effective in detecting the geometric defects (flatness, etc) of the product 21, while the fluorescent lamps 120 of the lighting system 102 more effectively detect defects in the tone of the products 21 (colour and tone) .
- the two systems 2, 102 can be positioned in sequence in the direction of feed of the conveyor belt 5, as shown in Figure 7, or they may be combined into one (not illustrated) .
- FIG. 3 and 4 there is also a video camera of the linear type, which captures the images through an aperture of width W made in the diffuser 121.
- the aperture may, for example, measure 3-4 mm in width W.
- a reflective photocell positioned at right angles to the conveyor belt may be envisaged. This permits generation of Start and Stop signals, necessary to restrict image acquisition only to the parts required and to synchronize the conveyor with image acquisition.
- Both the frame grabber 3 and the processing and control unit 4 may be selected according to the specific requirements of the production line concerned.
- the unit 4 may consist of a personal computer.
- the apparatus works as described below and as illustrated in
- FIG. 2 At the start of production, two or more sample images of products without defects are acquired and stored under the same conditions. A reference image is then made by "averaging" the sample images.
- the "average” may, for example, be obtained by calculating the average of the pixel values of the acquired images. For example, if a virtual image created with computer graphics tools is available, the sample images can be generated computationally by summing the virtual image with the noise produced by the imaging system.
- a parameter IM (described in more detail below) is computed, for example for each sample image acquired or generated, as a measure of the "distance" from the reference image.
- the apparatus then computes the average value ⁇ IM> and the corresponding error ⁇ of the IM values computed compared to a statistical distribution chosen in accordance with the quality control criteria that are to be applied to the product.
- the average ⁇ IM> is the arithmetic mean of the IM values and ⁇ the mean square deviation.
- this technique can also be used, for example, on a tile production line to sort tiles according to tone.
- the colour is the difference in magnitude in two channels (for instance, .
- the computational algorithm used to detect geometrical defects is based substantially on the technique of comparison between two-dimensional images s(x,y) and r(x,y) known as Symmetric Phase-Only Matched Filtering of Fourier-Mellin invariant image descriptors (FMI-SPOMF) (see Q.S. Chen et al . , Symmetric Phase-Only Matched Filtering of Fourier-Mellin Transforms for Image Registration and Recognition, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 16, No.12, December 1994). This document is incorporated by reference into the specification of this application.
- FMI-SPOMF Symmetric Phase-Only Matched Filtering of Fourier-Mellin invariant image descriptors
- the phases of the two images are extracted and matched by applying the inverse Fourier transform to the correlation between the transforms S(u,v) and R(u,v) of the two images - or their spectra map in polar, logarithmic spaces - normalized by their amplitudes .
- the inverse transform provides a measure of the "distance" between the images and, in particular, in the continuous case, gives a Dirac ⁇ function which permits identification of translations, rotations or scale factors.
- the correlation of the Fourier transform is filtered by means of a Gaussian function.
- performing the inverse transform in the discrete case, provides a function consisting of the convolution of a Gaussian function with a Dirac 5 function and having a peak centred on the values of the translation, in the plane, or on the values of the rotation and scale variation.
- the parameter IM used is proportional to the value of the peak of the inverse transform function.
- Gaussian function as a filter has the advantage of eliminating high values of (u,v) and hence the noise created by the imaging system on small scales, thus permitting a more accurate identification of the peak of the inverse transform function.
- the images of the objects being made are in turn acquired and digitally processed in such a way as to compute and correct any translations, rotations or scale changes relative to the sample image.
- the unit 4 must permit parallel processing of the algorithm. If the type of product being made (for example, tiles or smart cards) and or the mechanics of the system can guarantee that the product is not translated, rotated or changed in scale, the computational steps described above are not necessary and the quality inspection can therefore be performed more quickly.
- the parameter IM For each image captured and, if necessary, processed to produce the reference image, the parameter IM is computed. If its value falls within the preset interval i, then the product is considered to be free of defects, otherwise it is identified as being of unacceptable quality. Considering the statistical nature of the criterion used, the fact that the value of the parameter IM computed falls within the preset interval i guarantees the absence of defects within the percentage limits corresponding to the amplitude of the interval.
- the choice of the distribution function for IM determines the control criteria applied.
- the quality inspections permitted by the system disclosed by the present invention are substantially the same as those that can be made visually by a human operator, identifying only defects that are visible to a human eye.
- the processing and control unit 4 can send commands downstream of the production line to automatically route the products, for example, tiles) of different quality to different collection points.
- Tests have shown that the system disclosed is capable of detecting even the smallest defects in products, independently of the noise introduced by the imaging system.
- the advantage of this is that even low-cost video cameras can be used without adversely affecting the efficiency of the system.
- the time taken to perform the quality inspections can be advantageously reduced using a computer system comprising two or more processors. For example, by using four processors instead of one, approximately one quarter of the time is required.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Quality & Reliability (AREA)
- Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Investigating Materials By The Use Of Optical Means Adapted For Particular Applications (AREA)
- General Factory Administration (AREA)
- Manufacture, Treatment Of Glass Fibers (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP99929650A EP1105841A1 (en) | 1998-07-30 | 1999-07-28 | A production line quality control method and apparatus |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
IT98BO000471 IT1306273B1 (en) | 1998-07-30 | 1998-07-30 | PROCEDURE AND APPARATUS FOR THE QUALITY CONTROL OF A PRODUCTION LINE |
ITBO98A000471 | 1998-07-30 |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2000007145A1 true WO2000007145A1 (en) | 2000-02-10 |
Family
ID=11343343
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB1999/001335 WO2000007145A1 (en) | 1998-07-30 | 1999-07-28 | A production line quality control method and apparatus |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
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EP (1) | EP1105841A1 (en) |
IT (1) | IT1306273B1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2000007145A1 (en) |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4415980A (en) * | 1981-03-02 | 1983-11-15 | Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Inc. | Automated radiographic inspection system |
US5471541A (en) * | 1993-11-16 | 1995-11-28 | National Research Council Of Canada | System for determining the pose of an object which utilizes range profiles and synethic profiles derived from a model |
US5608453A (en) * | 1993-10-26 | 1997-03-04 | Gerber Systems Corporation | Automatic optical inspection system having a weighted transition database |
WO1997042602A1 (en) * | 1996-05-06 | 1997-11-13 | Torsana A/S | A method of estimating skeletal status |
-
1998
- 1998-07-30 IT IT98BO000471 patent/IT1306273B1/en active
-
1999
- 1999-07-28 WO PCT/IB1999/001335 patent/WO2000007145A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1999-07-28 EP EP99929650A patent/EP1105841A1/en not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4415980A (en) * | 1981-03-02 | 1983-11-15 | Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Inc. | Automated radiographic inspection system |
US4415980B1 (en) * | 1981-03-02 | 1987-12-29 | ||
US5608453A (en) * | 1993-10-26 | 1997-03-04 | Gerber Systems Corporation | Automatic optical inspection system having a weighted transition database |
US5471541A (en) * | 1993-11-16 | 1995-11-28 | National Research Council Of Canada | System for determining the pose of an object which utilizes range profiles and synethic profiles derived from a model |
WO1997042602A1 (en) * | 1996-05-06 | 1997-11-13 | Torsana A/S | A method of estimating skeletal status |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
QIN-SHENG CHEN ET AL: "SYMMETRIC PHASE-ONLY MATCHED FILTERING OF FOURIER-MELLIN TRANSFORMSFOR IMAGE REGISTRATION AND RECOGNITION", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE, vol. 16, no. 12, 1 December 1994 (1994-12-01), pages 1156 - 1168, XP000486818, ISSN: 0162-8828 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP1105841A1 (en) | 2001-06-13 |
ITBO980471A1 (en) | 2000-01-30 |
IT1306273B1 (en) | 2001-06-04 |
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