Patent Application
20140055600
The described embodiments relate generally to device manufacturing, and more particularly, to in-line particle discrimination and blemish identification for cosmetic inspection during device manufacturing.
Conventionally, automated cosmetic inspection of devices is limited to a positive or negative result of a device's overall quality compared to a threshold value or set of threshold values. For example, automated cosmetic inspection may compare a measurement of a manufactured device's attributes to determine if minimum threshold color translucency, chromaticity, surface evenness, dimensions, or other suitable thresholds are met satisfactorily. Products failing this determination are typically discarded.
This automated cosmetic inspection may be supplemented through a random sampling or statistical analysis involving objective or subjective inspections by a technician. The objective or subjective inspections may include device manipulation, handling, inspection, and provide a final quality score for the sample to be used in an overall analysis of production quality. However, it is important to note that while objective or subjective analysis of individual samples may result in a more thorough screening of possibly defective products, the inspections themselves may introduce surface blemishes, scratches, or other unintentional damage which may render the sampled products unsellable without further processing.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of in-line automated cosmetic inspection which better analyzes product quality while limiting the need for costly individual inspections which may introduce surface blemishes or other damage to products.
This paper describes various embodiments that relate to device manufacturing and associated cosmetic inspection processes.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for in-line cosmetic inspection of at least a portion of a surface of a product includes identifying if at least one blemish exists on the portion of the surface, disturbing the portion of the surface based on the identifying, and determining if the at least one blemish is immobile based on the disturbing.
According to an additional embodiment of the invention, a method for in-line cosmetic inspection of a product includes identifying blemishes on a surface of the product, disturbing the surface of the product based on the identifying, and determining if the identified blemishes are immobile based on the disturbing.
According to an additional embodiment of the invention, a system for cosmetic inspection for products from a manufacturing line includes a cosmetic inspection station configured to receive a product from the manufacturing line, a surface disturbance generator configured to disturb a surface of a product received at the cosmetic inspection station, an image capture device configured to capture images of the surface of the product received at the cosmetic inspection station, and a controller configured to identify immobile blemishes on the surface of products received at the cosmetic inspection station based on operation of the surface disturbance generator and the image capture device.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the described embodiments.
Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
Representative applications of methods and apparatus according to the present application are described in this section. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aid in the understanding of the described embodiments. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art that the described embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the described embodiments. Other applications are possible, such that the following examples should not be taken as limiting.
In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in accordance with the described embodiments. Although these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the described embodiments, it is understood that these examples are not limiting; such that other embodiments may be used, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments.
As described herein, systems and methods for in-line cosmetic inspection are provided which better analyze product quality while limiting the need for individual inspections which may introduce surface blemishes or other damage to products. The in-line systems and methods may be integrated with existing manufacturing lines such that costs of implementation are reduced as compared to conventional technology.
Turning to
The products to be inspected may be fed via conveyance 104 onto cosmetic inspection station 108. The cosmetic inspection station 108 may receive and inspect the products with an integrally arranged surface disturbance generator 101, image capture device 102, and controller 103.
The cosmetic inspection station 108 may include a portion of the conveyance 104, or may include a separate conveyance configured to hold, support, and inspect a product received.
The surface disturbance generator 101 may include one or more mechanisms for disturbing a surface of a received product. The mechanisms may include any suitable form of surface disturbance generators, including compressed air nozzles, valves, compressors, compressed air lines, gas actuators, fans, blowers, or other suitable mechanisms. The surface disturbance generator 101 may be arranged to direct air flow over a surface of a received product such that any loose or relatively loose debris is disturbed while not actually damaging a product's surface. The surface disturbance generator 101 may also be arranged to direct a fluid flow over the surface of a received product, wherein the directed fluid is one of compressed air and uncompressed air. The surface disturbance generator 101 may also include a mechanical surface disturbing mechanism, for example, a vibrating mechanism configured to vibrate a product such that any loose or relatively loose debris is disturbed. The vibrating mechanism may include a counter-weighted motor shaft, solenoid, or other suitable mechanism.
The image capture device 102 may include a plurality of components configured to receive and record an image of a portion of a surface of a received product. The plurality of components may include at least one lens and an image sensor. The at least one lens may include a magnifying lens configured to magnify a surface of a received product and direct incoming light to the image sensor. The image sensor may be any suitable image sensor, including a charge-coupled device based image sensor or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor based image sensor. The image sensor is configured to capture at least one image of a surface of a received product and direct the same to controller 103 for image processing.
Although illustrated as separate components, it should be understood that the controller 103 may be integrally arranged with the image capture device, or alternatively, an image sensor controller may be arranged within the image capture device 102 (not illustrated) and disposed to communicate image information with controller 103. Furthermore, the controller 103 is configured to identify immobile blemishes on the surface of products received at the cosmetic inspection station 108 based on operation of the surface disturbance generator 101 and the image capture device 102. For example, the controller may be configured to execute any method of in-line cosmetic inspection as described herein, and controllably direct the surface disturbance generator 101 and image capture device 102 to perform any associated steps or portions of the method described herein.
Additionally, the controller 103 may be in communication with the product manufacturing line 109 via communication channel 131 such that inspected products may controllably flow onto the cosmetic inspection station 108 and be released onto conveyance 105 for further processing on the product manufacturing line 109. Alternatively, or in combination, products may be re-inspected by insertion onto cosmetic inspection station 108 via conveyance 106. Conveyance 106 may include physical removal of a product by a user or technician and physical insertion onto cosmetic inspection station 108.
Thus, as illustrated in
Hereinafter, additional aspects of methods of in-line cosmetic inspection are described in detail with reference to
The method 400 further includes identifying blemishes on a portion of a surface of a received product at block 402. The identifying may include imaging the portion of the surface with an image capture device to create an image and processing the image to determine if blemishes may exist on the portion of the surface as described below with reference to
Turning now to
Turning back to
The method 400 further includes identifying immobile blemishes at block 407. For example, as illustrated in
Turning back to
Although described above as particularly related to inspection of one or more images taken of a particular portion of a surface area of a product, it should be understood that iterative imaging and surface disturbance are also applicable to embodiments, and the particular order or number of images taken may be altered without departing from the spirit and scope of embodiments as described herein. Furthermore, iterative inspection of several different areas of a product may be integrated into cosmetic inspection processes, as described more fully below with reference to
The method 700 further includes beginning imaging of a surface of a product at block 703. Beginning imaging may include preparing an image capture device to image a portion of the surface, and taking at least one image of the portion of the surface. The preparing may include focusing any associated imaging lenses, laterally and/or longitudinally moving the image capture device and/or lenses to an area to be imaged, altering a tilt or angle of the image capture device, or other suitable preparation maneuvers. Taking the at least one image may include cycling a shutter sequence and exposing an image sensor to light reflected off the surface of the product. Light may be ambient light, or may include artificially produced and/or filtered light, such as from a flash or back light.
Thereafter, the method 700 includes determining if at least one blemish is identifiable on the at least one image at block 705. Blemish identification may be similar to the methods described above, and may include image processing, masking, or any other suitable processing.
If no blemishes have been identified, the method 700 may iteratively image more of the surface of the product through blocks 707 and 709 until a satisfactory, predetermined, or desired number of images of portions of the surface of the product have been processed. If the predetermined or desired number of images have been processed, or if no more images are necessary during the cosmetic inspection process, the method 700 may include further processing at block 715.
If at least one blemish has been identified through block 705, the method 700 may include surface disturbance at block 711 and immobile blemish identification at block 713. Surface disturbance may be similar to any surface disturbance processes described above. Furthermore, immobile blemish identification may also be similar to the processing and comparisons described above.
Thereafter, the method 700 may optionally continue imaging the surface of the product through iterations of blocks 707, 709, and 705 to identify other blemishes, or may submit the product being inspected for further processing at block 715 based on identification of immobile blemishes.
The various aspects, embodiments, implementations or features of the described embodiments can be used separately or in any combination. Various aspects of the described embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware or a combination of hardware and software. The described embodiments can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium for controlling manufacturing operations or as computer readable code on a computer readable medium for controlling a manufacturing line. The computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data which can thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, HDDs, DVDs, magnetic tape, and optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the described embodiments. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the described embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.
