Claims
- 1. An automated lens inspection system comprising:
- a transparent contact lens support;
- a light source for illuminating a contact lens located on said transparent contact lens support;
- a photographic lens having a field of view positioned over said contact lens support so as to view the contact lens illuminated by said light source;
- a pixel means coupled to said photographic lens for obtaining an image of the contact lens viewed by said photographic lens and for generating image data denoting pixel image densities of the image of the contact lens;
- a computer programmed to detect abnormalities of the contact lens located on said contact lens support based on the image data generated by said pixel means;
- wherein said transparent contact lens support is a transparent plastic lens package which includes a plastic hemispherically shaped member used to transport the contact lens located therein; and
- wherein said plastic hemispherically shaped member is transparent, said light source directing light through the plastic hemispherically shaped member and then through the contact lens located therein.
- 2. An automated lens inspection system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a control subsystem to actuate said light source to thereby generate one light pulse directed at one contact lens when said one contact lens is being viewed by said photographic lens.
- 3. An automated lens inspection system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact lens is in continuous motion when viewed by said photographic lens.
- 4. An automated lens inspection system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said photographic lens views only one contact lens at a time.
- 5. An automated contact lens inspection system comprising:
- a transport subsystem to move each of a plurality of ophthalmic lenses into a lens inspection position, said transport subsystem including a transparent lens carrier for holding at least one ophthalmic lens, wherein said lens carrier is a transparent plastic lens package;
- an illumination subsystem for generating light pulses and directing one of said light pulses to each ophthalmic lens at the lens inspection position for illuminating said lens;
- an imaging subsystem for generating a set of signals representing portions of each illuminated ophthalmic lens;
- an image processing system for receiving said signals from the imaging subsystem and for processing said signals according to a predetermined program to identify at least one condition of each said lens.
- 6. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said transport subsystem further includes a support assembly for supporting said lens carrier, said support assembly moves the lens carrier and each of the lenses therein to said lens inspection position.
- 7. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said lens carrier comprises a base member and an array of lens inspection cups connected to said base member, wherein at least said lens inspection cups are transparent to light which is transmitted through the lens contained therein.
- 8. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a control subsystem to actuate the illumination subsystem to generate only one of the light pulses when one of the ophthalmic lenses is in the lens inspection position.
- 9. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the transport subsystem further includes means to generate a trigger signal each time one of the ophthalmic lenses moves into the lens inspection position;
- the imaging subsystem includes:
- i) a housing;
- ii) a pixel array disposed in the housing; and
- iii) a shutter having opened and closed positions;
- said control subsystem receiving said trigger signal from said transport subsystem and, in response to receiving said signal, the control subsystem being capable of
- opening the shutter to expose said pixel array; and
- actuating said illumination subsystem at a predetermined amount of time subsequent said opening of said shutter to thereby generate said light pulse which passes through the lens carrier and the ophthalmic lens at the lens inspection position.
- 10. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said control subsystem further activates the transport subsystem to sequentially align one of the ophthalmic lenses on said lens carrier into the lens inspection position.
- 11. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said imaging subsystem employs dark-field illumination to detect a said condition in said lens by forming an image of features of the ophthalmic lens that scatter or reflect light transmitted through the lens.
- 12. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said illumination subsystem includes a light source for generating collimated white light pulses.
- 13. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said lens carrier carrying said ophthalmic lens is filled with a fluid solution.
- 14. An automated contact lens inspection system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said lens is in continuous motion when a light pulse illuminates said lens at the lens inspection position.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/757,334 filed Nov. 27, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,876, which is a File Wrapper continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/622,022 filed Mar. 27, 1996, now abandoned, which is a File Wrapper continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/506,595 filed Jul. 25, 1995, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 08/374,407 filed Jan. 17, 1995, now abandoned, which is a File Wrapper continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 07/994,564 filed Dec. 21, 1992, now abandoned.
Continuations (4)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
757334 |
Nov 1996 |
|
Parent |
622022 |
Mar 1996 |
|
Parent |
506595 |
Jul 1995 |
|
Parent |
374407 |
Jan 1995 |
|