Imaging condition setting system, imaging condition setting method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12335628-B2
Application number	US-202118260772-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2021
Priority date	Jan 27, 2021
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

An imaging condition setting system sufficiently reduces the effects of ambient light in designing optimized illumination patterns for imaging an inspection target. The system includes an imager that captures an image of a workpiece being the inspection target, an illuminator including a light source that illuminates the workpiece with light, and an imaging condition setter that sets an imaging condition to capture an image of the workpiece. The imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to a threshold, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An imaging condition setting system, comprising:
an imager configured to capture an image of a workpiece being an inspection target;
an illuminator including a light source configured to illuminate the workpiece with light; and
an imaging condition setter configured to set an imaging condition to capture an image of the workpiece, the imaging condition setter being configured to set, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to a threshold, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range, wherein the imaging condition setter sets the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range based on a difference between an image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to the threshold and an image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a minimum luminosity.

2. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a maximum luminosity, the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range.

3. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 1 , wherein the illuminator includes a plurality of light sources each with an adjustable luminosity, and the imaging condition setter sets a luminosity of at least one of the plurality of light sources to a value greater than or equal to the threshold.

4. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 1 , wherein in response to values of pixels being nonlinear with respect to exposure of the imager, the imaging condition setter calibrates the imager before setting the exposure time.

5. An imaging condition setting system, comprising:
an imager configured to capture an image of a workpiece being an inspection target;
an illuminator including a light source configured to illuminate the workpiece with light; and
an imaging condition setter configured to set an imaging condition to capture an image of the workpiece, the imaging condition setter being configured to set, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to a threshold, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range, wherein the imaging condition setter sets the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range based on differences between an image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to the threshold and images captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a minimum luminosity under a plurality of different ambient light conditions.

6. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 5 , wherein the imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a maximum luminosity, the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range.

7. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 5 , wherein the illuminator includes a plurality of light sources each with an adjustable luminosity, and the imaging condition setter sets a luminosity of at least one of the plurality of light sources to a value greater than or equal to the threshold.

8. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 5 , wherein in response to values of pixels being nonlinear with respect to exposure of the imager, the imaging condition setter calibrates the imager before setting the exposure time.

9. An imaging condition setting system, comprising:
an imager configured to capture an image of a workpiece being an inspection target;
an illuminator including a light source configured to illuminate the workpiece with light; and
an imaging condition setter configured to set an imaging condition to capture an image of the workpiece, the imaging condition setter being configured to set, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to a threshold, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range, wherein the imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with at least one of a setting value of the luminosity of light from the illuminator to the workpiece, a measurement value of a luminosity of actual light from the illuminator (LS) to the workpiece, or a displayed luminosity on a display being greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range.

10. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 9 , wherein the imaging condition setter sets, for the image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a maximum luminosity, the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range.

11. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 9 , wherein the illuminator includes a plurality of light sources each with an adjustable luminosity, and the imaging condition setter sets a luminosity of at least one of the plurality of light sources to a value greater than or equal to the threshold.

12. The imaging condition setting system according to claim 9 , wherein in response to values of pixels being nonlinear with respect to exposure of the imager, the imaging condition setter calibrates the imager before setting the exposure time.

13. An imaging condition setting method implementable with a computer for determining an imaging condition to capture an image of a workpiece being an inspection target, the method comprising:
setting, with the computer, a luminosity of light from an illuminator to the workpiece to a value greater than or equal to a threshold;
capturing, with the computer, an image of the workpiece using an imager under a condition that the light is at the luminosity; and
setting, with the computer, based on the captured image of the workpiece, an exposure time of the imager to cause a value of a pixel in a specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within a specific range; wherein an imaging condition setter sets the exposure time of the imager to cause the value of the pixel in the specific area of the image of the workpiece to be within the specific range based on a difference between an image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a luminosity greater than or equal to the threshold and an image captured with light from the illuminator to the workpiece at a minimum luminosity.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to perform operations comprising:
setting a luminosity of light from an illuminator to the workpiece to a value greater than or equal to a threshold;
capturing an image of the workpiece using an imager under a condition that the light is at the luminosity; and
setting, based on the captured image of the workpiece, an exposure time of the imager to cause a val

Assignees

• Omron Tateisi Electronics Co

Inventors

• Naruse Yosuke
• Taguchi Koichi

Classifications

• G01N2021/8835

  Adjustable illumination, e.g. software adjustable screen · CPC title

• G01N21/8806

  Specially adapted optical and illumination features · CPC title

• H04N23/74 Primary

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• G01N21/8851

  Scan or image signal processing specially adapted therefor, e.g. for scan signal adjustment, for detecting different kinds of defects, for compensating for structures, markings, edges (G01N21/8806 and G01N21/93 - G01N21/95692 take precedence; optical measurement of dimensions G01B11/00; optical scanning G02B26/10; image transformation G06T3/00; computerised image enhancement G06T5/00; image processing per se for flaw detection G06T7/0002) · CPC title