DE102018219165A1 - Device and method for calibrated checking of the printing on an article - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (100) for calibrated checking of printing on an article, the device (100) comprising: a data provision device (10) which is designed to provide printing data for the article from product data of the article; a camera device (20) which is designed to record an image of an article printed by a printing process and to provide it as image data; a database device (30) which is designed to provide calibration data for the camera device (20); and a computer device (40) which is designed to carry out a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data, taking into account the calibration data.

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to systems for checking printing processes.

In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the calibrated checking of a print on an article.

Technical background

The optical printing process check of freely configurable articles cannot rely on databases via photographs of a standardized and quality standard printing of articles.

An article can often be printed on a new, individually configured article that has not yet been produced or has only been rarely produced and for which therefore there is no image data for successful printing that meets quality standards.

Manual teach-in processes or conventional production control with optical systems and imaging processes as well as automatic optical inspection processes based on such image databases with a large number of images of correctly performed printing processes are therefore often not possible for freely configurable articles and fail due to the availability of corresponding learning data and image databases.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for checking printing on an article.

This object is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further developments and embodiments can be found in the dependent claims, the description and the figures in the drawings.

A first aspect of the present invention relates to a device for calibrated checking of printing on an article, the device comprising a data preparation device, a camera device, a database device and a computer device.

The data provision device is designed to provide printing data for the article from product data of the article.

The camera device is designed to record an image of an article printed by a printing process and to provide it as image data. The image of the printed article is digitized using an electronic image converter or image sensor and made available in the form of the image data.

The database device is designed to provide calibration data for the camera device.

The computer device is designed to carry out a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data, taking into account the calibration data. The computer device is designed to carry out automatic optical inspection processes for the correct printing of the article.

The present invention makes it possible, on the basis of product data for a customer-specific product, to monitor printing of the product on the basis of predicted properties, without the need for learning data from previously carried out and previously recorded printing.

The present invention is based on the fact that learning data and test information are generated via known calibration data of the camera system, by means of which the image processing system can carry out a quality control of the printed image.

The present invention makes it possible to generate search models and comparison models for the generation of the synthetic learning data from the existing print data and the calibration data.

The search models allow a position determination of the print and allow a more precise alignment of the comparison models. The comparison models allow images, as recorded with the real camera image of the printed object, to be compared with the generated learning data and test information. The generated learning data and test information can include virtual images or calculated partial views of the printing. This allows an estimate of the quality level of the controlled printing.

This can increase the reliability of the monitoring of the printing process. Control units can reliably detect an error in the printing without ever having carried out a corresponding printing on the printed article.

This offers a monitoring function for the printing process, which allows process control of the printing of articles newly created by the configurator and variant configurator, especially in the area of freely configurable and customer-specific assembled products.

The present invention enables a quality check of the printing and a quality check of further article properties, the required information being derived from the product data. This makes it possible to test newly created articles without having to manually learn the test system. No prototypes of the article are required, which are only used to obtain a reference image of a correctly printed article.

Advantageous refinements of the present invention can be found in the subclaims.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is provided that the computer device is designed to generate learning data and / or test information for the quality check of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device.

This advantageously also enables freely configurable, be it configurable to a limited extent or an unlimited number of configurable items to be subjected to a printing process control and the printing to be checked even when a new item is produced without the need for a large number of reference images which depict a correct print image on model items. Learning data can be calculated for any configured article using a software algorithm.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the computer device is designed to generate test samples for the quality check by machine learning for the quality check of the printing process based on the learning data and / or test information.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is provided that the computer device is designed to generate search models and / or comparison models by machine learning as the test patterns for the quality test based on the recorded image data and / or on the calibration data.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the computer device is designed to use the search models for determining the position of the print and / or for calibrated alignment of an application of the comparison models to the recorded image data.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the computer device is designed to compare a virtual image of the article with the image of the article recorded by the camera device and a quality level of the printing of the article for the quality check of the printing process as the use of the comparison models to create.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the product data are provided in a neutral data format.

1. i) XML-Format; und/oder
2. ii) plattformunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder iii) implementationsunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder iv) M2M-Datenformat

umfasst.In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is provided that the neutral data format is a

1. i) XML format; and or
2. ii) platform independent data format; and / or iii) implementation-independent data format; and / or iv) M2M data format

includes.

• Als ein erster Verfahrensschritt erfolgt ein Bereitstellen von Bedruckungsdaten für den Artikel aus Produktdaten des Artikels mittels einer Datenbereitstellungseinrichtung. Optional werden die Produktdaten in einem Neutraldaten-Format bereitgestellt.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for calibrated checking of the printing on an article, the method comprising the following method steps:

• As a first method step, printing data for the article is made available from product data of the article by means of a data provision device. Optionally, the product data is provided in a neutral data format.

As a second method step, an image of an article printed by a printing process is recorded by means of a camera device and image data is provided based on the recorded image by means of the camera device.

As a third method step, calibration data is made available to the camera device by means of a database device.

As a fourth method step, a quality check of the printing process is carried out based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data, taking into account the calibration data, using a computer device.

• Generieren von Lerndaten für die Qualitätsprüfung des Druckprozesses in einer Lernphase der Rechnereinrichtung; und/oder
• Generieren von Prüfinformationen für die Qualitätsprüfung des Druckprozesses in einer Lernphase der Rechnereinrichtung.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the method further comprises the following method steps:

• Generation of learning data for the quality check of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device; and or
• Generation of test information for the quality check of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device.

1. i) XML-Format; und/oder
2. ii) plattformunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder iii) implementationsunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder iv) M2M-Datenformat

umfasst.In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that the method provides printing data in the neutral data format and preferably the neutral data format

1. i) XML format; and or
2. ii) platform independent data format; and / or iii) implementation-independent data format; and / or iv) M2M data format

includes.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is provided that test patterns for the quality test are generated by machine learning for the quality test of the printing process based on the learning data and / or test information.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is provided that the search models are used for determining the position of the print.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the comparison models are used for the calibrated alignment on the recorded image data.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that a virtual image of the article is compared with the image of the article recorded by the camera device for the quality check of the printing process as the use of the comparison models and a quality level of the printing of the article is created based on this.

According to a third aspect, the present invention comprises a data structure format, which preferably comprises product data of the article present in a neutral data format and which is designed by a method for calibrated checking of a printing on an article according to one of the second aspect or any embodiment of the second Aspect to be used.

The configurations and further developments described can be combined with one another as desired.

Further possible refinements, developments and implementations of the present invention also include combinations of features of the present invention described above or below with reference to the embodiments that are not explicitly mentioned.

The accompanying drawings are intended to provide further understanding of the embodiments of the present invention.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments and, in connection with the description, serve to explain concepts of the present invention.

Other embodiments and many of the advantages mentioned arise with regard to the figures of the drawings. The elements shown in the figures of the drawings are not necessarily shown to scale with respect to one another.

Figure list

• 1: eine schematische Darstellung einer Vorrichtung zum kalibrierten Prüfen einer Bedruckung eines Artikels gemäß einem Ausführungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung; und
• 2: eine schematische Darstellung eines Flussdiagramms eines Verfahrens zum kalibrierten Prüfen einer Bedruckung eines Artikels gemäß einem Ausführungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung; und
• 3: eine schematische Darstellung einer Datenstruktur zum kalibrierten Prüfen einer Bedruckung eines Artikels gemäß einem Ausführungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung.

Show it:

• 1 : a schematic representation of a device for calibrated checking a printing of an article according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
• 2nd : A schematic representation of a flow diagram of a method for calibrated checking a printing of an article according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
• 3rd : A schematic representation of a data structure for the calibrated checking of printing on an article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description of the exemplary embodiments

In the figures of the drawings, identical reference symbols designate identical or functionally identical elements, components, components or method steps, unless stated otherwise.

The term “neutral data format” as used by the present invention includes, for example, data or file formats for a neutral file exchange between units, such as computers, of a computer network.

The term “neutral data format” as used by the present invention can be understood, for example, as an intermediate file format in order to translate data between participating systems in the computer network, such as production systems or ordering systems - web shop - or internal data processing systems - backend.

In other words, a neutral file is generated from original data in other file formats. In contrast to the original data, the target system can read out and process the neutral file.

The term “product data”, in particular product data of the article, as used by the present invention, describes, for example, data which define and classify an article, in particular according to customer-specific configuration. In other words, the product data describes and characterizes the parameters, properties and execution options of the article.

The 1 shows a schematic representation of a device for calibrated checking a printing of an article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The device 100 comprises a data provision device 10th , a camera device 20th , a database facility 30th and a computing device 40 .

The data provision facility 10th is designed to provide printing data for the article from product data of the article.

The camera setup 20th is designed to record an image of an article printed by a printing process and to provide it as image data.

The database setup 30th is designed to provide calibration data for the camera device. The calibration data for the camera setup 20th can include, for example, learning data and test information and a respective type of camera device 20th can be assigned or selected as a function of an illuminance prevailing when the image is recorded or as a function of one when the image is recorded by the camera device 20th prevailing illuminance can be selected.

The computing device 40 is designed to carry out a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data, taking into account the calibration data.

The present method enables the printing process control of freely configurable articles. The device can be coupled with computer-aided product manufacturing systems and internet-based product configuration systems and can provide autonomous and adaptable checking systems via M2M communication.

The 2nd shows a schematic representation of a flow diagram of a method for checking the printing of an article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Provisioning is carried out as a first method step S1 printing data for the article from product data of the article by means of a data provision device.

The neutral data format can be, for example, an XML format, a platform-independent data format, an implementation-independent data format or an M2M data format.

Recording takes place as a second method step S2 an image of an article printed by a printing process using a camera device and providing image data based on the recorded image using the camera device.

Provisioning takes place as a third method step S3 calibration data for the camera device by means of a database device.

It is carried out as a fourth method step S4 a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data taking into account the calibration data by means of a computer device.

The 3rd shows a schematic representation of a data structure for calibrated checking a printing of an article according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That in the 3rd The data structure format shown can include the product data of the article that is in a neutral data format. Furthermore, the data structure format can be designed to be used by a method for calibrated checking of a print on an article.

1. i) XML-Format; und/oder
2. ii) plattformunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder
3. iii) implementationsunabhängiges Datenformat; und/oder
4. iv) M2M-Datenformat

umfassen.Furthermore, the neutral data format can be used in the data structure format shown

1. i) XML format; and or
2. ii) platform independent data format; and or
3. iii) implementation-independent data format; and or
4. iv) M2M data format

include.

The data structure format can include hierarchically structured product data in the format of a text file.

Although the present invention has been described above on the basis of preferred exemplary embodiments, it is not restricted thereto, but rather can be modified in a variety of ways. In particular, the invention can be changed or modified in a variety of ways without departing from the essence of the invention. In addition, it should be pointed out that “comprehensive” and “having” do not exclude other elements or steps, and “a” or “an” does not exclude a large number. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that features or steps that have been described with reference to one of the above exemplary embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other exemplary embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are not to be viewed as a restriction.

Claims (13)

Device (100) for calibrated checking of the printing of an article, the device (100) comprising: - A data provision device (10) which is designed to provide printing data for the article from product data of the article; - a camera device (20) which is designed to record an image of an article printed by a printing process and to provide it as image data; - a database device (30) which is designed to provide calibration data for the camera device (20); and - A computer device (40) which is designed to carry out a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the printing data with the image data, taking into account the calibration data. Device (100) after Claim 1 The computer device (30) is designed to generate learning data and / or test information for the quality check of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device (30). Device (100) after Claim 2 The computer device (30) is designed to generate test samples for the quality check by machine learning for the quality check of the printing process based on the learning data and / or check information. Device (100) after Claim 3 , wherein the computer device (30) is designed to generate search models and / or comparison models as the test patterns for the quality test by machine learning based on the recorded image data and / or the calibration data. Device (100) after Claim 4 The computer device (30) is designed to use the search models for determining the position of the print and / or for a calibrated alignment of an application of the comparison models to the recorded image data. Device (100) after Claim 5 The computer device (30) is designed to compare a virtual image of the article with the image of the article recorded by the camera device (20) and to create a quality level of the printing on the article for the quality check of the printing process as the use of the comparison models. Device (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the data preparation device (10) is designed to provide the printing data for the article from the product data of the article which is in a neutral data format; and preferably the neutral data format i) XML format; and or ii) platform independent data format; and or iii) implementation-independent data format; and or iv) M2M data format includes. Method for calibrated checking of printing on an article, the method comprising the following method steps: - providing (S1) printing data for the article from product data of the article by means of a data provision device; - Recording (S2) an image of an article printed by a printing process using a camera device and providing image data based on the recorded image using the camera device; - Providing (S3) calibration data for the camera device by means of a database device; and - performing (S4) a quality check of the printing process based on a comparison of the Printing data with the image data taking into account the calibration data by means of a computer device. Procedure according to Claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises the following method steps: generation of learning data for the quality check of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device; and / or generating test information for the quality test of the printing process in a learning phase of the computer device. Procedure according to Claim 8 or 9 , whereby for the quality check of the printing process based on the learning data and / or test information, test patterns for the quality check are generated by machine learning. Procedure according to one of the previous ones Claims 8 to 10th , wherein the search models are used for a position determination of the pressure; and / or wherein the comparison models are applied to the recorded image data for a calibrated alignment. Procedure according to one of the previous ones Claims 8 to 11 , wherein for the quality check of the printing process as the use of the comparison models, a virtual image of the article is compared with the image of the article recorded by the camera device and a quality level of the printing of the article is created based thereon. Procedure according to one of the previous ones Claims 8 to 12th , wherein the printing data for the article are provided from the product data of the article present in a neutral data format; and wherein preferably the neutral data format is an i) XML format; and / or ii) platform independent data format; and / or iii) implementation-independent data format; and / or iii) M2M data format.

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