JP2003344296A - Inspection method and device for key - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the inspection of a key 2 in a short time by radiating a linear laser beam L to the surface formed by the irregular faces of a key crest section 2C to determine the quality of the key crest section 2C. <P>SOLUTION: This inspection device for the key 2 has a support means 3 for supporting the key 2 in a vertically raised state, and a radiating means 4 for radiating the linear laser light L toward the surface formed by the irregular faces of the key crest section 2C along the key crest section 2C. The inspection device 1 further comprises a camera 5 for taking the image of the reflected light L' from the surface formed by the irregular faces of the key crest section 2C and a determination means 6 for processing the image of the reflected light L' taken by the camera 5 to determine the quality of the key crest section 2C. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key inspection method and an apparatus thereof, and more particularly to a key inspection method and an apparatus thereof for inspecting a key mountain by using a laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a key inspection device, for example, JP-A-63-311108 and JP-A-11-37946.
The publication is known. JP-A-63-311108 mentioned above.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication, after the key is supported horizontally,
A linear laser beam is emitted toward the surface (flat surface) of the key and orthogonal to the longitudinal direction thereof. Then, the linear laser beam is moved in parallel over the entire length of the surface of the key in the longitudinal direction, and the size of each part of the key ridge projected on the light receiver is obtained to determine the quality of the key ridge. On the other hand, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-37946 mentioned above, first, a fluorescent lamp is illuminated from the lower side toward the horizontally supported key, and at the same time, the key is photographed by the camera from the upper side. Obtain an image of the contour. Next, after obtaining the reference point and the center line of the key in this image, the height (distance from the center line) of the key mountain at the required position is obtained. After that, the height of the key ridges at the required places obtained as described above is compared with the correct dimensional data at the positions corresponding to those places to determine the quality of the key.

[0003]

By the way, in the former inspection method, the surface of the key is irradiated with the laser beam, and the key is moved in parallel over the entire longitudinal direction of the key. Therefore, it takes time to inspect the key. There was a drawback. Further, in the latter inspection method, the whole shape of the key is photographed by the camera, and there is a drawback that the subsequent image processing is complicated and time-consuming. Moreover, since a fluorescent lamp is used as a light source, there is a drawback that the camera is easily affected by natural light when the key is photographed. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a key inspection method and an inspection device capable of inspecting a key in a shorter time than in the conventional case.

[0004]

That is, according to a first aspect of the present invention as set forth in claim 1, the surface formed by the uneven surface of the key mountain of the key is irradiated with a linear laser beam along the key mountain, The contour line of the key mountain is recognized based on the reflected light from the surface formed by the uneven surface. A second aspect of the present invention is a supporting means for supporting the key, and an irradiating means for irradiating the surface of the key formed by the uneven surface of the key mountain with a linear laser beam along the key mountain. , A camera for photographing reflected light from the surface formed by the uneven surface, an image processing unit for recognizing the contour line of the key mountain based on the reflected light photographed by this camera, and a key mountain recognized by the image processing unit. It is an object of the present invention to provide a key inspection device including a determination unit that determines pass / fail of a key mountain based on a contour line. According to the first aspect, the contour line of the key mountain can be recognized in a short time, and the quality of the key mountain can be inspected in a short time based on the recognized contour line of the key mountain. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the time required to recognize the contour line of the key crest after irradiating the surface formed by the uneven surface with the laser light. Therefore, according to the first invention and the second invention, the key can be inspected in a shorter time than the conventional case.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is an inspection device for inspecting a key 2. Before describing the configuration of the inspection device 1, first, the configuration of the key 2 to be inspected will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, an example of the key 2 to be inspected is a holding portion 2A formed to be wide when holding the key 2 and a base portion 2B narrower than the holding portion 2A.
Then, the base portion 2B is followed by a key mountain portion 2C in which a key mountain is formed from the top to the tip. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, both the front surface and the back surface of the key 2 viewed so that the outline of the key crest can be grasped are the front and back surfaces, and the peripheries thereof are called side surfaces. The side surface of the base portion 2B following the holding portion 2A is formed as a continuous flat surface 2D, and in the key mountain portion 2C, the side surface on the longitudinal side of the front and back surfaces of the key 2 is formed as an uneven surface 2E including a plurality of unevenness. Has been done. Further, in the present invention, the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E is irradiated with the laser light in a line along the key mountain, that is, along the longitudinal direction in which the unevenness is continuous.

Therefore, the inspection apparatus 1 has the holding unit 2 for the key 2.
A supporting means 3 for supporting A, an irradiating means 4 for irradiating a linear laser beam L toward the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E of the key mountain portion 2C of the key 2, and a reflected light L reflected by the uneven surface 2E. And a camera 5 formed of a CCD image pickup device. In addition, the inspection device 1 is provided with a judging means 6, which determines the shape of the key mountain based on the image of the reflected light L ′ from the uneven surface 2E photographed by the camera 5 on the front and back surfaces of the key 2. An image processing unit 6A that recognizes the contour line as seen from the side and a determination unit 6B that determines the quality of the key mountain based on the contour line of the key mountain recognized by the image processing unit 6A are provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the supporting means 3 includes a supporting member 11 for supporting the key 2 in an upright state with the tip of the key 2 facing upward,
This support member 11 is composed of a rotating mechanism 12 for rotating the supporting member 11 by 180 degrees on a horizontal plane. On the upper surface of the support member 11,
A groove 11A for supporting the key 2 is opened so that the holding portion 2A is accommodated and the base portion 2B is positioned higher than its upper surface. The opening dimension of the groove 11A is slightly larger than the width and thickness of the holding portion 2A, and the holding portion 2A can be inserted to support the key 2, but it is set so as not to fluctuate in the front, rear, left and right directions. . The irradiation means 4 for irradiating the linear laser light L is arranged at the side of the key 2 supported by the support means 3. The irradiating means 4 has an irradiating portion of the laser light L directed toward the uneven surface 2E of the key mountain portion 2C and the flat surface 2D of the base portion 2B, and the linear laser light L emitted from the irradiating means 4 is in the longitudinal direction of the uneven surface 2E. The entire surface and the surface formed by the flat surface 2D are aligned so as to be irradiated with a straight line continuous in the vertical direction. Thereby, it is possible to simultaneously irradiate the entire area of the uneven surface 2E of the key mountain portion 2C and the flat surface 2D of the base 2B following the uneven surface 2E with the linear laser light L.

A camera 5 is provided with a space beside the irradiation means 4.
Are placed. The camera 5 has its light receiving portion at the key mountain portion 2C.
2 is directed toward the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D of the base portion 2B, and as shown in FIG. 2, the linear laser light L from the irradiation means 4 is applied to the surfaces of the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D.
It is positioned so that the reflected light L'can be received with an angle difference of about 45 degrees with respect to the incident angle of. Thus, according to the principle of the light cutting method, it is possible to photograph the contour line that reflects the shape of the key mountain corresponding to the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D. With these configurations, the line-shaped laser light L emitted from the irradiation means 4 is irradiated along the key ridge on the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E of the key ridge 2C and the flat surface 2D of the base 2B, and is reflected from these surfaces. The light L ′ can be photographed by the camera 5. Further, by rotating the support member 11 by 180 degrees by the rotating mechanism 12, the linear laser light L is emitted to the uneven surfaces 2E and the flat surfaces 2D on the left and right in the longitudinal direction on the front and back surfaces of the key 2, and the reflected light L ′ thereof.
Can be taken. In this example,
The case of inspecting the key 2 having the key ridges on the left and right sides of the front and back sides of the key 2 has been described, but when inspecting the key 2 having the key ridges formed on only one side, or manually reversing the key 2 by 180 degrees In this case, the rotating mechanism 12 can be omitted.

The image processing section 6A of the judging means 6 is composed of the camera 5
When the image data of the reflected light L'from the surfaces of the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D photographed in (3) is transmitted, a predetermined inspection area is set for the image based on this. The rectangular outer frame shown in FIG. 4 is the inspection area. Next, the image processing unit 6A
Recognizes the contour line of the key mountain as a line on the coordinate by recognizing a range of pixels having a predetermined brightness or higher in the inspection region by image processing. The broken lines of concavities and convexities that continue in the left-right direction in FIG. It should be noted that many keys 2 to be inspected have substantially the same shape including a key mountain, and the captured image is composed of lines,
The image processing unit 6A sets the scanning area for image processing to a minimum area having a slight width in the up-down direction of FIG. 4, which is the scanning direction, with respect to the contour line that is the reference in advance.
As a result, the time required for image processing can be shortened as compared with the case of scanning all the inspection areas for image processing.

In the judging section 6B, based on the coordinate data of the contour line of the key mountain recognized by the image processing section 6A, a straight line portion Y (flat surface 2) continuous from one end (left end in FIG. 4) of the inspection area.
The location D) is grasped, and the location at the right end of the straight line portion Y is set as the detection point a in the inspection area. At the same time, the determination unit 6B sets a reference line X, which is a straight line overlapping the straight line portion Y, in the inspection area. Further, the determination unit 6
B recognizes the bending points on the contour line of the key mountain as the positions on the coordinate of the inspection area as the detection points b to j, respectively, and at the tip of the contour line (the tip of the key 2) as the detection point k, the coordinate of the inspection area. Recognize as the upper position. The key 2 supported by the support means 11 is slightly tilted left and right with the front and back surfaces shown in FIG. 1 as the front and the tip end facing upward. Since the inclination varies, when the determination unit 6B sets the reference line X, the reference line X does not always incline in the inspection area and become a horizontal line as shown in FIG. Therefore, the determination unit 6B rotates the position of the reference line X by a predetermined angle with the detection point a as the rotation center, and
The horizontal line is adjusted as shown in. Also,
The determination unit 6B also corrects the coordinate positions of the detection points b to k accompanying this, and the corrected position is used as the detection point b for the determination.
It is recognized as the position of ~ k. Next, the determination unit 6B recognizes the reference line X as the origin (X = 0) of the inspection area in the X direction (vertical direction in FIG. 4), and determines the detection point a in the Y direction of the inspection area (in FIG. 4). It is recognized as the origin (Y = 0) in the horizontal direction, and the coordinate positions of the detection points b to k when the detection point a is the origin (0, 0) of the coordinates are obtained. In the determination unit 6B, the coordinate positions of the detection points b to k in the case where the detection point a on the reference line X is the origin (0, 0) of the coordinate with respect to the contour line of the key mountain of the key 2 that is the model are previously stored. The stored coordinate positions of the detection points b to k detected this time are compared with the previously stored coordinate position data.
Thus, the coordinate positions of the detection points b to k used for the determination are
The straight line portion Y based on the reflected light L ′ from the flat surface 2D and the detection point a on the straight line portion Y are recognized as a reference and judged. The coordinate positions of the detection points b to k, which are models stored in advance, are set based on the required distance (the shortest distance) to the bent portion of the key mountain with the reference line X as a reference. As a result of the comparison, if the amount of displacement for each of the detection points b to k is within the predetermined range, it is determined that the key 2 to be inspected this time is a good product, and if it is not within the predetermined range, the key 2 is defective. I try to judge that there is.

In the above structure, the key 2 to be inspected
When the key is inserted into the groove 11A of the support member 11 by the operator, the key 2 is supported on the support member 11 in an upright state with its tip end facing upward. Thereafter, the irradiation means 4 irradiates the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D of the key mountain with the linear laser light L, and the reflected light L'reflected by these surfaces is photographed by the camera 5. It
Then, the image of the reflected light L ′ is captured by the image processing unit 6A.

When the reflected light L'from the key mountain is photographed on one side surface, the supporting member 11 is rotated by the rotating mechanism 12.
Is rotated by 180 degrees, the linear laser light L is emitted from the irradiation means 4 toward the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D of the key mountain on the other side surface. Then, the reflected light L ′ from these surfaces is photographed by the camera 5 and taken into the image processing unit 6A. When the image data is thus transmitted from the camera 5, the image processing unit 6A sequentially recognizes the contour line of the key mountain by the above-described processing, and the determination unit 6B recognizes the contour line of the key mountain each time. Then, the quality of the key mountain is judged based on this, and the result is output.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the linear laser light L is radiated at one time over the entire area in the longitudinal direction toward the surface formed by the concave-convex surface 2E along the key mountain, and the key mountain is Since the reflected light L'from the surface formed by the uneven surface 2E is photographed at once by the camera 5, the time required to capture the inspection image can be shortened. Further, since the inspection image composed of lines is subjected to image processing, it is possible to recognize the contour line of the key mountain in an extremely short time as compared with the conventional method and judge the quality of the key mountain. Further, as described above, even if the key 2 supported by the support member 11 is slightly inclined, the determination unit 6B corrects the determination and does not need a highly accurate positioning means for the key 2, The quality of Kagiyama can be accurately determined. As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to provide the inspection method and the inspection device that can inspect the key 2 in a short time and accurately as compared with the related art.

--- (Second Embodiment) Next, FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the second embodiment, the key 2 is intermittently positioned at a predetermined inspection position A by the conveyor 20, and the linear laser light L is simultaneously directed from both sides toward the key 2 stopped at the inspection position A. It is configured to irradiate and inspect the key 2. That is, the support members 11 similar to those of the first embodiment are attached to the conveyor 20 at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction. Each support member 11 is provided so that the front and back surfaces of the supported key 2 face the moving direction of the conveyor 20, and the uneven surface 2E and the flat surface 2D of the key mountain formed on the side surface of the key 2 are on the side of the conveyor 20. To face.

At the inspection position A in the moving process of the conveyor 20, the irradiation means 4 and 4 similar to those in the first embodiment are arranged on both sides of the conveyor 20, and the cameras 5 and 5 are arranged adjacent to them. is doing. When the key 2 supported by the support member 11 by the conveyor 20 is introduced to the inspection position A and stopped, the surface formed by the uneven surfaces 2E and the flat surface 2D of the key ridges of the key 2 from the irradiation means 4, 4 on both the left and right sides at the same time. The line-shaped laser light L is emitted toward the. Then, the reflected light L ′ reflected on those surfaces is photographed by the camera 5 and its image data is
It is transmitted to the determination means 6. Judgment means 6
Is configured similarly to the first embodiment, and the image processing section 6A recognizes the contour lines of the key mountains on the left and right side surfaces based on the image of the reflected light L ′ captured by the camera 5, and the image Based on the contour line of the key mountain obtained by the processing unit 6A, the determination unit 6B determines the quality of the key 2 and outputs the result.

In this way, the key 2 at the inspection position A is
When the inspection is completed, the conveyor 20 is moved by a predetermined amount to transfer the inspected key 2 from the inspection position A,
A new key 2 is introduced at the inspection position A and inspected. In the second embodiment configured as described above, the conveyor 20
Since the key 2 can be sequentially introduced into the inspection position A for inspection, the inspection work can be automated.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that the key can be inspected in a shorter time than the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a front sectional view taken along the line II of FIG. 2 showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the key shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing one process of a process by a judging means 6 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Inspection device 2 ... Key 2A ... holding part 2B ... base part 2C ... Kagiyama 3 ... Supporting means 4 ... Irradiation means 5 ... Camera 6 ... Judgment means 6A ... Image processing unit 6B ... Judgment part L ... Laser light L '... reflected light

Continued front page    F term (reference) 2F065 AA52 CC00 FF04 GG04 GG16                       HH05 HH13 JJ03 JJ08 MM04                       QQ31 UU01 UU02                 2G051 AA90 AB02 AC21 BA10 CA04                       CA07 CB01 DA08 EA12 ED08                       ED21

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A linear laser beam is radiated on the surface formed by the uneven surface of the key mountain of the key along the key mountain, and the contour line of the key mountain is formed based on the light reflected from the surface formed by the uneven surface. A key inspection method characterized by recognition. 2. The key has a flat surface following the uneven surface of the key crest, and the surface formed by the flat surface and the uneven surface is simultaneously irradiated with a linear laser beam to reflect from the flat surface. The key inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the key mountain is determined based on light. 3. A support means for supporting the key, an irradiating means for irradiating the surface formed by the uneven surface of the key mountain of the key with a linear laser beam along the key mountain, and a surface formed by the uneven surface. A camera that shoots reflected light, an image processing unit that recognizes the contour line of the key mountain based on the reflected light imaged by this camera, and a quality judgment of the key mountain based on the contour line of the key mountain recognized by this image processing unit A key inspection device, comprising: