JP2007114905A - Inspection system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspection system which identifies the contents and a direction of a housing at a low cost. <P>SOLUTION: The inspection system 1 has an inspection chamber 3, and a bar-code reader 5, which is a reading device, is provided on the side face of the inspection chamber 3. An object to be inspected by the inspection system 1 is a housing 7, and the housing 7 is formed by covering a pallet 9 with a cover 11. Specimens such as substrates, which are not shown in Figure, are placed in the housing 7. Bar codes 13a and 13b, which are identification slips indicating the contents of the housing 7, are pasted on the cover 11. When the bar-code reader 5 can identify the bar code 13a at the inspection, the direction of the housing 7 and the kinds of the specimens are determined to be right, and, when the bar-code reader 5 can not identify the bar code 13a, the direction of the housing 7 is determined to be wrong. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection system.

When storing and transporting a substrate with a surface for image formation, such as a color filter substrate and a thin film transistor substrate, the color filter substrates are stored in parallel at predetermined intervals so that the plates do not contact each other to protect them from scratches and damage. A box-shaped storage container that can be used was taken out from the container when the substrate was incorporated into the apparatus (Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-264992 A

On the other hand, in such a storage container, since the substrate cannot be visually recognized from the outside, the substrate is identified by sticking an identification tag indicating the type of the substrate on the outer wall of the container and reading it with a reading device. .
Even if the shape of the box is point-symmetric, it is necessary to carry it into the apparatus in a fixed direction. Therefore, an identification tag indicating the direction of the substrate is attached to the outer wall of the container, and this is read by another reading apparatus. Thus, the substrate is identified.

  However, such an apparatus has a problem in that it requires a plurality of readers for identifying the contents and orientation of the box, which is expensive.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an inspection system capable of identifying the contents and orientation of a box at low cost.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a box having an identification tag at a predetermined position, a reading unit that is placed at a predetermined position and reads the identification tag, and the identification tag is formed by the reading unit. An inspection system comprising: determination means for determining whether or not reading is possible.
The box may store a sample, and the sample may be stored in a predetermined direction in the box.
A plurality of the identification tags may be provided on the surface of the box asymptotically.
The identification tag may be a barcode.

  According to the present invention, both the contents and orientation of the box can be identified with a single reading device, so the cost is improved.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an inspection system 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inspection system 1 includes an inspection room 3, and a barcode reader 5 that is a reading device is provided on a side surface of the inspection room 3.
The object to be inspected by the inspection system 1 is a box 7, and the box 7 has a structure in which a lid 11 is covered on a pallet 9.
A sample such as a substrate (not shown) is placed in the box 7 in a predetermined direction.

Bar codes 13 a and 13 b that are identification tags indicating samples in the box 7 are attached to the lid 11.
Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the barcodes 13 a and 13 b are provided at positions that are not point-symmetric with respect to the center 15 of the box 7, and the reason will be described later.

  The barcode reader 5 is connected to a computer or the like (not shown) to determine whether or not reading is performed and whether or not the read barcode is the same as the registered one.

  Further, the box 7 is carried in from a carry-in unit 17 provided in the examination room 3, and the carry-in is performed by a forklift or the like (not shown).

Next, a procedure for inspecting the box 7 by the inspection system 1 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for inspecting the box 7 by the inspection system 1, and FIGS. 4 to 7 are diagrams showing a procedure for the inspection.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4, the box 7 is moved in the direction A, and the box 7 is carried into the examination room 3 from the carry-in portion 17 (step 101).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the bar code reader 5 is used to read the bar code 13a of the box 7 in the front (B direction) of the bar code reader 5 (step 102).

  Here, it is determined whether or not the bar code reader 5 has read the bar code 13a. If the bar code reader 5 has not been read, the process proceeds to step 104. If it has been read, the process proceeds to step 106 (step 103).

  If the barcode 13a cannot be read, it is determined that the orientation of the box 7 is incorrect (step 104), and the operation is stopped (step 105). In this case, the direction of the sample in the box 7 is also incorrect.

Here, as shown in FIG. 6, since the bar codes 13a and 13b are provided at positions that are not point-symmetric with respect to the center 15, the bar code reader 5 can be used even when the direction of the box 7 is shifted by 180 °. Does not mistakenly identify the barcode 13b as the barcode 13a.
Therefore, even when the box 7 has a point-symmetric structure, the direction of the box 7 can be reliably detected.

  If the barcode 13a can be read, it is determined that the orientation of the box 7 is correct (step 106), and then it is determined whether or not the content of the sample described in the barcode 13a matches that registered in advance. If they do not match, the process proceeds to step 108, and if they match, the process proceeds to step 110 (step 107).

  If they do not match, it is determined that the content of the sample in the box 7 is incorrect (step 108), and the operation is stopped (step 109).

  If they match, it is determined that the content of the sample is correct, and as shown in FIG. 7, the box 7 is moved in the direction C and carried out of the examination room 3, and is moved to the next process (not shown). .

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the inspection system 1 includes the barcode reader 5, and the barcode reader 5 alone identifies both the contents and the orientation of the box body 7.
Therefore, the cost of the inspection system 1 is reduced.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, the technical scope of this invention is not influenced by embodiment mentioned above. It is obvious for those skilled in the art that various modifications or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood that it belongs.

  For example, in this embodiment, the box 7 is carried into the inspection room 3 by a forklift, but may be carried in automatically using a rail or the like.

  In this embodiment, a barcode is used as an identification tag, but an IC chip or the like may be used.

Perspective view showing inspection system 1 Top view of FIG. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the inspection of the box 7 by the inspection system 1 Diagram showing inspection procedure Diagram showing inspection procedure Diagram showing inspection procedure Diagram showing inspection procedure

Explanation of symbols

1 …… Inspection system 3 ………… Inspection room 5 ………… Bar code reader 7 ………… Box 9 ………… Pallet 11 ………… Lid 13a …… Bar code 15 ……… Center 17: Carry-in part

Claims (4)

A box having an identification tag in a predetermined position;
A reading unit placed at a predetermined position and reading the identification tag;
Determination means for determining whether or not the identification tag can be read by the reading means;
An inspection system comprising:   The inspection system according to claim 1, wherein the box stores a sample, and the sample is stored in the box in a predetermined direction.   The inspection system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the identification tags are provided on the surface of the box asymmetrically.   The inspection system according to claim 1, wherein the identification tag is a barcode.

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