JP2019184244A - Mixed foreign matter verification system - Google Patents

Abstract

To verify afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the manufacturing process of the product.SOLUTION: An imaging device 200 captures all of individual packaged products in the manufacturing process, adds imaging date/time information, and stores them as imaging data Dp in a storage unit 300. On the other hand, manufacturing date and time information is printed by an invisible printing device 400 using invisible ink on a surface of each individual packaged product conveyed. And, for example, after the product is shipped, if the customer returns an individually packaged product (verified individually packaged product) assuming that foreign matter was mixed, a production manager or the like uses a verification device 500 to read out the imaging data corresponding to the returned verification individual packaged product from the storage unit 300, and display it on a display unit 530, so as to certainly verify whether or not there was no foreign matter.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for verifying afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in a product.

  In recent years, there has been a series of news that various foreign substances such as hair have been mixed in food, and interest in food safety has further increased. Various food inspection systems for accurately detecting foreign matters mixed in the food manufacturing process have been proposed in order to prevent such foods containing foreign matters from being shipped (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a food inspection system that can detect hair mixed in food more accurately. More specifically, Patent Document 1 calculates the contrast of an input food image, extracts a region of interest whose contrast is equal to or higher than a threshold value as a contour region, and compares the contour region image with the hair sample image. A configuration for accurately detecting hair in food is disclosed.

JP 2017-111085 A

  By using the food inspection system described above, it is possible to prevent the product from being shipped in a state where foreign matter is mixed in the food, but the foreign matter mixed into the food is not necessarily a manufacturing process. It does not always occur in

  For example, when a foreign product gets mixed in in the delivery process after shipment, or when the consumer opens the package, the foreign product gets mixed into the food in some way, where the food manufacturer has no control. In some cases, foreign substances may be mixed into the food.

  However, once a product has been shipped, etc., there has been a problem that it is difficult to verify afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the manufacturing process of the product.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of verifying afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in a manufacturing process of a product. .

  A foreign matter contamination verification system according to an aspect of the present invention is a system for verifying whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in a product in a manufacturing process, and is an image pickup that images each product in the manufacturing process. A first storage date and time information representing the production date and time, and a second production date and time information representing the production date and time for each product. An invisible printing unit that prints using invisible ink, a reading unit that reads the second production date and time information of the product by performing a visualization process on the product that has undergone the manufacturing process and requested to be verified, By comparing the read second manufacturing date / time information with the first manufacturing date / time information of each product stored in the storage unit, the verification request is received from the imaging data stored in the storage unit. Against And summarized in that comprises an extraction unit for extracting one or more imaging data, and a display unit for displaying the extracted captured data.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to verify afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the manufacturing process of the product.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of a foreign material mixing verification system. It is the figure which illustrated imaging data. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the printing operation | movement by an invisible printing apparatus. It is the figure which looked at each individual package after printing from the arrow (alpha) direction shown in FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of the verification operation | movement using a foreign material mixing verification system. It is a figure which shows the structure of the verification apparatus which concerns on a modification.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below is merely an example, and does not exclude application of various modifications and techniques not explicitly described below. That is, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

A. This embodiment
[Outline of foreign matter contamination verification system]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a foreign matter contamination verification system 1000 according to the present embodiment. The foreign matter contamination verification system is a system for verifying afterwards whether or not foreign matters such as hair and garbage have been mixed in a food (product) manufacturing process. In the present embodiment, for example, sliced cheese is assumed as a verification target, but this is not limited to this, and in addition to processed foods such as chocolate and yogurt, it is applicable to all products distributed through manufacturing processes, such as semiconductors and electronic components. Is possible.

(1) Configuration The transport device 100 includes a conveyor belt, a transport controller, and the like, and is sliced cheese (hereinafter abbreviated as “individual packaged product”) wrapped in individual packaging films one by one through a manufacturing process. Transport. Individual packaged products conveyed by the conveying device 100 are accumulated in a prescribed number (for example, 6 or 12 sheets), and then packaged one by one (outer bag packaging) by a pillow packaging machine (not shown). Shipped through the boxing process and inspection process.

  The imaging apparatus (imaging unit) 200 is configured by a camera having a predetermined resolution or higher. The imaging device 200 captures all the individually packaged items conveyed by the conveying device 100 and generates imaging data Dp. The imaging apparatus 200 adds imaging date / time information (for example, up to year / month / day / hour / minute / second; first manufacturing date / time information) to the generated imaging data Dp, and stores it in the storage unit 300 (see FIG. 2). In the present embodiment, two cameras are used to acquire the imaging data of the front and back surfaces of the individually packaged product. However, how many cameras are used depends on the characteristics of the target product, system design, etc. It can be set and changed as needed.

  The storage unit 300 is configured by a hard disk device or the like, and has a capacity capable of storing the imaging data Dp of all the packaged products for a predetermined period (for example, 13 months).

  The invisible printing device (invisible printing unit) 400 prints manufacturing date / time information (for example, up to year / month / day / hour / minute / second; second manufacturing date / time information) indicating the manufacturing date / time using invisible ink for all individually packaged products. Device. In this embodiment, a special ink that can be visualized by changing the wavelength of ultraviolet light irradiation or illumination with black light or the like is assumed as the invisible ink. For example, a special ink that is visualized by heat or a chemical reaction is used. Also good. Further, the contents of invisible printing are not limited to the production date / time information, but information other than the production date / time information (for example, production plant information representing a production plant or production line information representing a production line) may be printed. Of course it is good.

  Here, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the printing operation by the invisible printing device 400, and FIG. 4 is a view of each individual packaged product viewed from the direction of the arrow α shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the invisible printing device 400 prints manufacturing date information on the surface of each individual packaged product conveyed by the conveying device 100 using invisible ink. As for the print position, for example, a position where the print fixing state is good can be selected without affecting the characteristics of the product (see FIG. 4).

  Returning to FIG. 1, the verification device 500 is a device for verifying afterwards whether or not there is no foreign matter mixed in the manufacturing process for the individually packaged product for which verification has been requested, and includes a reading unit 510, an extraction unit 520, The function of the display unit 530 is provided. Examples of individually packaged products that require verification include, for example, individually packaged products that have been pointed out (returned) by a customer as having foreign matter mixed in after manufacture and shipment. In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the individually packaged product whose manufacturing date and time information has been read by the reading unit 510 is referred to as “verification individual packaged product”.

  The reading unit 510 reads manufacturing date and time information printed with invisible ink for each verification package, and is configured by, for example, an ultraviolet irradiation device such as a black light or a scanning device. On the other hand, the extraction unit 520 and the display unit 530 are configured by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.

  The extraction unit 520 compares the manufacturing date and time information read by the reading unit 510 with the imaging date and time information added to the imaging data of each individual packaged product stored in the storage unit 300, thereby verifying the individually packaged product. One or more pieces of imaging data corresponding to are extracted.

More specifically, since the imaging position of the individually packaged product by the imaging apparatus 200 and the printing position using the invisible ink by the invisible printing apparatus 400 are separated from each other, the imaging time by the imaging apparatus 200 and the invisibility are in accordance with the separation distance. There may be a deviation (for example, several seconds) between the printing times by the printing apparatus 400 and a deviation (for example, several tens of seconds) between the timing times of the respective apparatuses. In consideration of such a temporal shift, in this embodiment, the imaging date and time indicating the same time as the manufacturing date information (for example, 14:14:14 on March 15, 2018) read by the reading unit 510. In addition to extracting the imaging data of the individually packaged product of information, the imaging data of the individually packaged product of the imaging date and time information within a predetermined time (for example, within 1 minute before and after) is also extracted. In addition, when the time gap can be grasped in advance, one piece of imaging data corresponding to the verification individual package may be specified by calculation or the like, and the specified one piece of imaging data may be extracted.
Further, if a GPS time server or the like is used, efficient post-verification can be performed. As is well known, a GPS time server is a time server that receives highly accurate time data of GPS satellite radio waves and provides accurate time information to a connected network device. The GPS time server is connected to the imaging device 200, and the time of the imaging device 200 is calibrated by providing accurate time information from the GPS time server to the imaging device 200 periodically (for example, every day at a predetermined time). Thereby, the imaging device 200 can add accurate imaging date information to the imaging data. The invisible printing device 400 is also connected to the GPS time server in the same manner as the imaging device 200. Thereby, the invisible printing device 400 can print accurate manufacturing date information on each individual packaged product. In this way, the time of the imaging device 200 and the invisible printing device 400 is calibrated using a GPS time server or the like, thereby correctly grasping the temporal deviation according to the separation distance between the imaging device 200 and the invisible printing device 400. be able to. As a result, the number of captured images to be checked at the time of post-validation can be minimized (in other words, there is no need to confirm an extra captured image), and efficient post-verification is possible.

  The display unit 530 generates a captured image based on the captured image data of one or more individual packages extracted by the extraction unit 520 and displays the captured image on a display device such as a display panel. The person in charge of manufacturing sequentially confirms the captured images of the individual packaged items (front and back surfaces in the present embodiment) displayed on the display device, and whether or not foreign substances are mixed in the verified individual packaged product during the manufacturing process. Validate. If there is no evidence of foreign matter contamination in any of the captured images, the person in charge of manufacturing must ensure that no foreign matter has been introduced in the manufacturing process for the individual package based on the image data. It becomes possible to verify.

(2) Operation FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of a verification operation using the foreign matter contamination verification system 1000.
In step C1, the imaging apparatus 200 sequentially captures individual packaged articles conveyed by the conveying apparatus 100, and generates imaging data Dp. The imaging device 200 adds imaging date / time information to the generated imaging data Dp, and then stores it in the storage unit 300.

  In step C2, the invisible printing device 400 prints manufacturing date and time information on the surface of each individual packaged product conveyed by the conveying device 100 using invisible ink (see FIGS. 3 and 4). Each printed individual packaged product is accumulated in a prescribed number (for example, 6 or 12 sheets) and then packaged one by one by a pillow packaging machine (not shown) (outer bag packaging) Shipped after inspection process.

  After that, if a foreign object is mixed in by a customer and a specific individual package is pointed out (returned), the person in charge of production, etc., enters the foreign product in the manufacturing process for the individual package that has been requested for verification. Verification of whether or not there was no is started.

  In step C <b> 3, the reading unit 510 of the verification device 500 performs a visualization process by irradiating the verification individual package with ultraviolet rays, reads the manufacturing date / time information printed with the invisible ink using the scanning device, and outputs it to the extraction unit 520. Supply.

  In step C4, the extraction unit 520 of the verification apparatus 500 compares the production date / time information read by the reading unit 510 with the imaging date / time information added to the imaging data of each individual packaged item stored in the storage unit 300. As a result, one or more pieces of imaging data corresponding to the verification individual package product are extracted and supplied to the display unit 530. Since the details of the extraction method of the imaging data corresponding to the verification individual package have already been clarified, description thereof is omitted here.

  In step C5, the display unit 530 of the verification apparatus 500 generates a captured image based on the imaging data corresponding to one or more verification individual packaged products extracted by the extraction unit 520, and displays the captured image on a display device such as a display panel. indicate. The person in charge of manufacturing sequentially confirms the captured images of the individual packaged items (front and back surfaces in the present embodiment) displayed on the display device, and whether or not foreign substances are mixed in the verified individual packaged product during the manufacturing process. Validate. If no captured image of foreign matter is found in any captured image, the person in charge of manufacturing can reliably verify that no foreign matter is mixed in the manufacturing process based on the captured image data.

  As described above, according to the foreign matter contamination verification system 1000 according to the present embodiment, the imaging device 200 captures all the individually packaged products in the manufacturing process and stores them together with the imaging date / time information, while being conveyed by the invisible printing device 400. Manufacturing date and time information is printed on the surface of each individual package using invisible ink. Then, after the product is shipped, if the individual package product (verification individual package product) is returned from the customer because the foreign matter has been mixed in, the person in charge of production etc. uses the verification device 500 to verify the returned product. By reading out the imaging data corresponding to the individually packaged product from the storage unit and displaying it on the display unit, it is possible to reliably verify whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the verified individual packaged product.

B. In the above embodiment, the person in charge of production verified whether or not foreign substances were mixed in the verification individual packaged product by visually checking the captured image of the individual packaged product displayed on the display device. Alternatively, automatic verification may be performed by the verification device without manual intervention.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a verification apparatus 500A according to a modification. The verification device 500A is the same as the verification device 500 shown in FIG. 1 except that it includes a determination unit 540 and a notification unit 550. Therefore, corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. To do.

  The determination unit 540 is configured by an image identification engine or the like, and analyzes the imaging data of one or more individual packaged products extracted by the extraction unit 520, so that foreign substances are mixed in the manufacturing process for the verification individual packaged product. It verifies whether or not there was, and notifies the notification unit 550 of the verification result. For example, when a shadow of a predetermined pixel or more is required in the captured image of the displayed individually packaged product, an alert is displayed through the notification unit 550 to indicate that foreign matter has been mixed, assuming that foreign matter has been mixed. . Here, when using an image identification engine using artificial intelligence (AI), image data of conforming products (individually packaged products without contamination) and nonconforming products (individually packaged products with contamination) are used as teacher data. You may make it improve the verification precision of a foreign material mixing by making it learn. Note that not only non-conforming products due to foreign matter mixing but also other non-conforming products (for example, individually packaged products that do not satisfy the shipping standards) can be used for learning, and can also be used for shipping determination. In addition, not all verification individual packaged products are subject to automatic verification, but all individual packaged products may be subject to automatic verification.

  The notification unit 550 notifies the determination result notified from the determination unit 540 by a text message or a voice message. The person in charge of manufacturing or the like can verify whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the verification individual packaged product by an extremely simple method of confirming the determination result notified by the notification unit 550.

In the present embodiment, after the individual packaging product is imaged by the imaging device 200, the production date / time information is printed on the surface of the individual packaging product by the invisible printing device 400. However, this order may be changed. For example, in the case where the invisible printing device 400 is provided in the front stage of the imaging device 200, before the imaging device 200 takes an image, the invisible printing device 400 uses the invisible printing ink to provide the manufacturing date and time information on the surface of the individually packaged product. Print. Then, for example, by irradiating the individual package with ultraviolet rays using an ultraviolet irradiation device such as black light, or changing the wavelength of illumination during imaging using another light source, the printed portion with invisible printing ink is visualized. (That is, a visualization process is performed). The imaging device 200 captures all the front and back surfaces of each visualized individual packaged product, generates imaging data in which manufacturing date / time information is visualized, and stores the imaging data in the storage unit 300.
After that, when a specific individual package product was claimed (returned), assuming that foreign substances had been mixed in by the customer, the person in charge of manufacturing, etc., found that there was no foreign object contamination in the manufacturing process for the individual package product requested for verification. Start verification of NO. As described above, the visualized manufacturing date / time information is added to the imaging data of each individual packaged item stored in the storage unit 300. For this reason, if the manufacturing unit date and time information of the verification individual package product is specified by the reading unit 510 of the verification apparatus 500, the extraction unit 520 extracts imaging data whose verification individual package product and manufacturing date and time information match in a short time. Is possible. The display unit 530 generates a captured image based on the imaging data extracted by the extraction unit 520 and displays the captured image on a display device such as a display panel. In this way, when adopting a pattern that saves only imaging data that has undergone visualization processing (printing is visible), the person in charge of manufacturing, etc., whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the verification individual package product, It can be verified more quickly. It should be noted that normal imaging data that has not been visualized (print is not visible) may be stored in the storage unit 300 in addition to the imaging data that has been visualized (print is visible). By using the two types of imaging data stored in the storage unit 300, it is possible to more precisely verify whether or not foreign matter has been mixed in the verification individual package.
Further, in this modified example, the product requested for verification (that is, the verification individual packaged product) has been described as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to the case where there is no verification request. For example, when only the date information of the outer bag packaging is notified, the target product that can be assumed may be identified and verified using the date information of the outer bag packaging as a key.

  Further, in this specification, “unit” does not simply mean a physical configuration, but also includes a case where processing executed by the “unit” is realized by software. Further, even if a process executed by one “unit” or device is realized by two or more physical configurations or devices, a process executed by two or more “units” or devices is performed by one physical means or device. May be realized. Further, although not particularly mentioned in the present embodiment, the function related to the verification apparatus 500 may be realized in a cloud environment.

  In addition, the steps in each process described above in this specification can be arbitrarily changed in order or executed in parallel as long as the process contents do not contradict each other.

  A program for performing each process described in this specification may be stored in a recording medium. If this recording medium is used, the program can be installed in the verification apparatus 500. Here, the recording medium storing the program may be a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium is not particularly limited, but may be a recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1000 ... Foreign matter mixing verification system, 100 ... Conveying device, 200 ... Imaging device, 300 ... Storage unit, 400 ... Invisible printing device, 500, 500A ... Verification device, 510 ... Reading unit, 520 ... Extraction unit, 530 ... Display unit, 540 ... determination unit, 550 ... notification unit, Dp ... imaging data.

Claims (5)

In the manufacturing process, it is a system for verifying afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed into the product,
In the manufacturing process, an imaging unit that images each product;
A storage unit for storing the first product date and time information representing the date and time of manufacture in addition to the captured image data of each product;
An invisible printing unit that prints the second production date and time information representing the production date and time for each product using invisible ink;
A reading unit that reads the second manufacturing date and time information of the product by performing a visualization process on the product that has undergone the manufacturing process and requested to be verified,
By comparing the read second manufacturing date and time information with the first manufacturing date and time information of each product stored in the storage unit, from among the imaging data stored in the storage unit, An extraction unit that extracts one or more imaging data corresponding to the product requested to be verified;
A foreign matter contamination verification system comprising: a display unit that displays the extracted imaging data.   Analyzing the extracted imaging data, further comprising a determination unit that automatically determines whether or not foreign matter is mixed in the manufacturing process for the product requested to be verified, and a notification unit that notifies the determination result. The foreign matter contamination verification system according to claim 1.   The foreign matter contamination verification system according to claim 1, wherein the foreign matter contamination verification system according to claim 1, wherein it is automatically determined whether or not foreign matter contamination has occurred in the manufacturing process for each of the products by analyzing imaging data of each of the products stored in the storage unit. . The product is a individually packaged product,
The said invisible printing part is a foreign material contamination verification system as described in any one of Claim 1 to 3 which prints said 2nd manufacture date information on the individual packaging part of each said goods using invisible ink. In the manufacturing process, it is a system for verifying afterwards whether or not foreign matter has been mixed into the product,
For each of the products, an invisible printing unit that prints manufacturing date information that represents the date of manufacture using invisible ink,
An imaging unit that captures an image after performing a visualization process on each product on which manufacturing date and time information is printed using the invisible ink; and
A storage unit for storing imaging data of each product for which the manufacturing date and time information is visualized;
A reading unit that reads the manufacturing date and time information of the product by performing a visualization process on any product that has undergone the manufacturing process;
By comparing the read manufacturing date / time information with the manufacturing date / time information of each product stored in the storage unit, any one of the imaging data stored in the storage unit An extraction unit for extracting corresponding imaging data;
A foreign matter contamination verification system comprising: a display unit that displays the extracted imaging data.