JPH0192877A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain decentralized image processing by selecting any one of a signal generated from a synchronizing signal generating circuit in a self-device and a driving signal consisting of an external vertical driving signal and an external horizontal driving signal to form a reset pulse for a counter in a vertical side synchronizing generating circuit and a counter in a horizontal side synchronizing signal generating circuit. CONSTITUTION:In slave image processors 3b1, 3b2, a vertical driving signal and a horizontal driving signal outputted form a master image processor 3a area respectively inputted to reset pulse generating circuits 7V, 7H. Reset pulses RP outputted from the circuits 7V, 7H are respectively inputted to counter 9V, 9H through reset pulse selecting circuits 8V, 8H. Thereby, an image signal from a TV camera 1 is processed synchronously with the vertical driving signal and the horizontal driving signal from the master image processor 3a to recognize the configuration of an object 1 and the decided result can be sent to a master processor 4. Consequently, the image signal photographed by the TV camera 1 can be decentralizealy processed by plural image processors.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image processing device that performs shape recognition by processing a single image information sheet output from a two-dimensional imaging device such as a television camera.

[Conventional technology]

-i. Many image processing systems are used in automated factory lines to perform surface inspection of products.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, a conventional image processing system includes a television camera 2 that photographs a subject 1 as an inspection object, and processes an image signal output from the television camera 2 to determine the shape of the subject 1. an image processing device 3 that determines the quality of the image processing device and outputs the determination result as an inspection result; a host processor 4 such as a sequencer that controls the entire line in response to the inspection results from the image processing device 3;
and an illuminator 5 for stabilizing the illuminance on the surface of the screen and suppressing fluctuations in the determination criteria.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with the conventional image processing system described above, when inspecting the surface of a product, it is common to inspect the entire surface, and even when not inspecting the entire surface, there are often multiple inspection points. Image processing systems are required to have a high level of processing power depending on the line speed of the factory line and the difficulty of inspection, and in order to satisfy this requirement, the processing power of the image processing device itself must be selected according to the application. In addition, there is a certain limit to improving the processing capacity of an image processing device, and in order to obtain an image processing device with a faster processing speed, the image processing device must be larger. In addition, since it is necessary to perform various designs, there are problems such as increased manufacturing costs.

In order to solve this problem, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of television cameras 2 and illuminators 5 are provided, and each television camera 2 is individually connected to an image processing device 3, thereby increasing the image processing capacity. It is possible to improve the , where it is physically impossible to install television cameras, lighting equipment, etc.
There are problems such as the illumination from the illuminators interfering with each other, making the illuminance on the surface of the object to be inspected unstable.

Therefore, the present invention has been made by focusing on the problems of the conventional example described above, and by configuring the image information from an imaging device such as a television camera to be processed in parallel using a plurality of image processing devices. , an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that can solve the problems of the conventional example by improving the image processing capability of the entire image processing system without increasing the processing capability of each individual image processing device. There is.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image processing device that processes image information from an imaging device to perform shape recognition. a signal generating means having at least a ROM storing a counter and a signal pattern and generating image processing related signals such as a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal; The present invention is characterized by comprising a reset pulse selection means for selecting whether to generate the pulse based on the drive signal or the signal from the signal generation means.

[Effect]

In this invention, the image processing device drives the imaging device by sending a drive signal consisting of a vertical drive signal and a horizontal drive signal from the drive signal sending means to the imaging device such as a television camera, and also controls the counter of the signal generation means. A successive address of the ROM storing the signal pattern is selected based on the count value of , and image processing related signals such as a vertical synchronization signal, a horizontal synchronization signal, and a reset pulse for the counter are generated to process the image signal from the imaging device. Here, the reset pulse selection means selects whether to generate a reset pulse for the counter based on an external drive signal or a signal from its own signal generation means, and By generating a reset pulse, the device operates as a mask image processing device, and by inputting the drive signal sent from this mask image processing device and generating a reset pulse based on this, synchronization of image processing related signals is performed. By changing the method, it is possible to operate as a slave image processing device for a mask image processing device, and distributed image processing can be performed by a plurality of image processing devices. .

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an object to be inspected, 2 is a television camera as an imaging device that photographs the object 1 and sends out an image signal, and 3a is a vertical drive signal and a horizontal drive signal for driving the television camera 2. A master image processing device that sends out a drive signal consisting of a drive signal, processes the image signal from the television camera 2, recognizes the shape of the object 1, determines whether the shape is good or bad, and sends out the determination result as an inspection result. ,
3b and 3bz are slave image processing devices each receiving a drive signal from the mask image processing device 3a and changing the synchronization method of image processing related signals such as a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal to correspond to the mask image processing device 3a. , 4 is a high-level processor such as a sequencer that controls the entire factory line by receiving the inspection results from each image processing device 3a, 3b+, and 3bz, and 5 is a processor that stabilizes the illuminance on the surface of the object 1 to prevent variations in the shape determination criteria. It is an illuminator for suppression.

Each image processing device 3a, 3b+, and 3bz includes a vertical synchronizing signal forming circuit 6V and a horizontal synchronizing signal forming circuit 6H, as shown in FIG.

The vertical synchronization signal forming circuit 6V includes a reset pulse generation circuit 7V that receives an external vertical drive signal, detects the fall of the signal, and generates a reset pulse, and a reset pulse from the reset pulse generation circuit 7V, which will be described later. A reset pulse selection circuit 8V as a reset pulse selection means constituted by a switching circuit that selects one of the reset pulses from the vertical synchronization signal generation circuit 10V, and a reset pulse selected by the reset pulse selection circuit 8V is inputted. a counter 9V that counts the number of horizontal lines that is reset each time the counter 9V is reset; and a vertical drive signal generation circuit 10V that generates a drive signal for the inside of the image processing device or for the television camera 1, such as a vertical drive signal, according to the count value of the counter 9V. At least.

The horizontal synchronization signal forming circuit 6H forms horizontal drive signals corresponding to the reset pulse generation circuit 7■, the reset pulse selection circuit 8■, the counter 9v, and the vertical drive signal generation circuit 10v of the vertical synchronization signal formation circuit 6v. Reset pulse generation circuit 7H1 reset pulse selection circuit 8H,
It includes at least a counter 9H and a vertical drive signal generation circuit 10).

The reset pulse generating circuits 7v and 7H of the vertical side synchronizing signal forming circuit 6V and the horizontal side synchronizing signal forming circuit 6H are
As shown in the figure, there is a D-type flip-flop 11 to which a drive signal inputted from the outside is inputted to the D input side, a clock signal CP of a predetermined frequency is inputted to the T input side, and its positive output is inputted to the D input terminal. A D-type flip-flop 12 to which the clock signal cp is input to the T input side, and an OR circuit 13 to which the positive output of the D-type flip-flop 11 and the negative output of the D-type flip-flop 12 are input to the inverting input side.
The logic value "1" is delayed by one pulse of the clock signal CP from the rising edge of the drive signal O8 inputted to the D-type flip-flop 11 from the inverted output side of the OR circuit 13.
” is output.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4 fa), the drive signal O8
is turned on at time t, has a predetermined pulse width, and the pulse interval of the clock signal CP is as shown in Fig. 4 (b).
), the positive output Q of the D-type flip-flop 11 is narrower than the pulse width of the drive signal O8.
As shown in FIG. 4(C), is turned on at time t2 when the clock signal CP is input for the first time after time t, and clock signal CP is input for the first time after time t4 when the drive signal is turned off. It returns to the off state at time t. On the other hand, the negative output port 2 of the D-type flip-flop 12 is connected to the D-type flip-flop 11 as shown in FIG. 4(d).
The clock signal CP is turned off at the time t when the positive output Q1 is turned on at the time t when the clock signal CP is first inputted, and after the time t when the positive output Q is turned off, the clock signal CP is first inputted. It returns to the on state at the input time t6. Therefore, the OR circuit 13 takes the AND condition of the positive output Q of the D-type flip-flop 11 and the negative output port 2 of the D-type flip-flop 12, so from the output side, as shown in FIG. As shown (, time L
With respect to the drive signal O8, which turns on at time 2 and turns off at time t, the output of the cent pulse RP is delayed by one pulse of the clock signal CP at most, but the drive of this reset pulse RF) The delay with respect to the signal can be ignored by selecting the frequency of the clock signal CP to be sufficiently large compared to the image resolution of the image processing device: the asynchronous component can be ignored.

Further, each of the vertical synchronization signal generation circuit 10V and the horizontal synchronization signal generation circuit 10H has a ROM 15 in which signal patterns are stored in advance as a table, and reads signals from the ROM 15 using the count values of counters 9V and 9H as successive addresses. A vertical drive signal and a horizontal drive signal are generated by outputting 0, which is generated when the counter is reset.
The address is registered as the falling address of the vertical and horizontal drive signals.

In the mask image processing device 3a, the reset pulse selection circuits 8V and 8H are set to select the reset pulse output from the own vertical drive signal generation circuit 10V and horizontal drive signal generation circuit 10H, In the slave image processing devices 3b and 3bz, their reset pulse selection circuits 8V and 8H select the reset pulses from the reset pulse generation circuits 7V and 7H that form reset pulses based on the drive signal from the mask image processing device 3a. is set to.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. The mask image processing device 3a controls the rask scan of the television camera 1 by sending horizontal drive signals and vertical drive signals from the vertical drive signal generation circuit 10V and the horizontal drive signal generation circuit 10H to the television camera 1, and 1 image signal is generated, and this image signal is transmitted to the mask image processing device 3a and the slave image processing devices 3b, 3b.

The mask image processing device 3a converts the image signal from the television camera 1 into an image using the same drive signal as the drive signal sent to the review camera 1 generated by its own vertical drive signal forming circuit 6■ and horizontal drive signal forming circuit 6H. The processing is executed to recognize the shape of the subject 1, determine whether the shape is good or bad, and send the determination result to the upper processor 4.

On the other hand, in the slave image processing devices 3b+ and 3bz, the vertical, plane drive signals and horizontal drive signals output from the mask image processing device 3a are input to reset pulse generation circuits 7■ and 7H, respectively. Reset pulse RP from 7V and 7H is sent to counters 9V and 9H via reset pulse selection circuits 8■ and 8H.
, the image signal from the television camera 1 is image-processed in synchronization with the vertical drive signal and horizontal drive signal of the mask image processing device 3a to recognize the shape of the subject 1, and determine whether the shape is good or bad. The determination result is sent to the upper processor 4.

Therefore, the image signals captured by the television camera 1 can be distributed and processed by multiple image processing devices, and even if an image processing device with a slow image processing speed is applied as an individual image processing device, the overall image processing system The image processing ability can be improved, and each image processing device can be used as a mask image processing device or a slave image processing device by arbitrarily selecting the selection positions of the reset pulse selection circuits 7v and 7H. At the same time, the synchronization method of the slave image processing device is changed according to the drive signal of the mask image processing device, so there is no error in image processing, and it is possible to change the synchronization method depending on the application such as the line speed of the factory line or the difficulty of inspection. This can be easily done by increasing or decreasing the number of slave image processing devices.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which one television camera 1 is shared by a plurality of image processing devices, but the invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 5, a slave image processing device 3b , and 3bz, respectively, and drive these with vertical and horizontal drive signals output from the slave image processing devices 3b+ and 3bz to individually recognize the shape of the image signal of each television camera 1. You can also.

Further, in the above embodiment, the reset pulse generation circuit 7 generates a reset pulse based on an external drive signal.
Although we have explained the case where V and 7H are provided before the reset pulse selection circuits 8V and 8H, the reset pulse selection circuits 8V and 8H are used as drive signal selection circuits, and a reset pulse generation circuit is provided on the output side of the reset pulse selection circuits 8V and 8H. The reset pulse may be input directly to the counters 9v and 9H.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the television camera 1 is used as the imaging device, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this, and other imaging devices such as an image sensor may be applied.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the reset pulses for the counters of the vertical side synchronizing signal generating circuit and the counters of the horizontal side synchronizing signal generating circuit are generated by the signal generated from the own synchronizing signal generating circuit and the external vertical drive signal. Since the configuration is configured to select and form one of the drive signals consisting of horizontal drive signals, it is possible to perform distributed image processing on image information from the imaging device using multiple image processing devices that are synchronized with each other. By adjusting the number of image processing devices without improving the processing power of the devices themselves, it is possible to construct an image processing system that can support various applications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a vertical and horizontal drive signal forming circuit, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a reset pulse generation circuit. FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram for explaining the operation of the reset pulse generation circuit of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are blocks showing a conventional example. It is a diagram. In the figure, 1 is a subject, 2 is a television camera, 3a is a mask image processing device, 3b, 3bz are slave image processing devices,
4 is a host processor, 5 is an illuminator, 6■ is a vertical drive signal forming circuit, 6H is a horizontal drive signal forming circuit, 7V, 7
H is a reset pulse generation circuit, 8V and 8H are reset pulse selection circuits, 9V and 9H are counters, IOV is a vertical drive signal generation circuit, and IOH is a horizontal drive signal generation circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image processing device that performs shape recognition by processing image information from an imaging device, comprising a drive signal sending means for sending a drive signal consisting of a vertical drive signal and a horizontal drive signal to the imaging device, a counter, and a signal pattern stored therein. a signal generating means having at least a ROM and generating image processing related signals such as a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal, and generating a reset pulse for the counter based on the driving signal from the outside; An image processing apparatus comprising: reset pulse selection means for selecting whether to generate a reset pulse based on a signal from the means.