JPH0939213A - Inspection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable inspection of both sides of a sheet-like or card-like printing through one conveyance by providing first inspection means for inspecting a first printed side that is exposed and second inspection means for inspecting the second printed side exposed. SOLUTION: An obverse side camera 8 takes an image on an exposed side (first printed side) of a printing that has passed by a hole 12 formed in first conveyance means 2. On the basis of the data obtained by the obverse side camera 8, the printed picture or pattern on the first side of the printing is inspected. The first conveyance means exposes the first printed side and holds the second printed side by belts 3a, 3b. Second conveyance means exposes the second printed side and holds the first printed side by belts 3c, 3d. A reverse side camera 9 takes an image on the exposed side (second printed side) of the printing held by the second printing means 5. Based on the thus-obtained data, the printed picture or pattern on the second side is inspected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for inspecting the appearance of a printed pattern, a processing state, etc. of a sheet-shaped or card-shaped printed matter. In particular, the present invention relates to an inspection device that inspects both sides of a printed matter in one transfer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an inspection apparatus which determines whether a printed pattern is good or bad based on image pickup data obtained by picking up an image of a printed matter with a camera. In order to efficiently inspect a large amount of printed matter, the inspection apparatus is provided with a printed matter transfer mechanism. For example, the printed materials are supplied one by one from a sheet-shaped or card-shaped printed material collection to the imaging region, and the printed materials are imaged in a stationary state or a transfer state.

[0003]

By the way, in the inspection device having the conventional transfer mechanism, it is possible to inspect only one side of the printed matter by one transfer, and it is impossible to inspect both sides of the printed matter. . Therefore, when inspecting both sides of a printed matter, set the stack of printed matter in the supply section and inspect one side, and then set the one side of the printed matter aggregate in the supply section again after changing the inspection surface. The other side is inspected. That is, the double-sided inspection of the printed matter is performed by passing the printed matter through the inspection device twice. In this way, since the inspection is performed twice, the time required for the inspection is doubled, and the inspection apparatus is stopped during the transshipment, so that the inspection efficiency is extremely poor.
Further, the work load on the operator for transposing the printed material stack to the supply unit is large.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an inspection apparatus capable of inspecting both sides of a sheet-shaped or card-shaped printed matter by one transfer.

[0005]

The above objects are achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention provides "first transfer means for holding the second printing surface while exposing the first printing surface of the printed material and transferring the printed material, and inspecting the exposed first printing surface. Inspection means, and second transfer means for alternating the holding of the printed matter, holding the first surface of the printed matter, and transferring the printed matter with the second printed surface exposed.
An inspection device having a second inspection means for inspecting the exposed second printed surface ". According to the inspection device of the present invention, the first transfer means transfers the printed material while the second printed surface is held while the first printed surface of the printed material is exposed.
Meanwhile, the exposed first printing surface is inspected by the first inspection means. Further, the holding of the printed matter is changed by the second transfer means, the first surface of the printed matter is held, and the printed matter is transported while the second printed surface is exposed, while the second inspection means performs the exposed second printing. The face is inspected. In this way, both sides (first and second sides) of the printed matter can be inspected with one transfer.

According to the present invention, "at least one of the first and second transfer means holds the printed matter on a part of the printing surface, and the other part of the printing surface is an exposed exposed portion. Inspection device having a third inspection means for inspecting a portion with transmitted light ". That is, according to the inspection device of the present invention, the inspection by the transmitted light can be performed by the third inspection means in the exposed portion excluding the held part. Further, the present invention provides a "supplying means for supplying printed matter to the first transporting means one by one from a printed matter collecting body, a defective product collecting means for forming a defective printed matter collecting body, and a good judging printed matter collecting body. An inspection device having a good product accumulating means for forming a body ". According to this inspection apparatus of the present invention, the printed matter is supplied from the printed matter stack to the first transfer means one by one by the supply means, and the defective product stack is formed into a defective printed matter stack. The means forms a stack of prints that are judged good. In this way, it is possible to automate the supply of the printed matter to be inspected and the formation of an aggregate that separates defective products from non-defective products.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a pictorial view showing the configuration of the inspection apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a feeder which is a supply means, and 2
Is a first conveying means, 3a and 3b are conveying belts of the first conveying means 2, 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are printed materials to be transferred, 5 is a second conveying means, 3c and 3d are second A conveyor belt for the conveyor means 4, a non-defective product stacker 6 which is a non-defective product accumulating means, a defective product stacker 7 which is a defective product accumulating means,
Is a front surface camera which is an image pickup portion of the first inspection means, 9 is a back surface camera which is an image pickup portion of the second inspection means, and 10 is a third
A transmission camera which is an image pickup unit of the inspection means, 11 a transmission light source used in the transmission camera 9, 12 a hole provided in the first transfer means 2 for irradiating the printed matter with the light of the transmission light source, 13 is an operation panel of the inspection apparatus of the present invention, 14 is a reference image monitor for displaying a reference image, and 15 is an inspection image monitor for displaying an inspection image.

The operation of the above structure will be described below.
A stack of printed materials is stacked on the feeder 1, and the printed materials are supplied from the stack to the first transfer unit 2 by the feeder 1. The first transfer means are two belts (belts 3a and 3b) that are parallel and travel at a constant speed.
The printed matter is transferred by. The belt 3a and the belt 3b are belts having a vacuum suction mechanism, and one side (second printed surface) of the supplied printed material is held by the belt by vacuum suction. These belts have holes with a predetermined diameter penetrating at a predetermined interval, and are vacuum-sucked by a vacuum chamber (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 4) provided on the back side of the belt so that the space between the printed matter and the belt is reduced. To form a vacuum portion. As a result, the printed matter is adsorbed and held by the belt due to the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the vacuum chamber.

The printed matter held by suction is transferred (in the direction of the arrow in the figure) and the hole 1 provided in the first transfer means 2 is moved.
Reach part 2. A transmission light source 11 is provided on one side of the first transfer means 2 with the hole 12 in between.
A transmission camera 10 is provided on the other side. When the printed matter reaches the portion of the hole 12, the transmitted light source 11 illuminates the printed matter from behind, and when the printed matter has a portion for transmitting light, for example, a hole provided at a specific position, the light is emitted. The image is transmitted and captured by the transmission camera 10. The shape and position of a hole or the like is inspected based on the data imaged by the transmission camera 10. The printed matter to be inspected by the inspection apparatus of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a sheet-shaped or card-shaped printed matter. For example, blanks such as cartons, ID (Identifi
cation) are plastic cards such as cards, forms, cash vouchers and securities, and mail such as direct mail.

The printed matter that has passed through the hole 12 provided in the first transfer means 2 is then imaged by the front camera 8 on the exposed surface (first printed surface) of the printed matter. Based on the data picked up by the front surface camera 8, the printed pattern or the like on the first side of the printed matter is inspected. Examples of inspection objects other than the printed pattern are magnetic stripes, sequence numbers, postal codes, OCR characters and the like. After being picked up by the front camera 8, the printed material is held by the second transfer means. As shown in FIG. 1, in the first transfer means, the first printing surface is exposed and the second printing surface is exposed to the belts 3a and 3a.
b. In the second transfer means, the second
The printing surface of is exposed and the first printing surface is held by the belts 3c and 3d.

The second transfer means transfers the printed matter by two belts (belt 3c and belt 3d) which are parallel to each other and travel at a constant speed. The second transfer means has the same structure as the first transfer means, and since the suction mechanism and the like have already been described in the first transfer means, the description thereof will be omitted here. The back surface camera 9 captures an image of the exposed surface (second printed surface) of the printed matter whose holding is changed by the second transfer unit. Based on the data picked up by the backside camera 9, the printed pattern or the like on the second side of the printed matter is inspected. By the way, when the transfer speed of the printed matter transferred by the first transfer means 2 or the second transfer means 5 is high, the transmission camera 1 described above is provided in order to prevent the captured image from flowing.
A shutter mechanism is required for 0, the front camera 8, and the rear camera 9. The shutter mechanism is not particularly limited in the present invention, and a mechanical shutter, an electronic shutter in a solid-state imaging device, a pseudo shutter by stroboscopic light emission, or the like can be used.

In FIG. 1, the reference image monitor 14 and the inspection image monitor 15 are provided so that the operator can monitor the inspection situation. The reference image monitor 14 and the inspection image monitor 15 may be provided for each of the three inspection means described above. Also,
It is also possible to simplify the configuration by displaying only the inspection means selected as the method of switching the display.
In the latter case, if the switching is automated so as to display the inspection means that has detected the defect most recently among the three inspection means illustrated, the operator can easily understand the defect content. In FIG. 1, the operation panel 13 is composed of an input portion related to operations input by an operator, such as operation start / stop of the inspection device and setting of the operating state, and a display portion showing the set state and the operating state.

After the back surface camera 9 captures an image of the exposed surface (second printed surface) of the printed matter, the quality of the printed matter is determined. The quality is determined based on the data captured by the transmission camera 10, the front camera 8, and the rear camera 9 described above. If the printed matter is determined to be defective,
The printed matter is accumulated in the defective product stacker 7. If the printed matter is determined to be good, the printed matter is accumulated in the non-defective product stacker 6. In FIG. 1, one defective product stacker 7 is shown, and it is shown that all the printed matter determined to be defective are accumulated in the defective product stacker 7.
However, the number of defective product stackers is not limited to one, and a plurality of defective product stackers may be provided to distinguish the defective product stackers to be accumulated according to the content of the defect, and the defective printed matter may be selected.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing an example of the structure of the portion for supplying the printed matter. 2, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In the following description of the present invention, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 2, a vacuum chamber 17 is provided on the back surface of the belt 3a, except for both ends of the first transfer means 2, that is, near the portions where the two belts 3a and 3b make U-turns.
Vacuum suction is performed from behind the belt on the print transfer side. By the vacuum suction by the vacuum chamber 17, the belt 3
The frictional force between a and the printed matter increases, and the printed matter located at the head of the feeder 1 is fed from the feeder 1 onto the belt 3a as the belt 3a moves. The reverse rotation roller 16 is provided in order to prevent two or more printed materials from being delivered in an overlapping manner. The printed matter on the belt 3a is strongly held by vacuum suction and is transferred by overcoming the reverse feed force of the reverse rotation roller 16. On the other hand, since the printed matter which is overlaid on the printed matter has only a small frictional force acting between the printed matters, the reverse feed force by the reverse rotation roller 16 is predominant and is prevented from being transferred.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a portion of the first transfer means and the second transfer means for alternately holding the printed matter. As shown in FIG. 3, the printed matter 4f is sandwiched by the first transporting means and the second transporting means at the portions where the holding is changed. Then, in that portion, the printed matter to be transferred leaves the vacuum chamber area of the first transfer means, the vacuum suction by the first transfer means disappears, and enters the vacuum chamber area of the second transfer means. Vacuum suction is realized. Although the vacuum chamber is not shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum chamber region extends to a position close to the drive roller 18a or the drive roller 18b. The drive roller 18a of the first transfer means and the drive roller 18b of the second transfer means are connected by a transmission means (not shown), and even when the transfer speed is increased or decreased, the belt of the first transfer means is connected. (3a, 3b) and the belts (3c, 3d) of the second transfer means are configured to have a constant velocity (within an allowable error).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a defective product stacker and a non-defective product stacker. As shown in FIG. 4, the defective product stacker 7 has a transfer claw 19. The transfer claw 19 sets the transfer claw 19 to the operating state (solid line in FIG. 4) and transfers the print determined to be defective to the defective product stacker 7 when the print determined to be defective is transferred to immediately before the transfer claw 19. . On the other hand, when the printed matter determined to be good is transferred to just before the transfer claw 19, the transfer claw 19 is set to the standby state (broken line in FIG. 4).
Prevent the printed matter judged as good from being transferred to the defective product stacker 7. Although the vacuum chamber is not shown in FIG. 4, the form of installation is the same as that shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the vacuum chamber region extends up to the vicinity of the belt roller. The non-defective stacker 6 has a transfer claw 19 that is always in an operating state
The printed matter which has the same shape as the above and has the same operation as the above, and which is judged as good (not transferred to the defective stacker) is transferred to the good stacker 6. The storage rollers 20a of the defective product stacker 7 and the storage rollers 20b of the non-defective product stacker 6 further transfer the transferred print products to the inner part of the stacker by frictional force, and press the print products against the wall of the stacker to align them.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the first, second and third inspection means. In FIG. 5, 22a, 22b
Is a light source for reflection and is used for illumination for the front camera 8 and the rear camera 9. Further, 23 is an image processing means for making a pass / fail judgment based on an image pickup signal, 24 is a transfer control means for controlling the transfer of printed matter, and 29 is a first and a second.
The actuator 30, which generically indicates the transfer means, the transfer claw 19 and other driving parts, and the sensor 30, which collectively indicates the first and second transfer means and the part for detecting the transfer state of the printed matter to be transferred. The image processing means 23 has an image input control means 25 and a pass / fail judgment processing means 26, and the transfer control means 24 has a detection timing signal generation means 27 and a defect removal control means 28. Here, the image processing means 23 can be realized by a computer having a dedicated arithmetic processing unit for executing image processing at high speed, a general-purpose image processing device, or the like. Further, the transfer control means 24 can be realized by a programmable sequencer and peripheral devices.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below.
The transfer state of the printed matter transferred by the sensor 30 is detected and a sensor detection signal is output to the transfer control means 24. The detection timing signal generation means 27 of the transfer control means 24 inputs the sensor detection signal and generates a detection timing signal which is a timing at which each of the transmission camera 10, the front camera 8 and the back camera 9 images a printed matter. It is output to the image processing means 23. Upon inputting the detection timing signal, the image input control means 25 of the image processing means 23 causes the transmissive light source 11 and the reflective light source 22a to instantaneously emit light at respective timings, and the transmissive camera 10, the front camera 8, and the rear camera. An image pickup signal is input from each of the cameras 9 and the image pickup signal is digitized and converted into image data. It is confirmed in advance by visual inspection or the like that the imaged printed matter is a non-defective product, and the image data is registered in the reference image memory as reference image data. The three reference image data corresponding to the three inspection means are registered in the three reference image memories. The reference image data registered in the reference image memory can be displayed on the reference image monitor 14 as described above. This registration completes the preparation for automatic inspection.

When the detection timing signal is input in the same process as described above, the image input control means 25 of the image processing means 23 outputs three image data corresponding to the three inspection means. This image data is stored in the detected image memory as detected image data. The quality determination means 26 of the image processing means 23 compares the difference between the reference image data and the detected image data described above, and outputs a good determination signal to the transfer control means if the difference is acceptable, and if the difference is unacceptable. In some cases, a failure determination signal is output to the transfer control means. When the pass / fail judgment signal is input, the transfer control means 24 counts the number of good prints and bad prints and displays them on the operation panel 13. When the defect determination signal is input, the defect removal control means 28 of the transfer control means 24 causes the actuator 29 to move.
The defect removal signal is output to. For example, the actuator of the transfer claw 19 (see FIG. 4) to which the defect removal signal is input is
When the transferred defective print reaches just before the transfer claw 19, the transfer claw 19 is driven to the operating side, and the state is maintained until the transfer is completed. The above-described operation is repeated in accordance with the detection timing signal after the completion of the preparation for the automatic inspection, so that the defect removal (defective selection) of a predetermined number of printed matter is performed.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided an inspection device capable of inspecting both surfaces of a sheet-shaped or card-shaped printed matter by one transfer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram showing a configuration of an inspection apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view illustrating an example of a configuration of a portion that supplies a printed matter.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a portion of the first transfer means and the second transfer means for alternating the holding of the printed matter.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a defective product stacker and a non-defective product stacker.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of first, second, and third inspection means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Feeder 2 1st transfer means 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d Belt 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d Printed material 5 2nd transfer means 6 Good product stacker 7 Bad product stacker 8 Front camera 9 Back camera 10 Transmission camera 11 Light source for transmission 12 Hole 13 Operation panel 14 Monitor for reference image 15 Monitor for inspection image 16 Reverse rotation roller 17 Vacuum chambers 18a, 18b Drive roller 19 Transfer claws 20a, 20b Storage roller 21 Transfer guide 22a, 22b Reflection light source 23 Image processing Means 24 Transfer Control Means 25 Image Input Control Means 26 Pass / Fail Judgment Processing Means 27 Detection Timing Signal Generating Means 28 Defect Removal Control Means 29 Actuators 30 Sensors

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A second printed material, the first printed surface of which is exposed.
A first transfer means for holding the printed surface of the printed material and transferring the printed material, a first inspection means for inspecting the exposed first printed surface, and a first surface of the printed material for alternating the holding of the printed material. And a second transfer unit that transfers the printed matter while holding the second print surface exposed, and a second inspection unit that inspects the exposed second print surface. apparatus. 2. At least one of the first or second transfer means holds the printed matter on a part of a printing surface, and the other part of the printing surface is an exposed exposed portion, and the exposed portion is transmitted. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third inspection unit that inspects with light. 3. A supply means for supplying printed materials from the printed material stack to the first transfer means one by one, a defective product stacking means for forming a stack of defective print products, and a stacked product of good print products. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: non-defective product accumulating means for forming a body.