JPS63234359A - Picture measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure pictures in real time with high accuracy and at the same time to reduce the data quantity for reduction of memory capacity, by preparing plural divided check areas in the vertical scanning direction and carrying out an overall analysis after processing pictures for each check area. CONSTITUTION:Plural TV cameras 4 are successively switched by a camera switching device 5 based on a camera designating signal S1 received from a CPU8 for measurement of plural areas of a picture. The pictures received from cameras 4 are supplied to a differentiating circuit 12 and compared with a level setting signal S5 received from the CPU8 via a comparator 13 after a differentiating process. The result of comparison is supplied to a counter 14. The counter 14 counts only the signals that passed through the windows set by a window setting device 16 for each of plural check areas set by a horizontal/vertical flag generating circuit 17. The output of the counter 14 is read by the CPU8 and the data signals S10 of each check area are totalized for an overall analysis. Thus it is possible to decrease the quantity of data processed by the CPU8 and to measure pictures i real time and with high accuracy. In addition, the memory capacity is also reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image measuring device used for recognition, etc., and particularly relates to an image measuring device capable of high-speed processing.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the image information processing method used for image measurement such as pattern recognition of letters and figures is to divide the image captured by a TV camera into pixels, convert all the data of each pixel into numerical values, and process it with a computer. is taken.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The above-mentioned conventional image measuring device has the advantage of being able to perform various types of processing by changing the program and to perform highly accurate analysis. There is a problem that a high-speed arithmetic element is required to process the data at high speed, making the device extremely expensive.

Furthermore, even if high-speed calculation elements are used, it is difficult to process in real time, and there is also the problem that it is unsuitable as a device for detecting printing defects on the surface of products being transported on a line. .

The present invention was developed in view of the current situation, and it is possible to perform high-precision image measurement in real time without using special high-speed arithmetic elements, and to reduce the memory capacity. The purpose is to provide an image measurement device that can

[Means for solving problems]

By the way, the reason why real-time processing is difficult even with the use of high-speed arithmetic elements in conventional image measuring devices is that the data of each pixel is all digitized and processed by a computer.

The present invention was made based on such knowledge, and includes a TV camera device that captures a certain range including a measurement area as an image; and a horizontal and vertical flag generation circuit that divides the image into a plurality of inspection areas in the vertical scanning direction. a differential circuit that performs differential processing on the image signal from the TV camera device; a comparator that compares the image signal after the differential processing with a preset setting value and outputs a detection signal; and a comparator that corresponds to the measurement area. a window setter that sets a window to be used; a clock generator that outputs a reference pulse; a detection signal from the comparator, a window signal from the window setter, and a reference pulse signal from the clock generator are respectively input; Detection signals within the window, their number and magnitude.

and a counter that sequentially counts the position for each inspection area based on a reference pulse; and a microcomputer that performs calculations for the measurement area based on the output signal for each inspection area from the counter. shall be.

[Effect]

In the image measuring device according to the present invention, a certain range captured as an image by a TV camera device is divided into a plurality of inspection areas in the vertical scanning direction, and image information is processed for each inspection area. Also, at this time, a window corresponding to the measurement area is set, and only the image information within the window is processed. Thereafter, the entire measurement area is analyzed in the microphone computer based on the processing results of each inspection area. For this reason, the amount of data is significantly reduced compared to conventional image measurement devices that process all of the data for each type of wheat using a computer. Real-time measurement becomes possible with a microcomputer. In addition, since only the information within the preset measurement area can be obtained as image information,
Highly accurate image measurement without false detection is possible.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a character recognition device as an example of an image measuring device according to the present invention, and in the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a TV camera device.

This TV camera device 1 includes a plurality of TV cameras 4 that capture a certain range including a measurement area 2 as an image 3, as shown in FIGS. Camera designation signal S1 from
It is equipped with a camera switching M5 that sequentially switches based on
A synchronization signal S from a synchronization generation circuit 6 is input to each TV camera 4, as shown in FIG.

The microcomputer 7, as shown in FIG.
The microcomputer T includes a PU 8, a RAM 9, and a ROM 10, and the camera designation signal S1 is applied from the microcomputer T to the camera switch 5 via the VO boat 11.

The image 3 captured by each TV left camera is output as an image signal S together with the synchronization signal S according to the camera switching timing of the camera switching device 5. Therefore, for example, when considering recognizing characters printed on the surface of products flowing on a conveyance line, if each TV left camera is installed on a different conveyance line, it is possible to measure multiple products in parallel, and each By installing the TV left camera on the same conveyance line and setting the measurement areas 2 at different parts, it becomes possible to measure multiple locations on a single product.

The image signal S, as shown in FIG.
The image signal S4 after differential processing is input to the comparator 13 and processed once or twice.

As shown in FIG.
The image signal S
4 is the level setting signal S in this comparator 13;
The result is output as a detection signal Sg and input to the counter 14.

The counter 14 also receives the reference pulse signal S from the clock generator 15 and the window signal S from the window setter 16 as shown in FIG. 1, and the synchronization signal S! from the synchronization generation circuit 6. The detection signal S6 is input to the counter 14, and only the signal passing through the window is inputted to the counter 14 for each of a plurality of inspection areas E set by a horizontal/vertical flag generation circuit 17, which will be described later. It is now counted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the horizontal/vertical flag generation circuit 17 receives the synchronization signal S from the synchronization generation circuit 6 and generates flag signals S for horizontal flags and vertical flags synchronized therewith. This flag signal S, is input to the microcomputer 7 via the host 11, and the microcomputer 7 converts the counting result of the counter 14 into a data signal S1 based on this flag signal S. It is designed to be read sequentially. In other words, as shown in FIG. 3, the screen is divided into n inspection areas E in the vertical scanning direction according to the generation timing of the horizontal flag, and the detection signal S6 is output to the counter 1 for each inspection area E.
4, and it is possible to determine which inspection area E's detection signal S is currently being counted based on the vertical flag.

In addition, in FIG. 1, symbols SI□, S8. are clear signals output from the microcomputer 7 to the counter 14 and the horizontal/vertical flag generating circuit H after the data signal S1° is read.

On the other hand, the window setting device 16 includes a window memory 18 and a controller 19, as shown in FIG.
This window setting device 16 receives window setting signals S, 3. A synchronization signal 82+ from the synchronization generation circuit 6 and a reference pulse signal S7 from the clock generator 15 are respectively input.

The window memory 18 stores the measurement area 2 shown in FIG. 2 based on the window setting signal 813 as shown in FIG.
Set window W corresponding to .

This window memory 18
The data stored in is sequentially read out from the first address by the controller 19 and given to the counter 14 as a window signal S7. and counter 1
4, using the output signal of an AND gate (not shown) which inputs this window signal S and the detection signal S6, in comparison with the reference pulse signal S, the number of pulses,
the size and position within the inspection area E are counted;
It is designed to be output as a data signal S1°.

In addition, in FIG. 4, reference numeral 4 indicates dirt existing outside the window W.

FIG. 5 shows the second inspection area E where the stain 9 is present.
This shows the output waveforms of each of the above-mentioned signals, and below, the fifth
The operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the drawings.

When the image shown in FIG. 4 is captured by the TV camera 4, the second
The image signal S of the th inspection area E has a waveform in which the output of the dirt 20 part and the character rFJ part is extremely reduced as shown in FIG. 5(a).

This image signal Ss is input to the differentiation circuit 12 and subjected to differentiation processing, and the differentiation circuit 12 outputs an image signal S4 after the differentiation processing as shown in FIG. 5(b).

Next, this image signal S4 is compared with the level setting signal S in a comparator 13 as shown in FIG. 5, etc., and the result is outputted from the comparator 13 as a detection signal S6. FIG. 5(C) shows the output waveform.

Next, this detection signal S6 is applied to the counter 14 together with the window signal S shown in FIG. 5(d), and is input to an AND gate (not shown). As a result, the AND gate outputs the signal shown in FIG. 5(e). The counter 14 uses this output signal to count the number, size, and position within the second inspection area E in comparison with the reference pulse signal S1 shown in FIG. 5 (0).

That is, the counter 14 counts the number of pulses using the output signal shown in FIG. 5(e) (one in the case of FIG. 5(e)), and also counts the number of reference pulses in the dimension The size is determined by counting, and the position within the second inspection area E is determined by counting the number of reference pulses within the dimension. These data are then data signals S,.

It is outputted from the counter 14 as a signal and read by the microcomputer 7 via the serial port 11.

In the microcomputer 7, data signals S1. The analysis of the entire measurement area 2 is performed by integrating the above.

Therefore, in the microcomputer 7, each inspection area E
Since only the counting results are processed, the amount of data to be processed by the microcomputer 7 is significantly reduced compared to conventional devices in which all pixel data of an image is processed by a computer. Therefore, images can be measured in real time with high precision without using a dedicated high-speed arithmetic element or increasing the memory capacity. Furthermore, since the window is set using the window setting device and only the necessary information is extracted, there is no risk of erroneous detection even if there is dirt or the like.

The window setting device 16 also includes a window memory 18 for setting and storing windows, so it takes some time to set the window, but once the window is set, high-speed processing is possible. You can freely set the window.

Furthermore, by adjusting the timing of flag generation by the horizontal/vertical flag generation circuit W, the number of inspection areas E can be changed arbitrarily.

Although the above embodiment has been explained using a character recognition device as an example, by changing the program of the microcomputer 7, it can be similarly applied to other image measurements such as shape recognition and flaw inspection. Effects can be obtained.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention divides the image captured by the TV left camera into a plurality of inspection areas in the vertical scanning direction, processes each inspection area in advance, and processes the processing results using a microcomputer. Since the entire measurement area is analyzed using the image sensor, images can be measured in real time with high precision without using a dedicated high-speed arithmetic element or increasing the memory capacity.

Furthermore, since only information within a preset measurement area is obtained as image information, false detections and the like can be completely prevented and reliability of the apparatus can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image measuring device showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an image captured by a TV camera,
Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram of the inspection area divided into multiple sections by the horizontal/vertical flag generation circuit, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the window set by the window setting device, and Figures 5 (a) to (f) are FIG. 3 is an output waveform diagram of each signal showing the operation of the image measuring device according to the invention. 1...TV left camera placement, 2...Measurement area, 3...
・Image, 4...TV camera, 5...Camera switch, T...Microcomputer, 12...Differential circuit, 13...Comparator, 14...Counter, 15
...Clock generator, 16...Window setter,
17... Horizontal/vertical flag generation circuit, 1゛8... Window memory, 19... Controller, E... Inspection area, W... Window, ss l s4... Image signal, Ss ...Level setting signal, S, ...Reference pulse signal, S8...Window signal, So...Flag signal, Sl. ...Data signal. Figure 2 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) a. A TV camera device that captures a certain range including a measurement area as an image; b. A horizontal and vertical flag generation circuit that divides the image into a plurality of inspection areas in the vertical scanning direction. , c. a differential circuit that performs differential processing on the image signal from the TV camera device; d. a comparator that compares the differentially processed image signal with a preset setting value and outputs a detection signal; e. a window setter that sets a window corresponding to the measurement area; f, a clock generator that outputs a reference pulse; and g, a detection signal from the comparator, a window signal from the window setter, and a clock generator. a counter that sequentially counts the number, size, and position of detection signals within a window for each inspection area based on the reference pulse; An image measuring device comprising: a microcomputer that performs calculations regarding a measurement area based on an output signal of the image measuring device. 2) The TV camera device includes multiple TV cameras and each TV.
2. The image measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising a camera switching device that sequentially switches the cameras at predetermined timing. 3) The window setting device is characterized by comprising a window memory in which a window is set by inputting a window setting signal from a microcomputer, and a controller that sequentially reads data stored in the window memory and supplies it to a counter. An image measuring device according to claim 1 or 2.