KR101394392B1 - Liquid crystal inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

The liquid crystal inspection apparatus includes an imaging section, a driving section, and a frame grabber. The imaging unit successively captures liquid crystals discharged respectively in a plurality of regions on the substrate in response to a trigger signal. The driving unit moves the imaging unit corresponding to the areas and outputs an encoder signal having position information corresponding to the areas. The frame grabber outputs a trigger signal to the image pickup section in response to the encoder signal output from the driving section. Therefore, it is possible to pick up the liquid crystals ejected to the plurality of regions on the substrate while moving them without stopping in the middle, so that the inspection time of the liquid crystal can be reduced.

Description

[0001] LIQUID CRYSTAL INSPECTION DEVICE [

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal inspection apparatus for inspecting liquid crystal discharged on a substrate.

In recent years, information processing devices are rapidly evolving to have various functions and faster information processing speeds. This information processing apparatus has a display device for displaying the activated information. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors have been mainly used as display devices in recent years. However, in recent years, the use of flat panel display devices which are light and small in space has been rapidly increasing due to the rapid development of semiconductor technology. There are various types of such flat panel displays, among which liquid crystal displays (LCDs) having a low power consumption and a small volume and being driven by a low voltage are widely used.

Wherein the liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate in which thin film transistors are arranged in a matrix form, a color filter substrate on which a color filter layer is formed, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate, And may be formed by a substrate or a liquid crystal discharge device that discharges liquid crystal onto the color filter substrate.

Generally, in ejecting a liquid crystal onto a substrate, the substrate is divided into a plurality of regions, and the ejection apparatus has a plurality of nozzles each ejecting liquid crystals into regions of the substrate.

However, when a foreign substance is adhered to a nozzle for ejecting the liquid crystal or a liquid crystal scratch is formed, the liquid crystal may be ejected less than a predetermined amount or may be ejected out of a predetermined region on the substrate.

Accordingly, the on-substrate areas are sequentially imaged to check whether or not the liquid crystals ejected onto the substrate regions are defective.

However, when sequentially imaging a plurality of areas on a substrate, the imaging unit is stopped while corresponding to an area, and after analyzing the captured image, the imaging unit is moved in correspondence with the next area, It takes a lot of time to image and inspect the discharged regions of the liquid crystals.

Therefore, there is a demand for a liquid crystal inspection apparatus capable of reducing the time for inspecting liquid crystals ejected respectively to a plurality of regions on a substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal inspection apparatus with reduced time for inspecting liquid crystal discharged on a substrate.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for inspecting a liquid crystal according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image sensing unit, a driving unit, and a frame grabber. The imaging unit successively captures liquid crystals discharged respectively in a plurality of regions on a substrate in response to a trigger signal. The driving unit moves the imaging unit corresponding to the areas and outputs an encoder signal having positional information corresponding to the areas. The frame grabber outputs the trigger signal to the imaging unit in response to an encoder signal output from the driving unit.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the frame grabber may analyze the encoder signal output from the driving unit and output the trigger signal when the position information corresponding to the areas is changed.

According to such a liquid crystal inspection apparatus, it is possible to image the liquid crystal discharged from each of a plurality of regions on the substrate while moving without stopping, thereby reducing the inspection time of the liquid crystal.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a liquid crystal inspection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing the liquid crystal testing apparatus shown in Fig.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing. The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the term "comprises" or "comprising ", etc. is intended to specify that there is a stated feature, figure, step, operation, component, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a liquid crystal inspection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal inspection system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a substrate 110, a discharging device 130, and a liquid crystal testing device 200.

The substrate 210 has a first area A1, a second area A2, ..., and an n-th area An. The substrate 210 may be made of a transparent glass material. For example, the substrate 210 may be a color filter substrate having a color filter layer or an array substrate in which thin film transistors are formed in a matrix array in a liquid crystal display device.

The discharge device 130 is formed on the substrate 110 and discharges the liquid crystals 120 to the regions A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110, respectively. The ejection apparatus 130 includes a liquid crystal ejection head 132 that receives liquid crystal from a liquid crystal supply unit (not shown) provided outside the ejection apparatus 130 and a liquid crystal ejection head 132 that branches off from the liquid crystal ejection head 132, The first nozzle 1341, the second nozzle 1342, ..., and the nth nozzle 134n, which discharge the liquid crystals 120 to the regions A1, A2, ..., ).

In this embodiment, the substrate 110 is made up of n regions A1, A2, ..., An, and the nozzles 1341, 1342, ..., The number of the nozzles may be N (natural number), and the number of the nozzles may be N (natural number).

The liquid crystal inspection apparatus 200 is disposed at a lower portion of the substrate 110 and is configured to inspect the liquid crystals 120 discharged to the regions A1, The liquid crystal molecules 120 are sequentially moved from a position corresponding to the first area A1 of the substrate 110 to a position corresponding to the nth area An, (A1, A2, ..., An).

2 is a block diagram showing the liquid crystal testing apparatus shown in Fig.

2, the liquid crystal testing apparatus 200 includes an image sensing unit 210, a driving unit 220, and a frame grabber 230.

The driving unit 220 is connected to the imaging unit 210 and sequentially moves the imaging unit 210 corresponding to the areas A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110 . For example, the driving unit 220 can move the imaging unit 210 while moving in correspondence with the areas A1, A2, ..., An, , ..., An), which is a mechanical position. Therefore, the driving unit 220 may output an encoder signal ENCODER having positional information corresponding to the areas A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110. [

The frame grabber 230 outputs the trigger signal TRIGGER to the imaging unit 210 in response to an encoder signal ENCODER output from the driving unit 220. Specifically, the frame grabber 230 analyzes the encoder signal (ENCODER) signal output from the driving unit 220 and outputs the signal to the areas A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110 And outputs the trigger signal TRIGGER every time the corresponding position information is changed.

The imaging unit 210 sequentially captures the regions A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110 on which the liquid crystals 120 are discharged in response to the trigger signal TRIGGER, do. The imaging unit 210 may include a camera 212 and a lens 214 for imaging the areas A1, A2, ..., An. The camera 212 captures the areas A1, A2, ..., An. For example, the camera 212 may be a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. The lens 214 is installed on the camera 212 so as to face the substrate 120 and condenses light incident from the areas A1, A2, ..., An, do.

The image sensing unit 210 includes analog image data IMAGE obtained by imaging the regions A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110 on which the liquid crystals 120 are respectively discharged, And the frame grabber 230 can digitally convert the image data IMAGE of the analog format received from the image sensing unit 210 and output the image data IMAGE to the liquid crystal units 120 to the processor unit (not shown) for judging whether or not there is a defect. The processor determines whether the states of the liquid crystals 120 discharged to the regions A1, A2, and An are within a predetermined range to determine whether the liquid crystals 120 are defective. For example, the state of the liquid crystals 120 is determined by the amount of the liquid crystals 120, the position at which the liquid crystals 120 are respectively discharged in the regions A1, A2, An, 120) may be spread.

The liquid crystal testing apparatus 200 may include a light emitting diode (LED) that emits light to the regions A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110, And the light emitting unit 240 may emit light in response to the trigger signal TRIGGER output from the frame grabber 230. The light emitting unit 240 may emit light in response to the trigger signal TRIGGER.

The operation of the liquid crystal tester 200 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

After the nozzles 1341, 1342, ..., 134n eject the liquid crystals 120 to the regions A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110, The driving unit 220 included in the apparatus 200 is connected to the image sensing unit 210 so that the image sensing unit 210 can detect the areas A1, A2, ..., An As shown in FIG. For example, when the driving unit 220 moves in correspondence with the areas A1, A2, ..., An, the imaging unit 210 moves the areas A1, A2, ..., An, As shown in Fig.

The driving unit 220 corresponds to the areas A1, A2, ..., An while moving the imaging unit 210 corresponding to the areas A1, A2, ..., And outputs the encoder signal ENCODER having the position information to be outputted. Specifically, the driving unit 220 includes an encoder signal ENCODER having positional information corresponding to the first area A1 while moving corresponding to the areas A1, A2, ..., An, An encoder signal ENCODER having positional information corresponding to the second region A2, ..., and an encoder signal ENCODER having positional information corresponding to the nth region An.

The frame grabber 230 analyzes the encoder signal ENCODER outputted from the driving unit 220 and outputs the trigger signal ENCODER to the frame grabber 230 whenever the position information corresponding to the areas A1, And outputs a signal TRIGGER. That is, the frame grabber 230 may be configured such that the driving unit 220 is located at a position corresponding to the first area A1 and outputs an encoder signal ENCODER having positional information corresponding to the first area A1 The driving unit 220 receives the encoder signal ENCODER having the position information corresponding to the first area A1 and outputs the trigger signal TRIGGER to the imaging unit 210, 1 to the position corresponding to the second area A2 and outputs the encoder signal ENCODER having the position information corresponding to the second area A2, The driving unit 220 receives the encoder signal ENCODER having the position information corresponding to the area A2 and outputs the trigger signal TRIGGER to the imaging unit 210, The position information corresponding to the n-th region An is shifted to the corresponding position And outputs the trigger signal TRIGGER to the image sensing unit 210 when receiving the encoder signal ENCODER having the position information corresponding to the nth area An.

The imaging unit 210 sequentially captures the areas A1, A2, ..., An of the substrate 110 in response to the trigger signal TRIGGER output from the frame grabber 230 .

Therefore, the liquid crystal inspection apparatus 200 can pick up the plurality of regions A1, A2, ..., An, from which the liquid crystals 120 are respectively discharged, without moving in the middle.

In addition, the imaging unit 210 may capture the analog image data IMAGE generated by capturing an area in the course of sequentially imaging the areas A1, A2, ..., An, Before outputting to the frame grabber 230. However, according to the embodiment, after the imaging section 210 has picked up all of the areas A1, A2, ..., An, the imaging section 210 picks up the areas A1, A2, ..., And output the generated image data IMAGE in the analog format to the frame grabber 230.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. I will understand

The liquid crystal inspection apparatus according to the present invention can image the liquid crystal discharged from the plurality of regions on the substrate while moving without stopping the liquid crystal, so that the inspection time of the liquid crystal can be reduced, Lt; / RTI >

100: liquid crystal inspection system 110: substrate
120: liquid crystal 130: liquid crystal discharge device
132: liquid crystal discharge head
1341, 1342, 134n: Nozzle 200: Liquid crystal inspection device
210: an image pickup unit 212: a camera
214: lens 220:
230: frame grabber 240:

Claims (2)

An imaging unit disposed below the transparent substrate so as to sequentially image liquid crystals ejected respectively on a plurality of regions on a transparent substrate in response to a trigger signal and without stopping in a middle ;
A driving unit for moving the imaging unit so as not to stop in correspondence with the areas and outputting an encoder signal having position information corresponding to the areas;
A frame grabber for outputting the trigger signal to the image sensing unit in response to the encoder signal outputted from the driving unit and for digitally converting image data of the analog format obtained by imaging the areas using the image sensing unit, ;
And a processor unit receiving the digitally converted image data from the frame grabber and determining whether the liquid crystals ejected to the regions are defective . The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frame grabber analyzes the encoder signal output from the driving unit and outputs the trigger signal when the position information corresponding to the areas is changed.

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