In an automatic curve tracing system wherein an area containing a curve to be traced is scanned by a detector and the detector is moved successively according to a positional information obtained by the scanning operation, there is provided apparatus for judging a branch and or crossing including means to judge whether the branch and or crossing are included or not in the scanning area and means to store the result of the judgement while the same branch and or crossing are contained in the subsequent scanning area.
In a method of recognizing characters on a matrix, the characters are imaged as skeleton characters and the significant points of these skeleton characters are marked for ready recognition. Significant points are, inter alia, end points and junctions of series of character positions. The same method is used for matrices of different construction.
An image reading apparatus is disclosed which allows manual designation of the area to be read. This scanner accepts operator input to position the read head prior to actual scanning. Start and end positions are determined and then stored. The apparatus also displays characters and images such that images stored in memory can be displayed by identification codes in the same manner as characters.
A device for the examination of distances between two spaced apart objects in a two-dimensional digitized picture. A logical unit senses the binary values of the elements of a test pattern. Based on certain transitions in the values of the test pattern elements, the unit determines whether the distance between the two objects is less than a smallest allowable distance. A warning signal is generated if the objects are closer than the smallest allowable distance.
A line inspection system suitable for inspecting printed circuit boards for defects. In a first embodiment disclosed, a plurality of sensors which detect the presence or absence of conductor material on the board are grouped in a preestablished pattern. The area of the circuit board to be inspected is scanned by the sensing pattern and logical sequences of sensor condition which indicate defects are searched for. In a second embodiment disclosed, the area to be inspected is scanned serially, and the resultant data stored. Logical analysis is then performed on the stored data to determine whether the pattern of data is or is not consistent with an acceptable part.
A line image processing method for processing an image in which the following line or lines defectively and dispersedly exist in a line image to be shaped: a line which is connected to a line which should be disconnected therefrom to make a long line or make a branch line, lines which should connected to each other and which are separated from each other, a line which is connected to an unnecessary short line, or a line which has a short line connected thereto indicating noise, includes the steps of picking up a line image to be processed by an image pick-up device, scanning the line image to retrieve a line to be traced, tracing an arrangement direction of each pixel composing the retrieved line by means of a direction code, tracing the retrieved and traced line to an end point thereof by selecting at a branch point a direction closer to an average value of a plurality of various direction codes preceding the branch point when the branch point is detected, erasing an image of a cluster corresponding to the line traced to the end point thereof from the line image to be processed, transferring image data of the cluster to a different processed line image, tracing all lines by repeating the above steps, erasing the image data of the cluster from the line image to be processed, and transferring the generated image data of the cluster to the processed line image.
