A vision comparison inspection system is disclosed for use in a printed circuit assembly production line having a plurality of component processing locations and a conveyor system for transporting circuit assemblies between processing locations in an upstream to downstream work flow direction. The vision comparison inspection system includes a printed circuit assembly image capture and inspection conveyor disposed in the production line, the image capture and inspection conveyor being adapted to receive printed circuit assemblies from an upstream portion of the production line and to transport the printed circuit assemblies to a downstream portion of the production line for subsequent processing. An electronic imaging device is fixedly positioned to capture an image of a printed circuit assembly located on the image capture and inspection conveyor. A lighting system is mounted for illuminating a printed circuit assembly located in the field of view of the imaging device. A position control system positions a printed circuit assembly within the field of view of the imaging device. An imaging control system including a programmed image processing computer, an input device, and an electronic display device presenting a graphical user interface are provided for alternatingly displaying on the display device a stored image of a known good printed circuit assembly and an image of a printed circuit assembly under test, whereby defects in the printed circuit assembly under test can be visually identified.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application relates to two applications filed on even data herewith by the same inventor, namely, application Ser. No. 09/210,070, entitled "Vision Comparison Inspection System" and application Ser. No. 09/209,709, entitled, "Vision Comparison Inspection System Camera and Lighting Arrangement."
Method and apparatus for providing dynamic testing of electronic assemblies during their manufacture. A production line includes a communication network to interconnect assembly and inspection equipment. Events impacting the manufacture of the assemblies are communicated among the equipment, allowing the testing to be dynamically adjusted in response to events. Dynamic adjustment allows the process to quickly detect defects introduced by events. The concept is illustrated with a production line that has a pick and place machine and an inspection station. When an operator changes a reel of components at the pick and place machine, the inspection station will switch test programs to quickly verify that the correct reel has been loaded.
The present invention provides a precise marking apparatus for performing precise marking on an object and methods of using the same. The precise marking apparatus comprises an object input handler and an object output handler for handling the object; a transport system for transporting the object handlers during a marking process; a vision inspection unit for capturing and/or processing the image of the object; a marking system for marking the object; and a control unit for receiving information from and sending instructions to other components of the precise marking apparatus.
A method is disclosed for generating data relating to the quality of product in a bulk stream product during its passage through a monitoring station. An inspection of at least a portion of product in the monitoring station is conducted at intervals while the stream is owing. The inspectors identities individual product pieces in the portion being inspected by using one or more of various techniques. Those individual pieces are then examined according to chosen criteria, and a measure is established of the quantity or proportion of such individual product pieces that fail to meet those criteria. The data generated by these inspections can be analysed to provide an indication of the quality of the bulk stream.
A user interface for a printer is disclosed for printing image files. The user interface includes a display for displaying information, including messages to a user, an input device for enabling the user to respond to the displayed messages, an interface to a detachable memory device including at least one image file, and a processor coupled to the input device, display, and to the interface. The processor is responsive to a user input to print a thumbnail of the image file, in the same orientation in which the image file was acquired, by utilizing stored orientation information. The processor is also responsive to a user input to print a subset of the image files. The thumbnails are printed with an image number, a date, and a unique identifier of the image file.
A method and system for component identification system for electronic board tester to identify the actual defective components in a failed board is disclosed. It uses image captures of the front side and backside of the tested board to extract an outline diagram that is compared to a database of outline diagrams of known boards until a match is found. Each outline diagram in the database is associated with a connection list between the standard connector of the board and the individual components. Test results with errors relating to connections of the standard connector are linked via the associated connection list of the match's outline diagram to the individual components. The outline diagram is displayed and printed with the defective components highlighted. Use of the identification system to select the best test algorithm and test parameter setup is disclosed. Connection to and operation with automatic handler systems is also disclosed.
