Inspection Method for Comparison of Articles
- Summary
- In many areas of industry the traditional method of inspecting an item is by comparison with a known master. This inspection is normally carried out by a trained inspector. Depending on the degree of quality control required in a particular field, every item or article may be inspected, or only a certain proportion. Difficulties have arisen in recent years, however, with the growing complexity of many items to be inspected, often accompanied by a reduction in size. The layout of a printed circuit board (PCB) provides a good example of this.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the inspection by comparison of various items or products. For example, the invention may be applicable to the inspection of various types of mass-produced industrial items such as printed circuit boards or integrated chips, or may be used for comparison of finger prints or for DNA matching.
According to the present invention there is provided a method for human comparison of two articles to identify any differences between them, comprising the steps of:
(a) forming an image of each said article,
(b) optically superimposing said images in a common image plane,
(c) viewing said superimposed images, and
(d) observing any differences between said articles as a three-dimensional component of said superimposed images.
- Technology Benefits
- Automatic inspection devices and methods are commonly used nowadays. However, they are usually costly.
This new apparatus/method provides a cheap, quick and accurate solution. More important is, it does not require special skilled labor to operate such a device. In fact, there is no other similar device of such quality without using automatic inspection methods.
- Technology Application
- - 3D optical systems
- Pattern recognition
- Military applications, such as enemy target recognition
- 3D games
- Biomedical imaging
- Electronics assembly
- Quality control
- Identification of forgeries
- Supplementary Information
- Patent Number: US6381355B1
Application Number: US1997914136A
Inventor: Goonetilleke, Ravindra Stephen
Priority Date: 19 Aug 1997
Priority Number: US6381355B1
Application Date: 19 Aug 1997
Publication Date: 30 Apr 2002
IPC Current: G01B001124 | G01N0021956 | G02B002118 | A61B0005117
US Class: 382141 | 348129 | 3562371
Assignee Applicant: The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Title: Inspection method for comparison of articles
Usefulness: Inspection method for comparison of articles
Summary: For inspection by comparison of various items or products, such as printed circuit boards or integrated chips, or for comparison of finger prints or for DNA matching.
Novelty: Comparison method of two articles, involves simultaneously viewing superimposed images with each eye of user viewing image of different article, respectively
- Industry
- Disease Diagnostic/Treatment
- Sub Category
- Other Disease
- Application Date
- 19 Aug 1997
- Application No.
- US 08/914136
- Patent Information
- US 6381355
- ID No.
- TTC.PA.061
- Country/Region
- Hong Kong
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