JP2008310783A - A device that identifies characters on the periphery of a cylinder - Google Patents

Abstract

A character printed on a side surface of a cylindrical article is made recognizable. At that time, the mechanical structure should be simplified as much as possible to minimize the adverse effects on introduction.
As shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical article 1 is placed in the center of a mortar-shaped reflecting mirror 2 and a side surface of the cylindrical article 1 projected onto the upper part of the cylindrical article 1 and the reflecting mirror 2 by an upper camera 3. Shoot. At this time, the illumination 4 projects the upper and side surfaces of the cylindrical article 1.
In the image projected on the camera, the character on the side surface of the cylindrical article 1 projected by the reflecting mirror 2 is distorted and inverted, so that the image is corrected by the software of the computer 5 in FIG.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus for discriminating whether or not a character stamped on the upper and side surfaces of a cylindrical article such as a bottle, a plastic bottle, a can or a cap is correct by image processing.

In order to recognize characters written on the side of a conventional cylindrical article by image processing, the cylindrical article has to be photographed from the side with a camera and recognized by image processing. This method places a limit on the length of characters captured by the camera next to the cylinder.

In addition, since the side on which the characters are written must face the front of the camera, a positioning mechanism is required to rotate the cylindrical article so that the characters face the front of the camera.

In the conventional method, a mechanism for rotating the article by 360 degrees is required, resulting in high cost, a complicated mechanism, and poor maintainability.

In addition, the size of the character is limited, and the character captured by the camera from the side is the limit.

Similarly, when using a plurality of cameras, costs and maintenance tend to deteriorate.

The present invention does not require the above-mentioned complicated mechanism, and the cylindrical article is such that the entire side surface can be captured by the upper camera in order to recognize the characters written on the upper and side surfaces of the cylindrical article with one camera. A reflection mechanism was installed on the side. In addition, the image projected by the reflection mechanism is wide on the upper side of the cylindrical article and is narrow on the lower side. In addition, the character situation was reversed by being reflected in the mirror.

The reflecting mechanism is an inverted conical and mortar prism or reflector.

Because a single camera can recognize characters on the upper and side surfaces of a cylinder with a simple mechanism, it is possible to manufacture a character recognition inspection device that is inexpensive and has excellent maintainability.

Since the mechanism is simple, it can be installed in various production facilities.

As shown in FIG. 1, a form for carrying out the present invention is a circle in which a cylindrical article 1 is placed in the center of a mortar-shaped reflecting mirror 2 and projected on the upper part of the cylindrical article 1 and the reflecting mirror 2 by an upper camera 3. The side surface of the columnar article 1 is photographed. At this time, the illumination 4 projects the upper and side surfaces of the cylindrical article 1.

In the image projected on the camera, as shown in FIG. 2, the characters on the side surface of the cylindrical article 1 projected by the reflecting mirror 2 are distorted and inverted. Therefore, the image is corrected by the software of the computer 5 in FIG.

Or, as shown in FIG. 2, the same applies even if the reflection mechanism is a cylindrical prism 2.

By using the present invention, for example, serial NO, lot NO, and product name described on the side of a cylindrical product can be determined and identified, and shipping determination such as mixing of different varieties and shipment management by lot NO can be performed.

Further, by utilizing the present invention, it is possible to inspect, for example, a printing error or a printing defect of the expiration date described on the side surface of the columnar food.

It is a side view (a side sectional view about a reflective mirror) of an apparatus concerning the present invention. It is the image captured with the camera in this invention. It is a side view of a device according to the present invention (a side sectional view of a reflecting prism).

Explanation of symbols

1 Cylindrical article (inspected product)
2 Reflector 3 Camera 4 Illumination 5 Computer 6 Reflective prism

Claims (4)

A device that recognizes the characters on the top and sides of a cylindrical object to be inspected. The structure is a camera located above the inspected product, lighting that illuminates the top and side of the inspected product from the top of the inspected product, and a reflector that can capture the image with the upper camera by reflecting the side of the inspected product. It consists of software for character recognition of signals by image processing. The cylinder upper outer periphery character recognition apparatus of Claim 1 of the method of arrange | positioning a to-be-inspected object in the center by the reflection means which reflects the character of a side surface with a reverse cone shape or a mortar-shaped prism. The cylinder upper outer periphery character recognition apparatus of Claim 1 of the method of arrange | positioning a to-be-inspected object in the center with the reflecting means which reflects the character of a side with an inverted conical or mortar-shaped reflecting mirror. The column upper peripheral character recognition device according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting means for reflecting the character on the side surface is a cylindrical prism and the inspection object is arranged at the center thereof.

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