Patent ID: 7580560
Filing Date: 2009-08-25
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a precision machine vision inspection system to define a template, the template usable for locating matching workpiece features in an image, the precision machine vision inspection system comprising a control system portion and a user interface, the method comprising: using the machine vision inspection system to perform the steps comprising: (a) setting up a template including a template feature to be matched; (b) determining a defined template decomposition configuration to be implemented in the defined template, step (b) further comprising: (c) storing the defined template, the defined template including data corresponding to the defined template decomposition configuration, wherein, a template decomposition configuration comprises: a first number n1 of subdivisions along a horizontal direction, each of the n1 subdivisions having a horizontal dimension; and wherein at least one of n1 and n2 is at least 2, and the step (b)(ii) of performing respective matching operations, for a respective template decomposition configuration, comprises: determining a respective one-dimensional horizontal characterization for each of the respective subdivisions along the horizontal direction, to provide n1 one-dimensional horizontal characterizations; determining a respective one-dimensional vertical characterization for each of the respective subdivisions along the vertical direction, to provide n2 one-dimensional vertical characterizations; determining at least one respective horizontal pseudo-image; determining at least one respective vertical pseudo-image; correlating each respective one-dimensional horizontal characterization with a corresponding respective horizontal pseudo-image, to provide n1 correlation sub-maps; correlating each respective one-dimensional vertical characterization with a corresponding respective vertical pseudo-image, to provide n2 correlation sub-maps; determining a full correlation map, based on combining at least 3 correlation sub-maps, the three correlation sub-maps including an least one of the n1 correlation sub-maps and at least one of the n2 correlation sub-maps; and analyzing the full correlation map to determine a respective matching result.