Patent ID: 6878956

Claim:
A surface inspection apparatus comprising: a camera comprising a line sensor for scanning an inspection object in a main scanning direction to obtain image data and scanning the inspection object in a sub-scanning direction crossing at right angles to the main scanning direction; and calculation means for subjecting image data output from the camera to calculation processing to inspect a surface state of the inspection object, wherein the calculation means comprises: image data string generation means for adding image data of two main scanning lines adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction to generate an image data string; and judgment means for using the image data string to inspect the surface state of the inspection object, wherein the judgment means comprises accumulation means for adding the image data in a block including a plurality of pixels continuous in the main scanning direction to the image data string to calculate added data in the block; correlation means for calculating a correlated value of the in-block added data of the blocks adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction; and means for judging the correlated value with a threshold value.