Patent ID: 8497985

Claim:
A method of inspection illuminating a surface of a rotated object under inspection by white light from an illumination unit, scanning a surface of said object under inspection along a rotating direction by an image capturing unit to obtain a captured image, and using said captured image as a basis to inspect the surface of said object under inspection, said method having a first step of changing a polarization characteristic of light striking the image capturing unit from an illuminated location of said object under inspection and a second step of obtaining respective captured images based on light of different polarization characteristics striking said image capturing unit, the light of different polarization characteristics being obtained by changing the polarization characteristic of the light in said first step, wherein the surface of said object under inspection is inspected based on a relationship between a plurality of captured images obtained in said second step and the different polarization characteristics of the light striking said image capturing unit when obtaining said plurality of captured images.