Patent ID: 7782451

Claim:
A method of inspecting condition of a target surface of a target object, said target surface including portions having different curvatures, said method comprising the steps of: carrying out a preparation for sequentially inspecting a plurality of target objects having a same shape; obtaining an image of said target surface by regularly reflected light for a plurality of times by using an illuminating device and a camera that are fixed and by supporting said target object such that the position and orientation of said target object are variable; and processing the obtained images of said target surface; wherein said preparation comprises the steps of determining the position and orientation that are to be taken by each of said target objects at each of said plurality times and determining target inspection areas on the obtained images to thereby generate set data that represent results of the steps of determining; wherein said image of said target surface is obtained by supporting said target object in the position and orientation according to said set data; wherein the position and orientation of the target objects and said target inspection areas are determined such that each of said target inspection areas is determined as the area where the corresponding image by regularly reflected light is obtained or a portion of said area and that the image of any point on said target surface will be included in at least one of said target inspection areas of any of the images obtained in said plurality of times; wherein said preparation is carried out by using said camera to obtain a model image of a model object considered to have no defects, supported such that the position and orientation of said model object are variable, said preparation being carried out by displaying said model image on a monitor; wherein said preparation comprises carrying out a first setting unit process on a plurality of specified places on a target inspection surface of said model object serving as target object, said first setting unit process comprising: step A of determining the position and orientation of said target object such that an image including the image by regularly reflected light of a specified place on a target inspection surface of said target object will be displayed on said monitor; step B of determining the area on the image of said target area on which the image by regularly reflected light is obtained or a portion of the area as said target inspection area; and step C of generating set data representing the position and orientation determined in the step A and the target inspection area determined in the step B; and wherein said plurality of specified places are specified such that the image of said any point on said target surface is included in at least one of the plurality of target inspection areas determined by carrying out said first setting unit process.