Inspection apparatus, sensing apparatus, sensitivity control apparatus, inspection method, and program with pixel sensitivity control

A sensing apparatus comprising:

• a reference plate:
• an image detector configured to be disposed in opposition to the reference plate and an inspection target to be inspected, wherein the reference plate and the inspection target are in a field of view of the sensing apparatus, the image detector including pixels arranged in a planar array, the pixels configured to detect a plurality of different wavelength region components of a first portion of an ambient light reflected from the inspection target to be inspected and of a second portion of the ambient light reflected from the reference plate;
• a memory storing program code;
• and
• a processor that executes the program code to perform operations comprising
• controlling a sensitivity of each of the pixels by calculating at least one histogram indicating a detection level by the image detector, and
• determining, on a basis of respective histograms of particular ones of a plurality of spectroscopic components detected by the image detector, whether or not the sensitivity is properly set for the image detector.

An inspection method for use in a sensing apparatus comprising a reference plate and an image detector, the image detector including pixels arranged in a planar array, the method comprising:

• disposing the image detector in opposition to the reference plate and an inspection target to be inspected, wherein the reference plate and the inspection target are in a field of view of the sensing apparatus;
• detecting, by the pixels, a plurality of different wavelength region components of a first portion of an ambient light reflected from the inspection target to be inspected and of a second portion of the ambient light reflected from the reference plate;
• controlling a sensitivity of each of the plurality of pixels by calculating at least one histogram indicating a detection level by an image detector including the plurality of pixels;
• and determining, on a basis of respective histograms of particular ones of a plurality of spectroscopic components detected by the image detector, whether or not the sensitivity is properly set for the image detector.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program code for use in a sensing apparatus comprising a reference plate and an image detector, the program code being executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

• disposing the image detector in opposition to the reference plate and an inspection target to be inspected, wherein the reference plate and the inspection target are in a field of view of the sensing apparatus;
• controlling a sensitivity of each the pixels by calculating at least one histogram indicating a detection level by an image detector including the plurality of pixels, the plurality of pixels configured to detect a plurality of different wavelength region components of a first portion of an ambient light reflected from the inspection target to be inspected and of a second portion of the ambient light reflected from the reference plate;
• and
• determining, on a basis of respective histograms of particular ones of a plurality of spectroscopic components detected by the image detector, whether or not the sensitivity is properly set for the image detector.