Machine vision inspection system and method

Abstract

A machine vision system has an illumination head (1) with seven rings of LEDs 2-8, each having a different elevational angle. Each ring is configured with a particular current level, thereby setting its intensity. Rings 3 and 4 are green and blue, the other rings being red. A controller controls illumination by varying one or a combination of elevation, azimuth quadrant (or 45° octant), intensity, and colour. For example an image may be captured with fully surrounding, North quadrant, South quadrant, East quadrant, and West quadrant illuminations. Alternatively, there may be both North-South illumination for one image and East-West for another.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.