Product inspection system and a method for implementing same that incorporates a correction factor

A method for measuring physical characteristics of an object using an inspection system, wherein the inspection system includes a light source defining a source optical path, a sensing device defining a sensor optical path, a reflecting device disposed to communicate the source optical path with the sensor optical path and at least one processing device communicated with the sensing device, the method comprising:

• associating the object with the inspection system such that the object is disposed within the sensor optical path;
• operating the inspection system to cause the light source to emit a source collimated light beam propagating along the source optical path to be at least partially incident upon the reflecting device;
• reflecting the source collimated light beam via the reflecting device to create a reflected collimated light beam that propagates along the sensor optical path such that the reflected collimated light beam is at least partially incident upon the object to produce a silhouette, wherein at least a portion of said silhouette is incident upon the sensing device to generate initial image data responsive to said silhouette;
• and
• processing said initial image data responsive to at least one predetermined algorithm to generate resultant image data responsive to at least one of a plurality of physical characteristics of the object.

A method for correcting aberrations in a component silhouette generated by a component inspection system, wherein the component inspection system includes a light source defining a source optical path, a sensing device defining a sensor optical path, a reflecting device disposed to communicate the source optical path with the sensor optical path and at least one processing device communicated with the sensing device, the method comprising:

• associating the object with the inspection system such that the object is disposed within the sensor optical path;
• operating the light source to emit a source collimated light beam propagating along the source optical path to be at least partially incident upon the reflecting device;
• reflecting the source collimated light beam via the reflecting device to create a reflected collimated light beam that propagates along the sensor optical path such that the reflected collimated light beam is at least partially incident upon the object to produce a silhouette, wherein at least a portion of said silhouette is incident upon the sensing device to generate initial image data responsive to said silhouette;
• and
• processing said initial image data to generate resultant image data, wherein said processing includes,
• generating initial Pitch Diameter data to determine an initial Pitch Diameter (PD) responsive to said silhouette,
• parameterizing at least a portion of said initial Pitch Diameter and expressing said at least a portion of said initial Pitch Diameter data in a Jacobian Matrix,
• solving said Jacobian Matrix responsive to a plurality of physical characteristics of said object to generate Correction Factor (CF) data;
• and
• processing said initial Pitch Diameter (PD) data and said Correction Factor (CF) data to generate resultant Pitch Diameter (PD) data.