Method for the automatic location of particular zones of a surface and an installation for the application of said method
AssigneeSeve
InventorsJean Louis Aimar, Gerard Olin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Particular zones are given a distinctive appearance with respect to surrounding areas on a surface such as a printed-circuit board to be drilled in an automatic process. The surface is automatically scanned in a system of two rectilinear perpendicular coordinates by a reader comprising at least one detector which is responsive to the distinctive appearance. The coordinates of the surface points for which the detector delivers a signal representing the presence of the distinctive appearance during the scanning are recorded in a coded form which can be utilized by the automatic machine.
Claims19
A method for the automatic location of particular zones on a surface, especially of points to be machined on the surface of a workpiece by an automatic machine which operates point by point, wherein said method consists:
- in giving said particular zones a distinctive appearance with respect to the region surrounding said zones on said surface, especially an appearance which is transparent at the center of an opaque pastille,
- in automatically scanning the surface in a system of two coordinates, especially perpendicular rectilinear coordinates, by means of a reader comprising at least one detecting element which is responsive to said distinctive appearance,
- in establishing by means of electrical signals delivered by the reader a primary image coded in binary notation in which two different states represent respectively the presence and absence of said distinctive appearance at each point of the surface which is scanned by the detector,
- in processing said primary image in coded form in order to erase in successive points from the edges thereof in accordance with said system of coordinates all the states which are representative of the presence of the distinctive appearance encountered before a zone of absence of said distinctive appearance in order to obtain a clear image in coded form only of those points which have said distinctive appearance and are separated from the edges of the image by one point or a plurality of successive points which do not have said distinctive appearance,
- in determining the coordinates of at least a certain number of the points having a distinctive appearance which remain on said clear image.
An apparatus for the automatic location of particular zones or a surface, comprising automatic means for displacing a reader in a movement of scanning of a surface on which particular zones have a distinctive appearance with respect to the area surrounding said zones on said surface, especially a transparent appearance at the center of an opaque zone, scanning being performed in a system of two coordinates and said reader being provided with at least one detecting element which is responsive to said distinctive appearance and especially a photoelectric element, means for establishing by means of electrical signals delivered point by point by the reader during the scanning, a primary image in binary coded form of those points of the surface which have said distinctive appearance and those points which do not have said appearance, erasing means for processing said primary image in coded form by erasing in succession, starting from the edges of said image in accordance with said system of coordinates, all those points having the distinctive appearance and encountered before a point which does not have said appearance in order to obtain a clear image in coded form, and means for determining and recording in coded form the coordinates on said surface of particular points selected on the coded clear image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.