Automatic printed circuit dimensioning, routing and inspecting apparatus

A method for scanning an object and producing machine instructions with respect thereto, said method comprising the steps of:

• scanning said object and producing an output representative thereof;
• detecting the location of specific predetermined features of said object, said detecting step including the step of applying a first test to a feature of said object by examining the dimension of said feature in at least one radial direction to determine if that feature exceeds a certain maximum diameter standard;
• specifying machine functions at the location of certain of said detected features;
• and,
• producing machine instructions at the location of said certain detected features.

An automatic inspecting apparatus for scanning a first object and comparing certain features of said first object to certain features of a second object, said apparatus comprising:

• means for supporting said first object;
• means for scanning said first object and producing a first set of scan data representative thereof;
• processing means for processing said first set of scan data to detect said certain features of said first object, said processing means producing a first set of processed data representative of said features of said first object, said first set of processed data being smaller in volume than said first set of scan data;
• comparison means for comparing said first set of processed data against a pre-stored second set of processed data representative of said certain features of said second object and producing an electrical output representative of said comparison;
• and,
• reporting means for producing an output representative of the output from said comparison means.

A method of scanning an object and comparing it to a master negative, said method comprising the steps of:

• scanning said master negative and producing a first set of scan data;
• detecting the location of specific predetermined features on said master negative by processing said first set of scan data and producing a first set of processed data representative of said features, said first set of processed data being smaller in volume than said first set of scan data;
• storing said first set of processed data;
• scanning means object and producing a second set of scan data;
• detecting the location of specific predetermined features on said object by processing said second set of scan data and producing a second set of processed data representative of predetermined features on said object, said second set of processed data being smaller in volume than said second set of scan data;
• comparing said first set of processed data representative of specific predetermined features of said master negative against said second set of processed data representative of features of said object;
• and,
• producing an output which is representative of the error between the specific predetermined features of said master negative and said object.

An automatic inspecting apparatus for scanning an object representative of a first printed circuit board, recognizing features on said object and comparing a first set of processed data representative of features found on said object to a stored set of processed data representative of features of a second printed circuit board, said apparatus comprising:

• charge coupled scanning means for scanning said object representative of said first printed circuit board and producing scan data representative thereof;
• feature recognition means responsive to said scan data representative of said first printed circuit board for comparing said scan data against a set of definitions and for detecting the location of specific predetermined features of said object representative of said first printed circuit and for producing a first set of processed data representative of the predetermined features of said first printed circuit board, said processed data being smaller in volume than said scan data,
• comparison means for comparing said first set of processed data against said stored set of processed data representative of features of said second printed circuit board;
• and,
• reporting means for producing an output representative of the output of said comparison means.