Automated evaluation of painted surface quality

A method of automatically deriving a computer simulated human subjective judgment of the quality of a surface comprising the steps of:

• storing a plurality of parameters determined from at least one Fourier power spectra determined during actual human evaluation of a best surface;
• projecting a test pattern onto a test surface;
• detecting a reflected image of said test pattern;
• generating Fourier power spectra of said reflected image of said projected test pattern, said step of generating the Fourier power spectra comprises the steps of recording said reflected test pattern from said test surface, and extracting said parameterization of said reflected test pattern from said recording;
• using said Fourier power spectra to provide a plurality of test optical parameters relating to said reflected test pattern;
• and
• correlating said plurality of test parameters with a set of corresponding parameters derived from said at least one Fourier power spectra;
• where said step of recording said reflected test pattern comprises the step of recording the image of said reflected test pattern as a two dimensional binary pixel map within a memory of a computer,
• whereby automatic evaluation of said test surface substantially equivalent to human evaluation is obtained.

An apparatus for providing automatic evaluation of a finished surface substantially equivalent to human aesthetic evaluation of said finished surface comprising:

• means for storing line edge parameters derived from a Fourier power spectrum of a test pattern reflected from to at lest one standardized surface which has been aesthetically judged by actual human evaluation of said standardized surface;
• means for projecting said test pattern onto said finished surface;
• means for recording a reflected image of said test pattern from said finished surface;
• means for digitizing said recorded image of said reflected test pattern;
• means for generating line edge parameters derived from said Fourier power spectrum from said recorded image of said reflected test pattern;
• and
• means for correlating said line edge parameters of said finished surface with said stored line edge parameters corresponding to said at least one standardized surface which has been aesthetically judged by actual human aesthetic evaluation,
• means for assigning a value of human esthetic judgment to said finished surface according to the degree of correction found between said line edge parameters of said finished surface and said line edge parameters of said standardized surface,
• whereby human evaluation of said finished surface is automatically simulated.

An apparatus for providing automatic evaluation of a finished surface substantially equivalent to human aesthetic evaluation of said finished surface comprising;

• means for storing best parameters derived from at least one best Fourier power spectrum determined during actual human evaluation of a best surface;
• means for projecting a test pattern onto said finished surface;
• means for recording a reflected test pattern from said finished surface;
• means for digitizing said recorded test pattern;
• means for generating test parameters derived from said Fourier power spectrum relating to said test pattern;
• means for correlating said test parameters with said best parameters derived from actual human aesthetic evaluation of said finished surface;
• means for digitizing the reflected test pattern into a two dimensional pixel map,
• whereby human evaluation of said finished surface is automatically simulated.

An apparatus for automatically evaluating a surface to simulate human aesthetic evaluation of said surface comprising:

• means for storing line edge parameters of a test pattern derived from at least one Fourier power spectrum of a reflected image of said test pattern corresponding to at least one standardized surface which has been aesthetically judged by actual human evaluation;
• means for projecting said test pattern onto said surface with a collimated coherent beam of light;
• a Fourier transform lens for focusing a reflected test pattern from said finished surface onto a Fourier transform plane;
• camera means for recording said image focused onto said Fourier transform plane;
• means for using said Fourier transform image to provide a plurality of line edge parameters associated with said reflected test pattern;
• means for correlating said line edge parameters for said reflected test image with corresponding stored line edge parameters associated with one standardized surface which has been aesthetically judged by actual human aesthetic evaluation of the quality of said standardized surface;
• and
• means for assigning a value of human esthetic judgment to said surface according to the degree of correction found between said line edge parameters of said surface and said line edge parameters of said standardized surface.

An apparatus for automatically evaluating a surface to simulate human aesthetic evaluation of said surface comprising:

• means for projecting a test pattern onto said surface with a collimated coherent beam of light;
• a Fourier transform lens for focusing a reflected test pattern from said finished surface onto a Fourier transform plane;
• camera means for recording said image focused onto said Fourier transform plane;
• means for using said Fourier transform image to provide a plurality of parameters associated with said reflected test pattern;
• means for correlating said parameters for said reflected test image with corresponding parameters associated with a best surface determined by at least one actual human aesthetic evaluation of the quality of said best surface;
• and
• means for generating a measure of the segmentation of said reflected test pattern from said finished surface relative to said test pattern projected onto said finished surface as part of parameterization of said reflected test pattern form said finished surface.