Lens inspection system and method

A method for inspecting ophthalmic lenses, comprising:

• moving the lenses into an inspection position;
• generating a light beam;
• generally directing the light beam in a first direction and through the lenses in the lens inspection position;
• focusing a portion of the light beam passing through the lenses onto an image plane to form images of the lenses on said plane;
• focusing a portion of the light beam onto a focal point in front of the image plane to form a diffuse background pattern on the image plane;
• generating a set of signals representing the lens images formed on the image plane;
• processing said signals according to a predetermined program to identify at least one condition of each of the lenses.

A system for inspecting ophthalmic lenses, comprising

• a lens holder for holding the lenses in an inspection position;
• an array of pixels;
• an illumination subsystem to generate a light beam and to direct the light beam through the lenses in the inspection position and onto the pixel array and including
• i) a light source to generate the light beam,
• ii) a diffuser located in a path of the light beam to diffuse the light beam, and
• iii) a lens assembly located in the path of the light beam to focus a portion of the light beam passing through the lenses onto the pixel array, and to focus a portion of the light beam onto a focal point in front of the pixel array to form a diffuse background pattern on the pixel array;
• an imaging subsystem to generate a set of signals representing the light beam incident on the pixel array;
• and
• an image processing subsystem to receive said signals from the imaging subsystem and to process said signals according to a predetermined program to identify at least one condition of each of the lenses.

A method for inspecting ophthalmic lenses, comprising:

• placing the lenses in an inspection position;
• generating a light beam;
• directing the light beam through the lenses and onto an array of pixels to form images of the lenses thereon;
• locating a diffuser in a path of the light beam to diffuse the light beam;
• positioning a doublet lens in the path of the light beam to focus a portion of the light beam onto a focal point forward of the pixel array;
• positioning a field lens in the path of the light beam to focus a portion of the light beam passing through the lenses onto the pixel array;
• generating a set of signals representing the lens images formed on the pixel array;
• and
• processing said signals according to a predetermined program to identify at least one condition of each of the lenses.