Color inspection system
AssigneeColour Valid Limited
InventorsChristine Connolly, Tin Wah William Leung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method to control a video camera for the acquisition of a color image under varying image capture conditions includes a video camera having a red, green and blue output. The video camera is provided with a controllable iris aperture, a controllable overall RGB signal gain, independently controllable RGB signal channel gains and a controllable RGB signal channel balance. The controllable parameters are controlled by a control unit. The control unit generates signals from an image signal received from the video camera. The signals are used to correct the controllable parameters to improve camera image capture performance.
Claims17
A method for controlling a video camera used for acquisition of colour image data under varying image capture conditions, the method comprising the steps of:
- capturing images of an object under inspection and of a calibration object;
- producing an image signal and a calibration signal therefrom;
- deriving from the image signal and the calibration signal one or more camera error signals relating to a colour error in the image signal;
- and
- controlling a set of controllable parameters of the video camera in accordance with the camera colour error signals, such as to correct the colour error in the captured image or in the image signal produced therefrom, wherein the controllable parameters of the video camera comprise at least one of an iris aperture setting, an overall electronic gain of the image signals;
- an electronic gain of individual Red, Green or Blue components of the image signal, and a balance between magnitudes of the Red, Green, and Blue components of the image signal and any combination thereof.
An apparatus for acquisition of colour image data under varying image capture conditions, the apparatus comprising:
- a video camera for producing an image signal corresponding to an object and a calibration signal corresponding to a calibration object;
- a means for deriving from the image signal and the calibration signal one or more camera error signals relating to a colour error in the image signal;
- and
- a control means for controlling a set of controllable parameters of the camera;
- wherein the control means is arranged to control the video camera in accordance with the camera colour error signal to correct the colour error in the image signal and wherein the controllable parameters of the video camera comprise at least one of an iris aperture setting, an overall electronic gain of the image signals, an electronic gain of individual Red, Green or Blue components of the image signal, and a balance between magnitudes of the Red, Green, and Blue components of the image signal and any combination thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.