Apparatus and method for automated game ball inspection
AssigneeAcushnet Company
InventorsKenneth A. Welchman, Steven A. Bresnahan, Henry James Conaty, Jr.
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Abstract
An automated game ball inspection apparatus and system for determining quality of surface treatments applied to the surface of game balls. The inspection system includes an imaging system including a detector for creating and providing an image signal of the ball being inspected to an analyzer. The inspection system also includes an environmental modification device to account for contours on the spherical surface of the ball such that the imaging system can create and analyze still images of the ball. A sorter or reject device, may be provided to act upon the ball based on an output signal from the analyzer.
Claims21
An automated inspection system for automatically inspecting a printed indicia on a game ball, said automated inspection system comprising:
- an imaging system arranged to detect said printed indicia and to generate a detection signal representative of said printed indicia;
- a light modification device provided to enhance image detection and acquisition by said image system;
- and
- an analyzer coupled to said imaging system to receive said detection signal from said imaging system and analyze said detection signal to determine conformance of the printed indicia to a predetermined standard.
A golf ball manufacturing processor comprising:
- a plurality of automated processing stations comprising at least a first automated processing station positioned upstream of a second automated processing station, each of said stations performing processes required for the manufacture of a golf ball;
- an automated transferring mechanism arranged between at least said first and second automated processing stations to transfer the golf ball between said stations without human intervention;
- an automated inspection system in at least one of said processing stations upstream of an inspection response device, said automated inspection system determining whether a printed indicia applied to the golf ball conforms to a predetermined standard and may be transferred by said automated transferring mechanism to the next processing station;
- and
- a tracking system storing information about the golf ball inspected by said automated inspection system and transferring said information to another processing station.
An automated inspection system for a game ball comprising:
- an imaging system arranged to detect the presence of a printed image applied to the surface of a game ball and to generate a detection signal representative of said printed image;
- an analyzer coupled to said imaging system to receive said detection signal from said imaging system and analyze said detection signal to determine conformance of the printed image to a prerecorded image of a standard printed image, wherein the printed image comprises an agent capable of illumination under non-ambient lighting conditions and an environmental modification device comprises a light source having a wavelength selected to illuminate the agent.
An automated inspection system for automatically inspecting a printed image of a game ball, said automated inspection system comprising:
- an imaging system arranged to generate a still image of at least a portion of the game ball;
- a stored reference image;
- and
- an analyzer coupled to said imaging system to receive and compare said still image to said stored reference image to determine conformance of the printed image, wherein the printed image comprises an agent capable of illumination under non-ambient lighting conditions and an environmental modification device comprises a light source having a wavelength selected to illuminate the agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.