• Program Frame
  
  
  • Hardware Support
  • Cameras
  • Automatic Operation
  • Data Output
  • Security
  • Tools

• Image Processing
  
  
  • Tools
  • Acquisition
  • Position Adjustment
  • Preprocessing
  • Analysis
  • Gauging
  • Color Analysis

Program Frame

(top of page)

• Several frame grabber boards, each with several individually configurable camera inputs.
• Digital communication via 16 inputs and 16 outputs channels per digital I/O board.
• Field bus.
• Serial communication with fully documented protocol
• Communication with arbitrary peripherals via interface for custom communication DLLs.

(top of page)

• Standard CCIR/EIA video cameras.
• Asynchronous cameras for parallel image capturing and processing in high-speed applications.
• Line-scan cameras for large or rotating objects.
• Digital matrix cameras for high-precision gauging.
• Retriggerable progressive-scan cameras.
• PAL/NTSC color cameras.

(top of page)

• Start of check, type change and result output via digital I/O, serial interface and custom communication.
• Unlimited number of configurable screen layouts for each check routine.
• Target value input in automatic mode.
• Several digital I/O boards and field bus for remote-control.
• Configurable serial protocol (standard protocols upon request).

(top of page)

• Automatic storage of error images for each individual check.
• Output of all measurements and classification results via serial interface or custom communication.
• Output of all results in standard formats (Excel, Lotus, ASCII) to file (also on network drives).
• Exchange of result images via clipboard or drag & drop.

(top of page)

• Unlimited number of user profiles.
• System-wide password protection encoded in hardware key for maximum protection; program will not run without correct combination of hardware key and password.
• User activity logging according to ISO 9000.
• Separate password protection for individual check routines.

(top of page)

• Easy-to use device manager for managing all image processing and communication hardware with wizard-guided installation procedure.
• Full screen live image in application window.
• Reference image for easy camera adjustment in automatic mode.
• Gray level analysis for adjusting exposure.
• Dialog-based test of all communication devices.
• Application-specific designation of interfaces and functions.

Image Processing Functions

(top of page)

• Delay Execution.
• Read Digital Input.
• Set Digital Output: individual outputs or complete bit patterns.
• Calibrate Pixels: converts pixels to metrical units.

(top of page)

• Capture Image.
• Capture Image Asynchronously: starts image capture in parallel to running check for high-speed applications.
• Transfer Image: transfers arbitrary image sections to host memory for further processing.
• Transfer Image to Tray: stores image sequences for later processing.

(top of page)

• Determine Position: computes the current position of one or more reference objects in the image. X offset, Y offset, rotation angle and pivot point can be determined separately.
• Position ROIs: adjusts the positions of search regions according to the reference objects.

(top of page)

• Rotate Image.
• Copy Image.
• Enhance Image.
• Shading Correction.
• Apply Look-Up Table to Image (linear, inverse, quadratic, square root, Gaussian, user-defined)
• Combine Images
  • Addition (with clipping)
  • Average
  • Subtraction (absolute, relative, positive, negative)
  • Maximum
  • Minimum
• Filter Image: appr. 50 predefined filters (including standard smoothing filters, morphological filters, edge detection, Sobel-Magnitude, top-hat and Gaussian filters); filter kernels can be edited at will and combined with various filter algorithms to adapt the standard filters to specifically to the application, if necessary.
• Unroll ROI: transforms arbitrarily shaped image regions into rectangular images.
• Smooth ROIs: special two-stage filtering of image regions for improved edge detection.
• Draw ROIs: fills objects or background with uniform gray level.

(top of page)

• Define ROI: defines rectangular, polygonal and circular regions for further analysis.
• Determine Threshold: computes optimal segmentation thresholds for every single region of interest. Range thresholding is also possible to mask bright and dark background areas simultaneously.
• Create ROIs by Thresholding: extracts complete objects, object parts or single edges (with subpixel precision)
• Create Edges: fast detection of subpixel precise edge points using an edge model, especially for gauging applications.
• Template Matching: searches objects based on similarity using correlation. Templates can be created interactively and optimized to the current patterns. Search is accelerated by using a pyramidal algorithm with adjustable step size.
• Copy ROIs.
• Combine ROIs: concatenates objects from different search stages for joint analysis.
• Count ROIs: counts objects and compares object count to target values specific for different object groups.
• Compute Features: computes object features, like
  • Coordinates of center of gravity
  • Coordinates of enclosing rectangle
  • X- and Y dimension
  • Ratio of height to width
  • Length and direction of first and second axis
  • Average, minimum and maximum radius; angle between radii
  • Perimeter
  • Area
  • Form factor
  • Fiber length, width and elongation
  • Border contact (general and individual for each border)
  • Number of enclosed objects
  • Average, minimum and maximum gray level
  • Contrast
  • Standard deviation of gray levels
  • Average and maximum gradient
  • Standard deviation of gradient
• Compute Curvature: determines average, minimum, maximum and standard deviation of the curvature of object contours, optionally for the whole contour or for concave or convex regions only (in preparation)
• Sort ROIs: sorts object groups by features, ascending or descending, with definable limits, e.g. only the four largest objects or the six medium-sized etc.
• Screen ROIs: checks validity of objects with respect to arbitrary combinations of features with adjustable limits.
• Resample ROIs: generates normalized object representation for classification.
• Classify ROIs: divides objects into classes, using all available features, e.g. to recognize characters or to distinguish arbitrary patterns.
• Evaluate Classes: compares object classes from Classify ROIs, Template Matching and Color Matching with target classes.
• Identify Bar Code: recognizes all standard bar codes (Code 39, Code 2/5i, UPC, EAN, PZN, ...) forward and backward under arbitrary angles of rotation.
• Print Quality Inspection: difference image computation with sophisticated three-stage positioning algorithm, fully configurable.

(top of page)

• Compute Model Geometries: calculates circles and straight lines, approximating object contours.
• Gauge ROIs: computes geometrical measurements for one or more objects (optionally with sub pixel precision and automatic rotation adjustment according to reference position computation):
  • Coordinates of center of gravity
  • Average, minimum, maximum radius of contour or model circle
  • Direction of model line
  • Waviness of contour with respect to model line
  • Diameter of model circle
  • Distance between object centers
  • Distance between object centers in pre-defined direction, optionally with respect to orientation
  • Minimum and maximum distance between object contours
  • Minimum and maximum distance between object contours in pre-defined direction
  • Minimum and maximum distance of overlapping pieces of object contours in pre-defined direction
  • Minimum and maximum distance between object contours and model circles
  • Perpendicular distance between object centers and model lines
  • Distance between objects and model lines in pre-defined direction
  • Minimum and maximum perpendicular distance between object contour and corresponding model circle or model line
  • Parallelism of object contour and model line
  • Intersection coordinates of two model lines
  • Intersection angle of two model lines
  • Average, minimum and maximum distance of contours with respect to the bisection of their model lines
  • Concentricity of model circle
  • Angle of lines connecting three objects
• Derive Measurements: computes sum, difference, product, ratio, average, minimum, maximum, sum of squares, square root, and standard deviation of arbitrary combinations of geometrical measurements.
• Combine Measurements: concatenates lists of measurements from different gauging stages for joint evaluation.
• Calibrate Measurements: Converts measurements to metrical units with automatic recalibration according to one or more reference objects.
• Check Allowances: compares every measurement to a target value with upper and lower allowance, optionally absolute or in percentages.

Color Analysis

(top of page)

• Color Matching: adaptive color space transformation for distinguishing arbitrary colors.