Image analysis – Applications – Manufacturing or product inspection
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-21
2004-05-25
Couso, Yon J. (Department: 2625)
Image analysis
Applications
Manufacturing or product inspection
C023S30200R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06741731
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets, which is used for carrying flat-shaped tablets in upright states with the diameter direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, photographing the tablets in the course of carrying operation, and detecting, on the basis of the images thus obtained, appearance defects on the.side surfaces, for example, adhesion of foreign matters and contamination, cracks and chips, and deformation; an apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets, which is used for carrying the tablets in the falling-down states with the thickness direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, turning over the tablets in the course of carrying operation, photographing the tablets before and after turn-over, and detecting the above-described appearance defects on the basis of images of the front and back surfaces of the tablets obtained by photographing; and a tablet appearance inspecting apparatus for inspecting the side surfaces and front and back surfaces of tablets while carrying the tablets by using the side surface inspecting apparatus and the front and back surface inspecting apparatus.
Conventionally, appearance defects on tablets, for example, adhesion of foreign matters or contamination, cracks or chips, deformation, and printing failure have been automatically inspected by an appearance inspecting apparatus. In the case of automatically inspecting flat-shaped tablets by using such an appearance inspecting apparatus, there has been generally adopted a method of carrying the tablets in upright states with the diameter direction thereof directed in the vertical direction; photographing, in the course of carrying operation, the tablets by using a camera, thereby picking up images of the side surfaces of the tablets: changing the postures of the tablets into falling-down states with the thickness direction thereof directed in the vertical direction and carrying the tablets in the falling-down state; turning over the tablets in the course of carrying operation; photographing the tablets before and after turn-over by using a camera, thereby picking up images of the front and back surfaces of the tablets; and processing the images of the side surfaces and front and back surfaces of the tablets, thereby detecting the presence or absence of the above-described defects.
One example of such an appearance inspecting apparatus is shown in FIG.
14
.
The appearance inspecting apparatus includes a tablet feed unit p
1
for carrying a number of flat-shaped tablets (hereinafter, referred to simply as “tablets”) stored in a hopper p
11
to an inspection mechanism portion; a side surface inspecting unit p
2
having a side surface inspecting drum p
21
and a side surface image pickup device p
22
; a posture change unit p
3
having a posture change drum p
31
; a front and back surface inspecting unit p
4
having a front surface inspecting drum p
41
, a back surface inspecting drum p
42
, a front surface image pickup device p
43
, and a back surface image pickup device p
44
; a separating unit p
5
having a separating drum p
51
, a non-defective recovery conveyor p
52
, and a defective recovery can p
53
: and a decision unit (not shown) for processing images picked up by the three image pickup devices p
22
, p
43
, and p
44
, and detecting the presence or absence of appearance defects. In
FIG. 14
, reference numerals p
221
, p
431
, and p
441
designate cameras, and p
222
, p
432
, and p
442
designate illuminating devices.
The appearance inspection by using the above appearance inspecting apparatus is performed in accordance with the following procedure:
(1) A number of tablets are fed at random from the hopper p
11
to the tablet feed unit p
1
, at which the postures of the tablets are changed into upright states with the diameter direction thereof directed in the vertical direction (hereinafter, referred to as simply “upright states”), and the tablets in the upright states are continuously fed from the tablet feed unit p
1
to the side surface inspecting drum p
21
of the side surface inspecting unit p
2
.
(2) The upright tablets held in holding pockets of the side surface inspecting drum p
21
are carried downwardly by the rotation of the drum p
21
, and in the course of carrying operation, the tablets are made to rotate on their axes in the holding pockets and simultaneously photographed by the side surface image pickup device p
22
. In this way, images of the all-round side surfaces of the tablets are picked up by the side surface image pickup device p
22
.
(3) The tablets are transferred to the posture change drum p
31
of the posture change unit p
3
, at which the upright tablets are fallen in the horizontal direction into falling-down states with the thickness direction thereof directed in the vertical direction (hereinafter, referred to simply as “falling-down states”), and the tablets in the falling-down states are delivered to the front surface inspecting drum p
41
of the front and back surface inspecting unit p
4
.
(4) The tablets held in the falling-down states in tablet holding pockets formed in the surface of the front surface inspecting drum p
41
are carried downwardly by the rotation of the drum p
4
l, and in the course of carrying operation, the tablets are photographed by the front surface image pickup device p
43
. In this way, the images of the front surfaces of the tablets are picked up by the front surface image pickup device p
43
.
(5) The tablets are delivered to the back surface inspecting drum p
42
, being turned over, and are held in the falling-down state in tablet holding pockets of the back surface inspecting drum p
42
. The tablets in the falling-down states are then carried downwardly by the rotation of the drum p
42
, and in the course of carrying operation, the tablets are photographed by the back surface image pickup device p
44
. In this way, the images of the back surfaces of the tablets are picked up by the back surface image pickup device p
44
.
(6) The tablets are transferred to the separating drum p
51
of the separating unit p
5
, and on the basis of the inspection result obtained by processing the images of the side surfaces and front and back surfaces of the tablets, defective tablets are transferred to the defective recovery can p
53
, and non-defective tablets are transferred to the non-defective recovery conveyor p
52
to be recovered in a recovery container “c”.
The above appearance inspecting apparatus, however, often fails to stably pick up images of side surfaces of tablets by the side surface inspecting unit p
2
.
To be more specific, the side surface inspecting drum p
21
of the side surface inspecting unit p
2
includes, as shown in
FIG. 15
, an inner cylinder p
211
and an outer cylinder p
212
rotatably disposed on the outer peripheral side of the inner cylinder p
211
. A roller p
213
rotatable on its axis is disposed inside the inner cylinder p
211
in a state in which the peripheral surface thereof is exposed to the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder p
211
through a through-window provided in the inner cylinder p
211
. On the other hand, as shown in
FIG. 16
, a number of through-hole shaped holding pockets p
214
are aligned in the peripheral surface of the outer cylinder p
212
. The pickup of an image of the side surface of each tablet is performed by the side surface inspecting unit p
2
as follows: namely, as shown in
FIG. 15
, the tablet “t” held in the upright state in the holding pocket p
214
of the outer cylinder p
212
is carried by intermittent rotation of the outer cylinder p
212
while rolling on the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder p
211
; and when carried on the roller p
213
rotating on its axis and intermittently stopped, the tablet “t” rotates on its axis in the state being stopped in the upright posture by the rotation of the roller p
213
, and in such a state, the tablet “t” is photographed by the image pickup device p
22
.
In this case, when carried on the roller p
213
Yagyu Motohiro
Yamamoto Taizo
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Couso Yon J.
Shionogi Qualicaps Co., Ltd.
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