Image taking system, image-taking-system control program, and electric-component mounting system

Abstract

In an image taking system including an illuminating device including a light source which emits a light for illuminating an object, a camera which takes an image of the object, and a processing and controlling device which includes a data processing portion that processes image data representing the image of the object taken by the camera, at least one of the camera and the illuminating device includes a brightness controlling device which controls a brightness of an image taken by the camera, and the processing and controlling device includes a brightness detecting portion which detects a brightness of at least a portion of the image of the object taken by the camera, and a control-parameter varying portion which varies, based on the brightness detected by the brightness detecting portion, at least one control parameter of the brightness controlling device so that a brightness of at least a portion of an image taken by the camera is equal to a preset brightness.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE [0001] This is a Division of application Ser. No. 10 / 104,036 filed on Mar. 25, 2002. The entire disclosure of the prior application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.BACKGROUND [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates in general to an image taking system and more particularly to the art of taking images with stable brightness. [0004] 2. Discussion of Related Art [0005] There is known an image taking system which is employed in an electric-component mounting system for mounting electric components (in particular, electronic components) on a printed-wiring board, and which takes an image of an electric component held by an electric-component holder and detects, based on the taken image, a position, a posture, a shape, and / or a type of the electric component. The conventional image taking system usually includes an illuminating device and an image taking device, and repeats image taking actions by controlling those d...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention relates to a system and method for stabilizing the brightness of images captured by an image taking device. The invention includes an illuminating device, a camera, and a processing and controlling device. The system uses a brightness detecting portion to monitor the brightness of the image and a control-parameter varying portion to adjust the brightness of the image based on the detected brightness. This ensures that each image taken has a stable brightness, resulting in useful information about the object being captured. The invention also includes an image-taking system that uses a back-side illuminating device to capture silhouette images of an object, with the brightness detecting portion detecting the brightness of the background. The change of image-taking conditions, such as the intensity of light emitted by the light source, can be easily and accurately detected by detecting the brightness of the bright background.

Problems solved by technology

However, as time elapses, a light source of the illuminating device deteriorates, and the intensity of light emitted by the device decreases.

If a taken image is dark as a whole, it is difficult to accurately determine, in the image, a boundary line between a bright area and a dark area, i.e., an edge line between the object (the electric component) and its background.

In this case, however, the frequency of exchanging of light sources increases, which leads to increasing the running cost of the image taking system.

The light source which emits the ultraviolet light is likely to deteriorate as time elapses.

Images