Method and device for inspecting appearance of portable terminal

Abstract

To provide a method and a device for rationally acquiring imaging data for inspecting the appearance of a terminal.SOLUTION: A camera 6 arranged to face the front surface or the back surface of a terminal T takes images of the right side and the left side of the terminal T, the top surface of the terminal T, the right side and the left side of the terminal T shown in mirrors 11 to 15 arranged to correspond to the surfaces in the right side and the left side of the terminal T, the top surface, the upper right corner and in the upper left corner and arranged so that the reflection surface is inclined to the outside with respect to the optical axis of an imaging lens 6 of the camera 6, the top surface of the terminal T in the mirrors, and the upper right corner and the upper left corner, and also takes an image of one of the front surface and the back surface of the terminal T. The camera 6 further acquires imaging data of one of the front surface and the back surface of the terminal T, the right side surface and the left side surface of the terminal T, the top surface, and the upper right corner part and the upper left corner part. Thereafter, the terminal T arranged is reversed in a vertical direction and the camera takes an image of the terminal T in that posture.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to visual inspection of mobile terminals such as mobile phones and tablets (hereinafter referred to as "terminals"). [Background technology]

[0002] Used smartphones and other devices are collected by retailers through trade-ins or purchases, and then undergo a refurbishment process that includes data erasure, functional inspections, appearance inspections, and replacement of necessary parts, before being supplied to the market as products known as second-hand smartphones.

[0003] It is known that the market price of a refurbished device is determined largely by factors such as the manufacturer, year, model, and performance, as well as the functionality and appearance of the device.

[0004] For this reason, functional and visual inspections are considered important in the recycling process of used devices, and dedicated automatic inspection equipment has been proposed.

[0005] However, the dedicated automatic inspection equipment proposed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 is an automatic type used in recycling factories, and therefore the structure of the equipment is complex and large, and the equipment is also large-scale, so it cannot be placed in a store or the like and used.

[0006] In particular, in conventional appearance inspections of used terminals, the appearance of the terminal is photographed with a camera, and the appearance grade is determined by referring to the photographed data against standard data for grading.

[0007] Since the external appearance of the terminal that is photographed by the camera for grading includes a total of 10 points (10 surfaces) of the terminal, including the front, back, left side, right side, top, bottom, and four corners, if the imaging system is equipped with only one camera, it is necessary to hold the terminal with a gripping means such as a robot hand and change the orientation of the terminal from a horizontal orientation to a 180-degree inversion, a 90-degree half rotation forward and backward, and an upside-down rotation in the vertical direction. The need for such orientation changes is also necessary for the appearance inspection of newly manufactured terminals.

[0008] However, because the mechanism for changing the terminal's orientation and the operations and movements required to change the orientation take a certain amount of time, obtaining image data of all 10 sides of a terminal ultimately takes too long, and the current situation is that obtaining image data for visual inspection of terminals is not possible efficiently or economically. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2022-539909 [Patent Document 2] Special Publication No. 2022-539912 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for rationally acquiring imaging data for visual inspection of not only second-hand terminals but also newly manufactured terminals. In this specification, when a continuous rectangular terminal is placed horizontally, the left-right direction of the terminal is defined as left-right, the up-down direction is defined as front-back, and the vertical direction is defined as up-down. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] The configuration of the method of the present invention for solving the above problem is characterized in that a camera is placed facing the front or back of a terminal placed for imaging, and images of the left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners of the terminal reflected on a mirror placed so as to correspond to the respective surfaces of the left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners of the terminal and whose reflective surface is tilted outward with respect to the optical axis of the camera's shooting lens, while simultaneously imaging the front or back surface of the terminal, and acquiring imaging data of the front or back surface of the terminal, and the left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners of the terminal with the camera, and after the imaging, the terminal placed is flipped over in its up-down direction, and the terminal in this position is imaged with the camera, thereby acquiring imaging data of the front or back surface of the terminal, and the bottom surface and the lower left and right corners of the terminal.

[0012] In the above method, the orientation of the terminal placed for imaging can be selected to be horizontal, vertical, or an intermediate orientation between these two orientations. In the device of the present invention described below, an apparatus for placing the terminal in a horizontal orientation will be described.

[0013] That is, the configuration of the device of the present invention for implementing the above-mentioned method of the present invention comprises a base board having a mounting stand on which a terminal can be placed in a horizontal position, an erection frame section that is erected on the base board so as to surround the mounting stand, a camera arranged on the upper part of the erection frame section with its lens facing directly towards the terminal, a lighting device arranged around the camera so as to irradiate illumination light towards the terminal, and a lighting device that illuminates the camera at positions corresponding to each of the left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal placed in a horizontal position on the mounting stand. The device is characterized in that it is equipped with mirrors each mounted on the base stand with a reflective surface inclined outward with respect to the optical axis of the lens, and a light-shielding curtain member disposed on the mounting frame portion and surrounding the mounting frame portion in a darkroom-like manner, and for a terminal placed in a horizontal position on the mounting stand, the lighting device is activated to control the illumination light while the camera captures images of the front or back surface of the terminal, as well as the images reflected in the mirror on both left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners, and the terminal is inverted up and down on the mounting stand with the camera.

[0014] Here, the camera may be a normal film camera, but a digital camera equipped with a wide-angle lens is preferable for handling and processing image data. The outward tilt of the mirror with respect to the optical axis (vertical) of the camera is preferably at an angle of approximately 45 degrees from the optical axis. Furthermore, when imaging the front side of the terminal facing upwards and when imaging the back side of the terminal facing upwards, it is preferable to perform imaging at least twice for each side to obtain image data for each side of the terminal in order to ensure accuracy of judgment. In the following description, the camera is described as a digital camera.

[0015] In the above-mentioned device of the present invention, when a terminal is imaged by a camera, for example, when a terminal placed on a stand with its liquid crystal screen (front side) facing up is imaged, the mirrors arranged to surround both sides, the top, and the upper left and right corners of the stand act to obtain image data of both left and right sides, the top, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal, as well as image data of the front side of the terminal. The rear side, bottom side, and lower left and right corners of the terminal have not yet been imaged by the camera.

[0016] Therefore, in order to image the back surface, bottom surface, and lower left and right corners of the terminal with the camera, the terminal is lifted by hand from the stand, rotated 180 degrees in the vertical direction of the terminal, and placed on the stand in this position again. In this way, the terminal is turned over and placed on the stand with the back surface facing up, so that the bottom surface of the terminal, which has not been imaged, faces the upper mirror, and the lower left and right corners face the upper left and right corners of the mirror. Therefore, when the terminal in this orientation is imaged with the camera, image data of the back surface, bottom surface, and lower left and right corners of the terminal are obtained. Note that, when the back surface of the terminal is imaged, image data of both the left and right sides of the terminal is also obtained, but it is optional whether or not to use the image data of both the left and right sides.

[0017] When a digital camera captures an image, the image of each side of the terminal is converted into an electrical signal by the digital camera's light-receiving surface (CCD, etc.), processed by a processing circuit such as an LSI, and saved as a digital image file on a recording medium. In this case, the location of each image data of each side of the terminal on the light-receiving surface is specified by digital data, so the first image capture can obtain image data of six sides of the terminal: the front or back, both left and right sides, the top, and the top left and right corners.

[0018] When the terminal from which image data on the front side has been obtained in the first image capture as described above is flipped upside down on the mounting base, the back side faces up and the bottom side returns to the original position of the top side. Therefore, when an image is captured with the camera in this upside-down position, image data on the back side, bottom side, and four sides of the lower left and right corners of the terminal, i.e., the back side of the terminal, can be obtained.

[0019] In this way, by using an apparatus for executing the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain image data of ten surfaces of a terminal (front, back, both left and right sides, both top and bottom, and four top and bottom corners) of the terminal set on a mounting stand with just two imaging operations. Effect of the Invention

[0020] The present invention uses a camera that is positioned facing the front or back of a terminal that is placed for imaging, and captures images of both left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal reflected in a mirror that is positioned so that the reflective surface corresponds to each of the surfaces of the left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal and is tilted outward with respect to the optical axis of the camera's shooting lens, while simultaneously capturing images of the front or back surface of the terminal, and capturing image data of the front or back surface of the terminal, the left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal with the camera. After capturing the images, the terminal that is placed is flipped over in its vertical direction, and the terminal in this position is captured with the camera to capture image data of the back or front surface of the terminal, and the lower surface and the lower left and right corners of the terminal. By simply performing at least two imaging operations of the terminal with the camera and then flipping the terminal in the vertical direction in that orientation, it is possible to capture image data of 10 surfaces (10 locations) of the terminal, namely the front, back surface, both left and right side surfaces, both top and bottom surfaces, and the four corners. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0021] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of an example of an apparatus according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining the configuration (arrangement of cameras and lighting devices) of the upper half of the temporary frame of the device of the present invention in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining the configuration (the arrangement of the mounting table and mirrors) on the base board in the device of the present invention in FIG. [Figure 4] AA line view in FIG. 3. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a base board having a horizontally long rectangular shape that is nearly a square when viewed from above. A mounting table 2 for mounting a terminal T is provided at approximately the center of the base board 1.

[0023] Here, the lower surface of the mounting table 2 is raised a small distance a (for example, about 20 to 30 mm) above the upper surface of the base board 1, and has a shape that is about one size smaller than the outer shape of a typical terminal T. In addition, in the base board 1, the left-right direction is left and right, the front-rear direction is front and rear, and the up-down direction is up and down.

[0024] In the present invention, the planar shapes of the base board 1 and the mounting table 2 are not limited to a rectangle, but may be other planar polygonal shapes, or shapes such as a circle, an oval, or an ellipse.

[0025] 3 are four pillars erected at the four corners of the base board 1, and adjacent pillars 3 are connected at their upper ends by beam members 4, and the intermediate parts of each pillar 3 are connected to each other by intermediate beams 5 except for the front side of the front of the base board 1 to form a temporary frame body Fb. Note that an intermediate beam 5 is provided on the upper half side even on the front side of the temporary frame body Fb. In addition, the temporary frame body Fb may have a panel body (not shown) stretched between adjacent pillars 3, 3 except for the front side, and a panel body (not shown) stretched on the upper half side of the pillars 3, 3 on the left and right sides of the front of the temporary frame body Fb, with respect to the four pillars 3 when viewed from above. In the case of the panel type, no intermediate beams 5 are required other than the intermediate beam 5 for the upper stage Us on which the camera 6 and the lighting devices 7 to 10 are arranged.

[0026] In the above-mentioned temporary frame body Fb, an upper stage Us is formed in a portion surrounded by an intermediate beam 5 on the upper half side, and is equipped with a camera (digital camera) 6 equipped with a wide-angle lens 6L, and four lighting devices 7, 8 and 9, 10 using multiple LEDs as light sources are arranged on the left and right sides and the front and rear sides surrounding the camera 6.

[0027] Here, the camera 6 is a commercially available digital camera equipped with a wide-angle lens 6L, and the left and right lighting devices 7, 8 are longer in shape than the front and rear lighting devices 9, 10 and are configured to have a greater number of LED light sources. This is because they fit the planar shape (vertically long rectangle) of the terminal T they are illuminating.

[0028] The performance, size, arrangement, etc. of the camera 6 and the lighting devices 7-10 in the present invention are merely examples, and are not limited thereto. Here, the camera 6 can be automatically set for its on / off, aperture, focus, and shutter speed, and can be remotely controlled, and the lighting devices 7-10 can also be automatically set for its on / off, dimming, etc., and can be remotely controlled. Although not shown, a control unit related to the functions of the camera 6 and the lighting devices 7-10 may be disposed on the upper stage Us on which the camera 6 and the lighting devices 7-10 are disposed. In the present invention, the operation control of the camera 6 and the lighting devices 7-10 and the instruction of the position of the terminal T placed on the mounting table 2 may be performed by a separate control unit including a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC). A touch panel TP having a monitor function for inputting to the control unit and displaying the control state is disposed on the front upper half side of the temporary frame body Fb as an input / output unit of the control unit (or PC).

[0029] Meanwhile, around the mounting table 2 of the base board 1 forming the lower stage Bs, left and right mirrors 11, 12, an upper mirror 13, and left and right corner mirrors 14, 15 are installed in correspondence with the left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal T placed on the mounting table 2, respectively.

[0030] The left and right mirrors 11, 12 are positioned at positions corresponding to the left and right side surfaces of the terminal T placed on the mounting table 2, with the reflective surfaces (mirror surfaces) of the mirrors 11, 12 tilted outward to the left and right at an angle adjusted and set between approximately 40 degrees and 60 degrees with respect to the optical axis of the lens 6L of the camera 6.

[0031] The top mirror 13 is positioned at a position corresponding to the top surface of the terminal T placed on the mounting table 2, with the reflective surface (mirror surface) of the mirror 13 tilted upward and outward at an angle adjusted and set between approximately 40 degrees and 60 degrees with respect to the optical axis of the lens 6L of the camera 6.

[0032] The mirrors 14, 15 for the upper left and right corners are positioned at positions corresponding to the upper left and right corners of the terminal T placed on the mounting table 2, and are positioned with their reflective surfaces (mirror surfaces) tilted outward from the upper corners at an angle adjusted and set between approximately 40 degrees and 60 degrees with respect to the optical axis of the lens 6L of the camera 6. Here, the inclination angles of the mirrors 11 to 15 are set in consideration of, for example, the horizontal distance between each part of the terminal T and each mirror corresponding thereto, the size of the angle of view of the wide-angle lens 6L of the camera 6, and the like. 1 is arranged in a generally inverted U-shape in plan view, the mirrors 11 to 15 may be arranged in a generally sideways U-shape or an upright U-shape. In this case, the arrangement of the illumination devices 7 to 10 and the orientation of the mounting table 2 are changed according to the orientation of the arrangement of the mirrors 11 to 15.

[0033] The upper stage Us is equipped with a camera 6 and lighting devices 7-10, and the lower stage Bs is equipped with a mounting table 2 and mirrors 11-15. The installation frame Fb is provided with a light shielding member Bcl on three sides and the ceiling except for the lower half of the front surface, and a light shielding member Bc2 that opens and closes in the vertical direction is provided in the upper half of the front surface, so that the interior of the installation frame Fb is formed into an imaging space that is substantially closed with the lower half of the front surface opened. The light shielding member Bc2 can be opened and closed in any direction. The touch panel TP is provided in front of the light shielding member Bc2. The touch panel TP can also be provided as the light shielding member Bc2. The material of the light shielding members Bc1 and Bc2 can also be selected from any material, from a panel-like hard material to a cloth-like soft material. Here, it is desirable that the inside of the imaging section is a light diffuse reflection surface. This is to illuminate the terminal T to be illuminated evenly. When the terminal T is placed on the mounting table 2, inverted, removed, and other operations, the light shielding member Bc2 is opened when an openable type light shielding member is provided, and when imaging, the light shielding member Bc2 is closed. In the case of a type in which the lower half of the front side of the imaging space is open, the light shielding member Bc2 is not opened or closed. The imaging state in the imaging space is displayed on the touch panel TP as an external monitor by the video function of the camera 6.

[0034] In the present invention, the mirrors 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 are arranged around the mounting table 2 with the above-mentioned inclination angles, so that when a terminal T is placed on the mounting table 2 in a horizontal position with its surface facing upwards, when the camera 6 on the upper stage Us is aimed (focused) at this terminal T and the shutter is released, the angle of view of the light receiving surface of the camera 6 receives an image (surface image) of the surface of the terminal T in the center of the angle of view, and at the same time, images of the left and right sides of the terminal T are received on the left and right sides of this surface image, an image of the top surface of terminal T is received above the surface image, and images of the upper left and right corners of terminal T are received on the upper left and right sides of the surface image.

[0035] That is, in the device of the present invention, with one shot of the camera 6, image data of the front (or back), both left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners can be simultaneously obtained.

[0036] Next, after obtaining imaging data on the front side of the terminal T in the manner described above, the terminal T is inverted in the vertical direction on the mounting base 2, and an image is taken in this position with the camera 6, whereby imaging data on the back side, bottom side, and lower left and right corners of the terminal T can be obtained.

[0037] In the present invention, with the above two shots, it is possible to obtain image data for a total of 10 surfaces, including the front and back surfaces, both left and right sides, both top and bottom surfaces, and all four corners of the terminal T. Therefore, the image data required for the appearance inspection of the terminal can be obtained easily and with simple operations.

[0038] In practice, it is desirable to appropriately change the illuminance of the lighting devices 7 to 10 to capture at least two shots of the front side of the terminal T, and then turn the terminal T over and capture at least two shots of the back side of the terminal T. This is to improve the accuracy of determining the appearance of the terminal T.

[0039] The image data of the 10 faces of the terminal T obtained by the above imaging is sent to a grade determination unit (not shown), where it is referenced to standard data for grade determination in accordance with the handling manual for each image data and used to determine the appearance grade of the terminal T.

[0040] An example of the procedure and form of the actual appearance inspection of the terminal T performed by the device of the present invention described above will be described in steps S1 to S9. S1: Wipe off fingerprints on the surface of the terminal T with cleaning paper or the like. This is to prevent fingerprints from being captured as tiny scratches. S2: The control number of the terminal T (or a scanned QR code (registered trademark), etc.) is input to the control unit via the touch panel TP (or a PC keyboard). S3: Control the output of the lighting device based on the external format of the terminal (whether there is a bezel or not, and if there is, whether the color is white or black) and the size of the terminal, and select the size of the red frame marker for the placement position to be displayed on the placement base on the touch panel screen. S4: Start camera 6. Check items (cleaned, powered off) are displayed on the touch panel TP. Check the relevant items and press Checked. S5: Once the check is completed, a red frame marker is displayed on the placement table displayed on the touch panel TP, and the shutter operation of the camera 6 is counted down (5 seconds, setting can be freely changed). S6: Now, place terminal T on the red frame marker on the mounting base 2 with the front (screen side) of terminal T facing up and looking at the monitor. This releases the shutter of the camera 6 and captures the image. This completes capturing images of the front surface, left and right side surfaces, top surface, and top left and right corners of the terminal T. S7: For the back surface of terminal T, the above S4 and S5 are executed and terminal T is placed on the mounting base with the back surface facing up and imaged, completing the imaging of the back surface, left and right side surfaces, bottom surface, and lower left and right corners. S8: The image data of a total of 10 surfaces of the terminal T, including the front, back, left and right sides, top and bottom surfaces, and four corners, obtained as described above, is sent to a grading judgment unit within the PC or a separate unit, where the grading is judged. The judgment results are stored and displayed on the monitor of the touch panel TP. S9: Here, the terminal T is removed from the mounting table 2, and the appearance inspection is completed. [Industrial Applicability]

[0041] As described above, the present invention makes it possible to easily and quickly obtain imaging data for visual inspection of terminals through simple operations using a device with a simple structure, thereby making a significant contribution to the rationalization and automation of visual inspection of terminals. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] T-Terminal Bs Lower Stage 1 Bass 2. Placement table Fb Installation frame 3 columnar body 4 Beam members 5 Intermediate beam Us Upper Stage 6. Camera 6L Wide-angle lens 7~10 Lighting equipment 11~15 Mirror Bcl, Bc2 Light shielding material TP Touch Panel

Claims

1. A method for visual inspection of a terminal, comprising: using a camera positioned facing the front or back of a terminal placed for imaging, imaging images of both left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal reflected on a mirror positioned so as to correspond to each of the surfaces of the terminal's left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners and having a reflective surface tilted outward with respect to the optical axis of the camera's imaging lens, while simultaneously imaging the front or back surface of the terminal, and obtaining imaging data of the front or back surface of the terminal, and both left and right side surfaces, the top surface, and the upper left and right corners of the terminal with the camera; and after the imaging, flipping the placed terminal over in its up-down direction and imaging the terminal in this position with the camera, thereby obtaining imaging data of the front or back surface of the terminal, and the bottom surface and the lower left and right corners of the terminal.

2. 2. The appearance inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the inclination angle of the mirror is adjusted and set to an angle between approximately 40 degrees and 60 degrees outward with respect to the optical axis of the lens of the camera.

3. 3. The appearance inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is illuminated by a lighting device provided around the camera and an image is taken.

4. 3. The method for inspecting the appearance of a terminal according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement and inversion of the terminal are performed manually.

5. a mounting frame section that is raised on the base board so as to surround the mounting stand; a camera that is positioned on the upper part of the mounting frame section with its lens facing directly towards the terminal; a lighting device that is positioned around the camera so as to irradiate illumination light towards the terminal; mirrors that are provided on the base board with their reflective surfaces inclined outward with respect to the optical axis of the camera lens at locations corresponding to each of the left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners of the terminal that is placed in a horizontal position on the mounting stand; and a light-shielding curtain member that is disposed on the mounting frame section and surrounds the mounting frame section in a darkroom-like manner, and the lighting device is activated to control the illumination light for the terminal that is placed in a horizontal position on the mounting stand, while the camera captures images of the front or back surface of the terminal and the respective images reflected in the mirrors of the left and right side surfaces, top surface, and upper left and right corners, and the terminal is captured by the camera when it is inverted in the up-down direction on the mounting stand.

6. 6. The visual inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the inclination angle of said mirror is adjusted and set to an angle between about 40 degrees and 60 degrees outward with respect to the optical axis of said camera lens.

7. 7. The visual inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the upper surface of said base plate and the inner surface of said light blocking member are formed as diffuse light reflecting surfaces.

8. 7. The visual inspection device according to claim 5, wherein a touch panel having a monitor function is provided on a front surface of said temporary frame as an input / output device for a control unit of said camera and said lighting device.

Images