Distributed Board Inspection System Using Segmented Imaging Units
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current appearance inspection technologies for electronic boards lack a highly expandable and flexible system structure, requiring extensive time for inspection and compromising precision, as they rely on centralized control and complex mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A distributed inspection system with multiple imaging units and independent personal computers that capture and process images independently, sharing necessary data for inspection, allowing each unit to make determinations without a central controller, thereby reducing inspection time and improving precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a centralized control system is used for board inspection, then the system structure is simplified, but inspection time increases and system flexibility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection system is divided into multiple independent personal computers, each equipped with imaging units and inspection software. Each PC independently inspects specific regions or aspects of the board, enabling parallel processing and reducing total inspection time while maintaining system flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a single centralized inspection dimension to multiple distributed inspection dimensions by deploying several independent PCs across different spatial locations and functional roles, allowing simultaneous multi-point inspection of the board.
2Device complexity
If a centralized control system is used for board inspection, then coordination is simplified, but system flexibility and expandability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized control function is segmented into multiple independent personal computers, each capable of autonomous operation. This segmentation allows the system to be easily expanded by adding more PCs without requiring complex reconfiguration of a central controller.
Solution Approach 2:
Each personal computer in the distributed system performs self-service by independently executing inspection tasks, making decisions, and generating results without requiring constant coordination from a central controller, thereby enhancing system flexibility and autonomy.
3Measurement precision
If inspection depends on high-definition image recognition, then inspection precision is improved, but inspection time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The high-definition image data is divided and distributed across multiple personal computers for parallel processing. Each PC handles specific portions of the inspection task, enabling high-precision analysis to be performed simultaneously on multiple segments, thereby maintaining precision while reducing total inspection time.
Solution Approach 2:
Each personal computer performs comprehensive inspection analysis on its assigned data portion, applying full inspection algorithms locally rather than requiring sequential centralized analysis, thus achieving high precision without the time penalty of centralized processing.
Data Source
AI summary
An appearance inspection apparatus for inspecting a board is provided with multiple imaging units for capturing respective images of the board. Multiple slave personal computers respectively provided for the multiple imaging units inspect the board by referring to data of images of the board captured by the respective imaging units. Each of the multiple slave personal computers transmits, to other slave personal computers, shared data that are necessary for inspection by other slave personal computers. The shared data is acquired by each of the slave personal computers from data of an image of the inspection piece captured by an associated imaging unit. Each of the slave personal computers inspects an appearance of the board by referring to the shared data received from another slave personal computer.