Industrial Camera Digital Zoom Resolution Trade-off
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial cameras face challenges in achieving a wide field of view fluctuation range while maintaining high pixel resolution, and require manual adjustments to maintain accurate inspections.
Innovation Solution
An industrial camera system that includes an imaging unit, an image generation unit, an interface unit, and a calculation unit, which captures images with a higher number of pixels than the inspection target image, downscales the images to achieve the required pixel count, and adjusts the zoom magnification to maintain inspection accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If optical zooming is used to enlarge field of view fluctuation range, then field of view range is improved, but device size and cost are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical optical zoom system with a digital image processing system. The imaging unit captures images at a first resolution, and the image generation unit generates inspection target images at a second resolution by scaling the captured images. This substitution eliminates the need for complex optical zoom lenses while achieving the same field of view fluctuation range through software-based image scaling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy of the captured image at different resolution levels. Instead of using optical zoom to physically change the field of view, the system captures a wide-field image and generates scaled-down versions (inspection target images) that simulate the effect of optical zoom. This digital copying approach achieves field of view fluctuation without the physical constraints of optical zoom lenses.
2Adaptability or versatility
If optical zooming is used to capture necessary field of view, then field of view selection is improved, but image resolution is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by capturing the entire field of view at high resolution before generating the inspection target image. The imaging unit first captures a complete image at a first resolution (higher than the inspection target image), and then the image generation unit scales this high-resolution image to generate the inspection target image at a second resolution. This preliminary high-resolution capture ensures that sufficient detail is preserved even after scaling, maintaining measurement precision while enabling field of view selection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic image generation process where the inspection target image is generated based on the captured image and scaling magnification. The system dynamically adjusts the scaling magnification to generate inspection target images at appropriate resolutions for different inspection scenarios. This dynamic approach allows the system to maintain high measurement precision by adjusting the scaling factor rather than being constrained by fixed optical zoom settings.
3Measurement precision
If manual adjustment is performed to maintain inspection accuracy, then inspection accuracy is improved, but operation complexity is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through automatic image generation. The image generation unit automatically generates inspection target images by scaling the captured images according to the specified scaling magnification. This automatic process eliminates the need for manual adjustment of camera parameters or reconfiguration of the inspection system when inspection conditions change. The system serves itself by automatically adapting to different inspection requirements through software-based image scaling, thereby maintaining inspection accuracy while simplifying operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes parameters through software rather than hardware adjustment. Instead of manually adjusting camera position, orientation, or optical parameters to maintain inspection accuracy, the system changes the scaling magnification parameter in the image generation unit. This parameter change approach allows the system to adapt to different inspection conditions by simply modifying the scaling factor, thereby maintaining inspection accuracy while dramatically reducing operation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial camera includes an imaging unit generating a captured image with a number of pixels larger than a number of pixels of the inspection target image, an image generation unit downscaling a first captured image corresponding to an output region which is a region of a field of view range (FOV) of the imaging unit in whole or part at a first scaling magnification to generate an inspection target image with a first number of pixels smaller than a number of pixels of the first captured image, an interface unit receiving a first zoom instruction to change the output region to a relatively small region, and a calculation unit calculating a second scaling magnification. The image generation unit generates an inspection target image with the first number of pixels by downscaling the second captured image at the second scaling magnification.