Print Inspection Area Segmentation to Exclude Discarded Parts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional inspection methods for print products fail to distinguish between discardable and non-discardable parts, leading to unnecessary inspections and false failures in seal/label printing where trim marks are absent, due to adherence of dust or dirt on discardable parts.
Innovation Solution
An inspection apparatus determines an inspection area by excluding parts to be discarded through an unnecessary part removal process, comparing a reference image with the inspection target image to focus on relevant areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire print product is inspected including disposal parts, then inspection coverage is complete, but false failures occur due to dust or dirt on discarded areas
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection area is segmented into two distinct regions: a first area corresponding to the image part that will remain on the carrier, and a second area corresponding to the disposal part that will be removed. The controller performs inspection only on the first area, excluding the second area from inspection targets. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by focusing inspection resources on relevant areas, preventing false failures from dust on discarded portions while maintaining inspection accuracy for the actual product.
Solution Approach 2:
Different inspection strategies are applied to different regions of the print product. The first area (image part to be retained) receives full inspection scrutiny, while the second area (disposal part) is excluded from inspection. This local differentiation of inspection quality resolves the contradiction by applying appropriate inspection rigor only where necessary, eliminating false failures from dust on discarded areas while ensuring thorough inspection of the actual product.
2Reliability
If the disposal part is excluded from inspection, then false failures are prevented, but the inspection area determination becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The controller determines the inspection area in advance by identifying the first area corresponding to the image part and the second area corresponding to the disposal part before performing the actual inspection. By pre-defining which areas to inspect and which to exclude based on the print product structure and disposal part locations, the system resolves the contradiction between preventing false failures and maintaining simple inspection area determination. The preliminary area classification enables automatic exclusion of disposal parts without adding complex real-time decision-making during inspection.
Data Source
AI summary
An inspection apparatus reads a print product formed by an image forming device to obtain an inspection target image, obtains a reference image to be used in an inspection of the inspection target image, determines an inspection area to be targeted in an inspection in the reference image in accordance with whether or not an unnecessary part removal process for removing an unnecessary part of the print product is executed, and, based on the inspection area, performs the inspection by comparing the reference image and the inspection target image. When determining the inspection area, the inspection apparatus determines an area remaining after removing a part corresponding to the unnecessary part from the reference image to be the inspection area in a case of that the unnecessary part removal process is executed.