Ampoule inspector using a television camera

Claim 2

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means for restricting the scope of the video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of ampoules to be inspected, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of ampoules being transported in the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to an initial position in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output of said discriminating means to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 3

An ampoule inspector according to claim 1, wherein said discriminating means comprises a clipper.

Claim 4

An ampoule inspector according to claim 1, wherein said resetting means includes means for detecting an ampoule to be inspected in a certain position of the field of view of said camera.

Claim 5

An ampoule inspector according to claim 1, wherein said gate means comprises horizontal gate pulses and vertical gate pulses, both of which have pulse durations which correspond, respectively, to the width and length of the inspected square area of an ampoule, and both of said gate operating means and resetting means being adapted to operate only one of said gate pulses corresponding to the direction of ampoule transporting direction.

Claim 6

An ampoule inspector according to claim 4, wherein said gate pulses are produced in response to the corresponding synchronizing pulses of video signals from said camera.

Claim 7

An ampoules inspector according to claim 4, wherein said gate operating means generates correcting pulses for changing the rise time of each of said gate pulses in succession, and said resetting means generates a resetting pulse for resetting the rising time of said gate pulse to the initial position.

Claim 8

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least two or more ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, at least one shift register for storing the output from the preceding gate means until the succeeding gate means generates the output relating to the ampoule detected by the preceding gate means so that said preceding gate means and succeeding gate means generate their respective outputs at the same time, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return said masks to an initial position in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output from said shift register to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 9

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least two or more ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, at least one shift register for storing the output from the preceding gate means until the succeeding gate means generates the output relating to the ampoule detected by the preceding gate means so that said preceding gate means and succeeding gate means generate their respective outputs at the same time, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return said masks to an initial position in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output from said shift register to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 10

An ampoules inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a a plurality of counters for counting the number of respective output pulses generated from said corresponding gate means, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output from said counters to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 11

An ampoules inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a a plurality of counters for counting the number of respective output pulses generated from said corresponding gate means, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output from said counters to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 12

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portion of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of counters each provided for counting the number of the respective output pulses from said corresponding gate means, at least one shift register for storing the output from the preceding counter until the succeeding counter generates the output relating to the ampoule detected by the preceding counter so that said preceding and succeeding gate means generate their respective outputs at the same time, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output of said shift register to separate eAch defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 13

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portion of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of counters each provided for counting the number of the respective output pulses from said corresponding gate means, at least one shift register for storing the output from the preceding counter until the succeeding counter generates the output relating to the ampoule detected by the preceding counter so that said preceding and succeeding gate means generate their respective outputs at the same time, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output of said shift register to separate eAch defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 14

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of counters each provided for counting the number of the respective output from said corresponding gate means, at least one switching means for switching said gate means so as to cause a succeeding one of said gate means to generate an output therefrom to a counter which counts the output pulses from the preceding gate means so that the counter counts both of the output pulses relating to one ampoule to be inspected, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output of said counter to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.

Claim 15

An ampoule inspector using a television camera arranged so as to view at least more than two ampoules continuously transported in a row at a constant speed across the field of view of said camera in equidistantly spaced relation to one another, which comprises means for discriminating abnormal portions of video signals from said camera indicative of defective portions of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of gate means one for each ampoule for restricting the scope of video signals of said camera to form masks defining respective certain areas corresponding to inspected areas of the ampoules to be inspected, a plurality of counters each provided for counting the number of the respective output from said corresponding gate means, at least one switching means for switching said gate means so as to cause a succeeding one of said gate means to generate an output therefrom to a counter which counts the output pulses from the preceding gate means so that the counter counts both of the output pulses relating to one ampoule to be inspected, means for operating said gate means to permit the masks to be synchronized with the video signals indicative of the ampoules transported across the field of view of said camera, means for resetting said gate means to return the masks to initial positions in the field of view of said camera, and rejecting means operated by the output of said counter to separate each defective ampoule detected by said discriminating means from the row of the ampoules.