Lead sense system for component insertion machine

Claim 1

A system for verifying the proper insertion of a row of leads of an electronic component such as a DIP into a printed circuit board prior to securing the leads to the board comprising: camera means including a plurality of photosensitive binary elements arranged in horizontal rows to define a two-dimensional array, such elements having a one value when the image sensed is dark and having a zero value when the image sensed is light, means for locating the image of each lead having an area of about three photosensitive elements wide by about eight photosensitive elements high within a corresponding discrete window of photosensitive elements defined by about eight consecutive horizontal rows of such photosensitive elements each row having about eight photosensitive elements, thus providing a window of about eight vertical rows by about eight horizontal rows, means for determining whether each of the component leads is present, including: means for ascertaining whether a selected plurality of consecutive photosensitive elements in one of the vertical rows of photosensitive elements defining each window have a one value indicating that a lead is present, means for defining the value of a given photosensitive element from a zero value to a one value when the value of the horizontally adjacent photosensitive element in the next vertical row has a one value, and means for verifying the presence of a lead when a selected number of consecutive elements in one of the vertical rows have a one value.

Claim 2

A system for verifying the proper insertion of a row of leads of an electronic component such as a DIP into a printed circuit board prior to securing the leads to the board comprising: camera means including a plurality of photosensitive binary elements arranged in horizontal rows to define a two-dimensional array, such elements having a one value when the image sensed is dark and having a zero value when the image sensed is light, means for locating the image of each lead having an area of about three photosensitive elements wide by about eight photosensitive elements high within a corresponding discrete window of photosensitive elements defined by about eight consecutive horizontal rows of such photosensitive elements each row having about eight photosensitive elements, thus providing a window of about eight vertical rows by about eight horizontal rows, means for determining whether each of the component leads is present, including: means for ascertaining whether a selected plurality of consecutive photosensitive elements in one of the vertical rows of photosensitive elements defining each window have a one value indicating that a lead is present, means for defining the value of a given photosensitive element from a zero value to a one value when the value of the horizontally adjacent photosensitive element in the next vertical row has a one value, and means for verifying the presence of a lead when a selected number of consecutive elements in one of the vertical rows have a one value.