An illumination device for illuminating a region monitored by at least one image sensor. The illumination device has at least one light source carrier with at least one light source arranged thereon. Furthermore, the illumination device has a control and interface unit and an adjusting unit, which can be actuated by the control and interface unit and with which the light source carrier is positionally adjustable.

An inspection condition determination device comprises: an addition unit that adds data mimicking a flaw assumed to occur in an inspection target to a designated position of a three-dimensional model of the inspection target; a generation unit that generates an image without a flaw by replicating an optical condition for capturing an image of the inspection target on the three-dimensional model, and an image with the flaw by replicating the optical condition on the three-dimensional model to which the data mimicking the flaw is added; a determination unit that determines whether or not a difference between the image without a flaw and the image with the flaw at the designated position exceeds a threshold that allows detection of the flaw in the inspection target; and an extraction unit that extracts an optical condition available for detecting flaws of multiple designated patterns from multiple optical conditions.

A vehicle imaging station comprising one or more cameras each camera having an adjustable shutter speed and a field of view, the fields of view of the one or more cameras covering an vehicle imaging volume, a control unit arranged to control the shutter speed of the cameras, a vehicle speed detection device arranged to measure the speed of a vehicle moving through the vehicle imaging volume and to output detected vehicle speed data to the control unit. The control unit is arranged to automatically adjust the shutter speed of the cameras based on the detected vehicle speed data and to cause the cameras to capture one or more images with the adjusted shutter speed.

A circular scratch inspection apparatus includes: a camera capturing an image of a workpiece surface around a hole; illumination device emitting light to the workpiece surface around the hole, the light being reflected on the workpiece surface is not directly incident on the camera; and image processor. The image processor: generates a second-derivative image by performing secondary differentiation on luminance values in an actual image obtained by the camera; generates a second-derivative curve for each of a plurality of ruler lines, extending radially from the hole center and are set in an inspection target region on the workpiece surface; counts a first reference number of times for each ruler line; calculates a first reference total number of times; and determines presence or absence of a circular scratch by using the first reference total number of times.

In order to provide an illumination technique capable of illuminating an object in a plurality of illumination modes with a reduced size and at low cost, an illumination device comprises: a light emitter including first light emitting elements and second light emitting elements configured to emit light toward the object; an optical system including a first optical element configured to change a light distribution of light emitted from the first light emitting elements to a first light distribution, the optical system introducing light emitted from the second light emitting elements with a second light distribution different from the first light distribution to the object; and an illumination controller configured to mutually independently control the light emission of the first light emitting elements and the second light emitting elements.

An image of an inspection surface of a product shot with a first imaging unit is divided into partial area images. For each partial area, a narrow-angle partial area image shot with a second imaging unit is acquired under shooting conditions in a pre-learning table in which the conditions and IDs are set. For each partial area, the narrow-angle partial area image suitable for inspection is selected, an inspection image is generated, and an anomaly of the inspection surface is detected based on the inspection image. For each partial area, whether each condition is effective is determined based on a frequency of the ID included by the inspection image. For each partial area, whether a predetermined condition is established is determined, and, with respect to the partial area in which the predetermined condition is established, a post-learning table is established in which only the condition determined to be effective is set.

A method of detecting a defect in a sheet of glass includes: (i) directing a converging beam from a source of illumination onto a surface of the sheet of glass to illuminate the defect; (ii) focussing an image capture device onto a first plane to image the defect in the sheet of glass; (iii) capturing a first image of the defect; (iv) carrying out an adjustment step; and (v) capturing a second image of the defect. Each of the first and second images has a respective first portion from the illuminated defect and a respective second portion due to reflection of a portion of the beam from the glass surface. In the first image of the defect the first portion is brighter than the second portion, and in the second image of the defect the first portion is darker than the second portion. An apparatus for carrying out the method is also provided.

A computer-based system and method for taking clarity measurements of a gem, and a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, are provided and include receiving a pixilated image of a gem and identifying pixels representing an inclusion. The method and medium further include determining characteristics of the inclusion as a function of the pixels representing the inclusion, and providing a clarity grade based upon the determined characteristics. Also provided is a method for mapping a gem, and a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which include receiving a pixilated image of a gem having facet edges, and identifying pixels representing the facet edges. The method and medium further include generating a diagram of the gem, such that the diagram is a function of the pixels representing the facet edges, and superimposing the diagram onto the pixilated image.

A defect inspection device according to one or more embodiments includes an inspection device for detecting a defect by line-scanning an object, and for generating review image data for the defect, a height measurer for acquiring a reference height of the defect and a height of the defect, and for generating height data of the defect, and a defect classifier for classifying the defect based on the review image data and the height data.

The invention includes an improvement in a method of assessing a gemstone having at least one planar face with an internally reflecting surface including the steps of optically modifying the at least one planar face of the gemstone to return a sample beam from an internally reflecting plane corresponding to the at least one planar face to an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system; selectively directing the sample beam from an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system onto the gemstone; and generating an OCT image map of the gemstone to determine volume, gem carat weight and/or quality.