CONTACTLESS DETERMINING A PHYSICAL FEATURE OF A TARGET ITEM

Abstract

Systems are provided for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item. Such systems comprise a scanner unit, a detector unit and a determiner unit. The scanner unit is configured to operate according to a relative position between the target item and the scanner unit, said operation including emitting a scanning radiation onto the target item and measuring an interaction radiation caused by interaction of the scanning radiation with the target item. The detector unit includes one or more measurers configured to measure, irrespective of the relative position or variations thereof, a condition potentially distorting the operation by the scanner unit. The determiner unit is configured to determine the physical feature of the target item depending on the interaction radiation measured by the scanner unit and the potentially distorting condition measured by the detector unit. Methods and computer programs performable at or by said systems are also provided.

Claims

1. A system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item, the system comprising a terahertz scanner unit, a detector unit and a determiner unit; the terahertz scanner unit is configured to perform an operation according to a relative position between the target item and the terahertz scanner unit, the operation including emitting a terahertz scanning radiation onto the target item and measuring an interaction radiation caused by interaction of the terahertz scanning radiation with the target item; the detector unit includes one or more vibration measurers couplable to a supporting system configured to support or hold the target item or to a positioning system configured to position the terahertz scanner unit in or at the relative position, so as to measure vibrations at the supporting system or the positioning system as part of a condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit; the determiner unit is configured to determine the physical feature of the target item depending on the interaction radiation measured by the terahertz scanner unit and the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit measured by the detector unit.

2. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the determiner unit is configured to determine the physical feature of the target item by adjusting the interaction radiation and determining the physical feature of the target item depending on the adjusted interaction radiation and the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit, the adjusting of the interaction radiation including: determining whether a part of the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit is outside acceptability threshold or range and, therefore, corresponds to an unacceptable distortion, or is inside acceptability threshold or range and, therefore, corresponds to an acceptable distortion, or is inside negligibility threshold or range and, therefore, corresponds to a negligible distortion; and in case of an unacceptable distortion, determining which part of the interaction radiation corresponds in time to the unacceptable distortion and discarding the part of the interaction radiation from the adjusted interaction radiation, in case of acceptable distortion, determining which part of the interaction radiation corresponds in time to the acceptable distortion and modulating the part of the interaction radiation depending on the acceptable distortion, and in case of negligible distortion, determining which part of the interaction radiation corresponds in time to said negligible distortion and keeping the part of the interaction radiation unaltered in the adjusted interaction radiation.

3. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 2, wherein the determiner unit is configured to verify whether a ratio or accumulation or distribution of discarded part or parts of the interaction radiation is outside admissibility threshold or range and, in said case, to trigger operation of the terahertz scanner unit to measure a new interaction radiation.

4. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 2, wherein the determiner unit is configured to modulate the part of the interaction radiation corresponding in time to the acceptable distortion by applying to said part of the interaction radiation a correction factor or offset depending on the acceptable distortion.

5. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 2, wherein the determiner unit is configured to determine the physical feature of the target item depending on the adjusted interaction radiation and the potentially distorting condition by processing the adjusted interaction radiation depending on the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit.

6. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 2, wherein the determiner unit is configured to process the adjusted interaction radiation depending on the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit based on applying a reparation or correction factor or offset depending on the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit.

7. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the determiner unit includes a machine learning module trained or trainable to determine the physical feature of the target item depending on the interaction radiation measured by the scanner unit and the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit measured by the detector unit.

8. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 7, wherein the training of the machine learning module is performed or performable based on training data including all or some of interaction radiation data, data based on the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit, feature data defining or describing the target item, physical feature data of the target item that are expected to be outputted by the machine learning module.

9. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the supporting system is a transport system or is coupled to a transport system, the transport system being configured to displace the target item directly or indirectly through the supporting system.

10. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 9, wherein the transport system is configured to displace the target item in a production line directly or indirectly through the supporting system.

11. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the detector unit further includes one or more temperature measurers associable to or arrangeable at the target item and/or at a vicinity of the target item and/or at an environment including the target item, said one or more temperature measurers being configured to detect a temperature as part of the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit.

12. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the detector unit further includes one or more humidity measurers associable to or arrangeable at the target item and/or at a vicinity of the target item and/or at an environment including the target item, the one or more humidity measurers being configured to detect a humidity as part of the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit.

13. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the target item is a coating of a coated object including one or more coating layers.

14. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 13, wherein the physical feature is or includes a layer condition of the one or more coating layers.

15. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 14, wherein the layer condition is or includes a thickness of the one or more coating layers.

16. A method of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item, the method comprising: operating a terahertz scanner unit according to a relative position between the target item and the terahertz scanner unit, the operating including emitting a terahertz scanning radiation onto the target item and measuring an interaction radiation caused by interaction of the terahertz scanning radiation with the target item; operating a detector unit including one or more vibration measurers coupled to a supporting system supporting or holding the target item or to a positioning system positioning the terahertz scanner unit in or at the relative position, thereby measuring vibrations at the supporting system or the positioning system as part of a condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit; and operating a determiner unit to determine the physical feature of the target item depending on the interaction radiation measured by the terahertz scanner unit and the condition potentially distorting the operation of the terahertz scanner unit measured by the detector unit.

17. A computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computing system to perform a method according to claim 16 of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item.

18. The computer program according to claim 17, embodied on a storage medium or carried on a carrier signal.

19. A computing system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item, the computing system comprising a memory and a processor, embodying instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the instructions comprising functionality to execute the method according to claim 16 of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item.

20. The system for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to claim 1, wherein the physical feature of the target item includes an electrical parameter or a defect parameter of the target item.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Non-limiting examples of the disclosure will be described in the following, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

[0036] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating systems for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to examples.

[0037] FIG. 2 is a flow chart schematically illustrating methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to examples.

[0038] FIGS. 3A-3C schematically illustrate radiation-based measurements taken by scanner unit, possibly distortional measurements taken by detector unit, and consequent actions taken by determiner unit, according to examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating systems for contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to examples. As generally shown in the figure, such contactless systems or determiners 100 may include a scanner unit 101, a detector unit 102 and a determiner unit 103. The scanner unit 101 may be configured to operate according to a relative position or distance 111 between the target item 105 and the scanner unit 101. Operation by the scanner unit 101 may include emitting a scanning radiation 107 onto the target item 105 and measuring an interaction radiation 108 caused by interaction of the scanning radiation 107 with the target item 105. The relative position of the scanner unit 101 with respect to target item 105 may be such that the scanning radiation 107 is emitted onto the target item 105 perpendicularly.

[0040] The detector unit 102 may include one or more measurers or sensors 109, 110 configured to measure, irrespective of the relative position 111 (or variations thereof) a condition potentially distorting the operation by the scanner unit 101. The determiner unit 103 may be configured to determine the feature of the target item 105 depending on the interaction radiation 108 measured by the scanner unit 101 and the potentially distorting condition measured by the detector unit 102.

[0041] Scanner unit 101 may be radiation-based scanner unit, such as e.g. a terahertz scanner unit. Target item 105 may be a coating (of a coated object) that may include one or more coating layers. In this scenario, the physical feature (to be determined) may be or may include a layer condition of the coating layer(s) forming the coating to be inspected. In particular, the layer condition may be or may include a thickness of the whole coating layer(s) or of each of the coating layer(s).

[0042] In the particular example(s) of FIG. 1, scanner unit 101 is shown configured to operate according to reflection approach, i.e. scanning radiation 107 is reflected by/at/on target item 105 such that interaction radiation 108 is caused by said reflection. However, scanner unit 101 may also be configured to operate according to transmission approach, i.e. scanning radiation 107 is transmitted by/through target item 105 such that interaction radiation 108 is caused by said transmission. In transmission approach, scanning radiation 107 may be emitted (by, e.g., an emitter of the scanner unit 101) from first side relative to target item 105, and interaction radiation 108 may be measured (by, e.g., a sensor or measurer of the scanner unit 101) at second side that may be opposite to first side. Such first and second sides may be any sides relative to target item 105 whenever scanner unit 101 can measure interaction radiation 108 resulting from transmission of the scanning radiation 107 by/through target item 105.

[0043] Contactless determiners 100 may be configured to inspect or analyse target item 105 according to point approach, or line approach, or area approach, etc. Point or zero-dimensional approach refers to inspect target item 105 at/on one point thereof. Line or one-dimensional approach refers to inspect target item 105 at/on one line thereof. Area or two-dimensional approach refers to inspect target item 105 at/on one area thereof. In contactless determiners 100 configured to implement line approach or area approach, a positioning system (such as the ones commented in other parts of the disclosure) may be configured to position scanner unit 101 to inspect points conforming corresponding line or area on a per point basis. In other words, line or area approach may be implemented by performing a point-by-point inspection until line or area is fully inspected. Contactless determiners 100 may also be configured to inspect target item 105 at/on several points thereof that may not necessarily conform a line or area but, instead, said several points to be inspected may be separated or dispersed points of the target item 105.

[0044] Point, line or area approach may be used depending on the feature or features of the target item to be determined. Point approach may be used to, e.g., determine layer thicknesses of a coating in/on one point or several points of the target item (e.g. car body).

[0045] Area approach may be used to, e.g., determine a conductivity map of the target item. Area or line approach may be used to, e.g., determine defect(s) such as, e.g., hole(s) or gap(s) or corrosion effect(s) or any other imperfection(s) detectable based on information of several or many points of the target item as a whole, i.e. when detection may need inspection of several or many points.

[0046] As generally shown in FIG. 1, contactless determiners according to present disclosure may include one or more measurers or sensors 109, 110 which may be or may include vibration measurer(s), and/or temperature measurer(s), and/or humidity measurer(s), and/or any type of measurer(s) configured to monitor or quantify any environmental condition potentially influencing operation of the scanner unit 101 under interaction with the target item 105.

[0047] Vibration sensor(s) included in sensors 109, 110 of the detector unit 102 may be associable or couplable to the target item 105, and/or to a first auxiliary system 106 physically interacting with the target item 105, and/or to a second auxiliary system 104 physically interacting with the scanner unit 101. These one or more vibration measurers may be configured to detect vibration condition(s) which may correspond to potentially distorting condition(s).

[0048] First auxiliary system 106 may be a supporting system configured to support or hold the target item 105. Supporting system 106 may be a transport system or may be coupled or couplable to pertinent transport system configured to displace the target item directly or indirectly through the supporting system. Transport system may be included or includable in a production line to displace the target item 105 directly or indirectly through the supporting system along the production line. Vibration sensors 109 may thus be arranged or arrangeable at some or each of said supporting, transporting, production line (, etc.) parts.

[0049] Second auxiliary system may be a positioning system 104 configured to position the scanner unit 101 at the relative position (required by the scanner unit 101 to operate) with respect to the target item 105. Positioning system 104 may be a robotic system with corresponding robot base, robot arm, etc. Vibration sensors 110 may thus be arranged or arrangeable at some of said robotic parts or each of said robot parts.

[0050] Temperature measurer(s) and/or humidity measurer(s) may be associable (or linkable or couplable) to, or arrangeable (or disposable or placeable) at the target item 105, and/or at a vicinity of the target item 105, and/or at an environment including or surrounding the target item 105. Temperature measurer(s) may be configured to detect temperature condition(s) that may correspond to potentially distorting condition(s).

[0051] Humidity measurer(s) may be configured to detect humidity condition(s) which may correspond to potentially distorting condition(s). In the particular example(s) of FIG. 1, measurers 109, 110 are shown linked to target item 105 and scanner unit 101, respectively, or corresponding auxiliary system 106, 104. However, temperature and/or humidity measurer(s) may be arranged in any other position(s) where temperature and/or humidity influencing operation of scanner unit 101 with target item 105 may be measured.

[0052] Temperature measurer(s) and/or humidity measurer(s) may be arranged or arrangeable as described in other parts of the disclosure to detect environmental conditions at different locations of the contactless determiner 100, target item 105, supporting and/or transport system 106, positioning system 104, etc. Temperature and/or humidity variations my depend on different factors such as seasonal and daily variations, production operation (workload), line setup (proximity of heat sources), etc. Variation rate of these variables may thus determine necessary refresh and/or measuring period, but in principle it may not require measurements simultaneous to measurements taken by the scanner unit 101.

[0053] Scanner unit 101 and detector unit 102 may operate simultaneously to obtain radiation-based measurements (by the scanner unit 101) and measurements quantifying potentially distorting conditions (by the detector unit 102). With such two types of measurements obtained simultaneously, measurements taken by the scanner unit 101 may be qualified as taken under good or bad (i.e. favourable or unfavourable) distortion condition(s). As explained in detail in other parts of the disclosure, if it is determined that whole or part of an interaction radiation has been measured under negligible, acceptable or inacceptable distorting conditions, said whole or part of the interaction radiation may be unaltered, modulated or discarded, respectively. This determination of negligible, acceptable or inacceptable distorting conditions may be performed, as detailed in other parts of the disclosure, based on theoretically or experimentally predefined threshold(s) or range(s) or outputted by suitably trained machine learning module. Detailed examples of such negligible, acceptable or inacceptable distorting situations are described in other parts of the disclosure with reference to FIGS. 3A-3C.

[0054] Measured potentially distorting condition(s) outputted by detector unit 102 may include a classification of the type and/or severity of the potentially distorting condition(s). The severity may be determined by, e.g., magnitude thresholds. In case the magnitude is lower than a certain value no action may be applied. Discard/repeat actions may be applied to different extents such as, e.g., at interaction radiation measurement/signal (i.e. individual) level or part thereof or at measurement/signal batch (i.e. multi-measurement/signal) level.

[0055] In relation to temperature and/or humidity measurements as potentially distorting condition(s), they may also affect the interaction radiation measured by the scanner unit 101. In implementations aimed at inspecting a layered structure (e.g. coating), temperature and/or humidity magnitude(s) may also influence determined thicknesses or any other feature(s) of the layers forming the layered structure or composition. Different temperature and/or humidity condition(s) may affect the target item (under inspection) and/or operation of the scanner unit 101. For example, drying state of the layers and, hence, interaction of the scanning radiation with or between adjacent layers may influence measurement(s) to be computed by determiner unit 103. Effective layer thicknesses may thus be affected consequently, i.e. depending on temperature and/or humidity measurement(s). Although some of more or less environmental-sensitive components in contactless determiner(s), and/or in manufacturing line(s) including or cooperatively working therewith, may be included or includable in climatized cabinet(s) or similar, there may be other components (e.g. in measurement headers or fibers in, e.g., umbilical cable) that are not protected or protectable in this manner. These other components may thus be affected by temperature and/or humidity as potentially distorting condition(s).

[0056] As used herein, the term module may be understood to refer to software, firmware, hardware and/or various combinations thereof. It is noted that the modules are exemplary. The modules may be combined, integrated, separated, and/or duplicated to support various applications. Also, a function described herein as being performed by a particular module may be performed by one or more other modules and/or by one or more other devices instead of or in addition to the function performed by the described particular module.

[0057] The modules may be implemented across multiple devices, associated or linked to corresponding methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item proposed herein, and/or to other components that may be local or remote to one another.

[0058] Additionally, the modules may be moved from one device and added to another device, and/or may be included in both devices, associated to corresponding methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item proposed herein. Any software implementations may be tangibly embodied in one or more storage media, such as e.g. a memory device, a floppy disk, a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), or other devices that may store computer code.

[0059] The methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to present disclosure may be implemented by computing means, electronic means or a combination thereof. The computing means may be a set of instructions (e.g. a computer program) and then methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item may comprise a memory and a processor, embodying said set of instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor. These instructions may comprise functionality or functionalities to execute corresponding methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item such as e.g. the ones described with reference to other figures.

[0060] In case the methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item are implemented only by electronic means, a controller of the system may be, for example, a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0061] In case the methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item are a combination of electronic and computing means, the computing means may be a set of instructions (e.g. a computer program) and the electronic means may be any electronic circuit capable of implementing corresponding steps of the methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item proposed herein, such as the ones described with reference to other figures.

[0062] The computer program(s) may be embodied on a storage medium (for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a USB drive, a computer memory or a read-only memory) or carried on a carrier signal (for example, on an electrical or optical carrier signal).

[0063] The computer program(s) may be in the form of source code, object code, a code intermediate source and object code such as in partially compiled form, or in any other form suitable for use in implementing the methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to present disclosure. The carrier may be any entity or device capable of carrying the computer program(s).

[0064] For example, the carrier may comprise a storage medium, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a semiconductor ROM, or a magnetic recording medium, for example a hard disk. Further, the carrier may be a transmissible carrier such as an electrical or optical signal, which may be conveyed via electrical or optical cable or by radio or other means.

[0065] When the computer program(s) is/are embodied in a signal that may be conveyed directly by a cable or other device or means, the carrier may be constituted by such cable or other device or means. Alternatively, the carrier may be an integrated circuit in which the computer program(s) is/are embedded, the integrated circuit being adapted for performing, or for use in the performance of, the methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item proposed herein.

[0066] FIG. 2 is a flow chart schematically illustrating methods of contactless determining a physical feature of a target item according to examples. As generally shown in the figure, contactless determination methods may be initiated (e.g. at block 200) upon detection of a starting condition such as e.g. a request for starting the method or an invocation of the method from operator interface or the like. Since contactless determination methods according to FIG. 2 are performable by systems according to previous figure, number references from FIG. 1 may be reused in following description of FIG. 2.

[0067] Contactless determination methods may further include (e.g. at block 201) operating a scanner unit 101 according to a relative position 111 between target item 105 and scanner unit 101. Positioning system 104 may be responsible for arranging scanner unit 101 according to the relative position 111. Said operation of the scanner unit 101 may include emitting a scanning radiation 107 onto the target item 105 and measuring an interaction radiation 108 caused by interaction of the scanning radiation 107 with the target item 105. This functionality implemented or implementable at block 201 may be performed by e.g. scanner unit 101 previously described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0068] Functional details and considerations explained about said scanner unit 101 may thus be similarly attributed or attributable to method block 201.

[0069] Contactless determination methods may still further include (e.g. at block 202) operating a detector unit 102 including one or more measurers 109, 110 to measure, irrespective of the relative position 111 or variations thereof, a condition potentially distorting the operation by the scanner unit 101. This functionality implemented or implementable at block 202 may be performed by e.g. a detector such as detector unit 102 previously described with reference to FIG. 1. Functional details and considerations explained about said detector unit 102 may thus be similarly attributed or attributable to method block 202.

[0070] Contactless determination methods may yet further include (e.g. at block 203) operating a determiner unit 103 to determine the physical feature of the target item 105 depending on the interaction radiation 108 measured by the scanner unit 101 and the potentially distorting condition measured by the detector unit 102. This functionality implemented or implementable at block 203 may be performed by e.g. determiner unit or module 103 previously described with reference to other Figures. Functional details and considerations explained about said determiner module 103 may thus be similarly attributed or attributable to method block 203.

[0071] Contactless determination methods may terminate (e.g. at block 204) when an ending condition is detected such as e.g. once feature(s) of the target item 105 have been determined, reception of a user termination request, shutdown or deactivation of the contactless determiner performing the method, etc.

[0072] FIGS. 3A-3C schematically illustrate radiation-based measurements taken by scanner unit 101, potentially distortional measurements taken by detector unit 102, and consequent actions taken by determiner unit 103 depending thereon, according to examples. In these figures, measurement signals 300-30n, 304a-304c taken simultaneously by scanner unit 101 and detector unit 102 are shown according to two dimensions: time 302 and interaction radiation (e.g. THz) 303 in the case of those taken by scanner unit 101, and time 302 and vibration/motion (e.g. micrometres) 307 in the case of those taken by detection unit 102. Vibration/motion (e.g. micrometres) dimension 307 is only shown in FIG. 3C, but it may be similarly assumed for other FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0073] For reasons of simplicity and understanding, FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate very few measurements/signals but, in real applications, large quantities of measurements/signals may be taken to, e.g., obtain more accurate and/or reliable results. In some applications, several (or many) measurements may be taken of/from single point or different (or many) points of the target item. In examples of taking several (or many) measurements of/from single point, said measurements may be averaged such that resulting average measurement may provide more accurate or reliable information to be used to determine the feature of the target item. Moreover, if several (or many) measurements are taken, some of them may be discarded (as explained in other parts of the disclosure) while keeping good accuracy or reliability of the information obtained from non-discarded measurements.

[0074] FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate three measurements (or parts or bursts or signals) of interaction radiation 300-30n and a single measurement/signal of potentially distorting condition 304a, 304b spanning the three measurements/signals 300-30n along time 302. FIG. 3C is similar to 3A and 3B but differing in that 3C shows a single measurement/signal 300 of measured interaction radiation. FIGS. 3A and 3B also show an acceptability or admissibility threshold or range 305 to be used by determiner unit 103 for assessing measured potentially distortional condition 304a, 304b and actuating accordingly on measured interaction radiation(s) 300-30n.

[0075] In the particular example(s) of FIG. 3A, measurement/signal 301 may be discarded (by determiner unit 103) because it coincides in time with (or has been measured at same time as) a part or portion or fragment 306 of the potentially distorting condition 304a exceeding the acceptability or admissibility threshold or range 305.

[0076] Alternatively, instead of discarding the whole measurement/signal 301, only that part of the measurement/signal 301 affected by the distortional part 306 of the potentially distorting condition 304a may be discarded, and the rest of the measurement/signal 301 may be maintained for its subsequent processing. Such a decision of discarding whole or only part of an interaction radiation measurement/signal 301 may be based on, as explained in other parts of the disclosure, further threshold(s) or range(s) to determine whether the inacceptable distortion 306 affects whole or part of the interaction radiation 301, whether said affectation is meaningful or rather negligible, etc. In case of whole or meaningful part of the interaction radiation 301 is estimated useless, whole interaction radiation 301 may be discarded. Otherwise, whole or meaningful useful part of the interaction radiation 301 may be kept as valid and, therefore, usable by the determiner unit 103 to determine the physical feature of the target item. Other measurements/signals 300, 30n are shown as examples of valid or usable measurements/signals, since they have been measured during potentially distorting condition 304a within acceptability or admissibility threshold or range 305.

[0077] In the specific case of FIG. 3B, all three interaction radiation measurements/signals 301-30n are shown as invalid or useless since they have been measured (by scanner unit 101) during very distorting condition(s) 304b, i.e. generally or prominently outside acceptability or admissibility threshold or range 305. In this case, scanner unit 101 may be operated to emit new scanning radiation(s) 107 and sense corresponding interaction radiation(s) 108 or, in other words, restart new operation cycle of the contactless determiner 100 ideally under less distorting condition(s). If several operational cycles of the contactless determiner 100 are performed with inacceptable interaction radiation measurements/signals 301-30n, it may be concluded that something wrong is occurring (in e.g. manufacturing line) that must be resolved. Once problem(s) causing inacceptable distorting condition(s) has (have) been resolved, operation of the contactless determiner 100 may be restarted along with, e.g., manufacturing line.

[0078] With respect to FIG. 3C, single interaction radiation measurement/signal 300 is shown which may be qualified as occurred during admissible potentially distorting condition 304c. Then, in this scenario, measurement/signal 300 may be generally determined as acceptable and, hence, usable by determiner unit 103 to conclude about the physical property of the target item. It is particularly shown in this figure how a part 312 of the interaction radiation measurement/signal 300 (within time window 308) may be modulated by, e.g., applying corresponding correction factor or offset depending on acceptable distortion 304c, thereby obtaining a modulated interaction radiation 309 to be used in determining the physical feature. FIG. 3C further shows a substantially negligible distortion condition 310, in which case the interaction radiation 311 measured as occurred at same time may be kept unaltered to determine the physical property of the target item. Such a modulation or correction may be a time-base correction at sample or measurement level. Comparison between measured interaction radiation (dashed line) 312 and modulated/corrected interaction radiation (continuous line) 309 is shown at right side of FIG. 3C.

[0079] As denoted by FIGS. 3A-3C, whole or part of one or more interaction radiation measurements/signals 300-30n may be discarded, or kept unaltered, or modulated, or repeated, or any other described action, or combination thereof depending on potentially distorting condition(s) 304a-304c measured by detector unit 102. In contactless determiners 100 aimed at inspecting layered structures (e.g. coatings), such action or actions to be taken by, e.g., determiner unit 103 may (or may not) depend on measurement point (at which scanning radiation interacts with target item to produce interaction radiation), layers definition, etc. In implementations in which action(s) to be taken depend on measurement point and/or layers specification, one or more acceptability or permissibility or compliance thresholds may be predefined depending on such parameter(s) (i.e. measurement point and/or layers definition) to determine which action or actions are to be taken. For example, since position and/or curvature of/at measurement point may make thickness result(s) more or less susceptible to distortional condition(s), said properties of the target item at measurement point may be considered to define the cited threshold(s). Layer specs (e.g. material type) may also require having different of such thresholds.

[0080] Type classification of potentially distorting condition(s) may lead to or trigger action(s) such as discarding, modulating or correcting or adjusting, keeping unaltered, etc. some or all the data outputted and/or computed by scanner unit 101 (e.g., interaction radiation 108 or intermediate data associated thereto), repeating measurement(s), generating an error or warning (to e.g. main system or user thereof), etc. In implementations aimed at measuring layered structure(s) such as, e.g., layered coating(s), thicknesses correction or adjustment may be performed at layer level, i.e. for each of the layers forming the layered structure or composition.

[0081] A correction (or adjustment) characteristic function may be used by determiner unit 103 to perform the aforementioned classification and accordingly trigger actions defined above. Such an adjustment characteristic function may be determined by or based on artificial intelligence (AI). This AI-based approach may be based on a machine learning module (e.g., neural network) such as the one(s) described in other parts of the disclosure. For example, a set of measurements, under different conditions, during several days etc. may be defined or taken. This set of measurements may be made or defined for each individual measurement point. A first reference measurement may be taken over that same point under no potentially distorting conditions. These campaigns of measurements may be designed to teach AI algorithms (e.g. machine learning module) to determine action(s) to perform depending on corresponding inputs.

[0082] In the present disclosure, scanner unit 101 and detector unit 102 have been described as measurers of interaction radiation(s) 108 and potentially distorting condition(s), respectively, both to be used by determiner unit 103 to determine the physical feature of the target item 105. This has been described in this manner for reasons of simplicity. However, scanner unit 101 may actually generate a signal (e.g., electrical signal) representing or defining the detected interaction radiation 108 that is interpretable and processable by determiner unit 103. Similarly, detector unit 102 may actually generate a signal (e.g., electrical signal) representing or defining the detected potentially distorting condition that is also interpretable and processable by determiner unit 103.

[0083] Examples of such signals are the ones of FIGS. 3A-3C. Since this aspect is well-known in the field, no details thereon have been provided in present disclosure.

[0084] In present description, examples have been provided with one potentially distorting signal, but it is also possible to consider several potentially distorting signals from several sensors or measurers. In this multi-signal scenario, a modulation, correction or adjustment (based on, e.g., correction factor or offset) or non-alteration may be determined for each of the considered potentially distorting signals. These adjustments may then be applied (by, e.g., interaction radiation conditioner) to adjust the interaction radiation signal and/or (by, e.g., feature determiner) to determine the physical feature of the target item depending only on adjusted interaction radiation signal (single distortional approach), or on unaltered interaction radiation signal and potentially distorting signal (unalterable interaction approach), or on adjusted interaction radiation signal and potentially distorting signal (double distortional approach).

[0085] In multi-signal scenarios, an adjustment characteristic function such as the one(s) explained in other parts of the description may be defined and used. Adjustment characteristic function may be configured to output vibration type(s) and corresponding action(s) to be performed depending on input data including various signals from detector unit and possibly other parameters such as, e.g., measurement point specs, target item specs, etc. Measurement point specs refers to point specs of the target item that is radiated by scanner unit for its inspection such as, e.g., location of the point(s) to be inspected, surface curvature at the point(s) to be inspected, etc. Target item specs refers to specifications or properties of the target item that may influence the measurement performed by the scanner unit such as, e.g., material of the target item, number of layers to be inspected, material per layer (i.e. at layer level), etc. Adjustment characteristic function may be implemented by machine learning module as described in other parts of the disclosure. AI and/or blind source separation (BSS) and/or sensor fusion techniques may be applied to determine diagnosis and correction to undertake.

[0086] Examples of the adjustment characteristic function may thus be expressed in following manner:

VT,A=f(S1 . . . Sn,MP,IS) [0087] wherein: [0088] VT refers to Vibration Type(s), [0089] A refers to Action(s) to be performed according to VT, [0090] S1 . . . Sn refers to sensor signals outputted by detector unit, [0091] MP refers to Measuring Point specs, and [0092] IS refers to Item Specs (or specs of the target item).

[0093] Sensor signals (S1 . . . Sn) outputted by detector unit may include, e.g., vibration signals, temperature signals, humidity signals, etc. Action or actions may be those explained in other parts of the description.

[0094] Different threshold levels may be determined depending on measurement point and/or specification of the target item. For example, position and curvature of measurement point may cause the target item to be more or less susceptible to vibration.

[0095] Specs of the target item may also make necessary to have different thresholds. Output of the adjustment characteristic function may include, e.g., a classification of the type and/or severity of the potentially distorting vibration, humidity, temperature, etc.

[0096] Severity of a potentially distorting condition may be determined depending on magnitude thresholds. For example, if magnitude of a potentially distorting condition is within or outside certain magnitude threshold or range no action or some action may be triggered or applied, respectively. Actions (of, e.g., discarding or repeating measurement) may be applied to different extents such as, e.g., at sample or individual or signal/measurement batch level. A final vibration type classification may conclude actions such as discarding some or all signals or measurements from scanner unit, repeating measurement by scanner unit, sending an error or a warning to general cell system etc. Applying a correction or not may depend on the severity (thresholds).

[0097] In the particular case of contactless determiners aimed at measuring layer thicknesses, adjustment characteristic function may be expressed in following manner:

VT,TC=f(S1 . . . Sn,MP,LS) [0098] wherein: [0099] VT refers to Vibration Type(s), [0100] TC refers to Thickness correction(s) to be applied according to VT, [0101] S1 . . . Sn refers to sensor signals from detector unit, [0102] MP refers to Measuring Point, and [0103] LS refers to Layer Specs (or definition).

[0104] Correction of measured thicknesses may be applied at layer level, i.e. to each layer of the multi-layer composition to be inspected. Such per-layer corrections may be expressed in following manner:

[00001]$\begin{array}{c}+\mathrm{offset\_}1\left[u\right]\mathrm{for}\mathrm{layer}1\\ +\mathrm{offset\_}2\left[u\right]\mathrm{for}\mathrm{layer}2\\ .Math.\\ +\mathrm{offset\_n}\left[u\right]\mathrm{for}\mathrm{layer}n\end{array}$

[0105] Correction to be applied may depend (or not) on measurement point and/or layer specs. Different threshold levels may be determined depending on measurement point or layer specs.

[0106] Although only a number of examples have been disclosed herein, other alternatives, modifications, uses and/or equivalents thereof are possible. Furthermore, all possible combinations of the described examples are also covered. Thus, the scope of the disclosure should not be limited by particular examples.