Gilbert W Chiang

US Patent:

60115866, Jan 4, 2000

Filed:

Dec 4, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/759497

Inventors:

Bill Lepior - Castro Valley CA
E. John McGarry - Portland OR
Fariborz Rostami - Menlo Park CA
Gilbert Chiang - San Francisco CA

Assignee:

Cognex Corporation - Natick MA

International Classification:

G02B 1316

US Classification:

348335

Abstract:

An apparatus is provided for forming an image of the periphery of an object with a camera having optics disposed at a working distance that is significantly less than the focal length of the optics, without introducing image distortion. The invention provides an image formation apparatus having a reduced effective profile height by exploiting a folded optical path to provide reduced working distance between a camera and an object of interest, such as a semiconductor wafer, as compared with direct viewing of the object. In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes two reflecting substrates, a first reflecting substrate and a second reflecting substrate. The distance between the first and second reflecting substrates determines the number of times the light rays that form the image will bounce therebetween, and consequently, the number of images of an object periphery that will appear in the field of view (FOV) of the camera. The invention provides an image formation system that can operate within the small or narrow enclosures of some existing wafer fabrication equipment. The invention also provides reduced camera vibration.

US Patent:

20220358668, Nov 10, 2022

Filed:

May 16, 2022

Appl. No.:

17/745087

Inventors:

- Natick MA, US
Hongwei Zhu - Natick MA, US
Daniel Moreno - Northbridge MA, US
Ben R. Carey - Cambridge MA, US
Nickolas J. Mullan - Ambler PA, US
Gilbert Chiang - West Linn OR, US
Yukang Liu - Natick MA, US
David J. Michael - Waban MA, US

International Classification:

G06T 7/62
G06T 7/64

Abstract:

A system and method for estimating dimensions of an approximately cuboidal object from a 3D image of the object acquired by an image sensor of the vision system processor is provided. An identification module, associated with the vision system processor, automatically identifies a 3D region in the 3D image that contains the cuboidal object. A selection module, associated with the vision system processor, automatically selects 3D image data from the 3D image that corresponds to approximate faces or boundaries of the cuboidal object. An analysis module statistically analyzes, and generates statistics for, the selected 3D image data that correspond to approximate cuboidal object faces or boundaries. A refinement module chooses statistics that correspond to improved cuboidal dimensions from among cuboidal object length, width and height. The improved cuboidal dimensions are provided as dimensions for the object. A user interface displays a plurality of interface screens for setup and runtime operation.

US Patent:

20210350496, Nov 11, 2021

Filed:

Feb 18, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/179294

Inventors:

- Natick MA, US
Andrew Parrett - Boston MA, US
Yukang Liu - Natick MA, US
Gilbert Chiang - West Linn OR, US

International Classification:

G06T 1/00
G06T 7/00
G06K 9/00
G06T 7/80
G06T 7/246
G06T 7/292

Abstract:

This invention provides a system and method for using an area scan sensor of a vision system, in conjunction with an encoder or other knowledge of motion, to capture an accurate measurement of an object larger than a single field of view (FOV) of the sensor. It identifies features/edges of the object, which are tracked from image to image, thereby providing a lightweight way to process the overall extents of the object for dimensioning purposes. Logic automatically determines if the object is longer than the FOV, and thereby causes a sequence of image acquisition snapshots to occur while the moving/conveyed object remains within the FOV until the object is no longer present in the FOV. At that point, acquisition ceases and the individual images are combined as segments in an overall image. These images can be processed to derive overall dimensions of the object based on input application details.