The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 25, 2003
Filed:
May. 19, 1999
David Fishbaine, Minnetonka, MN (US);
Steven K. Case, St. Louis Park, MN (US);
John P. Konicek, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Thomas L. Volkman, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Brian D. Cohn, Northfield, MN (US);
Jeffrey A. Jalkio, St. Paul, MN (US);
CyberOptics Corporation, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Abstract
The system of the present invention reports a signal related to a physical condition of an object, such as an electronic component, with the most basic realization of the system including a vacuum quill for releasably holding the object and a motion control system for rotating the quill. The invention includes control electronics coupled to the detector for providing a trigger signal where the detector is oriented to view a stripe in a viewing plane perpendicular to the central axis of the quill, and to provide an image of the stripe. The control electronics sends a plurality of trigger signals to the detector while the motion control system rotates the quill, with each trigger signal triggering the acquisition of another image of a stripe. A processing circuit processes the plurality of images of the stripes to provide the signal related to the physical condition of the object, which can include the orientation or location of the component, the presence or absence of balls on a ball grid array, the height of a specific lead on a leaded component, the distance between the leads on a leaded component or the coplanarity of features on the component. A method for picking and placing components is also disclosed for use with the apparatus of the present invention.