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:
Nov. 21, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 28, 2000
Raymond Fix, Natick, MA (US);
Ivan Bachelder, Newton, MA (US);
Raymond Fix, Natick, MA (US);
Ivan Bachelder, Newton, MA (US);
Cognex Corporation, Natick, MA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides methods and apparatuses for finding features that are similar in the image. The invention finds the similar features by searching portions of the image for features that are substantially similar to a feature prototype. First, individual features in the image are located and designated candidate features, and optionally a spatial pattern representing a majority of the candidate features is generated. Next, feature profiles are generated therefrom, and the feature prototype is constructed using at least a subset of feature profiles. An example is described wherein the object is a ball grid array, the similar features are the solder balls on the ball grid array, the feature profiles are local images of balls of a ball grid array, and the feature prototype is an average of a sub-set of the local images of the balls.