JP3585166B2 - Image inspection apparatus for camera module and image inspection method for camera module - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, when performing image inspection of a small camera module mounted on a mobile phone or the like, digital signals from a plurality of camera modules are simultaneously captured into one personal computer via a PCI board of the personal computer, and a moving image is obtained. The present invention relates to a camera module image inspection apparatus and a camera module image inspection method capable of displaying images on a display of a personal computer in real time as many as the number of camera modules and performing image inspection while correlating each image.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A conventional image inspection method for a small camera module will be described with reference to FIG. Conventionally, a digital signal from the camera module 11 is taken into the personal computer 13 via the PCI board 12, and a monitor 14 displays a moving image in real time.
[0003]
Further, at the same time as the image display, the brightness level, the color phase, and the like are displayed in a graph, and the personal computer determines a preset threshold, and determines the quality of the image of the camera module based on the threshold.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional method, only one camera module can be connected to one personal computer, and in order to improve the efficiency of the inspection, more personal computers and inspectors are required. It took a long time.
[0005]
Furthermore, since the determination of the quality of an image is an absolute evaluation limited to one camera module to be inspected at that time, it is difficult to perform a relative evaluation.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve such a problem of the related art, and captures digital signals from a plurality of camera modules into one personal computer via a PCI board of the personal computer to convert a moving image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera module image inspection apparatus and a camera module image inspection method capable of displaying the same number of camera modules on a display of a personal computer in real time and performing image inspection while correlating each of them. .
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An image inspection apparatus for a camera module according to the present invention is an image inspection apparatus that performs image inspection of the camera module by capturing image data from a buffer memory of the camera module into a personal computer and displaying the image data on a display of the personal computer. A data line of a PCI bus connecting a personal computer and an external peripheral device is divided into N (N is an integer of 2 or more) in a bit width direction, and one of a plurality of camera modules to be inspected is divided for each divided bit. Each of which is connected and connected, and N interrupt monitoring signal lines of the PCI bus are provided, and an interrupt signal output from the camera module when the buffer memory of each camera module becomes full is transmitted to each interrupt monitoring signal line. Are connected one by one to the It is made.
[0008]
The image inspection method for a camera module according to the present invention uses the image inspection apparatus for a camera module according to the present invention to monitor an interrupt signal output from the first camera module by the interrupt monitoring signal line and detect the interrupt signal. Then, the first image data is taken in from the buffer memory of the first camera module to the main memory of the personal computer via the bit line to which the first camera module is connected among the data lines of the PCI bus. From the step, the interrupt signal output from the Nth camera module is monitored by the interrupt monitoring signal line, and when the interrupt signal is detected, the Nth camera module among the data lines of the PCI bus is connected. From the buffer memory of the Nth camera module via the After performing the steps up to the Nth step of loading the image data into the main memory of the computer, the captured image data of the N camera modules is displayed on the display of the personal computer, and the image is inspected. Achieved.
[0009]
Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described.
[0010]
According to the present invention, when performing image inspection of a small camera module, digital signals from a plurality of camera modules are taken into one personal computer via a PCI board of the personal computer, and a moving image is captured in real time by a camera. By displaying the same number of modules on the display of the personal computer, it is possible to improve work efficiency and perform image inspection while correlating.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of an image inspection apparatus for a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, four camera modules 1 are installed on a jig connected to the PCI board 2 of the personal computer 3. In each camera module, exactly the same subject is installed under exactly the same conditions (illuminance, size, distance to the subject, angle of view).
[0013]
When the powers of the camera module and the personal computer are turned on, each of them starts operating, and an 8-bit RGB digital video signal is continuously output from the camera module side. Each camera module is provided with a buffer memory for one screen in order to improve processing speed, and outputs an interrupt signal (corresponding to a vertical synchronization signal) when the buffer memory becomes full. Until the input of the next data to the buffer memory is started, the data in this buffer memory is not updated. In addition, since each camera module is not particularly synchronized, an interrupt signal from each camera module is output at random.
[0014]
On the other hand, the personal computer uses this time to quickly fetch data from the buffer memory of the camera module when an interrupt signal is detected, and display the data on a display (monitor) via a main memory or a video memory. By repeating the above operation, the personal computer displays the moving image on the monitor in real time.
[0015]
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating the connection between the camera module and the PCI board according to the present embodiment. The PCI board of the personal computer has a PCI bus for connecting the personal computer and external peripheral devices. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the PCI bus has a 32-bit data line and four interrupt monitoring signal lines. This 32-bit data line is divided into four, and the data outputs of the four camera modules are connected in parallel for each divided bit (8 bits). Further, the interrupt signals of each camera module are connected to four interrupt monitoring signal lines of the PCI bus. Here, each camera module is CamA, CamB, CamC, and CamD, and each interrupt signal is INTA, INTB, INTC, and INTD.
[0016]
FIG. 2B is a diagram for explaining an example of the operation of the image inspection apparatus. When the personal computer fetches an image from the camera module (for example, CamA) into the main memory through the PCI board, Cam continues to fetch moving images regardless of the operation of the personal computer, and sequentially overwrites the line memory of CamA itself. Then, when the overwriting of data for one screen is completed, an interrupt signal INTA is generated. When the personal computer monitors and detects the interrupt signal INTA, it issues an address of the line memory to the camera module CamA, and reads a value (image data) stored in the address on the line memory. . This operation is repeated for one screen. The timing for reading from the line memory can be synchronized with the timing at which CamA issues another control signal.
[0017]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image inspection apparatus. The personal computer first monitors only the interrupt signal INTA from the camera module CamA (step 1), and when this is detected (step 2), the data for one screen of the camera module CamA is detected via the data line. (DATA [31:24] A) is transferred to the main memory of the personal computer (step 3).
[0018]
When the process is completed, only the interrupt signal INTB from the camera module CamB is monitored (step 4). When the interrupt signal INTB is detected (step 5), the data for one screen of the camera module CamB is transmitted via the data line. (DATA [23:16] B) is transferred to the main memory of the personal computer (step 6). When the processing is completed, only the interrupt signal INTC from the camera module CamC is monitored (step 7), and when it is detected (step 8), the data for one screen of the camera module CamC is detected via the data line. (DATA [15: 8] C) is transferred to the main memory of the personal computer (step 9). When the process is completed, only the interrupt signal INTD from the camera module CamD is monitored (step 10). When the interrupt signal INTD is detected (step 11), data for one screen of the camera module CamD is detected via the data line. (DATA [7: 0] D) is transferred to the main memory of the personal computer (step 12). Thereafter, these data are transferred to the video memory at one time (step 13), and the images of the four camera modules are displayed on the display (monitor) of the personal computer (step 14). By repeating this operation, the moving images of the four camera modules (which may be still images depending on the contents of the inspection) are displayed on the same display in real time.
[0019]
Therefore, at the time of display, by performing image processing by software inside the personal computer, a correlation between the four images is obtained, a difference in each of the luminance level, the color tone, etc. is detected, and the value is determined as the quality of the camera module. Can be used.
[0020]
Generally, in a shipment inspection of a camera module or the like, inspections such as a luminance level, a color phase, an image resolution, and the presence or absence of dust are performed. At the time of this inspection, when an image is taken into a personal computer from only one camera module and the inspection is performed, it is necessary to absolutely evaluate only the image. For example, when inspecting the luminance level, if only one defective product is mixed, when inspecting one by one, it is necessary to make an absolute evaluation of the luminance level to make a judgment. Is determined based on the data that has been inspected before and after that.
[0021]
On the other hand, according to the present invention, a plurality of images can be simultaneously acquired from a plurality of camera modules, and the inspection can be performed while correlating the images, so that the inspection accuracy can be improved and the inspection time can be reduced. It becomes possible to plan. In the above embodiment, since the brightness levels of the four cameras can be calculated simultaneously by enabling the simultaneous capture from the four camera modules to the personal computer, the comparison of the four cameras can be automatically performed by the personal computer or the like at the same time. Can be done. In this case, if only one defective product is mixed, it is possible to easily determine that the product is defective from the comparison data. The same applies to inspection items such as color phase, image resolution, and presence / absence of dust.
[0022]
In the above embodiment, the case where four camera modules are connected to the PCI bus has been described. However, when only one camera module (for example, only CamA) is used, as shown in FIG. Of the data lines having a width of 32 bits, only 8 bits are used.
[0023]
As in the above embodiment, when the camera module bus is 8 bits and only one PCI bus is used, four camera modules can be inspected. For example, in the case of a configuration in which the camera module bus is 4 bits and three PCI buses are used at the same time, 32/4 (bus width) × 3 (the number of PCI buses) = 24 camera modules are inspected. be able to.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when performing image inspection of a small camera module, digital signals from a plurality of camera modules are taken into one personal computer via a PCI board of the personal computer, Moving images (or still images) can be displayed on a display of a personal computer in real time as many as the number of camera modules, and image inspection can be performed while obtaining correlation. As a result, the inspection of a plurality of camera modules can be performed by one personal computer, and the correlation inspection of the plurality of camera modules can also be performed, so that the work efficiency can be greatly improved and the inspection accuracy can be improved. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a configuration of an image inspection device for a camera module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A is a diagram for explaining connection between a camera module and a PCI board according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2B and 2C are diagrams illustrating an operation of the image inspection apparatus of the camera module according to the embodiment; FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image inspection device of the camera module of the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a conventional camera module image inspection apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 11 Camera module 2, 12 PCI board 3, 13 Personal computer 4, 14 Monitor CamA, CamB, CamC, CamD Camera module INTA, INTB, INTC, INTD Interrupt signal

Claims (2)

In an image inspection apparatus for fetching image data from a buffer memory of a camera module into a personal computer and displaying the image data on a display of the personal computer to perform image inspection of the camera module, a PCI for connecting the personal computer to external peripheral devices The data line of the bus is divided into N (N is an integer of 2 or more) in the bit width direction, and one of a plurality of camera modules to be inspected is assigned to each divided bit and connected.
N interrupt monitoring signal lines of the PCI bus are provided, and one interrupt signal output from the camera module when the buffer memory of each camera module becomes full is connected to each interrupt monitoring signal line. An image inspection apparatus for a camera module, comprising: Using the camera module image inspection device according to claim 1,
An interrupt signal output from the first camera module is monitored by the interrupt monitor signal line, and when the interrupt signal is detected, a bit line to which the first camera module is connected among data lines of the PCI bus. From the first step of taking image data from the buffer memory of the first camera module into the main memory of the personal computer via
An interrupt signal output from the Nth camera module is monitored by the interrupt monitor signal line, and when the interrupt signal is detected, a bit line to which the Nth camera module is connected among the data lines of the PCI bus. Through the Nth step of loading image data from the buffer memory of the Nth camera module to the main memory of the personal computer via
A method for inspecting images of a camera module, comprising displaying the acquired image data of the N camera modules on a display of a personal computer and inspecting the images.

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