JP7442475B2 - Judgment device, judgment method, and judgment program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a determination device, a determination method, and a determination program capable of determining the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container.

When selling liquid products, the laws and regulations of each country may require that information related to the liquid products be displayed. For example, when selling a beverage product, which is an example of a liquid product, in Japan, the name, storage method, expiry date or best-before date, raw material name, additives, content amount, etc. It is mandatory to display the amount of nutritional ingredients and caloric content, the name and address of the business operator, and the location of the manufacturing facility, etc. (Cabinet Office Ordinance No. 10 Food Labeling Standards, Article 3). In addition, when selling beverage products using polyethylene terephthalate beverage bottles as containers, it is mandatory to label the material to facilitate separate collection (Act on Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources No. 2). Article 14). Additionally, labeling may be required in accordance with guidelines set by industry organizations (for example, the National Soft Drink Industry Association).

A commonly used means of making such a display (hereinafter referred to as "mandatory labeling, etc.") is to attach a label in a manner that surrounds the container, and roll labels and shrink labels are typical labels used for this purpose. This is an example. Some of the information displayed on the label is required by law, so it is not allowed to distribute products with defective labels on the market.

Therefore, in the production of liquid products, an inspection device is used to inspect whether the label is reliably attached. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2020-27085 (Patent Document 1) discloses a label inspection device that determines whether a label is properly attached based on an image taken from above of a container being transported by a transporting means. Further, Japanese Patent No. 6359364 (Patent Document 2) discloses a container inspection device that determines the quality of a label based on an image taken from the side of the container.

JP2020-27085A Patent No. 6359364

In recent years, with the aim of appealing to consumers by using the design of the container itself or the appearance of the liquid product as a unique feature of the product, attachments that are smaller in area than conventional labels have been attached to the shoulder of the container, etc. Attempts are being made to display mandatory information on objects. In this case, many parts of the container will be exposed without being covered by the label, but if the container is made of a material that easily reflects light, such as glass or plastic, the surface of the container that tends to reflect light will will be exposed more. For a liquid product with such a configuration, when trying to determine whether the label is properly attached using the label inspection device of Patent Document 1, for example, it is difficult to determine whether the attachment is correctly attached to the container to be inspected and the surface of the container to be inspected. In some cases, it was not possible to distinguish between objects reflected in the image, and it was sometimes incorrectly determined whether the label was attached properly or not.

Therefore, there is a need to realize a determination device, a determination method, and a determination program that can determine the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a container while eliminating the influence of reflection on the container.

The determination device according to the present invention is a determination device capable of determining the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container, at least a portion of which is coated with fluorescent paint. An imaging device capable of capturing an image from the side, an ultraviolet irradiation device capable of irradiating the container with ultraviolet rays, and a calculation device, the calculation device performing an acquisition process of acquiring image data imaged by the imaging device. , a top surface region specifying process for specifying a top surface region that is a region corresponding to the top surface of the image data; and a top surface region specifying process for specifying a top surface region that is a region corresponding to the top surface of the image data; , is configured to be able to execute an inspection area specifying process for specifying the inspection area as an inspection area, and a determination process for determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment in the inspection area, and the predetermined condition is that the upper surface area The condition is characterized in that the distance from the object is within a predetermined reference value .

Further, the determination method according to the present invention is a determination method in which a determination device including an imaging device, an ultraviolet irradiation device, and a calculation device determines the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container, at least a portion of the attachment is coated with a fluorescent paint, an acquisition step of acquiring image data obtained by imaging the container from the top surface side, and an upper surface region of the image data that is a region corresponding to the top surface. a top surface area specifying step for specifying an area of the image data that is extracted according to a predetermined condition based on the top surface area as an inspection area; a determination step of determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the object , and the predetermined condition is characterized in that a distance from the upper surface area is within a predetermined reference value. .

Further, the determination program according to the present invention determines the presence or absence of an attachment that is attached to a bottle-shaped container and has at least a portion coated with fluorescent paint, based on image data obtained by imaging the container from the top side. A possible determination program includes an upper surface area specifying process for identifying an upper surface area corresponding to the upper surface of the image data, and a predetermined determination process based on the upper surface area of the image data. A computer is caused to execute an inspection area specifying process for specifying an area extracted according to a condition as an inspection area, and a determination process for determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment in the inspection area , and the predetermined condition is , the condition includes that the distance from the upper surface area is within a predetermined reference value .

According to these configurations, the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a container can be determined while eliminating the influence of reflection on the container. With the above configuration, the container can be imaged while being irradiated with ultraviolet rays so that the fluorescent paint applied to the attachment emits fluorescence, so it is possible to obtain an image of the attachment specifically emitting fluorescence. By making a determination based on this image, it is possible to clearly distinguish between an attachment that emits fluorescence and a reflected image that does not emit fluorescence.
In addition, if the predetermined condition includes that the distance from the top surface area is within a predetermined reference value, it will be appropriate to attach the attachment to the area around the mouth or shoulder of the container. Since the inspection area can be set, the determination accuracy can be improved.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments described below.

In one aspect of the determination device according to the present invention, the container has a support ring, and in the upper surface area specifying process, the inside of the area corresponding to the support ring in the image data is specified as the upper surface area. It is preferable.

According to this configuration, the upper surface area can be correctly specified by utilizing the fact that the support ring tends to appear brighter than other parts in the image data, and thereby the determination accuracy can be improved.

In one aspect of the determination device according to the present invention, the upper surface of the container is printed, and in the upper surface area specifying process, the upper surface is determined based on an area corresponding to the printing of the image data. Preferably, the area is specified.

According to this configuration, the upper surface area can be correctly identified by utilizing the fact that the printing on the upper surface of the container tends to appear brighter than other parts in the image data, and thereby the determination accuracy can be improved.

In one aspect of the determination device according to the present invention, the imaging device is capable of simultaneously capturing images of a plurality of the containers arranged on one axis, and the arithmetic device is configured to perform imaging of the plurality of containers in the upper surface region specifying process. The upper surface area is specified for each of the containers, and in the inspection area specifying process, the inspection area is specified for each of the plurality of containers, and the predetermined condition is the inspection area for each of the two adjacent containers. Preferably, the regions are set so that they do not overlap, and in the determination process, the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment is preferably determined for each of the plurality of containers.

According to this configuration, even when a plurality of containers are determined at the same time, appropriate determination results can be obtained for each container. In particular, even if reflections may occur due to adjacent containers, the presence or absence of an attachment can be accurately determined.

As one aspect of the determination device according to the present invention, when it is determined in the determination process that there is a portion corresponding to the attachment, it is preferable that the determination device further determines the quantity of the portion corresponding to the attachment.

According to this configuration, in addition to an abnormality in which no attachment is attached to the container, it is also possible to detect an abnormality in which an excessive attachment is attached to the container.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the following description of exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, written with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing how the determination device according to the embodiment is used. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a plastic bottle according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of image data according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of binarized image data according to the embodiment.

Embodiments of a determination device, a determination method, and a determination program according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, the determination device according to the present invention is applied to a determination device 1 (FIG. 1) that can determine the presence or absence of an adhesive label L (an example of an attachment) attached to a plastic bottle B (an example of a bottle-shaped container). An example will be explained below.

[PET bottle composition]
PET bottle B is a bottle-shaped container made of polyethylene terephthalate (FIG. 2). An adhesive label L is attached to the shoulder of the plastic bottle B. A fluorescent paint is applied to the adhesive label L in advance before the adhesive label L is attached to the plastic bottle B (example attached). The mouth of the plastic bottle B is sealed with a lid C, and a support ring S is provided below the mouth. The support ring S extends radially outward from the mouth, and the diameter of the support ring S is larger than the diameter of the lid C. Note that the support ring S is a part that is supported by the filling device during the process of filling the PET bottle B with a liquid product.

[Configuration of determination device]
The determination device 1 includes an imaging device 2, an ultraviolet irradiation device 3, and a calculation device 4 (FIG. 1). The imaging device 2 is implemented as a digital camera capable of outputting image data, and the arithmetic device 4 is implemented as a computer.

On the shipping line for PET bottles B, a row of 24 PET bottles B (6 bottles x 4 bottles) is formed, and after the row is slid onto a blank sheet, the blank sheet is assembled into a box. Through these steps, a packaged product containing 24 PET bottles B is completed. In this embodiment, the imaging device 2 is provided above the path along which a row of 24 plastic bottles B is slid onto a blank sheet. The imaging device 2 is provided so that its imaging range includes six PET bottles B (an example of a plurality of containers arranged on one axis) on an axis Y perpendicular to the moving direction X of the PET bottles B. . The imaging device 2 generates image data 5 by imaging a row of plastic bottles B that are being slid onto a blank sheet. In this way, the imaging device 2 can image the plastic bottle B from above (lid C side).

The ultraviolet irradiation device 3 is configured to be able to irradiate six plastic bottles B within the imaging range of the imaging device 2 with ultraviolet rays. The ultraviolet rays irradiated onto the plastic bottle B from the ultraviolet irradiation device 3 contain a component of the excitation wavelength of the fluorescent paint applied to the adhesive label L. Therefore, when the adhesive label L receives ultraviolet rays irradiated from the ultraviolet irradiation device 3, the fluorescent paint applied to the adhesive label L emits fluorescence. The imaging device 2 images the PET bottle B that is being irradiated with ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet irradiation device 3.

The arithmetic device 4 is implemented as a computer capable of acquiring image data 5 captured by the imaging device 2 and capable of executing a series of processes for determining the presence or absence of the adhesive label L based on the image data 5. Below, a series of processes for determining the presence or absence of the adhesive label L will be explained in order. Note that each process is performed for each portion of the image data 5 that corresponds to each of the six plastic bottles B.

First, the computing device 4 acquires the image data 5. Since the adhesive label L emits fluorescence, the portion of the image data 5 corresponding to the adhesive label L has clearly higher brightness than other areas. Further, since the support ring S is formed thicker than other areas of the plastic bottle B, it reflects light diffusely, and as a result, the brightness tends to be higher in the image data 5 than other areas. In addition, since the material forming the printed matter applied to the top surface of the lid C contains some fluorescent substances, the brightness of the printed matter also tends to be higher than other areas in the image data 5. .

Second, the arithmetic device 4 performs a binarization process on the image data 5. FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the image data 51 after the binarization process. In FIG. 4, only bright areas after the binarization process are colored, and uncolored areas represent dark areas. Furthermore, in FIG. 4, portions corresponding to the six PET bottles B to be imaged are indicated by broken lines.

The image data 51 after the binarization process includes a portion corresponding to the adhesive label L (bright area 52), a portion corresponding to the support ring S (bright area 53), and a portion corresponding to the printed matter on the top surface of the lid C ( There is a bright area 54). The bright area 52 appears as a bright area with a shape corresponding to the adhesive label L, and has the highest brightness in the image data 51 because the adhesive label L emits fluorescence. The bright area 53 appears as an annular bright area corresponding to the support ring S. The bright area 54 appears as a bright area with a shape corresponding to the shape of the printed matter on the top surface of the lid C (star-shaped in this embodiment). The boundaries between the bright areas 53 and 54 and the dark areas may be less clear than the boundaries between the bright areas 52 and the dark areas. The threshold value for the binarization process is preferably set to a value as large as possible as long as at least one of the bright areas 53 and 54 is recognized as a bright area.

Thirdly, the arithmetic device 4 executes an upper surface area specifying process for specifying an upper surface area 55, which is an area corresponding to the upper surface of the lid C (an example of the upper surface of a container), of the image data 51. In the image data 51, when a bright area 53 corresponding to the support ring S is specified, the inside of the bright area 53 is specified as the upper surface area 55. In the image data 51, if a bright area 54 corresponding to the printed material on the top surface of the lid C is specified, a predetermined range extending around the bright area 54 is specified as the top area 55. Either the identification method based on the bright area 53 or the identification method based on the bright area 54 may be employed, and for example, a more preferable identification method may be used for each plastic bottle B. Here, a more preferable identification method may be selected based on criteria such as selecting a identification method based on the bright area 53 and the bright area 54 having higher brightness.

Fourth, the arithmetic device 4 executes an inspection area specifying process for specifying an area extending radially outward of the upper surface area 55 as an inspection area 56 . Specifically, a square area of 65 mm on each side centered on the center of the upper surface area 55 (an example of a predetermined condition based on the upper surface area) is specified as the inspection area 56. Here, the length of one side of the inspection area 56 (65 mm) is set in consideration of the top view dimensions of the PET bottles B, and the distance Dx between the central axes of the PET bottles B when they are lined up (FIG. 3). set to a smaller value. Thereby, the inspection area 56 is specified so as to substantially include a portion corresponding to a certain PET bottle B in the image data 51, and not include a portion corresponding to an adjacent PET bottle B within the area. At this time, the inspection areas 56 related to the plurality of plastic bottles B do not overlap with each other. Note that if the top view dimensions of the plastic bottle B differ, the size of the appropriate range of the inspection area 56 also differs, so the length of one side of the inspection area 56 is appropriately set according to the top view size of the plastic bottle B.

Fifth, the arithmetic device 4 executes a determination process for determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the adhesive label L in the inspection area 56. In this embodiment, the adhesive label L is affixed to the PET bottle B in such a way that it rises upward from the shoulder. Therefore, if the bright area 52 exists in the inspection area 56 extending outside the upper surface area 55, the adhesive label L It is determined that it is pasted. On the other hand, if the bright area 52 does not exist within the inspection area 56, it is determined that the adhesive label L is not attached. This makes it possible to detect an abnormality where the adhesive label L is not attached to the plastic bottle B.

As described above, in this embodiment, the presence or absence of the adhesive label L is determined based on the fact that the portion corresponding to the adhesive label L appears as a bright area 52 in the image data 51 due to the fluorescent paint applied to the adhesive label L. judge. Therefore, the determination result is not affected by objects reflected on the shoulder of the plastic bottle B.

Furthermore, when bright areas 52 exist within the inspection area 56, the number of bright areas 52 within the inspection area 56 is detected at the same time. Since the quantity in the bright area 52 corresponds to the quantity of adhesive labels L attached to the plastic bottle B, for example, an abnormality in the form of a plurality of adhesive labels L attached to one plastic bottle B can be detected. sell.

The arithmetic device 4 performs the above series of processes for each portion of the image data 5 that corresponds to each of the six plastic bottles B. Then, when one adhesive label L is attached to each of the six plastic bottles B, it is determined that the six plastic bottles B are normal. Furthermore, if this determination is repeated four times and it is determined that one adhesive label L is affixed to each of the 24 PET bottles B as a packaging unit, then the 24 PET bottles B are It is determined to be normal. On the other hand, if an abnormality is detected in which the adhesive label L is not affixed to at least one of the 24 PET bottles B, or the adhesive label L is affixed to at least one of the 24 PET bottles B, the abnormality is detected. It is determined that 24 PET bottles B including the detected PET bottle B are abnormal. At this time, the computing device 4 sends a signal to issue an alarm to notify the administrator that an abnormality has occurred, and an operation to exclude the package containing the PET bottle B determined to be abnormal from the products to be shipped. , a signal to cause the devices making up the shipping line to perform the operation, and a signal to stop the operation of each device making up the shipping line.

[Other embodiments]
Finally, other embodiments of the determination device, determination method, and determination program according to the present invention will be described. Note that the configurations disclosed in each of the embodiments below can be applied in combination with the configurations disclosed in other embodiments as long as no contradiction occurs.

In the embodiment described above, an example in which the determination device 1 is configured to be able to determine the presence or absence of the adhesive label L attached to the plastic bottle B has been described. However, the shape of the attachment to be determined in the present invention is not limited as long as it can be attached to a bottle-shaped container, and may be, for example, a tag fitted to the mouth of the container.

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration has been described as an example in which the binarization process is performed prior to the top area specifying process, and the top area specifying process is executed based on the image data 51 after the binarized process. However, in the present invention, a pre-processing step performed prior to the upper surface region specifying process may or may not be provided. Furthermore, such preprocessing is not limited to the binarization process exemplified above, and any process commonly used in the field of image analysis may be applied.

In the above embodiment, as a method for specifying the upper surface area in the upper surface area specifying process, there is a method of specifying the inside of the bright area 53 corresponding to the support ring S as the upper surface area 55, and a method of specifying the inside of the bright area 53 corresponding to the support ring S, and a method of specifying the inside of the bright area 53 corresponding to the support ring S, and a method of specifying the inside of the bright area 53 corresponding to the support ring S, and The method of specifying a predetermined range extending around the bright area 54 as the upper surface area 55 has been illustrated. However, in the present invention, the method of identifying the upper surface area is not particularly limited, and for example, the method of identifying the upper surface area based on the difference in color between the upper surface of the container and other parts may be used.

In the above embodiment, the configuration has been described as an example in which a square range centered on the center of the upper surface area 55 is specified as the inspection area 56 in the inspection area specifying process. However, the method of specifying the inspection area in the present invention is not particularly limited, and for example, a circular area expanding around the upper surface area may be specified as the inspection area.

In the present invention, a specific algorithm for the determination process can be set as appropriate depending on the shape of the container and the attachment, the attachment method of the attachment, and the like. Also, for example, if you prepare training data for both or one of the case where a container and attachments exist and the case where only a container exists, and have the arithmetic device construct a trained model based on the training data, , it is possible to determine whether there is a part corresponding to the attachment based on the learned model.

In the above embodiment, an example of a configuration will be described in which a row of six plastic bottles B arranged on one axis is imaged at once, and the presence or absence of the adhesive label L on the six plastic bottles B is determined at once. did. However, in the present invention, the number of containers to be determined at one time may be singular or plural.

Regarding other configurations, it should be understood that the embodiments disclosed in this specification are illustrative in all respects, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereby. Those skilled in the art will easily understand that modifications can be made as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, other embodiments that are modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention are naturally included within the scope of the present invention.

The present invention can be used, for example, to determine the presence or absence of an adhesive label attached to a plastic bottle.

1: Judgment device 2: Imaging device 3: Ultraviolet irradiation device 4: Arithmetic device 5: Image data 51: Binarized image data 52: Bright area (label)
53: Bright area (support ring)
54: Bright area (printed matter)
55: Top area 56: Inspection area B: Plastic bottle S: Support ring C: Lid L: Adhesive label

Claims (7)

A determination device capable of determining the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container, at least a portion of which is coated with fluorescent paint,
an imaging device capable of capturing an image of the container from the top side of the container;
an ultraviolet irradiation device capable of irradiating the container with ultraviolet rays;
comprising a computing device;
The arithmetic device is
an acquisition process of acquiring image data captured by the imaging device;
a top surface area specifying process for specifying a top surface area that is a region corresponding to the top surface in the image data;
Inspection area specifying processing that specifies, as an inspection area, an area of the image data that is extracted according to a predetermined condition based on the upper surface area;
a determination process for determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment in the inspection area ;
In the determination device, the predetermined condition includes that a distance from the upper surface area is within a predetermined reference value . the container has a support ring;
2. The determination device according to claim 1 , wherein in the upper surface area specifying process, an inner side of a region of the image data corresponding to the support ring is specified as the upper surface area. The upper surface of the container is printed,
3. The determination device according to claim 1, wherein in the upper surface area specifying process, the upper surface area is specified based on an area corresponding to the printing of the image data. The imaging device is capable of simultaneously imaging a plurality of containers arranged on one axis,
The arithmetic device is
In the upper surface area specifying process, specifying the upper surface area for each of the plurality of containers,
In the inspection area specifying process, the inspection area is specified for each of the plurality of containers, and the predetermined condition is set so that the inspection areas of two adjacent containers do not overlap. is,
4. The determination device according to claim 1, wherein in the determination process, the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment is determined for each of the plurality of containers. 5. The determination device according to claim 1, further determining the quantity of the portion corresponding to the attachment when it is determined in the determination process that there is a portion corresponding to the attachment. A determination method in which a determination device including an imaging device, an ultraviolet irradiation device, and a calculation device determines the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container,
At least a portion of the attachment is coated with fluorescent paint,
an acquisition step of acquiring image data obtained by imaging the container from the top side;
a top surface region specifying step of specifying a top surface region that is a region corresponding to the top surface in the image data;
an inspection area specifying step of specifying, as an inspection area, an area of the image data that is extracted according to a predetermined condition based on the upper surface area;
a determination step of determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment in the inspection area ,
In the determination method, the predetermined condition is a condition including that a separation distance from the upper surface area is within a predetermined reference value . A determination program capable of determining the presence or absence of an attachment attached to a bottle-shaped container, at least a portion of which is coated with fluorescent paint, based on image data obtained by imaging the container from the top side,
a top surface area specifying process for specifying a top surface area that is a region corresponding to the top surface in the image data;
Inspection area specifying processing that specifies, as an inspection area, an area of the image data that is extracted according to a predetermined condition based on the upper surface area;
causing a computer to execute a determination process of determining the presence or absence of a portion corresponding to the attachment in the inspection area ;
The determination program includes the predetermined condition including that a distance from the upper surface area is within a predetermined reference value .

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