KR101939844B1 - Apparatus and method of testing a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

The substrate inspection apparatus includes a camera for dividing a substrate into cells of a predetermined size, a camera for acquiring a color image of a lit cell, and a file generating unit for generating an image file including the substrate information and the pattern information of the lit- And an image file is received through a transmitting unit and a transmitting unit for transmitting an image file, and the image quality of the substrate can be checked. By creating an image file, the color image can be encrypted to improve the security of the substrate inspection process.

Description

[0001] Apparatus and method for testing a substrate [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate inspection apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a substrate inspection apparatus and method for inspecting an image quality of a substrate using an image of a lighted cell.

In general, a liquid crystal substrate, an LED substrate, or the like is checked for defects of the substrate through a lighting test.

According to the related art, a camera is first photographed with a camera, and an image is generated. Then, the generated image is transmitted to an image quality checking unit to check whether the image is abnormal, and the defect of the substrate is inspected.

At this time, the image quality checking unit checks the image and proceeds to photograph another cell only when the cell is confirmed as normal. The image quality checking unit checks the image, and if the cell is found abnormal, an error is generated and the inspection process for the substrate is interrupted.

Therefore, the inspection of the substrate may be repeatedly stopped according to the result of the checking of the image, so that the efficiency of the inspection process on the substrate may be reduced.

The present invention provides a substrate inspection apparatus capable of performing inspection on a substrate irrespective of a confirmation result on a cell image of the substrate.

The present invention provides a substrate inspection method capable of performing inspection on a substrate regardless of a confirmation result on a cell image of the substrate.

The apparatus for inspecting a substrate according to the present invention includes a camera for dividing a substrate into cells of a predetermined size and obtaining a color image of a lit cell, A file generating unit for generating a file, a transmitting unit for storing the image file and transmitting the image file, and an image quality checking unit for receiving the image file through the transmitting unit and examining the image quality of the substrate.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the color image acquisition of the camera, the image file creation of the file generation unit, and the image file storage of the storage unit may be repeatedly performed regardless of whether the transmission unit transmits the image file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate information includes an ID of a substrate, a substrate size, a cell size, a cell count, a pixel size, and a substrate type, and the pattern information may include a pattern number and a pattern name .

A method for inspecting a substrate according to the present invention includes the steps of: obtaining a color image of a lit cell; generating an image file including the substrate information and the pattern information of the lit cell in the color image; Storing the image file for transmission to an image quality checking unit for checking the image quality of the substrate, and performing an inspection on the stored image file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method of inspecting a substrate may further include acquiring the color image regardless of whether the image file is transmitted to the image quality checking unit, generating the image file, Can be repeated.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the checking of the stored image file may include checking whether communication with the image quality checking unit is established, and if the communication connection with the image quality checking unit is confirmed, Checking whether the image file exists or not; transmitting the image file to the image quality checking unit via communication if the image file to be transmitted exists; and checking whether the image quality of the substrate is normal using the transmitted image file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the checking of the stored image file may further include deleting the transmitted image file if the quality of the substrate is confirmed to be normal.

According to the substrate inspection apparatus and method of the present invention, substrate information and pattern information are added to a color image to encrypt the color image while generating an image file. Thus, the security of the inspection process of the substrate can be enhanced.

In addition, the apparatus and method for inspecting a substrate may perform the color image acquisition, the image file generation, and the image file storage repeatedly irrespective of a communication connection state between the transmitting unit and the image quality checking unit. Therefore, the inspection of the substrate can be continuously performed without interruption.

1 is a block diagram for explaining a substrate inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a plan view for explaining a substrate to be inspected.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of inspecting a substrate according to one embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart for explaining a video file checking method of FIG.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for inspecting a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is capable of various modifications and various forms, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the text. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing. In the accompanying drawings, the dimensions of the structures are enlarged to illustrate the present invention in order to clarify the present invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprises", "having", and the like are used to specify that a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a part or a combination thereof is described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a substrate inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining a substrate to be inspected.

1 and 2, the substrate inspection apparatus 100 is for inspecting the image quality of the substrate 10 and includes a camera 110, a file generation unit 120, a transmission unit 130, and an image quality inspection unit 140 ).

The substrate 10 is divided into a plurality of cells 12 having a predetermined size, and each cell 12 may include a plurality of pixels 14.

The camera 110 captures and acquires a color image of the lit cell 12. The cell 12 may be illuminated in white, red, green, blue, or the like. The color image may be a bitmap image.

The file generation unit 120 receives the color image from the camera 110 and generates an image file including the substrate information and the pattern information of the lit cells 12 in the color image.

In the image file, the color image has a form of bitmap image information.

The substrate information includes the ID of the substrate, the size of the substrate, the cell size, the cell count, the pixel size, and the substrate type.

The ID of the substrate is used to identify the substrate 10, and may include numbers, alphabets, and Korean characters. The size of the substrate refers to the horizontal and vertical sizes of the substrate 10. The cell size refers to the horizontal size and the vertical size of the cell 12 in which the substrate 10 is divided into a predetermined size. The cell count means the number of horizontal and vertical cells 12. The pixel size means a horizontal size and a vertical size of each pixel 14. The substrate type indicates whether the substrate 10 is a margin substrate or an analysis substrate. The margin substrate is a substrate on which a predetermined area of the substrate 10 is photographed and inspected mechanically. The analysis substrate is a substrate directly inspected by a microscope for inspecting the image quality of the substrate 10.

The pattern information includes a pattern number of the lit cells 12 and a pattern name. The number of patterns means the number of patterns that can be lit in the cell 12, and the cell 12 may be lit in white, red, green, blue, and the like. The pattern name refers to a current value and a signal necessary for lighting the cell 12 to white, red, green, and blue, respectively.

The image file may further include pattern list information and bitmap header information.

The pattern list information includes a number of the patterns and a list of the patterns.

The bitmap header information includes the bitmap size of the color image and the name of the bitmap.

The file generation unit 120 generates the image file to encrypt the color image. Therefore, the image file has the structure including the substrate information, the pattern information, the pattern list information, the bitmap header information, and the bitmap information of the color image. If the structure of the image file is unknown, I can not.

The transmitting unit 130 stores the image file generated by the file generating unit 120 and transmits the stored image file to the image quality checking unit 140. The transmission unit 130 is connected to the image quality checking unit 140 through wired / wireless communication. The transmission unit 130 may delete the stored image file when the image file is transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140. [

The transmission unit 130 waits while the image file is stored until the image quality checking unit 140 establishes a communication connection with the image quality checking unit 140.

Whether communication is established between the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 and whether the transmission unit 130 transmits the image file to the image quality checking unit 140, The generation of the image file by the generation unit 120 and the storage of the image file by the transfer unit 130 are repeated. That is, whether or not the transmitting unit 130 transmits the image file to the image quality checking unit 140, the camera 110 acquires color images of the different cells 12 that are lighted up, and the file generating unit 120 Generates the color images as image files. Therefore, the inspection process for the substrate 10 can be performed without interruption regardless of the connection state between the transfer unit 130 and the image quality inspection unit 140.

The generated image files are stored in the transmission unit 130 and then transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140.

If the connection through the communication between the transmission unit 130 and the image quality inspection unit 140 is not established, the transmission unit 13 can store a plurality of image files. Even if the image files are transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 after the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are connected through the communication, the image file is transferred to the substrate It is possible to precisely confirm which pattern of the cell 12 in which the image is related to which pattern.

The image quality inspection unit 140 receives the image file through the transmission unit 130 and checks the image quality of the substrate. The image quality checking unit 140 may check the image quality of the cell 12 by comparing the image file with a preset reference file or may inspect the image file of the cell 12 by the inspector. If it is determined that the image file is normal as a result of the image quality check by the image quality checking unit 140, the image file can be deleted.

The substrate inspection apparatus 100 can secure the inspection process of the substrate 10 because the color image is encrypted while generating the image file in the file generation unit 120. [

In addition, the substrate inspection apparatus 100 may acquire color images of the camera 110, generate image files of the file generation unit 120, and transmit the image files to the transmission unit 130, irrespective of the communication connection state between the transmission unit 130 and the image quality inspection unit 140 130 can be repeatedly performed, so that the substrate inspection apparatus 100 can be continuously driven.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of inspecting a substrate according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the substrate inspection method first obtains a color image for the lit cell 12 (S100).

The substrate 10 is divided into a plurality of cells 12 having a predetermined size and a color image for the lit cells 12 is acquired using the camera 110 after one cell 12 is lit . The cell 12 may be illuminated in various colors such as white, red, green, and blue, and the color image may be a bitmap image.

When the color image is acquired, an image file is generated using the color image (S200).

Specifically, the image file includes the substrate information and the pattern information of the lit cells 12 in the color image. The file creation unit 120 may create the image file.

In the image file, the color image has a form of bitmap image information.

The substrate information includes an ID of a substrate, a size of a substrate, a cell size, a cell count, a pixel size, and a substrate type, and the pattern information includes a pattern number and a pattern name of the lit cells 12. In addition, the image file may further include pattern list information and bitmap header information.

The substrate information, the pattern information, the pattern list information, and the bitmap header information are described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

And the color image is encrypted by generating the image file. Therefore, the image file has the structure including the substrate information, the pattern information, the pattern list information, the bitmap header information, and the bitmap information of the color image. If the structure of the image file is unknown, I can not.

When the image file is generated, the image file is stored (S300).

The generated image file is stored in the transmission unit 130 and waits for transmission to the image quality checking unit 140. [ If the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are not in communication with each other, a plurality of image files may be stored in the transmission unit 13.

The stored image file is inspected (S400).

4 is a flowchart for explaining a video file checking method of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step S410, it is determined whether a communication connection with the image quality checking unit 140 is performed to check the stored image file.

The transmission unit 130 is connected to the image quality checking unit 140 through wired / wireless communication. And confirms the connection of the image file to the image quality checking unit 140. [ If the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are not connected to each other, the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are repeatedly checked. If the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are not connected to each other, the image file is maintained in a standby state.

Meanwhile, the color image acquisition process S100, the image file generation process S200, and the image file storage process S300 may be repeatedly performed regardless of the connection state between the transmission unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 have. Therefore, the inspection process for the substrate 10 can be performed without interruption regardless of the connection state between the transfer unit 130 and the image quality inspection unit 140.

If the communication connection with the image quality checking unit 140 is confirmed, the presence of the image file to be transmitted is checked (S420).

Specifically, when the communication between the transmitting unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 is connected, it is determined whether the image file stored in the transmitting unit 130 exists. If there is no image file stored in the transfer unit 130, the communication connection checking step S410 of the transfer unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 and the image file checking step S420 stored in the transfer unit 130 are performed by the transfer unit 130 130 until the image file stored in the storage unit 130 is confirmed.

If the image file to be transmitted exists, the image file is transmitted to the image quality checking unit through communication (S430).

The image file may be transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 through the wired / wireless communication between the transmitting unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140. When the communication connection between the transmitting unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 is maintained, the image file is transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 as soon as the image file is generated and stored, so that the image file can be transmitted one by one.

A plurality of image files stored and waiting in the transmission unit 130 may be transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 when the communication unit 130 and the image quality checking unit 140 are disconnected from each other. Even if the plurality of image files are transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140, the image file may be displayed on the substrate 10 using the substrate information and the pattern information included in each image file, It can be confirmed accurately.

Meanwhile, when the image file is transmitted from the transmission unit 130 to the image quality checking unit 140, the image file stored in the transmission unit 130 may be deleted. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the image file from being excessively stored in the transfer unit 130. [

The image quality of the substrate 10 is checked using the image file transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 (S440).

Specifically, the image quality of the cell 12 can be checked by comparing the image file transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140 with a preset reference file. Or the inspector can check the image quality of the cell 12 by inspecting the image file transmitted to the image quality checking unit 140. [

If it is determined that the image quality of the inspected cell 12 is bad, it is checked whether the communication connection is established (S410) or not (S440).

If it is determined that the image quality of the substrate 10 is normal, the image file having been inspected is deleted (S450).

It is possible to prevent an excessive image file from being stored in the image quality checking unit 140 by deleting the checked image file.

When the deletion of the image file having been inspected is completed, a step S410 of checking whether or not communication is established to check another image file, and a step S440 of checking the image quality are repeated.

According to the substrate inspection method, since the color image is encrypted while generating the color image as the image file, the security of the inspection process of the substrate 10 can be enhanced.

In addition, since the substrate inspection method repeatedly performs color image acquisition, image file generation, and image file storage irrespective of the communication connection state between the transmission unit 130 and the image quality inspection unit 140, Can be performed continuously without interruption.

As described above, the apparatus and method for inspecting a substrate of the present invention can enhance the security of the inspection process of the substrate, and can continuously perform the inspection process of the substrate. Therefore, reliability and productivity of the substrate inspection process can be improved.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. It can be understood that it is possible.

100: substrate inspection apparatus 110; camera
120: file generating unit 130:
140: Picture quality checker

Claims (7)

A camera for dividing a substrate into cells of a predetermined size and obtaining a color image having a bitmap image information form for a lit cell;
A file generating unit for generating an image file including the substrate information, the pattern information of the lit cells, the pattern list information, and the bitmap header information in the color image;
A transmitting unit for storing the image file and transmitting the image file; And
And an image quality checking unit for receiving the image file through the transmission unit and examining the image quality of the substrate,
The color image acquisition of the camera, the image file creation of the file creation unit, and the image file storage of the transfer unit are repeatedly performed irrespective of whether or not the image file is transferred by the transfer unit,
If the image file is found to be normal as a result of the image quality check of the image quality checking unit, the transmitting unit deletes the stored image file,
Since the image file includes the substrate information, the pattern information, the pattern list information, the bitmap header information, and the bitmap information of the color image, the color image is encrypted by generating the image file ,
Wherein the substrate information includes an ID of a substrate, a substrate size, a cell size, a cell count, a pixel size, and a substrate type,
Wherein the pattern information includes a pattern number and a pattern name,
Wherein the pattern list information includes a number of the patterns and a list of the patterns,
Wherein the bitmap header information includes a bitmap size of the color image and a name of a bitmap. delete delete Obtaining a color image having a bitmap image information type for a lit cell;
Generating an image file including the substrate information, the pattern information of the lit cells, the pattern list information, and the bitmap header information in the color image;
Storing the image file to transmit the image file to an image quality checking unit for checking image quality of the substrate; And
And performing an inspection on the stored image file,
The method comprising the steps of: acquiring the color image regardless of whether the image file is transmitted to the image quality checking unit; generating the image file; and storing the image file,
Since the image file includes the substrate information, the pattern information, the pattern list information, the bitmap header information, and the bitmap information of the color image, the color image is encrypted by generating the image file ,
The step of checking the stored image file may include:
Confirming whether or not communication with the image quality checking unit is established;
Confirming whether or not the image file to be transmitted exists when a communication connection with the image quality checking unit is confirmed;
Transmitting the image file to the image quality checking unit through communication if the image file to be transmitted exists;
Confirming whether the image quality of the substrate is normal or not using the transmitted image file; And
And deleting the transferred image file if the image quality of the substrate is confirmed to be normal. delete delete delete

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