JP2004117239A - Embossed character inspecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an embossed character inspecting device for easily inspecting embossed characters formed on a card body. <P>SOLUTION: With the emboss card 2 arranged on a stage 21, an illumination 22 for obliquely downward illuminating the emboss card 2 with a light is provided on one side of the embossed characters 15 to be inspected and a camera 23 for obliquely downward acquiring the image of the emboss card 2 illuminated by the illumination 22 is provided on the other side. The illumination 22 is arranged where the emboss card 2 is illuminated with the light fully reflected from a coating layer 14 at an incident angle 31. The camera 23 is arranged where the reflected light fully reflected from the coating layer 14 at an reflecting angle 33 being the same as the incident angle 31 is input. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an embossed character inspection device for inspecting an embossed character projected from the back side to the front side of a credit card or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, an embossed character 102 stamped from the back surface to the front surface side is formed on the credit card 101. When the embossed character 102 is inspected, an embossed character inspection device 103 is used. Had been.
[0003]
The embossed character inspection device 103 includes an epi-illumination 111 that irradiates light from directly above the credit card 101 disposed at the inspection position. The epi-illumination 111 includes a half mirror 112 disposed directly above the credit card 101, and an illumination device 113 provided on a side of the half mirror 112, and emits light from the illumination device 113. It is configured to be reflected by the half mirror 112 and fall from directly above the credit card 101.
[0004]
A camera 121 is provided directly above the half mirror 112 so that an image of the surface of the credit card 101 transmitted through the half mirror 112 can be obtained. Thus, the embossed characters 102 formed on the credit card 101 can be inspected by analyzing the image acquired by the camera 121.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, characters are printed on the surface of the base material of the credit card 101 described above, and these characters are covered and protected by a transparent coating layer. For this reason, this print is also acquired by the camera 121, and it is difficult to identify the embossed character 102 from the acquired image, resulting in complicated image processing.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and has as its object to provide an embossed character inspection apparatus that can easily inspect an embossed character formed on a card body. is there.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the embossed character inspection apparatus of the present invention, in an embossed character inspection apparatus for inspecting a card body on which printing is covered with a coating layer and embossed characters are embossed, the embossed character to be inspected is And a light source for irradiating the card body with light obliquely from above, and an image of the card body provided on the other side of the embossed character to be inspected and illuminated with the light from the light source Image acquisition means for obliquely acquiring the light from the obliquely upward, the light source is disposed at a position near the optical path of the incident angle at which the light is totally reflected by the coating layer, the reflection angle of the reflected light reflected by the coating layer The image acquisition means was arranged at a position near the optical path.
[0008]
That is, when inspecting a card body on which an embossed character is formed by the embossed character inspection apparatus, light from a light source provided on one side of the embossed character to be inspected is irradiated onto the card body from obliquely above. At this time, the light source is disposed at a position near the optical path at an incident angle at which incident light is totally reflected by the coating layer of the card body. For this reason, the light applied to the embossed characters of the card body is irregularly reflected, while the light applied to the plane portion of the card body is totally reflected by the coating layer.
[0009]
Then, the image of the card body illuminated with the light from the light source is obtained from obliquely above by the image obtaining means provided on the other side of the embossed character to be inspected. At this time, the image acquisition means is disposed at a position near the reflection path of the light reflected by the coating layer on the optical path. For this reason, the embossed characters of the card body from which the light is irregularly reflected are input in low brightness black, while the flat portions of the card body from which the light is totally reflected are input in high brightness white.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embossed character inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. The embossed character inspection apparatus 1 is a card body such as a credit card. This is an apparatus for inspecting a certain embossed card 2.
[0011]
That is, the embossed card 2 is made of a plastic base material 11, and characters and the like are printed on its front surface 12 and back surface 13. These prints are covered and protected by a transparent coating layer 14. The embossed card 2 has a plurality of embossed characters 15,... Such as numbers, stamped from the back surface 13 toward the front surface 12 to form a character string 16 (see FIG. 1).
[0012]
The embossed character inspection device 1 includes a stage 21 on which the embossed card 2 is placed, and the embossed card 2 is placed upside down at a predetermined position on the stage 21 (inspection from the front is also possible. On one side of the embossed character 15 to be inspected, an illumination 22 is provided as a light source for irradiating the embossed card 2 with light obliquely from above. On the other side of the embossed character 15 to be inspected, a camera 23 is provided as image acquisition means for acquiring an image of the embossed card 2 illuminated with light from the illumination 22 from obliquely above. The image acquired by the camera 23 is configured to be transmitted to an image processing device (not shown).
[0013]
The illumination 22 is configured to irradiate the embossed card 2 at an incident angle 31 at which the light is totally reflected by the coating layer 14, and the illumination 22 has a center on the irradiation optical path 32 of the light. At an angle perpendicular to the irradiation optical path 32. Further, the camera 23 is configured so that the reflected light totally reflected by the coating layer 14 is inputted, and the camera 23 reflects the reflected light 33 at the same angle as the incident angle 31 with respect to the embossed card 2. The reflection light is disposed at a position on the reflection light path 34 at an angle along the reflection light path 34. That is, the angle θ of the light and the reflected light with respect to the embossed card 2 arranged on the stage 21 is set to be the same angle.
[0014]
In the present embodiment according to the above configuration, when inspecting the embossed card 2 on which the embossed characters 15,... Are formed, the embossed card 2 is arranged at a predetermined position on the stage 21 and becomes an inspection target. Light from the illumination 22 provided on one side of the embossed characters 15,. At this time, the illumination 22 is arranged on the incident optical path 32 at an incident angle 31 at which the light to be irradiated is totally reflected by the coating layer 14 of the embossed card 2, and is applied to the embossed characters 15,. While the irradiated light is irregularly reflected, the light applied to the flat portion of the embossed card 2 can be totally reflected by the coating layer 14.
[0015]
The image of the embossed card 2 illuminated by the light from the illumination 22 is obtained from obliquely above by a camera provided on the other side of the embossed characters 15,. At this time, the camera 23 is disposed on the reflection optical path 34 at a reflection angle 33 of the reflected light reflected by the coating layer 14, and the embossed character 15 of the embossed card 2 from which the light is irregularly reflected is changed to a low-luminance black color. On the other hand, the flat portion of the embossed card 2 on which the light is totally reflected can be input in high brightness white. Thus, the flat portion of the embossed card 2 and the embossed characters 15,... Can be clearly distinguished.
[0016]
The light from the illumination 22 is totally reflected by the coating layer 14 covering the printing of the embossed card 2, and is input to the camera 23. For this reason, it is possible to reliably prevent the print characters from being reflected on the camera 23.
[0017]
Therefore, in the structure in which an image from directly above the card body is obtained by using the epi-illumination, the embossed characters are compared with the embossed characters 15,... .. Can be reliably identified. This facilitates the inspection of the embossed characters 15,.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the embossed character inspection apparatus of the present invention, in the image acquired by the image acquisition means, the plane part of the card body where the light from the light source is totally reflected is input in high-luminance white. On the other hand, the embossed character portion of the card body on which light is diffusely reflected can be input in low-luminance black. Thereby, the flat portion and the embossed character portion can be clearly distinguished.
[0019]
The light from the light source is totally reflected by the coating layer covering the printing of the card body, and is acquired by the image acquiring means. For this reason, reflection of the print on the image acquisition unit can be prevented.
[0020]
Therefore, compared to the conventional method, in which the characters printed on the base material are reflected together with the embossed characters, the structure of acquiring the image from directly above the card body by using the epi-illumination makes sure the identification of the embossed characters. It can be carried out. This facilitates the inspection of the embossed character.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view showing the same embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional embossed character inspection device.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 1 embossed character inspection device 2 embossed card 11 base material 14 coating layer 15 embossed character 22 illumination (light source)
23 Camera (image acquisition means)
31 Incident angle 32 Irradiation optical path 33 Reflection angle 34 Reflected optical path

Claims (1)

In an embossed character inspection device for inspecting a card body on which a print is covered with a coating layer and an embossed character is embossed,
A light source is provided on one side of the embossed character to be inspected and irradiates the card body with light obliquely from above, and is provided on the other side of the embossed character to be inspected and is illuminated with the light from the light source. Image acquisition means for acquiring the image of the card body from obliquely above,
The light source was disposed at a position near an optical path at an incident angle at which the light was totally reflected by the coating layer, and the image acquisition means was disposed at a position near an optical path at a reflection angle of the reflected light reflected by the coating layer. An embossed character inspection device, characterized in that:

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