JPH0670590B2 - Color order determination method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color order determination method capable of determining a color arrangement order. (Prior art and its problem) Conventionally, a connector used for internal wiring of an electronic device such as a computer is connected with a predetermined number of wire harnesses in a predetermined color order, but the color order is incorrect. If it is connected, it may cause incorrect wiring. Conventionally, since the color order of the wire harness of the connector is visually inspected one by one, there is a problem that it requires a lot of manpower and time. For this reason, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-9236, "a method for determining whether a color order is correct or incorrect based on a difference between an inspection master and an object to be inspected by using a color sensor control device,
By inputting the inspection master value to the color sensor controller,
Take in the sensor inputs of the three primary colors of red, green, and blue, increase the number of samples, take the average value, and now take this value. Then, input the data for the inspected object, and at this time, the value of the sample And as a method to judge the color order based on this data, _Is calculated and the color n that minimizes l _1n is determined, and this is processed from R ₁₁ , G ₁₁ , B _{11 to} R _n1 , G _n1 , B _n1. Repeat this result If so, a color order determination method for an object to be inspected having a plurality of colors, which is characterized by performing arithmetic processing by a color sensor control device that passes. Is proposed. However, it is practically impossible to inspect the wire harness using this method. There are various possible causes for this, but first, in the method of performing comparison using the three primary colors of R, G, and B as described above,
It is not suitable for practical use because it is not sensitive to changes in the light source and changes in distance and cannot reliably detect similar colors such as red and brown. Secondly, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-9236 also discloses an embodiment for determining the color order of the electric wires of the connector, but the electric wires are usually in the shape of a cylinder and are irradiated with light. Then, when receiving the reflected light, it is difficult to determine the irradiation position of the light, and when the wires are adjacent to each other, the reflected light from the adjacent wire is also received. As a result, accurate reading of the three primary colors cannot be performed, but no countermeasures against these problems are mentioned. Furthermore, if there is an electric wire of the same color in one connector, it cannot be detected by the above-described calculation method. In addition, in recent years, there are plans to colorize barcodes in order to increase the amount of information on barcodes currently used, and there is an increasing demand for barcode readers that can accurately read such color barcodes. However,
The one disclosed in JP-A-62-9236 cannot be applied to the color barcode reader. An object of the present invention is to effectively use a color engineering method in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and similarly to human visual judgment, color discrimination is performed based on hue and tone, and accurate It is an object of the present invention to provide a color order determination method capable of determining a different color order. (Means for Solving the Problem) Therefore, the color order determination method according to the present invention is a color order determination method for detecting the color order of a color array in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a predetermined order, and For each color of the color array, the individual colors arranged are read out by separating them into R, G, B, and from the read value, the lightness index L ^* and chromaticness index a ^* in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system are read. b
^Calculate each ^* and formula And the hue angle H ° defined by the formula T ° = tan ⁻¹ {L ^* / (a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 } and the formula TR = (L ^{* 2} + a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 , and the tone length TR defined by ^1/2 is calculated in advance and stored in a table, and for each color of the above plurality of colors, the individual colors arranged are R, G and B are separated and read, and the hue angle H °, the hue angle T ° and the hue length TR are calculated from the read values, and the hue angle of each color of the reference color array stored in the table, It is characterized in that the color order is determined by comparing with the color tone angle and the color tone length, respectively. (Operation) The hue order, the hue angle, and the hue length for each color in the color order to be determined as the reference color order are compared to determine the color order. (Examples) Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 3 showing the system configuration of the color order determination apparatus to which the present invention is applied, the color order determination apparatus includes the sensor head 1
And a controller 3 that is connected to the sensor head 1 via a signal cable group 2. The sensor head 1 receives, via a condensing lens 6, an illumination light source 4 composed of, for example, a halogen lamp with a dichroic mirror, and scattered light from the surface of the DUT 5 illuminated by the illumination light source at an incident angle of 45 °. R, G, B three-color sensor 7, and R, G, B signal amplification amplifiers 8, 9, for amplifying R, G, B signals output from the R, G, B detection units of the color sensor 7. Comprised of 10 and. Further, the controller 3 includes a multiplexer 12 for sequentially scanning the amplified R, G, B signals, and an A / D converter 13 for the R, G, B signals sequentially output from the multiplexer 12.
A microcomputer that reads in via color and performs color discrimination
It is basically composed of 14 and. The microcomputer 14 is, when functionally divided, a control unit 14A that executes control necessary for color order determination calculation according to a command input from the keyboard 15, and data that stores various data required for color order determination. Storage unit 14B and control unit 1
An arithmetic unit 14C that executes an arithmetic program incorporated in advance for color order determination arithmetic according to a control signal from 4A, and a display unit that converts the arithmetic result into a display signal and displays the arithmetic result on the liquid crystal display 16. 14D and a digital output section 14E for outputting the calculation result as a digital signal to the output terminal 14F. FIG. 8 shows an apparatus for performing color order determination of a wire harness using the color order determination method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the base 25 has a rotary base 10 having connector holders 100, 100, ...
1 is supported by a rotating shaft 102 so as to rotate in one direction at a constant speed. A connector 5 to which a predetermined number of wire harnesses are connected is suspended and supported by each of the connector holders 100, and as the rotary table 101 rotates, it passes in front of the sensor head 1 supported on the support table 103. The color data of the wire harness read by the sensor head 1 is sent to the controller 3 supported by the support frame 104 via the cable 2, and the determination result is displayed on the display 16 of the controller 3. There is. Further, a stripe pattern 101a having the same pitch as that of the wire harness is provided on the upper surface of each connector holder 100, 100 ... At a position where the photoelectric sensor 50 can detect the stripe pattern 101a of the connector holder 100 facing the sensor head 1. Fixed to. The photoelectric sensor 50 reads each stripe and gives position information for each wire harness. This position information (synchronization signal)
When there is, the black color is judged by whether or not there is a peak value of R, G, B data. If the R, G, B data peaks do not exist despite the presence of the position information, it is determined to be a black harness. Even if the wire harness is missing, the peak value cannot be detected even though there is a harness synchronization signal, so the wire harness is determined to be a black harness. , Using another photoelectric sensor, etc., connector holder 100 facing the sensor head
If the number of wire harnesses is less than a predetermined number by counting the number of wire harnesses as the turntable 101 rotates, the wire harnesses are missing. You may decide that you are doing. FIGS. 1 and 2 are flowcharts showing an algorithm for determining the color order. This algorithm is basically a color order registration process (teaching) for storing the necessary data as a teaching table in the RAM (not shown) of the data storage unit 14B for the array of colors to be judged (color order), Measure the color of the object to be inspected,
The result is analyzed and the color order is finally classified into two processes, that is, a color order determination process.

[Definition of various quantities]

Before describing FIGS. 1 and 2, various quantities used in the embodiment of the present invention will be defined. (A) XYZ color system When the tristimulus values R, G, B in the RGB color system are given, XY
The tristimulus values X, Y, Z in the Z color system are given by X = 2.7689R + 1.7517G + 1.1302B Y = 1.0000R + 4.5907G + 0.0601B Z = 0.0560G + 5.5943B, as is well known in color engineering. To be (B) L ^* a ^* b ^* color system This L ^* a ^* b ^* color system uses the above tristimulus values X, Y, and Z to obtain a lightness index L ^* and a chromaticness index a ^* , b ^*. Is a color system given by the following equations, respectively. ^{L * = 116 (Y / Y} 0) 1/3 -16 a * = 500 {(X / X 0) 1/3 - (Y / Y 0) 1/3} b * = 200 {(Y / Y 0 ) ¹ / ^3- (Z / Z ₀ ) ^1/3 } where X ₀ , Y ₀ and Z ₀ are tristimulus values of the illumination light source. For reference, FIG. 4 shows an L ^* a ^* b ^* color system solid. Color difference The difference in the numerical evaluation of the physical measurement between the two colors is called the color difference ΔE, and is defined by the following formula in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system. ΔE = {(ΔL ^* ) ² + (Δa ^* ) ² + (Δb ^* ) ² }
^1/2 (C) Color vector Now, consider a hue plane as shown in FIG. This hue plane corresponds to an arbitrary cross section of the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system solid body in FIG. 4 orthogonal to the lightness L ^* axis. On this hue plane, the hue vector given by the two indices a ^* and b ^* , The hue angle H ° and the hue vector length (=
Saturation) C ^* is defined. ◎ Hue angle (H °) ◎ Hue vector length (= saturation) (C ^* ) C ^* = (a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 (D) Hue vector Now, as shown in Fig. 6, the saturation C ^* is the horizontal axis. , Consider the tone plane with the lightness L ^* as the vertical axis, and on this tone plane, the tone vector ▲
▼ is defined as follows. ◎ Tone angle (T °) T ° ＝ tan ^-1 (L ^* / C ^* ) ◎ Tone vector length (TR) TR ＝ (L ^{* 2} + C ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 Depending on which region the ▼ indicates, as shown by enclosing the region with a thin line in FIG. 6, “thin (P region)”, “shallow (LT region)”,
The color can be toned into 6 areas, which are "bright (B area)", "saturated (V area)", "dark (DP area)" and "dark (DK area)". It can be the one that actually matches the feeling.

[Color order judgment]

(A) Registration Process (Creation of Teaching Table) FIG. 1 shows a schematic flowchart of the registration process (teaching) for determining the color order of the wire harness according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 1 will be described below. First, the color of the wire harness is input through the sensor head 1, and the synchronization signal is input from the sensor 50 and stored in the memory (steps S2 and S4, the following steps are omitted). This is repeated by the number of wire harnesses. Next, from the data stored in the memory, arithmetic processing for detecting representative data for each harness, that is, peak values of R, G, B signals is performed (S6). In FIG. 7, as an example, the color order is orange, red, brown, black, white, gray, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange,
The input data of a connector having 13 harnesses of red and brown, and at the same time, a pattern of the same pitch as the harness provided on the connector holder 100 is detected, and a synchronization signal output in synchronization with the detection is shown. It is also possible to detect the peak of the R, G, B signals corresponding to each harness within the output period of the synchronization signal and use the peak value as the representative data. By performing non-contact measurement in this way, positioning can be easily performed at the same time not only for a cylindrical wire harness but also for a moving object and the surface color of an uneven surface. become. Then, except for the black harness, the above peak value exists when the sync signal exists (YES in S8), so the hue angle H °, the hue angle T °, the hue length TR, from the representative data for each harness,
The saturation C ^* is calculated (S10). If the saturation C ^* is larger than the predetermined threshold (Y in S12
ES), it is determined that the color is chromatic, so the achromatic color flag is set to 0 (S14). On the other hand, if the saturation C ^* is smaller than the predetermined threshold value (NO in S12), it is determined as an achromatic color, the achromatic color flag is set to 1, and both the hue angle H ° and the hue angle T ° are set to 0 (S16). . If the peak signal is absent when the sync signal is present in S8 (NO), and if the harness is present (whether or not the harness is detected by a photoelectric tube or the like not shown) (YES in S18), the harness is set. It is judged to be black, and the achromatic flag is set to 1, the hue angle H °, the hue angle T °, the hue length TR, and the saturation C ^* are set to 0 (S20). If the harness does not exist (N in S18
O), some error such as missing harness, so the color number is set to -1 as error information (S2
4) 、 Go to S26. When the processing of one of S14, S16, and S20 is completed, the process proceeds to S22. In S22, the harness alignment order number, hue angle H °, color tone angle T °, color tone length TR, achromatic color flag, and color number (the same as the alignment order number at this point) are stored in the teaching table. The processing from S8 to S24 is repeated for the number of harnesses. Then, in S26, a harness of the same color is searched for in the teaching table, and if found, the color number is re-assigned and the process ends.
Whether or not they are the same color is judged by the above-mentioned color difference ΔE, and if the color difference ΔE is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, it is regarded as the same color. (B) Color order determination processing FIG. 2 shows a routine for color order determination. First, the color data of the wire harness and the synchronization signal for performing the color order determination are input (S100) and stored (S102). This is repeated as many times as there are harnesses. Next, as in the case of creating the teaching table, a calculation is performed to detect peaks from the data stored in the memory and select representative data for each harness (S10).
Four). If the peak is detected (YES in S106), the hue angle H °, the hue angle T °, and the hue length T are calculated from the representative data for each harness.
R and saturation C ^* are calculated (S108). If the obtained saturation C ^* is larger than the predetermined threshold value (YES in S120), it is determined that the color is chromatic and the achromatic flag is set to 0.
And (S122), the process proceeds to S124. Next, in the same sort order in the teaching table,
Hue angle H °, hue angle T ° and hue length TR determined in S108
Is within the predetermined allowable range (YE in S124, S126, S128)
S), after storing TR (S130), store the color number in the run table (S140). In addition, by setting this tolerance range relatively relatively,
It becomes stronger against fluctuations in light quantity and measurement distance. On the other hand, in S120, if the saturation C ^* is smaller than the predetermined threshold value (NO), the achromatic color flag is set to 1, and the hue angle H ° and the hue adjustment angle T are set.
Each degree is set to 0 (S134), and it is checked whether the achromatic color flag is 1 in the same alignment order in the teaching table (S136), and if 1 (YES), the process proceeds to S128 and the tone length TR is allowed. Check whether it is within the range. In S124, S126, and S128, the hue angle H °, the hue angle T °, and the hue length TR are not within the allowable range in the same alignment order, or the achromatic flag is 0 in the same alignment order in S136 ( If NO, the color number is set to 0 (S132, S138), indicating that the colors do not match. On the other hand, despite the presence of the sync signal in S106,
If the peak value does not exist (NO), the existence of the harness is checked (S110), and if it exists (YES), the color of the harness is determined to be black, the achromatic color flag is set to 1, and the hue angle is determined. After each of H °, color tone angle T °, color tone length TR, and saturation C ^* is set to 0 (S112), the process proceeds to S140. If it does not exist (NO in S110), the color number is -1 in S114 as error information.
And move to S140. The above-described processing of S106 to S140 is repeated by the number of harnesses. When the processing for the number of harnesses is performed, in S142, the color tone length TR of each harness is relatively reviewed based on the minimum value of the color tone length TR of the harness in the run table, and the color number is finally determined ( S142). This is because the hue angle H ° and the hue angle T ° are standardized values for the light amount variation of the light source, whereas the hue length TR reflects the light amount variation of the light source, so that the light amount variation is If there is, the value of tone length TR cannot be regarded as an absolute value. Therefore, with the minimum value of the color tone length TR as a reference, the relative difference is taken into consideration and each color number is reviewed and finally determined. (C) Specific Example of Color Order Determination Below, an actual example of color order determination according to the flow of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be shown. Table 1 is an example of a teaching table created by calculating the hue angle, hue angle, and hue length from the R, G, B data of FIG. 7 according to the flow of FIG. 1 and registering them. . In addition, the run table is the first table according to the flow of FIG.
It is created in the same manner as the table, and the color order is determined by checking whether the color numbers in the teaching table match or not. At the time of creating the run table, as described in the flow of FIGS. 1 and 2, an allowable range is set in advance for each of the hue angle, the hue angle, and the hue length of the teaching table (for example, the hue angle). And the color tone angle is ± 15, and the color tone length is about ± 13). If all are within this range, the run table and teaching table have the same color number. Table 2 shows an example of the run table. In the example of Table 2, as indicated by underlining, the color number is originally "9", which is green, and is "0". This is the hue angle H, also shown by the underline
The value of ° is 142, and the difference from the teaching table in Table 1 is 26 (= 168-142), which greatly exceeds the allowable range of ± 15. Second
NO is obtained in S124 of the flow in the figure, and the color number is 0 in S132.
Because it was said. Therefore, since the color numbers of the teaching table in Table 1 and the run table in Table 2 do not all match, the wire harness used to create the run table above matches the wire harness whose color order is the reference. It is determined that it is not. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be applied to various objects in which the color arrangement order is a problem. (Effects) The present invention effectively uses a color engineering technique and uses hue angle, hue angle, and hue length, which are close to human visual judgments, and uses only the conventional R, G, B light quantity ratios. In the color order determination by, it is possible to accurately determine the color order of many colors that could not be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of the registration process. FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of the color order determination process. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the color order determination apparatus. FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional explanatory diagram of the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system. FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view showing the hue vector. FIG. 6 is an explanatory plan view showing a color tone vector. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of input R, G, B data. FIG. 8 is an external view showing an embodiment of a color order determination device to which the present invention is applied. 1 ... Sensor head, 3 ... Controller, 7 ... Color sensor, 14A ... Control section, 14B ... Data storage section, 14C ... Calculation section.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A color order determination method for detecting a color order of a color array in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a predetermined order, wherein each of the arranged individual colors is R, It is separated into G and B and read, and from the read value, the lightness index L ^* and chromaticness index a ^* , b in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system.
^Calculate each ^* and formula And the hue angle H ° defined by the formula T ° = tan ⁻¹ {L ^* / (a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 } and the formula TR = (L ^{* 2} + a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 , and the tone length TR defined by ^1/2 is calculated in advance and stored in a table, and for each color of the above plurality of colors, the individual colors arranged are R, G and B are separated and read, and the hue angle H °, the hue angle T ° and the hue length TR are calculated from the read values, and the hue angle of each color of the reference color array stored in the table, A color order determination method characterized by determining a color order by comparing with a color tone angle and a color tone length, respectively. 2. A color order determination method for detecting a color order of a color array in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a predetermined order, wherein each of the arranged individual colors is R, It is separated into G and B and read, and from the read value, the lightness index L ^* and chromaticness index a ^* , b in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system.
^Calculate each ^* and formula And the hue angle H ° defined by the formula T ° = tan ⁻¹ {L ^* / (a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 } and the formula TR = (L ^{* 2} + a ^{* 2} + b ^{* 2} ) ^1/2 and the hue length TR defined by ^1/2 are calculated in advance, and if the read color is black, the hue angle H ° and the hue angle T
°, and store the tone length TR in the table as 0 respectively, and for each color of the above multiple colors, the arranged individual colors are R,
G and B are separated and read, and from the read value, the hue angle H
°, the hue angle T ° and the hue length TR are calculated, and in the case of black, the hue angle H °, the hue angle T ° and the hue length TR are each set to 0, and the reference color array stored in the table is stored. A color order determination method characterized in that the color order is determined by comparing the hue angle, the hue angle, and the hue length of each color.