Ricoh Elemex Inactive USPTO patents

An inspection system according to one embodiment includes: a first signal output unit that outputs to an illumination unit a first signal serving as a trigger to start outputting stripe patterns; a second signal output unit that outputs to the illumination unit a second signal serving as a trigger to switch the stripe patterns; an image-data acquisition unit that acquires time-correlation image data by starting superimposition of frames output from an image sensor at a timing based on the first signal; an image generation unit that generates a first time-correlation image and a second time-correlation image based on the time-correlation image data, the first time-correlation image corresponding to a first stripe pattern alone, the second time-correlation image corresponding to a second stripe pattern alone; and an abnormality detection unit that detects, based on the first time-correlation image and the second time-correlation image, an abnormality on the inspection target surface.

An inspection system of an embodiment includes: a planar illumination unit that temporally and spatially varies intensities of light in a periodic manner; a time-correlation image generator that generates a time-correlation image with a time-correlation camera or an image capturing system that performs an operation equivalent to that of the time-correlation camera; and a calculation processor that calculates a characteristic from the time-correlation image, the characteristic corresponding to a distribution of normal vectors to an inspection target surface and serving to detect an abnormality based on at least either a difference from a surrounding area or a difference from a reference surface.