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EP-3391299-B1 - IMAGE STITCHING FOR FOOTWEAR COMPONENT PROCESSING

EP3391299B1EP 3391299 B1EP3391299 B1EP 3391299B1EP-3391299-B1

Inventors

  • FU, Howard
  • WANG, GUO-CHANG
  • LEE, Sunye

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20161216

Claims (11)

  1. An image stitching and manufacturing system (100), comprising: a conveyance system (102), the conveyance system (102) moves a material (122) in a process direction, the material (122) being a rolled good having a plurality of footwear components integrally formed therein; a plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110), wherein a first camera (104) of the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) has a first field of view ("FOV") (302) including an area relative to the conveyance system (102) that overlaps a portion of a second FOV (304) of a second camera (106) of the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110), wherein the FOVs (302; 304; 306; 308) of the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) cover a roll width (204) of the material (122), while the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) has a distance offset Z (202) from the material (122), wherein the first camera (104) is configured to capture a first image (402) of a first material portion of the material (122) and the second camera (106) is configured to capture a second image (404) of a second material portion of the material (122), wherein the first material portion and the second material portion include a first common portion of the material (122); a process station (112), wherein the process station (112) is after the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) in the process direction of the conveyance system (102); and a computing device (116), the computing device (116) is logically coupled with the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) to receive the first image (402) from the first camera (104) having the first FOV (302) and the second image (404) from the second camera (106) having the second FOV (304), wherein the computing device (116) is configured to stitch the first image (402) and the second image (404) based on the first common portion to form a stitched image, to identify a first pattern in the stitched image, wherein the first pattern corresponds to a footwear component integrally formed in the material (122), and to determine a first tool path based on the identified first pattern, wherein the first pattern identified in the stitched image is an input for the computing device (116) which is configured to provide instructions to the process station (112) to perform an operation on the material (122) based on the first tool path, wherein the process station (112) is a cutting device configured to extract the footwear component identified as the first pattern from the material (122).
  2. The image stitching and manufacturing system (100) of claim 1, wherein the cutting device is comprised of a laser, the laser is functional to cut the material (122).
  3. The image stitching and manufacturing system (100) of any of claims 1 through 2, wherein the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) are logically coupled to each capture an individual image (402; 404; 406; 408) simultaneously, and/or wherein the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) are positioned relative to the conveyance machine to capture with a combination of FOV (302; 304; 306; 308) from the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) a width of the conveyance machine that is perpendicular to the process direction.
  4. The image stitching and manufacturing system (100) of any of claims 1 through 3, wherein a third camera (108) of the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) has a third FOV (306) including an area relative to the conveyance system (102) that overlaps a portion of a fourth FOV (308) of a fourth camera (110) of the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110).
  5. The image stitching and manufacturing system (100) of any of claims 1 through 4, wherein the conveyance system (102) is comprised of a rolled material holder (120), the plurality of cameras (104; 106; 108; 110) are positioned between the rolled material holder (120) and the process station (112), and/or wherein the image stitching and manufacturing system (100) further comprises a position register (118), wherein the position register (118) registers a position of the material (122) captured in the stitched image relative to the process station (112).
  6. An image stitching and manufacturing method, the method comprising: capturing a first image (402) with a first camera (104) of a first material portion of a material (122), the material (122) being a rolled good having a plurality of footwear components integrally formed therein; capturing a second image (404) with a second camera (106) of a second material portion of the material (122), wherein the first material portion and the second material portion include a first common portion of the material (122), and wherein the cameras (104; 106) cover a roll width (204) of the material (122) while having a distance offset Z (202) from the material (122); stitching the first image (402) and the second image (404) based on the first common portion as a stitched image; identifying a first pattern in the stitched image, wherein the first pattern corresponds to a footwear component integrally formed in the material (122); determining a first tool path based on the identified first pattern; and instructing a process station (112) to perform a cutting operation on the material (122) based on the first tool path to extract the footwear component identified as the first pattern from the material (122).
  7. The image stitching and manufacturing method of claim 6, wherein the first image (402) and the second image (404) are captured simultaneously.
  8. The image stitching and manufacturing method of any of claims 6 through 7, wherein the cutting operation is to remove a feature from at least one of the first material portion and the second material portion, wherein the tool path may be a path useable by a laser cutter to cut the feature from the material (122).
  9. The image stitching and manufacturing method of any of claims 6 through 8 further comprising: capturing a third image (406) with a third camera (108) of a third material portion of the material (122); and capturing a fourth image (408) with a fourth camera (110) of a fourth material portion of the material (122), wherein the second material portion and the third material portion include a second common portion of the material (122), wherein the third material portion and the fourth material portion include a third common portion of the material (122).
  10. The image stitching and manufacturing method of claim 9, wherein stitching the first image (402) and the second image (404) as the stitched image further comprises also stitching the third image (406) and the fourth image (408) as the stitched image.
  11. The image stitching and manufacturing method of any of claims 6 through 10 further comprising registering the material position as it moves and instructing the process station (112) to perform the operation based on the registered position of the material (122).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION Aspects provide methods and systems for using a multiple camera vision system to stich discrete images together for use with a manufacturing process. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Vision systems capture a discrete image that can be used to identify a part and to perform a process based on the image. A vision system may have a limited field of view that does not cover an intended area. To increase the field of view, the image capture device may be moved farther from the target area to increase the field of view at the expense of resolution. Alternatively, a wide-angle lens may be used with the image capture device to increase the field of view; however, the wide-angle lens may distort an image captured and limit the usability of the captured image for subsequent manufacturing processes. Patent literature document US 5,172,326 A discloses a method and system for cutting a web, such as a patterned fabric, displays a nested template pattern for the fabric along with a superimposed image of the fabric on a display screen, to allow the nested template pattern to be moved relative to the fabric image, under operator control. The nested template pattern may be moved as a whole, and individual templates may be moved, rotated or warped, so that a new template pattern is produced which is aligned to the fabric image, notwithstanding defects such as skew, bow or uneven repeat in the fabric. Once produced, the new template pattern is converted into customized cutting instructions for the fabric. The customized instructions are used to control a cutting station, for example a laser cutting station, to cut each section of fabric according to its customized instructions. Patent literature document EP 1 788 345 A1 discloses an image processing device for the user to easily perform the setting for specifying the location to be performed with three dimensional measurement on the image where the photographed is shown, the device including an imaging section with a first camera, arranged with the optical axis directed in the vertical direction, for generating a front image of a work W, and a second camera, arranged with the optical axis directed in a slanted direction, for generating a slant image of the work W. In the setting prior to the measurement, the setting object is photographed with each camera, and the setting is performed in the specified region for specifying the position to be measured by the user using the front image from the first camera. In time of the measurement, the specified region is defined in the front image from the first camera based on the setting, and the process of specifying the position to be measured is performed in the relevant region. Furthermore, the position corresponding to the position specified in the front image is specified, and the process of calculating the three dimensional coordinate is performed with respect to the slant image from the second camera. EP 2 862 467 A1 describes a method for the manufacture of a plurality of shoes, an apparatus to perform such method as well as shoes manufactured by such method. The method for the manufacture of a plurality of shoes comprises providing a plurality of first shoe components for the manufacture of the plurality of shoes, and moving the plurality of first shoe components with a transport means which is at least partially comprised of the plurality of first shoe components. US 2009 / 040 293 A1 describes a camera array apparatus and a method for capturing wideangle network videos. An objective thereof is to provide the webcams used for the common computer system or the like for broadcasting the real-time and wide-angle network video stream in a limited bandwidth network. Furthermore, software is introduced to join the two or more images retrieved from the cameras and to form the wide-angle or panoramic video. The preferred embodiment of the camera array apparatus comprises a plurality of camera modules that are arranged as an array and are connected to the computer system. In particular, the mentioned images retrieved from the cameras are joined together from the wide-angle or panoramic video using a stitching process. US 2013 / 141 589 A1 describes an image reconstruction method adapted to use with a planting bed is provided. The planting bed is constituted by a work platform disposed on a work plane and for supporting a plurality of plants thereon. The image reconstruction method includes steps of: capturing a plurality of images of the work platform from different positions on a monitoring plane to obtain a plurality of image data, wherein the monitoring plane is opposite to the work plane, the monitoring and work planes are parallel to each other in a visible range and have a predetermined distance therebetween; and performing an image stitching algorithm to stitch the image data into a two-dimensional image of the planting bed. A monitoring system of a planting bed is also provided. "Image stitching - Wikipedia", 4