• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.161-168
• /
• 2006

In this paper, we propose a method for the pattern inspection of LCD module using the color compensation and pattern matching. The pattern matching is generally used for the inspection method of LCD module at the industry. LCD module has many defections such as the brightness difference of the back light, the optic feature of liquid crystal, the difference of the light penetrated by driving LCD and the color difference by the lighting. The conventional method without the color compensation can not solve these defections and decreases the efficiency of inspecting LCD module. The method proposed to inspect defective badness through the pattern matching after it compensated color difference of the LCD occurred by the various causes. At first, it revises with setting by standard tone of color with the LCD pattern of the reference image. And It perform the preprocessing and pattern matching algorithm on the compensated image. In experiment, we confirmed that this algorithm is useful to detect some defections of LCD module. The proposed methods was easy to detect the faulty product.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.283-289
• /
• 2004

The number of pixel defects including bright and black dots on a panel is one of the critical factors determining the quality of TFT-LCD. Since pixel defects on the TFT-LCD panels are sometimes unavoidable, manufacturers have to inspect the panels so that any panel with an unacceptable number of defects will not be delivered to the buyers. However, the buyers demand for the manufacturers to meet different pixel defects tolerances (acceptable number of pixel defects on a TFT-LCD panel) around central(tight) and peripheral(loose) inspection zones. The disagreement in quality standard among different buyers also cause confusions in screening non-confirmative products and unstable yield of production. Few research has focused on the effects of defect locations on a TFT-LCD panel on their detection probabilities and the rational division of defect inspection zones. In this research, experiments were conducted to find the detection probabilities of black dot defects with respect to their varying locations on a TFT-LCD. It is proposed a rational division of inspection zone on a TFT-LCD panel on the basis of detection probabilities of the defects. With these division of inspection zones and the mean defect detection probability within each zone, it is expected to establish a more reasonable pixel defects tolerances.

• 전자공학회논문지 IE
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2011

In this paper we show the LCD simulator for defect inspection using image processing algorithm and neural network. The defect inspection algorithm of the LCD consists of preprocessing, feature extraction and defect classification. Preprocess removes noise from LCD image, using morphology operator and neural network is used for the defect classification. Sample images with scratch, pinhole, and spot from real LCD color filter image are used. From some experiments results, the proposed algorithms show that defect detected and classified in the ratio of 92.3% and 94.5 respectively. Accordingly, in this paper, a possibility of practical implementation of the LCD defect inspection system is finally suggested.

• 전자공학회논문지 IE
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.26-31
• /
• 2011

In this paper we show the LCD simulator for defect inspection using image processing algorithm and neural network. The defect inspection algorithm of the LCD consists of preprocessing, feature extraction and defect classification. Preprocess removes noise from LCD image, using morphology operator and neural network is used for the defect classification. Sample images with scratch, pinhole, and spot from real LCD color filter image are used. From some experiments results, the proposed algorithms show that defect detected and classified in the ratio of 92.3% and 94.5 respectively. Accordingly, in this paper, a possibility of practical implementation of the LCD defect inspection system is finally suggested.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2006.10c
• /
• pp.422-424
• /
• 2006

This paper suggests an automatic spot-inspection algorithm for LCD modules. Usually, LCD module testing is classified by two categories. One is for uniform pattern testing and the other is Non-uniform testing. The uniform pattern testing is well defined and also fully automated in the factory. However non-uniform pattern testing is not defined well yet, so non-uniform testing is conducted by human operators. In this paper a spot-pattern, which is one of non-uniform pattern, inspection algorithms are proposed. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested by extensive simulations using artificial slot-patterns and real ones in the LCD modules.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.59-63
• /
• 2010

This paper proposes computer visual inspection algorithms for various LCD defects which are found in a manufacturing process. Modular vision processing steps are required in order to detect different types of LCD defects. Those key modules include RGB filtering for pixel defects, gray-scale morphological processing and Hough transform for line defects, and adaptive threshold for spot defects. The proposed algorithms can give users detailed information on the type of defects in the LCD panel, the size of defect, and its location. The machine vision inspection system is implemented using C language in an embedded Linux system for a high-speed real-time image processing. Experiment results show that the proposed algorithms are quite successful.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.525-534
• /
• 2013

Recently, mura defect inspection techniques are receiving attention in LCD production procedure since demands of TFT-LCD are growing. In this paper, we propose an automatic mura defect inspection method using gabor wavelet transform and DCT. First, we generate a reference panel image using DCT based method. For original panel image and generated reference panel image, we apply a gabor wavelet transform to eliminate texture information in images. Then, we extract mura defect regions from the difference image between gabor wavelet transform image of original panel and generated reference panel image. Finally, all mura defect regions are quantified to detect accurate mura defects. Experimental results show that our method is more accurate and efficient than previous methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2006.05a
• /
• pp.59-60
• /
• 2006

It is bringing out the importance of automated LCD testing equipment that satisfy a definite quality, confidence and testing speed, as LCD enterprises are recently expanding the production and facility investment in proportion to the sudden increase of LCD demand. So far, LCD inspection is however conducted by manual, or the confidence of existing testing equipment falls short of LCD enterprises's standard. It is therefore important to develop the testing equipment that determines the quality of product for production of an excellent LCD.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.148-154
• /
• 2009

In recent days, large-sized flat-panel display (FPD) has been increasingly applied to computer monitors and TVs. Mura defects, appearing as low contrast or non-uniform brightness region, sometimes occur in manufacturing of the Thin-Film Transistor Liquid-Crystal Displays (TFT-LCD). Implementation of automatic Mura inspection methods is necessary for TFT-LCD production. Various existing Mura detection methods based on regression diagnostics, surface fitting and data transformation have been presented with good performance. This paper proposes an efficient Mura detection method that is based on a regression diagnostics using studentized residuals for automatic Mura inspection of FPD. The input image is estimated by a linear model and then the studentized residuals are calculated for filtering Mura regions. After image dilation, the proposed threshold is determined for detecting the non-uniform brightness region in TFT-LCD by means of monitoring the every pixel in the image. The experimental results obtained from several test images are used to illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method for Mura detection.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.69-74
• /
• 2004

In this paper, we propose a novel method for improving defect-detection performance based on reconstruction of line-scan camera images using both the projection profiles and color space transform. The proposed method consists of RGB region segmentation, representative value reconstruction using the tracing system, and Y image reconstruction using color-space transformation. Through experiments it is demonstrated that the performance using the reconstructed image is better than that using aerial image for LCD surface inspection.