How We Really Carry Out OCV Inspection

Providing vision inspection solutions to the pharmaceutical industry is a highly-competitive endeavor; something we have been reminded of again only recently. Not too long ago, a number of our clients were kind enough to bring to our attention that some individuals within the industry have been taking it upon themselves to explain how our Optical Character Verification (OCV) works on our systems. From the explanations that we have been forwarded, we can draw one of two conclusions:

1. these individuals are attempting to mislead our clients, or
2. these individuals have no idea how our OCV functions.

Therefore, we have decided to once and for all, clear the air.

Compared to what is commonly found on the market, Optel Vision systems actually have additional frames, which assist in the setup and fine adjusting of the OCV frames. First, for each character string (ie., Lot Number) to undergo OCV, a search frame (ie., blue frame) must first be created. This is achieved by a simple push of a button. Within this blue frame there is an additional frame, which is referred to as an inspection frame (i.e., green frame). Once a search frame/inspection frame function has been envoked, it can be positioned quickly and easily by simply touching the screen and dragging it until it is placed over the character string. It is only necessary to loosely place the search frame around the character string since it is responsible for establishing an “area of interest” for the OCV.

Figure 1 Search Frame With Internal Inspection Frame

Why is the search frame important?

As stated above, the search frame defines an area of interest and once it is set, only the information within it will be inspected and analyzed by its accompanying inspection frame. Similar information located in different areas within the field of view will not be accidently detected during setup or accidently read during inspection. However, if the code to be inspected and analyzed does not appear in a consistent postion time and time again, such as a code on a pouch that is moving along a conveyor, the search frame can be expanded to include a larger area.

Once the search frame has been set into position, the inspection frame is set into position. Once again by simply touching the screen, the inspection frame can be easily positioned tightly around the code or information of interest. This allows fine adjustment and controlled setting of the inspection frame, which ensures constant, accurate inspection of the information.

Figure 2 Positioned Inspection Frames

Is each number or character within a character string analyzed?

Once the inspection frame is tightly positioned around a character string, the Optel Vision system automatically detects each character or number within that string by forming individual analysis frames around each of the characters or numbers. Up to now, however, these analysis frames have been invisible to the user.

Since our systems are capable of analyzing multiple codes on a product, (ie., multiple codes on a label), the individual analysis frames were invisible to the user(s) for the simple reason of keeping the image window free of excessive clutter. The individual analysis frames have always been present, since our OCV has always involved analysis and verification of each character or number within a string on an individual basis.

How are individual errors identified?

The signaling of each and every error is a highly critical step. When an error is detected on an Optel Vision systems the analysis frame for the character or number in question becomes red. This allows operators and other personnel to quickly see errors so that they can take the necessary corrective measures as soon as possible.

Figure 3 Error Detection

How have we decided to deal with this ‘misinformation’?

The following figures show how our systems now display OCV.

Figure 4 Closeup of Individual Inspection Frames

Figure 5 Closeup of Error Detection

We hope this has cleared things up and we would like to thank our clients for bringing this issue to our attention.