Method and device for machine-cutting a plate-shaped workpiece

1. A method for machine-cutting a plate-shaped workpiece, said method comprising:

contactless optical recording of data regarding position, geometry or dimensions of the workpiece using a camera, and evaluating the recorded data using image processing,

wherein the recording of the data comprises a first method step of coarsely locating a workpiece edge, in which the camera is operated in a first operative mode with a first optical resolution, and a second method step for determining more exact positional data of the workpiece edge, in which the camera is operated in a second operative mode with a second optical resolution higher than said first optical resolution; and

wherein the recording operation comprises:

a) positioning the camera such that a recording of a first sub-area of a surface of the workpiece is obtained;

b) setting first recording parameters of the camera corresponding to the first operative mode such that the recording shows a high white level with predominantly white pixels, and evaluating the recording to obtain a first group of recording and positional data;

c) moving the camera in the first operative mode in a predetermined direction of movement on a predetermined movement path such that a recording of a second sub-area is obtained, said second sub-area being offset from the first sub-area and overlapping said first sub-area in an overlap region, and evaluating the recording of said second sub-area to obtain a second group of recording and positional data;

d) matching the recording data of the first and the second group or evaluating the recording data only of the second sub-area as to detect whether or not a white level of the recording of the second sub-area is less than a predetermined relative or absolute limit value, and thereafter

e) responsive to detecting that the white level of the recording of the second sub-area is not less than said predetermined relative or absolute limit value, further moving the camera in the first operative mode in the predetermined direction of movement and by a predetermined movement distance and iteratively repeating method steps c) and d) so as to record and evaluate the recording data of at least a further sub-area; or

f) where the white level of the recording of the second sub-area is detected as being less than said predetermined relative or absolute limit value, setting second recording parameters that correspond to the second operative mode of the camera and at a higher resolution than the first recording parameters, and producing a recording of a higher resolution from the sub-area with a white level below the limit value, and evaluating the higher resolution recording with respect to the position of a workpiece edge.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an image in the area of the workpiece edge is generated using the camera during operation in the second operative mode with the second higher optical resolution, and the image is evaluated using image processing.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first recording parameters of the camera in method step b) are set such that the recording shows a white level with at least 80%, white pixels.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, where the white level of the recording of the second sub-area is detected as being less than said predetermined relative or absolute limit value, method step f) is preceded by a measure in which surface areas of a recording with predominantly black pixels are optically or mathematically eliminated.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, where the white level of the recording of the second sub-area is detected as being less than said predetermined relative or absolute limit value, method step f) is preceded by a measure in which the camera is moved back to the sub-area with a white level below the limit value in a direction opposite to the direction of movement.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the movement of the camera according to method step c) takes place at a movement speed of at least 20 m/min.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the limit value according to method step d) is variably set in dependence upon the white level of the first sub-area recording.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera is a gray scale camera.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the first operative mode the aperture of the camera is set such that a depth of focus of at least 20 mm is obtained.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera has an automatic zoom.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera is adjustable in height.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a camera has a wide-angle lens.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first recording parameters of the camera in method step b) are set such that the recording shows a white level with at least 90%, white pixels.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the movement of the camera according to method step c) takes place at a movement speed of at least 35 m/min.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the first operative mode the aperture of the camera is set to obtain a depth of focus of at least 30 mm.