Inspection method and inspection apparatus

1. A method of inspecting an object, the object having a plurality of physical features, each of the features having one or more attributes associated therewith, the attributes comprising:

geometric properties of the feature;

spatial location of the feature on the object; or

environmental attributes,

the method including the steps of:

identifying a current primary feature of the object;

selecting one or more additional features, each of the one or more additional features selected having at least one common attribute with the current primary feature;

capturing an image of the selected features on an image capture module;

determining, in an operating system of an inspection apparatus, whether the selected features of the captured image have been manufactured to within a predetermined tolerance; and

communicating whether the selected features have been manufactured to within a predetermined tolerance,

wherein the step of identifying a current primary feature of the object involves selecting:

a first feature on a parts list stored in a data store;

a first feature in a current field of view of the image capture module; or

a feature located proximal the center in a current field of view of the image capture module; and

wherein selecting one or more additional features involves the steps of:

identifying all features on the object that have environmental attributes identical to the environmental attributes of the current primary feature;

determining whether each of the identified features is able to be captured in a current field of view of the image capture module, involving parsing, in an operating system of an inspection apparatus, an ordered list of the identified features, whereby the ordered list is ordered on the basis of each feature's proximity to the current primary feature; and

selecting an identified feature if the identified feature is within the current field of view of the image capture module.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each feature and each of the one or more attributes associated with each feature are stored in a parts list in a data store of an inspection apparatus.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein an identified feature is returned to a parts list in a data store of an inspection apparatus and has associated therewith an indication that the identified feature has not been selected if the identified feature is not within the current field of view of the image capture module.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein environmental attributes include illumination settings of the image capture module, magnification settings of the image capture module and focus settings of the image capture module.

5. An inspection apparatus comprising:

an image capture module adapted to capture a digital image of at least a portion of an object under inspection; and

a data store having stored therein a parts list identifying a set of physical features on the object under inspection, each feature having one or more attributes associated therewith each attribute comprising at least geometric properties of the feature, spatial location of the feature on the object or environmental attributes;

an operating system containing computer readable instructions for:

identifying a current primary feature on the object under inspection;

selecting one or more additional features from the parts list, each of the one or more additional features selected having at least one common attribute with the current primary feature; and

capturing an image of the selected features using the image capture module;

determining whether the selected features of the captured image have been manufactured to within a predetermined tolerance; and

communicating whether the selected features have been manufactured to within a predetermined tolerance,

wherein identifying a current primary feature of the object involves selecting:

a first feature on the parts list stored in the data store;

a first feature in a current field of view of the image capture module; or

a feature located proximal the center in a current field of view of the image capture module; and

wherein selecting one or more additional features involves the steps of:

identifying all features on the object that have environmental attributes identical to the environmental attributes of the current primary feature;

determining whether each of the identified features is able to be captured in a current field of view of the image capture module, involving parsing, in an operating system of an inspection apparatus, an ordered list of the identified features, whereby the ordered list is ordered on the basis of each feature's proximity to the current primary feature; and

selecting an identified feature if the identified feature is within the current field of view of the image capture module.

6. The inspection apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the image capture module is a digital camera operable under instruction from the operating system.

7. The inspection apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the environmental attributes include illumination settings of the image capture module, magnification settings of the image capture module and focus settings of the image capture module.

8. The inspection apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the environmental attributes include illumination settings of the image capture module, magnification settings of the image capture module and focus settings of the image capture module.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein environmental attributes include illumination settings of the image capture module, magnification settings of the image capture module and focus settings of the image capture module.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of determining whether each of the identified features is able to be captured in a current field of view of the image capture module involves parsing, in an operating system of an inspection apparatus, an ordered list of the identified features, whereby the ordered list is ordered on the basis of each feature's proximity to the current primary feature.

11. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of determining whether each of the identified features is able to be captured in a current field of view of the image capture module involves parsing, in an operating system of an inspection apparatus, an ordered list of the identified features, whereby the ordered list is ordered on the basis of each feature's proximity to the current primary feature.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating is the operating system communicating to a user of the inspection apparatus.

13. The inspection apparatus of claim 5 , the operating system containing computer readable instructions for the operating system communicating whether the selected features have been manufactured to within a predetermined tolerance to a user of the inspection apparatus.