Systems, apparatus, and methods for sorting components using illumination

1. An illumination apparatus, comprising:

an array of lights;

a component holder receptacle configured to receive a component holder having components thereon;

a control module configured to:

receive information about one or more components on the component holder, the information including at least one of identification of one or more components for sorting and location information for locating the one or more components on the component holder; and

selectively control activation of individual lights of the array of lights to illuminate the one or more components; and

at least one reference point configured to interact with at least one reference point on a component holder, when a component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle.

2. The illumination apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the location information is based on one or more reference points used by an inspection system to identify the one or more components and used by the illumination apparatus to assign the individual lights of the array of lights to illuminate the one or more components.

3. The illumination apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least two components are identified for sorting based on different criteria and the control module is configured to activate the lights in different colors to reflect the different sorting criteria.

4. The illumination apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a frame surrounding a light transmissive surface, wherein the array of lights and the component holder receptacle are positioned at opposite sides of the light transmissive surface.

5. The illumination apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one reference point of the illumination apparatus is provided in the frame.

6. The illumination apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to control the selective illumination based on the interaction of the at least one reference point on the support and the at least one reference point on the component holder, when a component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle.

7. The illumination apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to calculate the area of illumination projected by one or more of the lights of the array of lights on or below the component holder, when the component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle, and to control the selective illumination based on the calculated area of illumination.

8. The illumination apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising at least one reference point, wherein the control module is configured to calculate the area of illumination based on the reference point.

9. An illumination system comprising:

an illumination apparatus comprising:

an array of lights;

a component holder receptacle configured to hold a component holder having components thereon; and

at least one reference point configured to interact with at least one reference point on a component holder, when a component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle;

an inspection system configured to generate component information about one or more components on the component holder, the component information including at least one of identification of one or more components for sorting and location information for locating the one or more components on the component holder; and

a control module configured to receive the component information and activate one or more lights of the array of lights to illuminate at least a portion of the one or more components identified for sorting on the component holder.

10. The illumination system of claim 9 , wherein the illumination apparatus further includes a frame surrounding a light transmissive surface, wherein the array of lights and the component holder receptacle are positioned at opposite sides of the light transmissive surface.

11. The illumination system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one reference point of the illumination apparatus is provided in the frame.

12. The illumination system of claim 11 , wherein the control module is further configured to control the activation of one or more lights based on the relative positions of the at least one reference point on the support and the at least one reference point on the component holder, when the component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle.

13. The illumination system of claim 12 , wherein the inspection system generates the location information based on the at least one reference point on the component holder.

14. The illumination system of claim 9 , wherein each light of the array of lights is not assigned to more than one component on the component holder.

15. A method for sorting components on a component holder, the method comprising:

receiving, by an illumination apparatus, information about one or more components on a component holder, the information including at least one of identification of the one or more components identified for sorting and location information for locating the one or more components on the component holder, wherein the illumination apparatus comprises:

an array of lights;

a component holder receptacle configured to receive the component holder; and

a control module configured to selectively control illumination of individual lights of the array of lights; and

at least one reference point configured to interact with at least one reference point on a component holder, when a component holder is placed in the component holder receptacle positioning the component holder in the component holder receptacle; and

selectively activating, by the control module, one or more individual lights of the array of lights to illuminate the one or more components identified to be sorted, wherein said at least one reference point is employed by the illumination apparatus to accurately illuminate the one or more components in said step of selectively activating.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

generating, by an inspection system, the received information; and

transmitting the received information to the illumination apparatus.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

assigning one or more lights of the array of lights to at least one component on the component holder placed in the component holder receptacle, wherein the assigned light illuminates, when it is activated, at least a portion of the component to which it is assigned.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein each light of the array of lights is not assigned to more than one of the components on the component holder.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of assigning is performed by at least one of manually, by the control module and by the inspection system.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the location information is based on the at least one reference point on the component holder.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the control module controls the selective illumination based on the interaction of the at least one reference point on the illumination apparatus and the at least one reference point on the component holder.

22. The method of claim 15 , wherein selectively activating further comprises activating the lights in different colors to reflect different sorting criteria when illuminating the one or more of the components.