METHOD OF TESTING A MACHINE VISION INSPECTION SYSTEM

The invention provides a method of testing a machine vision system of the type that inspects a feature (e.g., an electronic component) using object-oriented constructs that instantiate an inspection object from an inspection class that is associated with a type of the feature (e.g., the rectilinear component) and that invoke a method member of that object to inspect the feature to determine its characteristics (e.g., position, angular orientation, and shape conformance). The method of the invention includes the steps of instantiating a test object from a test class that corresponds to the inspection class, invoking a method member of that test object to generate one or more test images representing the feature, inspecting the test images to determine characteristics of the features therein, and reporting results of those inspections.