Hardware manual

US 7,915,570 B2
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on an acquired image. It should be noted that this embodiment
is meant to be illustrative only, and is not intended to limit the
architecture, components, or form of the smart camera 110.
The embodiment of the smart camera 110 illustrated in
FIG. 5A may include an imager 282 and a lens 280. The smart
camera may also include a functional unit 106, which may
comprise a programmable hardware element 206, e.g., a ?eld
programmable gate array (FPGA), and may also comprise a
processor 212 and memory 214. The programmable hardware
element 206, processor 212 and memory 214 may each be
coupled to the imager 282 and/or to an image memory 284.
The smart camera 110 may also include non-volatile memory
288 coupled to the programmable hardware element 206, the
processor 212, the memory 214 and the image memory 284.
The smart camera 110 may also include an T/O connector
220 which is operable to send and receive signals. The T/O
connector 220 may present analog and/ or digital connections
for receiving/providing analog or digital signals. For example
the T/O connector 220 may enable the smart camera 110 to
communicate with computer system 102 (such as the com
puter system shown in FIG. 3) to receive a program for
performing image processing (and/or other) functions. The
smart camera 110 may include a dedicated on-board proces
sor 212 and memory 214 in addition to the programmable
hardware element 206.
As shown, the smart camera 110 may include image
memory 284 which couples to the programmable hardware
206, the imager 282, the processor 212, memory 214, bus
interface 216, the control/data bus 218, and a local bus 217.
The image memory 284 may be operable to store a portion of
an image, or one or more images received from the imager
282. The image memory 284 may enable the programmable
hardware 206 and/or the processor 212 to retrieve the one or
more images, operate on them, and return the modi?ed
images to the image memory 284. Similarly, one or more of
the function modules 108 may be operable to retrieve the
image from the image memory 284, operate on the image, and
return the (possibly) modi?ed image to the image memory
284.
As shown, the smart camera 110 may further include bus
interface logic 216 and a control/data bus 218. In one embodi
ment, the smart camera 110 and/or a function module 108
may comprise a PCT bus-compliant interface card adapted for
coupling to the PCT bus of the host computer 102, or adapted
for coupling to a PXT (PCT eXtensions for Tnstrumentation)
bus.
As shown, in one embodiment, the smart camera 110 may
also include local bus interface logic 217. In one embodiment,
the local bus interface logic 217 may present a RTST (Real
Time System Integration) bus for routing timing and trigger
ing signals between the smart camera 110 and one or more
other devices or cards, such as other smart cameras 110,
actuators, smart sensors, and/ or lighting current controllers.
In some embodiments, the smart camera 110 may contain
an integrated lighting current controller 290 (referred to
herein as a “lighting current controller”) operable to couple to
one or more external light sources. The lighting current con
troller may be operable to control the one or more external
light sources using a current signal (e.g., a current pulse) to
provide illumination for acquisition of an image of the UUT.
Further discussion of the lighting current controller is shown
below with respect to FIGS. 6-8.
FIG. 5B illustrates some embodiments of an embedded
vision system with an integrated lighting module that can be
used with an external imager 282 and/or lens 280. In some
embodiments, an embedded vision system may be used as a
smart camera. One of the differences between the embedded
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vision system and the smart camera described in previous
?gures is that the embedded vision system does not necessar
ily include a built-in imager 282/ lens 280. Instead, the embed
ded vision system may couple to an external imager 282/ lens
280 in order to acquire one or more images. The external
camera/lens may be a digital camera or it may be an analog
camera. If the external camera is a digital camera, then it may
contain an imager 282, image memory 284, a lens 280, and a
digital bus interface to connect to and send one or more digital
images back to the embedded vision system. If the external
camera is an analog camera, then it may contain an analog bus
interface to connect to and send analog images back to the
embedded vision system, which would then digitize the
received analog images.
In some embodiments, the lighting current controller inte
grated into the embedded vision system operates in substan
tially similar manner to that of a smart camera, including
providing one or more current signals and/or pulses to one or
more external lighting sources as may be needed by the user
and/or an application program.
FTG. 6iBlock Diagram of a Smart Camera
FIG. 6 illustrates some embodiments of a smart camera
including an integrated lighting current controller. In this
block diagram various other elements of the smart camera are
not shown (such as of FIGS. 5A-B) for reasons of simplicity.
It should be noted that this embodiment is meant to be illus
trative only, and is not intended to limit the architecture,
components, or form of the smart camera 110.
In some embodiments, the smart camera 110 may include
a processing unit 206 such as an FPGA, as well as a lighting
current controller 290. The smart camera 110 may also con
tain two or more lighting current controllers 290, where each
controller can connect to, control, and power multiple light
sources. The smart camera 110 may also contain a lens (not
shown) that may operate in conjunction with an imager ele
ment 282 (such as a charge couple device, or CCD) that may
be able to generate an analog image and/ or video upon receiv
ing light from a lens. Other sensor types are contemplated,
such as CMOS, CTS, and/or others. In some embodiments, the
type, duration, and/ or intensity of the current signal provided
by the integrated lighting current controller 290 may depend
on the type of imager 282 (i.e., imaging element) used by the
smart camera 110. In some embodiments, the smart camera
may not use the imager element 282, and instead it may
connect to an external camera and/or lens (such as an analog
or digital camera/lens described above with reference to
FIGS. 5A and 5B.)
In some embodiments the lighting current controller may
be a universal lighting current controller, meaning that it can
connect to almost any off-the-shelf current controlled light
ing source. The combination of the processing unit/FPGA
206 may allow the lighting current controller to adapt the
switching power supply to almost any off-the-shelf current
controlled lighting source, giving the user great ?exibility in
choosing a proper lighting source for the machine vision
application. In some embodiments the universal lighting cur
rent controller may be able to automatically sense the current
signal requirements necessary for the connected one or more
light sources. In some embodiments a user may need to indi
cate to the smart camera the type and/ or requirements of the
connected one or more lighting sources.
The analog image data created by the imager 282 and/or an
external imaging element may be digitized by one or more
ADC’s 726. In some embodiments, if an external digital
imager is used, then the ADC 726 is not utilized. In some
embodiments, the digitized image data can be sent to one or
more image buffers 722 (or separate image memory 284 of