Phoenix PC-1280 User manual

Brand: Phoenix

Model: PC-1280

Type: User manual

Phoenix PC-1280

USB Digital Camera

User’s Guide

MuTech Corporation

When Your Image Counts



MuTech Corporation

85 Rangeway Road

Billerica, MA 01862

USA

Telephone: 978-663-2400

Fax: 978-663-3444

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.mutech.com

Revision 1.1

12/23/04

iii

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

Table of Content

1 Introduction 5

1.1 Phoenix Digital Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2 Phoenix Camera Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.2.1PhoenixView DEMO & Utility Program........................................6

1.2.2Phoenix PC-1280 SDK...................................................................7

2 Installation 9

2.1 Pre-Installation Check List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.2 Phoenix Camera Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.2.1Device Driver Installation...........................................................10

2.2.2Distribution Software Installation...............................................11

2.3 To Remove an USB Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3 Camera Operation Overview 13

3.1 Using the PhoenixView DEMO & Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 Theory of Operation 17

4.1 Hardware Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.2 Software Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

A Specification of Connectors 23

B Camera Miscillanous 25

B.1 Spectrum Responses...........................................................................25

B.2 Camera Dimensions ...........................................................................26

B.3 Mounting Mechanics..........................................................................27

B.4 Lenses...................................................................................................27

B.5 Power Consumption...........................................................................27

B.6 Operating Environment......................................................................28

C Product Specification 29

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

Introduction 5

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

1 Introduction

This manual describes the usage of the Phoenix PC-1280 USB Dig-

ital Camera products. The brief introduction of the PC-1280 prod-

ucts in this chapter is followed by the installation, the operation of

the camera hardware/software, then a chapter talks about the work-

ing theory of the products. Several appendices at the end of this Us-

er’ Guide list specific detailed information as references to the user.

1.1 Phoenix Digital Camera

The Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera is a line of high-reso-

lution progressive scan digital cameras. The PC-1280 Camera is

designed to provide high quality video/images for Professional,

Medical, and Industrial applications with low cost. It provides

Plug-n-Play and hot swappable feature, and the video/image cap-

ture and camera control functions are through the 480 Mb/s high

speed USB 2.0 interface.

Two versions of Phoenix Camera are available. PC-1280/M is the

monochrome version and PC-1280/C is the color version. The PC-

1280/M is a monochrome digital camera with 10 or 8 bit black/

white pixel formats. It also supports the CCIR 601 YCbCr (YUV)

pixel format (16 bit) for easier Windows Overlay Display. The PC-

1280/C supports several user selectable pixel formats. They are the

Raw Bayer (8 or 10 bit), the CCIR 601 YCbCr (YUV-16 bit) and

the RGB (24 bit) formats. The RGB and YUV color video is pro-

duced using a bi-linear interpolation algorithm, in real-time, by the

PC1280/C camera. This gives the user a choice of the best pixel for-

mat for the application without the burden of doing software format

conversion.

There is a built-in 10 bit LUT in the PC-1280 Camera. For 8 bit pix-

el modes, the LUT can be loaded with a 10 to 8 mapping. For the

PC-1280/C model, a second 8 bit LUT is added after the color

space converter. This LUT works with the YUV pixel format only.

It has two 8 bit paths, one for Y the other for U/V.

6 Introduction

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

To reduce the fixed pattern noise from the CMOS image sensor, the

PC-1280 Camera provides a Fixed Pattern Compensation Feature.

The user can capture a Black Field with the particular fixed pattern

of a camera, then load it to the Fixed Pattern Buffer in the camera.

This Black Frame will be subtracted from the video frames during

live video capture to effectively reduce the Noise.

The PC-1280 Camera employs a ½" CMOS image sensor (with

Bayer color mask on color version). The sensor chip provides 54dB

dynamic range. The camera delivers 15 FPS at full resolution (1280

x 1024), 60 FPS at VGA resolution (640 x 480). The PC-1280 also

supports user defined Region Of Interest (ROI) capture.

The Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera uses C-Mount lens (C-

S lens is supported with an adaptor) with 1/2" optical format. This

makes easy to replace existing CCD 1/2" cameras without chang-

ing the optical and mechanical design.

The PC-1280 Camera connects to the PC with a USB 2.0 cable. All

the image data transfers and all camera control commands are de-

livered on this cable. A separate Trigger Input is provided for trig-

ger/reset one or multiple Phoenix Digital Cameras at the exact time

for highly accurate images capture. A Strobe Output is provided by

the camera to control the external shutter or strobe light. The time

relation between the Shutter and the Trigger is software program-

mable.

The user can control and operate the PC-1280 Camera with the

PhoenixView DEMO & Utility Program. MuTech also provide

standard TWAIN and WIA image capture drivers for the Phoenix

PC-1280 products. A software development kit (Phoenix PC-1280

Software Development Kit) is available for OEM customers.

The Phoenix PC-1280 software supports Windows 2000 and Win-

dows XP platform. Multiple Cameras can be installed and operated

in one system.

1.2 Phoenix Camera Software

1.2.1 PhoenixView DEMO & Utility Program

The PhoenixView provides direct control for most features of the

PC-1280 Camera. For simple applications, it can be used to acquire

image frames and/or video sequences under the desired conditions.

Introduction 7

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

The PhoenixView works with multiple cameras by selecting the

Camera ID. It operates on one camera at a time.

The PhoenixView provides the following controls for the user:

Selecting Camera ID

Changing Resolution, Pixel Format, Frame Rate

Controlling Capture Mode

Changing Image Sensor and other Video Settings

Selecting different LUTs

Capturing/Loading the FP Frame, enabling the FPC

Capturing and displaying a video sequence

Adjust Trigger and Strobe Settings

1.2.2 Phoenix PC-1280 SDK

The Phoenix PC-1280 Software Development Kit offers program-

ming interface for OEMs and other users who are developing ap-

plication programs for the Phoenix PC-1280 products. The SDK

supports Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The components of the

SDK are:

DLLs

Header files

Sample source codes (to show typical calling sequences of

core functions)

SDK Manual “Phoenix Digital Camera Software Develop-

ment Guide”

Functions in the Phoenix PC-1280 SDK provide to the programmer

the capabilities to open and initialize the camera, to setup a grab

window, to adjust camera gain, exposure, offset and white balance,

to set the camera working mode and pixel format, to load LUT or

FPN to the camera and to control the Trigger, Reset and the Strobe

of the camera.

The functions are divided into the following groups:

Camera Initialization Functions

Image Sensor Control Functions

Capture Control Functions

8 Introduction

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

Exposure and Trigger Control Functions

Image Preprocessing Functions

Installation 9

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

2 Installation

2.1 Pre-Installation Check List

Before the installation, please check the followings:

Products In

Package

Verify that you have received the following Phoenix PC-1280

Camera components:

Phoenix Camera Model that you ordered (PC-1280/M or PC-

1280/C)

USB 2.0 Standard Cable (10 ft.)

Phoenix PC-1280 Distribution Software CD

This manual - Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s

Guide

DC Power Adapter, part # PC1280-PWR (optional, must be

ordered separately)

Any other options that your ordered

System

Requirements

Verify that the host computer meets the following minimum re-

quirements:

Has Pentium 3 or better processor

CPU Runs at 1 GHz clock or higher

USB 2.0 support on the motherboard or a USB Interface Card,

with the most updated USB device driver installed.

Windows 2000/XP operating system

Minimum of 256 MB of Memory

2.2 Phoenix Camera Installation

The installation of the Phoenix Camera consists the following

steps:

10 Installation

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

Connecting the PC-1280 Camera to the computer system

and install the Device Driver

Installing the Phoenix Software from the Phoenix PC-

1280 Distribution Software CD

2.2.1

Device Driver Installation

Note: this step needs to be done only for the first time in-

stalltion. For any update, skip this step and go to the next sec-

tion - Distribution Software Installation. The “setup”

procedure will automatically update the hardware device driv-

er.

Follow these steps to connect the PC1280 Camera and to install its

driver:

Power up the PC1280 Camera with the Power Adapter.

The LED on the back of the camera should turns ON

Power up the host computer (DO NOT connect the cam-

era yet)

Plug the USB 2.0 Cable into the computer USB port (type

A connector) and the back of the PC-1280 Camera (type

B connector)

Windows will pop up the dialog box - "Found New Hard-

ware Wizard"

Select the second radio button - "Install from a list or spe-

cific location(Advanced)"; then click the “Next” button

Windows pops up another dialog box

Select the first radio button - "Search for the best driver in

these locations"

Load the “Phoenix PC-1280 Distribution Software” CD

into a CD drive, e.g. X, and select the drive and directory

for the Device Drivers as X:\drivers\Win2kXP\; then

click the “Next” button

Windows will find the correct driver files, load them and

complete the necessary registry settings

On the Windows 'Completing the Found New Hardware

Wizard' dialog box, click the "Finish" button

Reboot the computer system

Installation 11

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

2.2.2 Distribution Software Installation

The following are the steps to install the Phoenix PC-1280 Distri-

bution Software on the system:

Insert the "Phoenix PC-1280 Distribution Software” CD

into a drive, e.g. X

Browse into the directory X:\Dist\, then run “Setup.exe”

The installation software will show an “Welcome Infor-

mation” panel, click the “Next” button on it

On next page, read the License Agreement and select Yes

or No button

On the “Installation Information” page, a list of files to be

installed will be shown. Click the “Next” button

On the “Choose Destination Location” page, either select

the default folder ("C:\PC-1280\") or create a different di-

rectory, then click the “Next” button

Next is the “Select Setup Type to Install” page. The “Typ-

ical” is recommended

On the “Select Program Folder” page, the user can choose

where the application is located on the Windows Start -

All Programs. The default Folder is “MuTech”. Click the

“Next” button

Now the installation software is ready. On the “Start

Copying Files” page, review the settings. If satisfied,

click the “Next” button to start the installation

Depending on the system, there might be a warning mes-

sage asking if the device driver file (a Read Only File) can

be copied over. If this message pops up, answer “Yes”

and continue

Once the installation is done, the “InstallShield Wizard

Complete” page shows. On this page select the Reboot ra-

dio button, remove the Distribution Software CD, then

click “Finish” to complete the process

At this point, clicking the PhoenixView program icon starts the

PhoenixView - DEMO & Utility Software.

12 Installation

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

2.3 To Remove an USB Device

Once the Phoenix Camera and its driver are installed and run-

ning, the user should use the

“Safely Remove Hardware" icon

on the Windows Toolbar to “Remove” the Phoenix Camera

from the USB device list before to disconnect the USB cable or

power down the Phoenix Camera. This is a general rule of ac-

tion for all Hot-swappable USB devices. If not followed, the de-

vice and the system could become unstable.

Camera Operation Overview 13

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

3 Camera Operation Overview

The PC-1280 Camera comes with default factory settings. For most

applications, these defaults should work fine with only a few minor

changes. In general, the following settings should be selected by

the user to start capture videos/images:

Capture Resolution

Pixel Format

Capture Mode (single or continuous)

For more customized operation, the user may need to change the

settings on:

Exposure Mode and Setting

Gain Mode and Setting

White Balance Mode and Setting (for PC-1280/C only)

Defining a Region of Interest (ROI)

Using Triggered Capture

Using Sequence Capture

The PhoenixView DEMO & Utility is the main software program

to operate the PC-1280 Cameras, it has all the controls and user in-

terfaces to perform the tasks listed above and some more. For many

cases, it is the only software the user will need to use. Camera Con-

figuration

Camera

Configuration

At this time, there is only one configuration need to be done by the

user. That is in a multiple camera system, each camera should be

given an unique Camera ID. All PC-1280 Cameras are pro-

grammed with Camera ID = 0, when leaving the factory. The user

should set them to different IDs (e.g. 0, 1 and 2 for a three camera

system) if multiple cameras are in the same system. To program the

Camera ID, please see the following section.

14 Camera Operation Overview

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

3.1 Using the PhoenixView DEMO & Utility

There are 6 main menu items from the PhoenixView, they are File,

Capture, Adjust, Trig/Exp, Test and Help. This section will give a

brief description on their usage. On-line help is also available for

the user.

File Menu

Camera ID

The user can select a camera instance from the Camera Configure

sub-menu and assign a unique Camera ID (CID) to that camera.

The CID value must be between 0 ~ 255. The CID can then be used

to physically identify a camera.

Capture Menu

Capture Mode

The user can select Single Capture, Continuous Capture or Se-

quence Capture Mode from the Capture pull down menu. Capture

in an ROI can also be defined (a single rectangle area) and enabled

(combined with any of the three capture modes).

Sequence Capture

A Sequence Capture Dialog Box pops up when this Capture Mode

is selected. The user can specify the total number of frames desired

and the intervals (in terms of frame time) on this dialog box. Then

the sequence capture can be started and stopped by clicking the but-

tons. Once the capture is completed, the total number of frames

captured is shown.

The user can now play back the just captured frame sequence for

viewing.

Display Mode

DirectDraw or DIB modes can be selected from the Capture pull

down menu. The default display mode is DirectDraw. Only the

YUV Pixel Format is supported when this mode is selected. In DIB

Mode, the Monochrome 8 bit Pixel Format is used.

Capture Interval

For Continuous Capture Mode, the capture interval can be set by

this Dialog Box. The interval is in terms of a frames of time. If the

user selected 0, the capture will go at maximum speed.

Adjust Menu

Camera Operation Overview 15

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

Capture

Resolution

The user can select the video resolution from the Video Format pull

down menu. There are two resolution settings, 1280x1024 and

640x480. The other two settings are actually implemented as ROIs

under the larger resolutions. When the PhoenixView starts, the de-

fault resolution is 640x480.

Pixel Format

Using this pull down menu to specify the Pixel Format, the user can

select from Monochrome 8 bit, YUV422 or RGB888 formats.

Note, the Pixel Format is closely related on how the video is dis-

played, therefore, the Display Mode should be set accordingly.

Frame Rate

Once the resolution is selected, the default frame rate is defined (60

fps for 640x480 mode, 15 fps for 1280x1024 mode). The user can

use this to select slower frame rate.

Using LUT

The user can Enable/Bypass the LUT. Two standard LUTs are

built-in, one is Linear, the other is Inverse Linear. The user can se-

lect one of the LUTs under live video.

Video

Adjustments

This sub-menu under the Adjust pops up an Adjust Dialog Box. On

it, the user can control most of the sensor chip settings related to the

video quality. For example, Video Gain, Exposure, White Balance,

Black Level, etc. Most of the adjustments are instantaneous.

Fixed Pattern

Compensation

Using the Fixed Pattern Compensation consists of three steps. The

first is to capture a Black Frame. The second is to load the pattern

into the camera buffer. Then enable the compensation.

The first 2 steps can be done by the Load Fixed Pattern sub-menu.

A dialog box pops up with two sections, one for capture a Black

Frame as the Fixed Pattern Frame. Cover the lens or close the lens

aperture to perform the capture. The captured Black Frame will be

displayed. Then, it can be loaded into the camera by selecting the

Image radio button. It can also be saved into a file for later use. For

testing, a constant frame can also be loaded as a pattern frame.

Once the Fixed Pattern is loaded into the camera, the compensation

can be enabled/disabled through the Enable FP Compensation sub-

menu.

Trig/Exp Menu

Trigger and

Exposure

This menu item pops up the Trigger / Strobe Control Dialog Box.

On it, the user can test the Trigger and the Strobe signals. Upon the

Trigger signal active, the user can select capture of single, contin-

uous or sequence. Also the Trigger can activate the Strobe Output.

16 Camera Operation Overview

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

The Strobe signal can be set to have a certain delay and width from

the Trigger signal (both in terms of line periods).

For testing, the PhoenixView can generate a software signal as a

Trigger signal, the signal works exactly like the hardware signal.

Test Menu

Pops the Frame Rate Display Dialog Box to show the current frame

rate being captured.

Help Menu

Starts the About Dialog Box. The user can find out most of the use-

ful information on the current version of the software and hard-

ware. For example, the software versions, the Camera version, S/

N, Camera ID and the Camera capabilities.

Tool Bar

Several buttons on the Tool Bar provide easy access for frequently

used controls. They are Configure, Save Image, Start Capture, Stop

Capture, Setting ROI, Enable FP Compensation, Help Topics

Theory of Operation 17

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

4 Theory of Operation

The Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera consists of camera

hardware and support software (device driver and core DLL).

4.1 Hardware Block Diagram

The PC-1280 Camera is implemented with a CMOS image sensor

chip, a FPGA chip, a memory buffer attached to the FPGA, an USB

FYH interface and other supporting circuits. To guarantee the vid-

eo capture performance, the core functions are all designed in the

FPGA. A built-in memory buffer of SDRAM provides sufficient

buffering to prevent image data lost even under severe USB Bus

traffic. Figure 4.1 shows the Block Diagram of the PC-1280 Cam-

era Hardware.

Figure 4.1: PC-1280 Camera Hardware Block Diagram

SDRAM Buffer

(16 M B)

CMOS

Im age

Sensor

(1280 x

1024)

Comp.

10 Bit

LUT

Color

Space

Conv.

Transfer

Control

I/O

Capture

Control

Misc.

Control

10/8/16

USB

Bus

Trig

Strobe

10/8/16

FPGA Chip

PC1280BD.CFL

REV. 1.0 11/17//04

USB

PHY

18 Theory of Operation

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

Fixed Pattern

Compensator

If the Fixed Pattern Compensation is turned ON, the pixel from the

sensor is subtracted by the Fixed Pattern (Black Frame with the

fixed pattern associated with a particular sensor chip). The resultant

image has a reduced fixed pattern noise.

10 Bit LUT

A single bank 10 Bit LUT is provide in the pixel data path to sup-

port simple processing such as gamma correction or negative vid-

eo, etc. This LUT is used as a 10 to 8 mapping, if the 8 bit pixel

mode is selected. The LUT could be by passed if desired.

Color Space

Convertor

In this stage, the monochrome pixel is converted into YUV format,

with the U/V byte filled with 0x80. The YUV format provide con-

venient way to display on a Overlay Surface when DirectDraw is

used.

For the PC-1280/C Camera, the Bayer Patterned color pixels are

converted into RGB format (24 bit/pixel). Or they can be converted

into YUV(16 bit/pixel) format. The conversion is done by hard-

ware to reduce the burden of software conversion. However, this

results in higher data traffic on the USB Bus.

The user can decide on the right pixel format for the application. If

desired, the conversion stage may be bypassed.

SDRAM Buffer

The memory buffer provides multiple functionality. The Fixed Pat-

tern Frame is stored here and is read out to be operated with the in-

coming pixels. The captured frame(s) in all pixel formats are stored

here. When the USB Bus is ready, they are read out from this buffer

and sent to the USB.

Capture Control

The Capture Control Block determines when, how and where to

store the pixel data (after the Color Space Conversion) in the mem-

ory buffer. The user can control full or partial (ROI) frames cap-

tured. The user also specifies how the capture is done; single,

continuous or sequence capture.

Transfer Control

This block controls the data transfer through the USB Bus. It take

the frames stored in the memory buffer and puts them into USB

packets. Then according to the user’s command, the packets are

transferred via the USB protocol. The capture of a frame and the

transfer of it can therefore be separated if desired.

Miscllaneous

Control

This control handles other minor tasks, such as interfacing with the

Trigger and Strobe signals, generating the events to the user pro-

grams and control the sensor chip exposure time (when Global Ex-

Theory of Operation 19

Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide Revision 1.1

posure Mode is used), etc. The Strobe Output delay time relative to

the Trigger Input, and the width of the Strobe Pulse is also con-

trolled here.

4.2 Software Block Diagram

The Phoenix Camera software has a layered architecture. At the

bottom of the stack is the Standard USB Driver (provided by Mi-

crosoft), which serves all USB devices. On top of it are the kernel

mode PC-1280 Camera Device Driver and the Class Driver. These

handle all the data and control communications to/from the Phoe-

nix Camera via the USB Driver and host controller. The core func-

tions of the Phoenix Camera software are in the DLLs (SDK),

which is located above the Drivers. The SDK provides an API of

abstract layer to handle all operations required by the user applica-

tion.

Besides of the SDK interface, MuTech also provide several high

level industrial standard high level driver interfaces (such as

TWAIN and WIA). Some applications may use these interfaces to

get the data and control through the SDK. In these cases, no user

programming will be needed. The Phoenix Camera Software archi-

tecture is shown in Figure 4.2.

20 Theory of Operation

Revision 1.1 Phoenix PC-1280 USB Digital Camera User’s Guide

Figure 4.2: Phoenix Camera Software Block Diagram

The software supports both single and continuous frame capture. In

either case, the capture can be started by software or by a Trigger

signal. Capturing a sequence of frames is also supported by the

software. The user can specify the number of frames and the inter-

val (in terms of frames) between two consecutively captured

frames. For a small sequence, the driver may be able to allocate the

needed frame buffers within the kernel pool. All sequence frames

will then be captured in the buffer chain. The user can get the frame

after the sequence is complete. However, if the number of frames

in the sequence is too large to be allocated in the kernel pool, the

user must allocate the buffer chain in user mode space, and copy the

sequence frames into the buffer chain. Since the driver still pro-

vides a small buffer chain, there will be no data loss, even when the

USB Bus has other traffic.

Several events may be sent from the DLL to the user application to

indicate certain conditions, such as Trigger, Frame Sync, Frame

Capture is Done and/or Frame Data Transfer is Done. These can be

USB Host

Controller(H/W)

Application S/W

USB

Driver

Phoenix DLL

Phoenix Driver

MuTech SW

TWAIN

Driver

Other

Drivers

Microsoft SW

Legends:

PC1280SW.CFL

REV. 1.0 11/17//04

User

Mode

Kernel

Mode

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