HALCON 5.2 frame grabber interface for the Mikrotron Inspecta-2 board

This document provides some information about the HALCON frame grabber interface Inspecta2.dll for the Mikrotron frame grabber board Inspecta-2. Registered customers can download the latest revision of this interface from the MVTec WWW server.

Revision: 1.2

• Intel compatible PC with Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 4).
• Successfully installed Mikrotron driver mpfgnt.sys (version 2.24 or higher).
• Mikrotron DLL mvfgd32.dll (version 2.20 or higher)
  This DLL must be within your search path %PATH%. If you do not have this DLL, please contact Mikrotron or the vendor from which you bought the frame grabber board.
• HALCON frame grabber interface Inspecta2.dll (revision 1.1 or higher).
  If you have properly installed the interface, Inspecta2.dll should reside in bin\i486-nt4 within the HALCON base directory %HALCONROOT% you have chosen during the installation of HALCON.

• Multiple frame grabber boards (up to 4).
• Multiple compatible cameras per board (port switching or up to 4 cameras parallel).
• Synchronous and asynchronous grabbing.
• External trigger (with software override of the camera configuration file).
• Support of a large variety of analog and digital cameras based on the Mikrotron camera configuration files.
• Support of linescan cameras.

• Only one frame grabber instance per frame grabber board (however, multiple compatible cameras can be accessed using port switching or parallel grabbing).
• No subsampling or cropping of image parts.
• No LUTs.
• grab_region and grab_region_async not supported.

Parameters for open_framegrabber():

	Name	'Inspecta2'	The name of the HALCON frame grabber interface.
	FGWidth	1	Ignored (the desired image resolution is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 1.
	FGHeight	1	Ignored (the desired image resolution is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 1.
	Width	0	Ignored (the desired image part is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 0.
	Height	0	Ignored (the desired image part is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 0.
	StartRow	0	Ignored (the desired image part is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 0.
	StartColumn	0	Ignored (the desired image part is set via the camera configuration file specified in the Generic parameter!). Default: 0.
	Field	---	Ignored.
	Bits	-1	The number of bits per pixel. By specifying the default '-1' the corresponding setting of the camera configuration file is used. Default: -1.
	ColorSpace	---	Ignored.
	Gain	---	Ignored.
	ExternalTrigger	'true', 'false'	Activate/deactivate external triggering. Note that this setting overrides the corresponding setup in the camera configuration file. Default: 'false'.
	Generic	'file;camera'	The generic parameter is used to specify the camera configuration file and the section within this file (e.g., 'c:\\inspecta-2\\mvfgcam.cam;TM-6710 HD out' for the configuration file 'mvfgcam.cam' and the camera 'TM 6701 HD out'). To check a camera or to alter the camera configuration file, use the VCAM95 program delivered with the Inspecta-2 software.
	Device	'0', '1', '2', '3'	The number of the frame grabber board (passed as a string!). Default: '0'.
	Port	number	The number attached to the desired camera channel (0: upper connector, 4: lower connector, or, if you use the breakout box, 0,1,2 with the upper connector and 4,5,6 with the lower connector). Default: 0.
	LineIn	---	Ignored.

Parameters for set_framegrabber_param():

	'volatile'	'enable', 'disable'	In the volatile mode the two frame grabber interface buffers are used directly to store HALCON images. This is the fastest mode avoiding to copy raw images in memory. However, be aware that older images are overwritten again and again as a side-effect. Thus, you can only process one image while you grab another image. Older images are invalid! Default: 'disable'.
	'continuous_grabbing'	'enable', 'disable'	Activate or deactivate 'continuous grabbing'. Sets grabbing mode from single frame capture to continuous mode. If the continuous mode is enabled, the frame grabber board will grab all the time. In this mode you can achieve full frame rate. This mode is not allowed in combination with external triggering. Default: 'disable'.
	'grab_timeout'	msec	Specify the desired timeout (milliseconds passed as an integer) for aborting a pending grab (the default value is specified in the camera configuration file).
	'external_trigger'	'true', 'false'	Activate/deactivate external triggering. Note that this setting overwrites the corresponding setup in the camera configuration file.
	'photo'	0, 1, 2, ...	Shuttertime (in periods of the line-frequency) if you shutter the camera via the grabber (and shuttering is defined in the camera configuration file).
	'port'	number	Switch to the camera with the specified number.

Parameters for get_framegrabber_param():

Additional parameters supported by get_framegrabber_param() only. Note that all parameters supported by set_framegrabber_param() can also be accessed by get_framegrabber_param().

	'revision'	revision	The revision number of the HALCON frame grabber interface Inspecta2.dll.

It is possible to connect more than one camera to a Inspecta-2 board. Each one of the 6 input channels is attached with a number from 0 to 2 and 4 to 6 (if using the breakout box). Without usage of a breakout box, you can connect 2 cameras to the Inspecta-2; the according numbers are 0 and 4. These numbers are used as port parameter in the HALCON interface. To access a specific camera, you have to specify the corresponding port. This setting can be changed dynamically using the operator set_framegrabber_param(FGHandle, 'port', number). However, in this case the used cameras must be compatible, i.e. of the same type or with similar features (if in doubt please contact your local vendor or Mikrotron). If you use an additional high speed interface board, you may connect another 2 cameras with the Inspecta-2 (ports 3 and 7). Thus, up to 8 cameras may be connected with one Inspecta-2 board.

In parallel input mode, it is possible to get the frames of up to 3 cameras (or 4, if you use an additional interface board) at a time. Both grab_image() and grab_image_async() simply will return all 3 (or 4) frames of the cameras. For this mode, you only have to select the appropriate section in the camera configuration file (e.g., '2 x TM-9701 digital shutter') during the open_framegrabber() call.

If you enable this mode via open_framegrabber() or set_framegrabber_param(FGHandle, 'ExternalTrigger', 'enable'), one image will be acquired with the trigger and stored in the buffer, if you activated this via grab_image_start(). Thus, your HALCON application can process other data without loosing the frame. After activating the external trigger for one frame with grab_image_start(), both grab_image() and grab_image_async() simply will return the next frame, (or wait if it has not been acquired so far). Note that the external trigger is only allowed for cameras, that are asynchronous resettable, e.g. the PULNIX TM 9701.

• Revision 1.2 (June 13, 2000):
  
  • New b&w modes.
  • Bugfixes for color modes 16bpp and 32bpp.
• Revision 1.1 (June 29, 1999):
  
  • First official release.