Common Vision Blox software from Adept Electronic Solutions
Common Vision Blox software available from Adept Electronic Solutions
Stemmer Imaging’s Common Vision Blox (CVB), available from
Adept Electronic Solutions , is an open architecture hardware independent toolkit that supports both PC and embedded smart camera technology.
The Common Vision Blox has a wide support for cameras and grabbers. The Common Vision Blox supports classical programming through compilers as well as more modern programming using graphical user interface tools.
The Common Vision Blox can be called a 'Machine Vision Operating System' as the user can use the comprehensive set of available tools, use third party tools or even write their own tools in a wide variety of different programming languages.
The Common Vision Blox is all about the freedom to develop an application, the way the user wants. So unlike with other machine vision software suites, the user is not tied-in to a proprietary system.
The CVB Image Manager is at the core of Common Vision Blox and provides all of the fundamental functions such as image access and hardware drivers. The Image Manager can be purchased as a stand-alone module.
It handles the display functionality, which all the other tools (if required) connect to. The CVB Image Manager on its own is useful for building simple presentation applications for virtually any camera or grabber in the market.
Most camera/grabber products are supplied with the manufacturer's software and SDK. However, many such software do not offer the flexibility and ease-of-use of the CVB Image Manager to develop a custom interface with most general functions such as displaying, saving, image manipulation etc.
If automated inspection is required, the base Image Manager package can be extended by using additional software tools with algorithms to solve any industrial image processing task simply and flexibly. This provides the CVB with hardware and language independence.
The Common Vision Blox gives the user the freedom to choose with:
- Hardware independence: It can be used with the a huge range of cameras, frame grabbers and systems and supports all interfacing protocols such as Analogue, Gigabit Ethernet, GenICam, IEEE-1394, USB and CameraLink. This means the user will never be tied to a particular manufacturer
- Language independence: The CVB can be used with a wide variety of programming languages such as Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Visual C++, Borland Delphi, Borland Delphi .NET, and Borland C++
- Code independence: As the Common Vision Blox is an open environment, users can use their own compiled code alongside existing tools that form part of the package
- Image independence: Images can be accessed directly in memory allowing the user complete freedom to use any image source they choose
The Common Vision Blox has been designed with performance in mind to keep pace with fast applications. The Common Vision Blox captures each and every frame as the speed of the application increases, so the user does miss a single pixel. It is designed to work with the latest PC technology, like multi-threading, so different bits of code can execute simultaneously, utilising all the available processing power.
It is also designed to work with the latest generation of multi-core and multi-processor machines, so that when the user specifies that new powerful PC, they can be sure that the Common Vision Blox will use it to full advantage. With the Common Vision Blox it is possible to display live images from multiple cameras using a combination of interfaces simultaneously.
The Image Manager provides all the functionality that is usually offered by a typical hardware-bound SDK. For the simplest situations, only the lean Image Manager-libraries are used for acquisition into the host memory. Any further processing can be done with proprietary algorithms.
However, the user already benefits from the hardware independence and the high degree of optimisation. Through the standardised image interface, the CVB-Tools may always be a useful addition to the proprietary algorithms.
- Defines interfaces for generalised access to image data
- Defines interfaces for image acquisition, independent from the used data source
- Optimised display with DirectX-support and non-destructive overlays
- Basic functionality for image processing
- Flexible coordinate system
- Support for multithreaded operation
15-Sep-2008