Balluff MATRIX VISION mvBlueFOX Series, Technical Manual, Page: 36 / 238

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MATRIX VISION devices that also comply with the GigE Vision standard don't need any software at all, but can also
use HALCON's built-in GigE Vision support.
As some mvIMPACT Acquire device driver packages also come with a GenTL compliant interface, these can also
be operated through HALCON's built-in GenTL acquisition interface.
1.8.4.4 LabVIEW Support
Every mvIMPACT Acquire compliant device can be operated under LabVIEW through an additional set of VIs which
is shipped by MATRIX VISION as a separate installation ( "mvLabVIEW Acquire" ).
MATRIX VISION devices that also comply with the GigE Vision or USB3 Vision standard don't need any additional
software at all, but can also be operated through LabVIEW's GigE Vision or USB3 Vision driver packages.
1.8.4.5 DirectShow Support
Every mvIMPACT Acquire compliant device driver package comes with an interface to DirectShow. In order to use
a DirectShow compliant application, devices must first be registered for DirectShow support. How to do this is
explained
here (p. 75 ).
1.8.4.6 Micro-Manager Support
Every mvIMPACT Acquire compliant device can be operated under
https://micro-manager.org
when
using mvIMPACT Acquire 2.18.0 or later and at least Micro-Manager 1.4.23 build AFTER 15.12.2016. The
adapter needed is part of the Micro-Manager release. Additional information can be found here: https
←
-
://micro-manager.org/wiki/MatrixVision .
1.8.5 Relationship between driver, firmware and FPGA file
To operate a mvBlueFOX device apart from the physical hardware itself 3 pieces of software are needed:
• a firmware running on the device (provides low-level functionality like allowing the device to act as a USB
device, support for multiple power states etc.)
• an FPGA file loaded into the FPGA inside the device (provides access features to control the behaviour of
the image sensor, the digital I/Os etc.)
• a device driver (this is the mvBlueFOX.dll on Windows® and the libmvBlueFOX.so on Linux) running on the
host system (provides control over the device from an application running on the host system)
The physical mvBlueFOX device has a firmware programmed into the device's non-volatile memory, thus allowing
the device to act as a USB device by just connecting the device to a free USB port. So the firmware version that will
be used when operating the device does
NOT depend on the driver version that is used to communicate with the
device.
On the contrary the FPGA file version that will be used will be downloaded in volatile memory (RAM) when accessing
the device through the device driver thus the API. One or more FPGA files are a binary part of the device driver.
This shall be illustrated by the following figure:
MATRIX VISION GmbH