Bonito Technical Manual
V2.4.0
64
Parameters and commands
Metadata overlay and test image generator (U)
The Bonito can overlay the image’s first pixels with some bytes of metadata, such
as a hardware frame counter. The frame counter increments for each image read
out from the sensor. This helps to increase system reliability by detecting miss-
ing frames on the host system. In dual channel mode (
S=1
or
S=3
) it can also
be used to join the two related image halves because they have the same counter
value.
Furthermore, to test the Camera Link cabling and frame grabber operability, a
test image generator is available. It forces the camera to output an almost fixed
test image containing grey wedges, black and white stripes with various fre-
quencies and edge markers.
Range
Either
0
,
1
,
10
, or
11
Default
0
Related
Parameters
C
,
D
,
G
,
N
, and
M
Examples
(see settings table below.)
Setting
Function
U=0
Normal image output.
U=1
Enable metadata overlay
The overlay occupies the first (top left) 8 pixels of each frame.
Metadata format for the left Camera Link channel (connectors
O2/O1 or CL1/CL2):
•
Pixel offset 0–3 (4 bytes): constant ASCII characters
CM4L
•
Pixel offset 4–7 (4 bytes): 32-bit frame counter, LSB first
(Intel format)
Metadata format for the right Camera Link channel (connectors
O4/O3):
•
Pixel offset 0–3 (4 bytes): constant ASCII characters
CM4R
•
Pixel offset 4–7 (4 bytes): 32-bit frame counter, LSB first
(Intel format)
U=10
Enable test image generator. Full test image appears with
N=6BD
,
I=1
,
G=0
and
D=0
.
U=11
Enable metadata overlay and test image generator.
(Others)
Reserved for future use
Table 25: Trigger source selection (T)
