CAMERAS FRAME GRABBERS IMAGING SOLUTIONS
BOBCAT Hardware User’s Manual
IMPERX
Rev. 2.0.7
6421 Congress Ave.
4/8/2014
Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.imperx.com
+1 (561) 989-0006
207 of 329
4.1 OVERVIEW
The Bobcat series of cameras are highly programmable and flexible. All of the cameras
resources (internal registers, video amplifiers and parameter FLASH) can be controlled by
the user. The user communicates with the camera using a simple, register-based, command
protocol via the Camera Link’s serial interface. The interface is bi-directional with the
user issuing ‘commands’ to the camera and the camera issuing ‘responses’ (either status or
info) to the user. The entire camera registers and resources can be configured and
monitored by the user. The camera’s parameters can be programmed using the Bobcat
Configurator graphical user interface.
4.2 CAMERA CONFIGURATION
4.2.1
Configuration Memory – parameter FLASH
The camera has a built-in configuration memory divided into 4 segments: ‘work-space’,
‘factory-space’, ‘user-space #1’ and ‘user-space #2’. The ‘work-space’ segment contains
the current camera settings while the camera is powered-up and operational. All camera
registers are located in this space. These registers can be programmed and retrieved via
commands issued by the user. The workspace is RAM based and upon power down all
camera registers are cleared. The ‘factory-space’ segment is ROM based, write protected
and contains the default camera settings. This space is available for read operations only.
The ‘user-space #1’ and ‘user-space #2’ are non-volatile, FLASH based and used to store
two user defined configurations. Upon power up, the camera firmware loads the work-
space registers from the factory-space, user-space #1 or user-space #2 as determined by a
‘boot control’ register located in the configuration memory. The ‘boot control’ register can
be programmed by the user (refer to Camera Configuration Section). The user can, at any
time, instruct the camera to loads its workspace with the contents of the ‘factory-space’,
‘user-space #1’ or ‘user-space #2’. Similarly, the user can instruct the camera to save the
current workspace settings into either the ‘user-space #1’ or ‘user-space #2’.
The non-volatile parameter FLASH memory also contains Defective Pixel Map, Hot Pixel
Map, Flat Field Correction Coefficients, LUT 1 and LUT 2, which can be loaded to the
camera internal memory upon enabling the corresponding camera feature. The user can
create its own DPM, HPM, FFCC, and LUT tables and upload them to the parameter
FLASH using the Bobcat Configurator graphical user interface.