Use Cases
The following examples represent some use cases of parallel processing.
Independent Inspection with a Single Camera
The acquired image of a single camera can be inspected by several tools at the same time. In the example graphic below, the acquired image is used in four parallel processes.
Example Application
The example MERLIC Vision App check_pen_parts.mvapp represents a similar use case. The image is acquired from a single Acquire Image from File tool and transferred to several tools that simultaneously check different parts of a pen, such as spring, clip, thread, and pen point. The following image shows how the tools are structured in the Tool Flow panel.
Synchronized Inspection with Multiple Cameras
MERLIC allows to synchronize parallel tool flows The tool flow of a MERLIC Vision App (MVApp) represents the sequence of tools and tool connections that have been configured for the MVApp. It defines the individual image processing steps that are performed when the MVApp is executed and visualizes dependencies between tools. The tool flow of the current MVApp is displayed in the Tool Flow panel of the MERLIC Creator.. The images can be acquired from multiple cameras and processed within a single MERLIC Vision App. The tool flows can be synchronized by creating a connection from the different processes to any common tool, as shown in the example graphic below.
It shows two acquisition tools (A1 and A2) that are used to acquire images from two cameras. The acquired image of the tool A1 is transferred to the tools T11 and T12. The inspection continues in the tools T13 and T14. Parallel to this, the acquired image of the tool A2 is processed and inspected in the tools T21 and T22. So far, the tool flows could be processed independently.
To synchronize these two independent tool flows during the execution of MERLIC, they have to transfer data to the same tool. In the example graphic, the tool T3 receives data from both tool flows via the tools T14 and T22. The execution of the tool T3 will only start if all connected data of the previous tools were received.
