Requirements and Restrictions for I/O Cameras

When using a camera device with GenICam compliant digital I/O channels for the process integration, some additional requirements and restrictions apply.

Requirements

• Ensure that the camera device provides at least 1 input channel and at least 2 output channels. For the transmission of results, 1 further output channel is required so there are 3 output channels in total.

  Some I/O channels are programmable, so it is not defined whether they are input or output channels. For MERLIC to recognize the digital I/O device, all channels must be defined as either input or output channels or the device will not appear in the list of available devices on the "I/O" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup.

• Ensure that the driver for the I/O interface is installed on the same PC as MERLIC.
• Ensure that the respective MVTec I/O interface is of version 20.11.16 (or higher) and stored in the bin directory of the MERLIC installation. You can download the MVTec I/O interface from the MVTec website.

Standard Features Naming Convention (SFNC)

For the I/O configuration to work, the digital I/O control parameters of your camera device need to match the names and values specified by the Standard Features Naming Convention (SFNC). If this is not the case, MERLIC will not recognize the I/O channels and the I/O device will not appear in the list of connected devices on the "I/O" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup.

You can make sure that your camera device comes with the proper specifications by connecting the camera device to the Image Source Manager (ISM). By consulting the list of camera parameters that is visible in ISM, you can check if the names and values of the camera parameters match the specifications of the SFNC.

These are the digital I/O control parameters that are required by MERLIC:

• LineX (Line1, Line2, etc.)
• LineFormat
• LineInverter
• LineMode
• LineSelector
• LineSource
• LineStatusAll
• UserOutputSelector
• UserOutputValue

Restrictions

Access to Camera Device

The camera device can only be accessed by one MERLIC instance at a time. If another MERLIC instance is already accessing the camera device when you start the I/O configuration, the camera device will not be visible in the list of available devices in the "I/O" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup.

If your camera device is not visible in the "I/O" tab after refreshing the list of available devices, there are several things you can do:

• Open the "Image Sources" in the MERLIC RTE Setup and deactivate the image source configuration in which your camera is used. The status of the image source configuration must be "inactive".
• To avoid this issue altogether, start by closing all instances of MERLIC. You can then start the MERLIC RTE Setup via the Windows start menu or the command line to make sure that the MERLIC Creator is not running and thus not accessing your camera device.