Here's a challenge I've recently been trying to work through.
I've got a packaging line that has some Cognex DataMan readers on them (16, actually). The readers have the ability to FTP the images they capture to somewhere for display - the images come off as a JPEG or a BMP, with the option to bring along an SVG overlay to highlight the decoded barcode/2D code. (so I will always have a file called Cup_Lane_1.jpg which has the last image in the FTP location).
When the barcode readers either fail to find a barcode in the image (it's an indexing filler, so they shouldn't), or they find the wrong barcode (our supplier's vision system failed and we got a package labeled for Product B in a case of product A packages), the filler stops so the operator can take corrective action - the PLC handles this part just fine.
Right now, I've got the images going to a separate webserver on another computer near the filler, and I hacked together a little page to let them easily cycle through the 16 different cameras (8 for cups, 8 for lids).
What I'd really like to do is get the images directly into their HMI, so that I can just go to a specific display when the fault occurs, and they don't have to screw around with going to another computer that's several paces away from their usual operator position. The HMI is a PVPlus, and it's on FTView ME version 6.1.
So far, the only idea I've come across is setting up the PV+ FTP server to write directly into the directory where the runtime project is decompressed (\Temp\~MER.00\Images). That should work in theory, but if the operator is on the screen when they trigger the camera (because they need a valid barcode to turn off the fault), they have to switch away from the current display and back to it to refresh the image, which is awkward.
This isn't one of the extended PV+ units that has a browser on it either.
Any other bright ideas?
I've got a packaging line that has some Cognex DataMan readers on them (16, actually). The readers have the ability to FTP the images they capture to somewhere for display - the images come off as a JPEG or a BMP, with the option to bring along an SVG overlay to highlight the decoded barcode/2D code. (so I will always have a file called Cup_Lane_1.jpg which has the last image in the FTP location).
When the barcode readers either fail to find a barcode in the image (it's an indexing filler, so they shouldn't), or they find the wrong barcode (our supplier's vision system failed and we got a package labeled for Product B in a case of product A packages), the filler stops so the operator can take corrective action - the PLC handles this part just fine.
Right now, I've got the images going to a separate webserver on another computer near the filler, and I hacked together a little page to let them easily cycle through the 16 different cameras (8 for cups, 8 for lids).
What I'd really like to do is get the images directly into their HMI, so that I can just go to a specific display when the fault occurs, and they don't have to screw around with going to another computer that's several paces away from their usual operator position. The HMI is a PVPlus, and it's on FTView ME version 6.1.
So far, the only idea I've come across is setting up the PV+ FTP server to write directly into the directory where the runtime project is decompressed (\Temp\~MER.00\Images). That should work in theory, but if the operator is on the screen when they trigger the camera (because they need a valid barcode to turn off the fault), they have to switch away from the current display and back to it to refresh the image, which is awkward.
This isn't one of the extended PV+ units that has a browser on it either.
Any other bright ideas?
