User`s manual

AW00118302000 Chunk Features
Basler racer GigE 197
11 Chunk Features
This section provides detailed information about the chunk features available on each camera.
11.1 What are Chunk Features?
In most cases, enabling a camera feature will simply change the behavior of the camera. The Test
Image feature is a good example of this type of camera feature. When the Test Image feature is
enabled, the camera outputs a test image rather than an acquired image. This type of feature is
referred to as a "standard" feature.
When certain camera features are enabled, the camera actually develops some sort of information
about each frame that it acquires. In these cases, the information is added to each frame as a
trailing data "chunk" when the image is transferred to the host PC. Examples of this type of camera
feature are the Frame Counter feature and the Time Stamp feature. When the Frame Counter
feature is enabled, for example, after a frame is acquired, the camera checks a counter that tracks
the number of frames acquired and develops a frame counter stamp for the frame. And if the Time
Stamp feature is enabled, the camera creates a time stamp indicating when the frame was
acquired. The frame counter stamp and the time stamp would be added as "chunks" of trailing data
to each frame as the frame is transmitted from the camera. The features that add chunks to the
acquired frames are referred to as “chunk” features.
Before you can use any of the features that add chunks to the frames, you must make the chunk
mode active. Making the chunk mode active is described in the next section.