User`s guide

2 Introduction
2-2
Toolbox Components Overview
In this section...
“Introduction” on page 2-2
“Toolbox Components” on page 2-3
“The Image Processing Toolbox Software Required to Use the Image Acquisition Toolbox
Software” on page 2-4
“The Image Acquisition Tool (GUI)” on page 2-5
“Supported Devices” on page 2-5
Introduction
Image Acquisition Toolbox enables you to acquire images and video from cameras
and frame grabbers directly into MATLAB and Simulink. You can detect hardware
automatically, and configure hardware properties. Advanced workflows let you trigger
acquisitions while processing in-the-loop, perform background acquisitions, and
synchronize sampling across several multimodal devices. With support for multiple
hardware vendors and industry standards, you can use imaging devices, ranging from
inexpensive Web cameras to high-end scientific and industrial devices that meet low-
light, high-speed, and other challenging requirements.
The Image Acquisition Toolbox software implements an object-oriented approach to
image acquisition. Using toolbox functions, you create an object that represents the
connection between MATLAB and specific image acquisition devices. Using properties of
the object you can control various aspects of the acquisition process, such as the amount
of video data you want to capture. “Creating Image Acquisition Objects” on page 5-8
describes how to create objects.
Once you establish a connection to a device, you can acquire image data by executing a
trigger. In the toolbox, all image acquisition is initiated by a trigger. The toolbox supports
several types of triggers that let you control when an acquisition takes place. For
example, using hardware triggers you can synchronize an acquisition with an external
device. “Acquiring Image Data” on page 6-2 describes how to trigger the acquisition
of image data.
To work with the data you acquire, you must bring it into the MATLAB workspace.
When the frames are acquired, the toolbox stores them in a memory buffer. The toolbox