how to interface webcam with PSoC 3

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Anonymous
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i want to interface a webcam with PSoC 3 and then transmit the webcam video to recevier side..how can i do this..

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1 Solution
Anonymous
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In my opinioin, there are 2 pieces that form this puzzle. First, trying to get data i to PSoC from a webcam(a camera in general). Second is the transmission part.

   
        
  1. As far as, getting the data from video camera is concerned, you need to zero in on what camera you will be using and what will be the protocol used for reading data from camera. Any electronic device uses electonic interfaces such as SPI, USB, PCIE to communicate with other devices. The readily available communication interface with PSoC are SPI, USB, CAN, UART. You need to choose a camera which can provide a standard communication interface mentioned earlier. Even if you choose a cmaera that puts data on a custom interface(may be serial or parallel interface), you need to see if  it possible to implement it in PSoC using UDB logic(you ccan come back to the forum to get this answered). The limtation on the communication protocl will be the data throughput. If you consider a 1 Megapixel camera, as explained in the previous post you will have 1Million*3 bytes of data per second(3 Meg Bytes per second). Based on the resolution you need and based on the communication interface you need to select a camera and assess the feasibility.
  2.     
  3. Wireless interface: There are many readily available wireless modules that have enough bandwidth to support video transmission. Again, PSoC needs a communication protocol to talk to the wireless module. 
  4.    

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19 Replies
Anonymous
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What kind of webcam are you trying to interface with PSoC3. USB?

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Anonymous
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actually in my project i want to transmit video to other end ( receiver) wirelessly..  This video will be captured by a webcam and i will be using PSoC 3 at both transmission and receiving end.

   

ya i will connect webcam to PSoC with USB.. Please guide me with all considerations and your suggestion that i should take...

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Anonymous
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 I dont think it is possible to connect a webcam to PSoC3 or PSoC5 via USB. PSoC does not have a USB Host capability and hence a USB cam(assuming the camera is a USB perihperal) can not be connected via USB. 

   

Assuming that it is connected video over USB is tough because we are fundamentally limited by the bandwidthe available on USB; PSoC3/PSoC5 support only Full Speed transfer and a maximum of around 1 Mega Byte/Second. So even if you have a 1Mega Pixel camera, you wil have approximately 3 Megapixels of data in one frame and depending on the framerate you will have more data. So connecting awebcam to PSoC3 and streaming video via PSoC3 is out of question.

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Anonymous
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 That said, Cyoress makes some awesome chips which can do this. There are specific USB devices which can do this, will gather more information and post it here.

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Anonymous
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so it means we cannot connect a webcam with PSoC through any other means also....

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Anonymous
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Your best bet would be to find if there is someother camera which can throw out data on a different protocol. SPI or may be some other parallel bus would definitely help.

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Anonymous
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Sir, my project is "Wireless Video transmission through Webcam" in this i need to transmit video of a camera from one end to other without a physical connection between them....please guide me how sholud i proceed....

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
Level 10
First like given 50 questions asked 10 questions asked

First, before decide for PSoC 1, 3 or 5

   

To transmit (any) data you need something named "Protocol". It specifies in which format etc what data is transmitted. When you lean on the OSI-layer model (ask mrs. Wiki Pedia if you don't know it), you see that the lowest layer actually defines the transmission media, which is in your case RF. 

   

Give that layer-model a bit of thought, it will make the implementation easier. Later on the protocol-layer will be implemented on your PSoC.

   

You must give attention to bandwidth and byte throughput because uncompressed video has a lot of data and compressing is not an easy job. So sharpen your pencil, thake a sheet of paper and start calculating...

   

 

   

Happy number-crunching

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

In my opinioin, there are 2 pieces that form this puzzle. First, trying to get data i to PSoC from a webcam(a camera in general). Second is the transmission part.

   
        
  1. As far as, getting the data from video camera is concerned, you need to zero in on what camera you will be using and what will be the protocol used for reading data from camera. Any electronic device uses electonic interfaces such as SPI, USB, PCIE to communicate with other devices. The readily available communication interface with PSoC are SPI, USB, CAN, UART. You need to choose a camera which can provide a standard communication interface mentioned earlier. Even if you choose a cmaera that puts data on a custom interface(may be serial or parallel interface), you need to see if  it possible to implement it in PSoC using UDB logic(you ccan come back to the forum to get this answered). The limtation on the communication protocl will be the data throughput. If you consider a 1 Megapixel camera, as explained in the previous post you will have 1Million*3 bytes of data per second(3 Meg Bytes per second). Based on the resolution you need and based on the communication interface you need to select a camera and assess the feasibility.
  2.     
  3. Wireless interface: There are many readily available wireless modules that have enough bandwidth to support video transmission. Again, PSoC needs a communication protocol to talk to the wireless module. 
  4.    
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Anonymous
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If using a digital webcam....wat are the types of formats  video webcam available like RGB or such.......or which can be interfaced with controller...

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Anonymous
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Finally i have come to conclusion to have video transmission between two laptops. I have divided my project in 2 parts.

Part 1. In this i am transferring the already present video in my laptop (transmitter) which is connected to PSoC board to another laptop (receiver) connected with another PSoC board and show the video. To send video from laptop to PSoC board i am thinking to have serial communincation using RS232.

Part 2. In this i am thinking to use the webcam of transmitter side laptop to capture the video and show it on the receiver laptop with live streaming.

So guide me with this process how i can proceed. Also how can i transfer video file to PSoC board using RS 232.
Thank you...

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Bob_Marlowe
Level 10
Level 10
First like given 50 questions asked 10 questions asked

The question of bandwidth is still not quite answered. The maximum baud-rate for a PC is about 56kbit/s.

   

To establish a connection you need a level-shifter (Max232) from +-12V to 5V and vice-versa. Within the PSoC3 Creator 2.0 software you'll find an easy-to-use UARTuser module (you may use more than one). Have a brief look at the module's datasheet to apply the right settings, drop a few lines of code and your'e done.

   

 

   

Happy coding

   

Bob

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Well,

   

I'd like to draw attention to a fantastic project out there,the CMUcam4,which I think can do what you require.Interfacing that to the PSoC will also be very simple.

   

cmucam.org/projects/cmucam4/

   

 

   

And if your goal is not directly realtime video,you could also consider a JPEG TTL camera,like this one

   

Sparkfun link - www.sparkfun.com/products/10061

   

Interfacing is super simple,only UART.

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Anonymous
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A good tutorial from Adafruit on the same type of camera,linked here www.ladyada.net/products/camera/

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Anonymous
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I am thinking to transfer an already saved video file to the PSoC 3 board. i am thinking to do using USB. is this possible. how can i do this......

   

any example projects of usb comunication available....

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Anonymous
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I know your design includes PSoC hardware, but are you locked into using hardware solutions? Considering that you will have two laptops, it may be easier to implement a software solution. That is create custom transmiting and recieving applications. You could just use existing WiFi protocols for data transmission. If this isn't a class project...just use a webcam server application.

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Anonymous
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 Psoc development kit boards doesn't have USB host capabilities to support input from USB 

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Anonymous
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 Cypress psoc 3 development kit boards doesn't have the USB host capabilities ie they can't process input via USB from any external device

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Anonymous
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Yes,the current PSoCs do not have USB-OTG or similar,but do note that the functionality can be added easily with external chips,like Cypress' own EZ-HOST or the popular MAX3421 from MAXIM.

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