Optomechanical cascade system and method

Abstract

This invention relates to the field of unmanned vehicle technology, and particularly to an optomechanical cascade system and method. The optomechanical cascade system includes a host computer and at least two optomechanical units. Each optomechanical unit is equipped with a USB interface module, an optical control module, and an optomechanical main control module. The USB interface module is electrically connected to the host computer, the optical control module, and the optomechanical main control module, respectively. The optical control module is electrically connected to the optomechanical main control module. Cascaded control of the optomechanical units is achieved through the host computer, the optomechanical unit's USB interface module, the optical control module, and the optomechanical main control module. This invention eliminates the PLC module in existing optomechanical cascade schemes, simplifies the physical connection lines of the system, reduces the cascade complexity and false triggering of the system, and improves the robustness of the system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of industrial optomechanical technology, and more specifically to an optomechanical cascade system and method. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, most optomechanical cascade systems adopt TI's DLP design scheme. The DLP scheme provides a basic triggering method. Therefore, the optomechanical cascade method of most optomechanical products is affected by its triggering method and adopts the form of physical connection line to trigger reception and trigger transmission.

[0003] In the process of implementing these embodiments, the inventors of this invention discovered that: Currently, most optomechanical cascade systems are applied to large-scale integrated equipment systems. The physical cascade connection lines of the optomechanical components, combined with the existing physical connection lines of the equipment, reduce the internal wiring simplicity. Furthermore, the equipment may interfere with the cascaded physical lines of the optomechanical components, causing false triggering, reducing the accuracy of the optomechanical cascade system, and potentially causing the entire optomechanical cascade system to collapse. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main technical problem solved by the embodiments of the present invention is the complexity of physical connection lines and the ease with which accidental triggering occurs in existing optomechanical cascade systems.

[0005] In view of the above problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an optomechanical cascade system and method that overcomes or at least partially solves the above problems.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, an optomechanical cascade system is provided, comprising: a host computer and at least two optomechanical units, each optomechanical unit having a USB interface module, an optical control module, and an optomechanical main control module. The USB interface module is electrically connected to the host computer, the optical control module, and the optomechanical main control module, respectively. The optical control module is electrically connected to the optomechanical main control module. The host computer is used to forward projection and trigger commands to the optical control module via the USB interface module. The optical control module is used to control the projection of the optomechanical units and forward the projection parameter information to the optomechanical main control module. The optomechanical main control module is used to calculate the projection time and projection end time based on the parameter information and forward the projection time and projection end time to the USB interface module. The host computer is also used to obtain the projection time and projection end time from the USB interface module, send projection and trigger commands to other optomechanical units among the at least two optomechanical units based on the projection time and projection end time, and repeat the above steps to complete the cascading of all optomechanical units.

[0007] Optionally, the host computer is also used to: send a projection and trigger command to the next optical machine when it obtains the projection time and projection end time of the current optical machine.

[0008] According to another aspect of the present invention, an optomechanical cascading method is provided, applied to the optomechanical cascading system of claim 1 or 2, comprising: sending projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module via the host computer; forwarding the projection and trigger commands to the optical control module via the USB interface module; controlling the optical machine to project the image via the optical control module, and forwarding the projection parameter information to the optical machine main control module; calculating the projection time and projection end time based on the parameter information via the optical machine main control module, and forwarding the projection time and projection end time to the USB interface module; obtaining the projection time and projection end time from the USB interface module via the host computer; sending projection and trigger commands to other optical machines among the at least two optical machines via the host computer based on the projection time and projection end time, and repeating the above method steps to complete the cascading of all optical machines.

[0009] Optionally, the method further includes: when the host computer obtains the time spent on projection and the projection end time of the current optical engine, that is, when the host computer sends a projection and trigger command to the next optical engine.

[0010] Unlike related technologies, this invention provides an optomechanical cascade system and method. The cascaded control of the optomechanical system is achieved through a host computer, a USB interface module of the optomechanical system, an optical control module, and a main control module of the optomechanical system. This eliminates the PLC module in existing optomechanical cascade schemes, simplifies the physical connection lines of the optomechanical cascade system, reduces the cascade complexity of the system and the system's false triggering, and improves the system's robustness. Attached Figure Description

[0011] One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. These illustrations do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments. Elements having the same reference numerals in the drawings are denoted as similar elements. Unless otherwise stated, the figures in the drawings are not to be limited by scale.

[0012] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optomechanical cascade system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of an optomechanical cascade method provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0014] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the invention.

[0015] It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the various features in the embodiments of the present invention can be combined with each other, and all are within the protection scope of the present invention. Furthermore, although functional modules are divided in the device schematic diagram and a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in a different module division or in a different order than that shown in the device schematic diagram or the flowchart.

[0016] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this specification have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. The terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the invention. The term "and / or" as used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0017] Currently, the optical engine has been widely used in 3D printing, 3D measurement and other scenarios. It is an important component for forming a complete image. The optical engine is used to project the image onto a digital microscope (DMD), which is used to reflect the image projected by the optical engine to form an image.

[0018] Optomechanical cascading refers to the interconnection of two or more optical machines in a specific manner to enable them to sequentially complete image projection tasks. In essence, after a user issues a trigger command, the cascading system triggers the next optical machine, completing the image projection tasks of all machines at once without requiring the user to repeatedly issue trigger signals. Existing technologies use physical connection lines for pre-triggered reception and post-triggered transmission to achieve optical machine cascading, resulting in complex physical connection lines and a high risk of accidental triggering during use.

[0019] Based on this, the present invention provides an optomechanical cascade system and method, which realizes the cascaded control of the optomechanical system through a host computer, a USB interface module of the optomechanical system, an optical control module, and an optomechanical main control module. This eliminates the physical connection lines between the host computer and the PLC module, the PLC module and the optomechanical main control module of the current optomechanical system, and the optomechanical main control module of the current optomechanical system and the optomechanical main control module of the next optomechanical system, which reduces the cascade complexity of the system and the possibility of system erroneous triggering, and improves the robustness of the system.

[0020] Example 1

[0021] This invention provides an optomechanical cascade system. When the at least two optomechanical components specifically refer to two optomechanical components, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an optomechanical cascade system provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The optomechanical cascade system includes: a host computer 0, an optomechanical unit 1, and an optomechanical unit 2. The optomechanical unit 1 is provided with a USB interface module 11, an optical control module 12, and an optomechanical main control module 13. The USB interface module 11 is electrically connected to the host computer 0, the optical control module 12, and the optomechanical main control module 13, respectively. The optical control module 12 is electrically connected to the optomechanical main control module 13. The optomechanical unit 2 is provided with a USB interface module 21, an optical control module 22, and an optomechanical main control module 23, respectively. The USB interface module 21 is electrically connected to the host computer 0, the optical control module 22, and the optomechanical main control module 23, respectively. The optical control module 22 is electrically connected to the optomechanical main control module 23.

[0022] Upon receiving external projection and trigger commands, the host computer 0 forwards the projection and trigger commands to the optical control module 12 via the USB interface module 11 of the optical engine 1. The optical control module 12 controls the optical engine 1 to project the image and forwards the projection parameter information to the optical engine main control module 13. The optical engine main control module 13 calculates the projection time and projection end time based on the parameter information and forwards the projection time and projection end time to the USB interface module 11. The host computer 0 also obtains the projection time and projection end time from the USB interface module 11 and sends projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module 21 of the optical engine 2 when the projection by the optical engine 1 ends, so that the optical engine 2 receives the projection and trigger commands and completes the projection task. In some other embodiments, the optical engine 2 repeats the above steps to complete the cascading of all optical engines. When the current optical engine completes its mapping, the host computer 0 sends mapping and trigger commands to the next optical engine based on the optical engine ID to achieve cascaded triggering of optical engines.

[0023] Compared to the optical-mechanical cascading system of this application, existing optical-mechanical cascading systems also include a PLC module. The PLC module is connected to a host computer and the optical-mechanical main control module of the current optical machine. The optical-mechanical main control module of the current optical machine is also connected to the optical-mechanical main control module of the next optical machine. The PLC module receives projection and trigger commands from the host computer and forwards them to the optical-mechanical main control module of the current optical machine. The optical-mechanical main control module of the current optical machine, after completing projection, sends the projection and trigger commands to the optical-mechanical main control module of the next optical machine, enabling the next optical machine to receive the projection and trigger commands and complete the projection task.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, this application eliminates the physical connection lines between the host computer and the PLC module, the PLC module and the current optomechanical main control module, and the current optomechanical main control module and the next optomechanical main control module. This simplifies the physical connection lines of the optomechanical cascade system, reduces the cascade complexity and the possibility of false triggering, and improves the robustness of the optomechanical cascade system.

[0025] Optomechanical cascade systems are generally used in conjunction with other devices. For example, when the optomechanical cascade system is used with a camera, the camera captures the effect of the optomechanical projection while the optomechanical system projects an image. It can be understood that the optical control module of the optomechanical system sends a collection signal to the camera for each image it projects, and the camera takes a picture based on the collection signal.

[0026] Each optical engine in the optical-mechanical cascade system is connected to the camera, meaning there is a trigger line between each optical engine and the camera. The trigger line is used to send the acquisition signal output by the optical engine to the camera. There is also a trigger line between any two adjacent optical engines, which is used to trigger the cascaded optical engines.

[0027] Since the distance between the optical engine and the camera is relatively short, the trigger line is short and less susceptible to interference; therefore, this application retains the trigger line. Trigger lines between optical engines are easily interfered with. In this application's optical engine cascading system, the trigger lines between optical engines are removed. Instead, the host computer sends projection and trigger signals to the next optical engine after the current optical engine completes its projection task, thus achieving cascading triggering. That is, all optical engines are triggered by projection and trigger signals sent by the host computer, eliminating the need for the current optical engine to cascade and trigger the next one. This reduces the possibility of false triggering and lowers the complexity of the cascading system.

[0028] Furthermore, existing solutions based on TI's DLP design use PLC modules to achieve optomechanical cascading. That is, there is a trigger line between the host computer and the PLC module, and a trigger line between the PLC module and the main control module of the optomechanical system. This application removes the PLC module. It can be understood that when the PLC module is removed, the trigger lines between the host computer and the PLC module, and between the PLC module and the main control module of the current optomechanical system, are also removed. This simplifies the physical connection lines of the optomechanical cascading system and reduces the cascading complexity of the system.

[0029] In this embodiment of the invention, an optomechanical cascade system is provided, comprising: a host computer and at least two optomechanical units. Each optomechanical unit is equipped with a USB interface module, an optical control module, and an optomechanical main control module. The USB interface module is electrically connected to the host computer, the optical control module, and the optomechanical main control module, respectively. The optical control module is electrically connected to the optomechanical main control module. By eliminating the physical connection lines between the host computer and the PLC module, between the PLC module and the optomechanical main control module of the current optomechanical unit, and between the optomechanical main control module of the current optomechanical unit and the optomechanical main control module of the next optomechanical unit, the cascading complexity of the system and the possibility of system erroneous triggering are reduced, thereby improving the robustness of the system.

[0030] Example 2

[0031] This invention provides an optomechanical cascading method, applied to the aforementioned optomechanical cascading system. Please refer to... Figure 2 , Figure 2 This is a flowchart of an optomechanical cascading method provided in an embodiment of the present invention, including:

[0032] S31. The host computer sends the projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module. Specifically, when a user needs to project an image, the host computer sends projection and trigger commands to the optical engine. These projection and trigger commands include, but are not limited to, the optical engine ID.

[0033] S32. The projection and trigger commands are forwarded to the optical control module via the USB interface module. Specifically, the projection and trigger commands are received via the USB interface module of the current optical engine, and then forwarded to the optical control module of that optical engine.

[0034] S33. The optical control module controls the optical engine to project images, and forwards the projection parameter information to the optical engine main control module. Specifically, the optical control module of the current optical engine can obtain the total number of images stored in the optical engine, and divide the images into multiple groups. The parameter information includes the corresponding time when each image projection is completed and the corresponding time when each group of images is completed.

[0035] S34. The optical engine main control module calculates the time spent on image projection and the image projection completion time based on the parameter information, and forwards the image projection time and the image projection completion time to the USB interface module. Specifically, the current optical engine's main control module calculates the time required to project all images stored in the camera and the optical engine's overall projection time based on the corresponding time when each image projection is completed and the corresponding time when each group of images is completed.

[0036] S35. Obtain the projection time and projection end time from the USB interface module via the host computer. Specifically, the host computer obtains the projection time and projection end time of the current optical engine from its USB interface module.

[0037] S36. Based on the time spent on mapping and the mapping completion time, the host computer sends mapping and trigger commands to the other optical machines among the at least two optical machines, and repeats the above steps to complete the cascading of all optical machines. Specifically, the host computer receives the mapping time spent and the mapping completion time of the current optical machine, and when the current optical machine completes its mapping task, the host computer sends mapping and trigger commands to the next optical machine to complete the cascading triggering of the next optical machine.

[0038] The above-mentioned optomechanical cascade method is illustrated below with examples.

[0039] For example, when the at least two optical engines specifically refer to two optical engines, optical engine 1 sends projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module 11 via the host computer 0; the USB interface module 11 forwards the projection and trigger commands to the optical control module 12; the optical control module 12 controls optical engine 1 to project the image and forwards the projection parameter information to the optical engine main control module 13; the optical engine main control module 13 calculates the projection time and projection end time based on the parameter information and forwards the projection time and projection end time to the USB interface module 11; the host computer 0 obtains the projection time and projection end time from the USB interface module 11; based on the projection time and projection end time, the host computer 0 sends projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module 21 of optical engine 2, triggering optical engine 2 to complete the projection task using the same approach as optical engine 1. In other embodiments, the above steps are repeated by optical engine 2 to complete the cascading of all optical engines.

[0040] In the existing solution, the host computer sends the projection and trigger commands to the PLC module, the PLC module sends the projection and trigger commands to the current optical machine's main control module, the current optical machine's main control module outputs the projection and trigger commands to the current optical machine's optical control module, the current optical machine's optical control module controls the current optical machine to project the image, and sends the projection completion signal to the current optical machine's main control module, and the current optical machine's main control module sends the projection and trigger commands to the next optical machine's main control module based on the projection completion signal.

[0041] The communication time of existing optomechanical cascade systems is at the millisecond level. In the current optomechanical mapping process, the optomechanical master control module can calculate the time required for the optomechanical to complete mapping and the mapping completion time. Therefore, the communication signal can be returned to the host computer in advance. Moreover, while the mapping action is still in progress, the mapping parameter information can be sent to the optomechanical master control module in advance. As a result, the main link communication time of this application is at the microsecond level, which reduces the main link communication time compared with the existing solution.

[0042] Compared to existing solutions, this application directly sends projection and trigger commands to the current optical machine via a host computer, and then sends the projection and trigger commands to the next optical machine when the current optical machine completes projection. This differs from sending the projection and trigger commands to a PLC module via the host computer, which then sends the commands to the current optical machine. Finally, the current optical machine triggers the next optical machine to perform projection after completing its projection. By understanding the working principle of optical machines, this application eliminates the PLC module found in existing solutions and uses complex logic to achieve optical machine cascading, simplifying the physical connections of the cascaded system.

[0043] In this embodiment of the invention, an optomechanical cascading method is provided. The cascading control of the optomechanical system is realized through a host computer, a USB interface module of the optomechanical system, an optical control module, and an optomechanical master control module. This method eliminates the physical connection lines between the host computer and the PLC module, the PLC module and the optomechanical master control module of the current optomechanical system, and the optomechanical master control module of the current optomechanical system and the optomechanical master control module of the next optomechanical system, which reduces the cascading complexity of the system and the possibility of system erroneous triggering. Furthermore, the method can return communication signals to the next stage while the optomechanical system is projecting the image, which reduces the communication time of the main links and improves the robustness of the system.

[0044] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented using software and a general-purpose hardware platform, or of course, using hardware. Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the processes in the above embodiments can be implemented by a computer program instructing related hardware. The program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above methods. The storage medium can be a magnetic disk, optical disk, read-only memory (ROM), or random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0045] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and not to limit them; under the concept of the present invention, the technical features of the above embodiments or different embodiments can also be combined, the steps can be implemented in any order, and there are many other variations of different aspects of the present invention as described above, which are not provided in detail for the sake of brevity; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some of the technical features; and these modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. An optomechanical cascade system, characterized in that, include: The system includes a host computer and at least two optical engines. Each optical engine is equipped with a USB interface module, an optical control module, and an optical engine main control module. The USB interface module is electrically connected to the host computer, the optical control module, and the optical engine main control module, respectively. The optical control module is electrically connected to the optical engine main control module. The host computer is used to forward the projection and trigger commands to the light control module through the USB interface module; The optical control module is used to control the optical engine projection and forward the projection parameter information to the optical engine main control module; The optical engine main control module is used to calculate the time spent on image projection and the image projection end time based on the parameter information, and forward the time spent on image projection and the image projection end time to the USB interface module; The host computer is also used to obtain the time spent on projection and the projection end time from the USB interface module, send projection and trigger commands to other optical machines among the at least two optical machines according to the time spent on projection and the projection end time, and repeatedly calculate the time spent on projection and the projection end time to complete the cascading of all optical machines.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The host computer is also used to: send a projection and trigger command to the next optical machine when it obtains the projection time and projection end time of the current optical machine.

3. A method for optomechanical cascading, applied to the optomechanical cascading system as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, include: The host computer sends the projection and trigger commands to the USB interface module. The projection and trigger commands are forwarded to the light control module via the USB interface module; The optical control module controls the optical-mechanical projection and forwards the projection parameter information to the optical-mechanical main control module. The optical engine main control module calculates the time spent on image projection and the image projection end time based on the parameter information, and forwards the time spent on image projection and the image projection end time to the USB interface module; The host computer obtains the time spent on image projection and the time when image projection ends from the USB interface module. Based on the time spent on projection and the projection end time, the host computer sends projection and trigger commands to the other optical machines among the at least two optical machines, and repeatedly calculates the time spent on projection and the projection end time to complete the cascading of all optical machines.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the host computer obtains the time spent on projection and the projection end time of the current optical engine, it sends projection and trigger commands to the next optical engine.

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