The network camera's camera
component captures the image -- which can be described as
light of different wavelengths -- and transforms it into electrical
signals.
These signals are then are
converted from analog to digital format and transferred into
the computer function where the image is compressed and sent
out over the network.
The lens of the camera focuses the image
onto the image sensor (CCD). Before reaching the image sensor,
the images pass through the optical filter, which removes
any infrared light so that the "correct" colors
will be displayed.
The image sensor converts the image,
which is composed of light information, into electrical signals.
These electrical, digital signals are
now in a format that can be compressed and transferred over
networks.
Axis' in-house developed ARTPEC (Axis
Real Time Picture EnCoder) chip performs such camera controller
functions as managing the exposure (light level of image),
white balance (adjusts the color levels), image sharpness
and other aspects of image quality.
ARTPEC also includes a video compression
component, which compresses the digital image into an image
containing less data for efficient transfer over the network.
The camera's Ethernet connection is enabled by Axis' ETRAX
chip -- an optimized system-on-chip solution for connecting
peripherals to the network.
The ETRAX includes a 32-bit CPU, 10/100
MBit Ethernet connectivity, advanced Direct Memory Access
(DMA) functionality and a wide range of I/O interfaces.
The CPU, Flash memory and
DRAM memory represent the "brains" or computing
functions of the camera and are designed specifically for
network applications.
Together, they handle the
communication with the network and the Web server.
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