Object Model

The ID Reader Object is a vendor specific object class. This means that it is not part of the CIP common (public) architecture but an extension. It is a custom object that Cognex has added to the EtherNet/IP architecture on the DataMan device. All the data and functionality of this object model are available in the DataMan reader. This includes triggering, status, events, errors, and result data.

The ID Reader Object is identified by its vendor specific class code:

DataMan ID Reader Object Class Code: 0x79

Objects are made up of attributes (data) and services (functionality). These can be defined at the class level (common to all instances of the class) or the instance level (unique to an individual instance). The CIP specification defines common attributes and services that apply to all objects (often these are optional). Vendors may also define their own attributes and services for their vendor specific classes.

The ID Reader Object attributes and services can be individually accessed via explicit messaging. In addition, a number of the ID Reader Object attributes are exposed in the DataMan assembly objects which allow them to be accessed as a group via implicit messaging.

Attributes

The DataMan ID Reader Object (Class Code: 0x79) has the following attributes:

Attribute ID	Access Rule	Name	Data Type	Description
0x9	Set	AcqTriggerEnable	BOOL	0 = EtherNet/IP triggering is disabled 1 = EtherNet/IP triggering is enabled
0xA	Set	AcqTrigger	BOOL	Acquire an image when this attribute changes from 0 to 1.
0xB	Get	AcqStatusRegister	BYTE	Bit0: Trigger Ready Bit1: Trigger Ack Bit2: Reserved Bit3: Missed Acquisition Bit4-7: Reserved
0xC	Set	UserData	ARRAY of BYTE	User defined data that can be used as an input to the acquisition/decode.
0xD	Set	BufferResultsEnable	BOOL	When true, it enables buffering of the decode results. The reader can buffer up to 50 and the Base Station can buffer up to 500 sets of read results.
0xE	Get	DecodeStatusRegister	BYTE	Bit0: Decoding Bit1: Decode completed (toggle) Bit2: Results buffer overrun Bit3: Results available Bit4: Reserved Bit5: Reserved Bit6: Reserved Bit7: General fault indicator
0xF	Set	ResultsAck	BOOL	Acknowledges that the client received the decode results.
0x10	Get	DecodeResults	STRUCT of	The last decode results.
		ResultsID	UINT	Decode results identifier. Corresponds to the TriggerID of the decoded image.
		ResultCode	UINT	Decode result summary code value. Bit0: 1=Read, 0=No read Bit1: 1=Validated, 0=Not Validated Bit2: 1=Verified, 0=Not Verified Bit3: 1=Acquisition trigger overrun Bit4: 1=Acquisition buffer overrun Bit5-15: Reserved (future use)
		ResultExtended	UINT	Extended result information.
		ResultLength	UINT	Current number of result data bytes.
		ResultData	ARRAY of BYTE	Result data from last decode.
0x12	Set	SoftEvents	BYTE	SoftEvents act as virtual inputs (execute action on 0 to 1 transition) Bit0: Train code Bit1: Train match string Bit2: Train focus Bit3: Train brightness Bit4: Un-Train Bit5: Reserved (future use) Bit6: Execute DMCC command Bit7: Set match string
0x15	Get	TriggerID	UNIT	Trigger identifier. ID of the next trigger to be issued.
0x16	Set	UserDataOption	UINT	Optional user data information. Currently only used by “Set Match String” SoftEvent. Specifies which code target to assign the string (16-bit Integer). Bit0: Assign string to all targets Bit1: Assign string to 2D codes Bit2: Assign string to QR codes Bit3: Assign string to 1D/stacked/postal codes
0x17	Set	UserDataLength	UINT	Current number of user data bytes.
0x18	Get	SoftEventAck	BYTE	Acknowledgment of SoftEvents. Bit0: Train code ack Bit1: Train match string ack Bit2: Train focus ack Bit3: Train brightness ack Bit4: Un-Train ack Bit5: Reserved (future use) Bit6: Execute DMCC command ack Bit7: Set match string ack

SoftEvents

SoftEvents act as “virtual” inputs. When the value of a SoftEvent changes from 0 to 1, the action associated with the event is executed. When it is done, the corresponding SoftEventAck bit changes from 1 to 0 to mark completion.

The SoftEvent and SoftEventAck form a logical handshake. After SoftEventAck changes to 1 the original SoftEvent is set back to 0. When that occurs, SoftEventAck is automatically set back to 0.

The “ExecuteDMCC” and “SetMatchString” SoftEvent actions require user supplied data. This data must be written to the UserData and UserDataLength area of the Input Assembly prior to invoking the SoftEvent. Since both of these SoftEvents depend on the UserData, only one can be invoked at a time.

General Fault Indicator

When a communication related fault occurs, the “GeneralFault” bit changes from 0 to 1. The only fault conditions supported are SoftEvent operations. If a SoftEvent operation fails, the fault bit will be set. The fault bit remains set until either the next successful SoftEvent operation or until TriggerEnable is set to 0 and then back to 1.

Services

The ID Reader Object supports the following Common CIP services:

Service Code	Service Name	Description
0x05	Reset	Resets the ID Reader object.
0x0E	Get_Attribute_Single	Returns the contents of the specified attribute.
0x10	Set_Attribute_Single	Modifies the specified attribute.

The ID Reader Object supports the following vendor specific services:

Service Code	Service Name	Description
0x32	Acquire	Triggers a single acquisition.
0x34	SendDMCC	Sends a DMCC command to the device.
0x35	GetDecodeResults	Gets the content of the DecodeResults attribute.

Acquire Service

The Acquire Service triggers an acquisition (if the acquisition system is ready to acquire an image). If the acquisition could not be triggered, then the Missed Acquisition bit of the AcqStatusRegister will be set until the next successful acquisition.

SendDMCC Service

The SendDMCC Service sends a DMCC command string to the device. The request data consists of the DMCC command string that is to be sent to the reader. The reply data will contain the string result of the DMCC command. Additionally, the service provides a numeric result status for the call. Most of these result codes relate to the basic success/failure of the service execution. However, the service also maps the actual DMCC status codes. This allows the PLC to interpret the service request without having to parse the actual DMCC return string.

DMCC commands transferred through the Industrial Ethernet protocols are automatically routed to the Wi-Fi reader. The commands cannot be executed while the Wi-Fi reader is powered off, hibernating, or out-of-range.

Service Return Code	Description	DMCC Return Code
0	Success – No error	0
1	Bad Command	-
4	No Answer – System too busy	-
100	Unidentified error	100
101	Command invalid	101
102	Parameter invalid	102
103	Checksum incorrect	103
104	Parameter rejected/altered due to reader state	104

Note: The DMCC command string must be in the CIP STRING2 format (16-bit integer indicating the string length in characters followed by the actual string characters, no terminating null required).

GetDecodeResults Service

The GetDecodeResults service reads data from the DecodeResults attribute of the ID Reader Object. This service takes parameters indicating the “size” (number of bytes to read) and the “offset” (offset into the DecodeResults attribute to begin reading). This gives the service the flexibility to be used with PLCs that have different restrictions on the amount of data allowed in an explicit message. It also allows you to access very large codes that cannot be completely transferred with implicit messaging (assembly object).

GetDecodeResults Request Data Format

Name	Type	Description
Size	UINT	The number of bytes of the DecodeResults attribute to read.
Offset	UINT	The offset into the DecodeResults attribute. This specifies the first byte of the DecodeResults attribute to begin reading (0 based offset).

Acquisition Sequence

DataMan can be triggered to acquire images by several methods. It can be done either implicitly through the Assembly object, or done explicitly through the ID Reader object. When using explicit messaging, you can either:

access the Acquire Service in a single step, or
directly manipulate the ID Reader object attributes (AcqTrigger and AcqStatusRegister), or
use DMCC commands.

The ID Reader attributes are discussed in this section. These same values can also be accessed through the assembly objects. On startup, the AcqTriggerEnable attribute is False. Set the attribute to True to enable triggering. When the device is ready to accept triggers, the Trigger Ready bit in the AcqStatusRegister is set to True.

While the AcqStatusRegister “Trigger Ready” bit is True, each time the ID Reader object sees the AcqTrigger attribute change from 0 to 1, it initiates an image acquisition. When setting the Trigger Ready bit to True through the assembly objects, make sure that the attribute is held in the new state until that same state value is seen in the Trigger Ack bit of the AcqStatusRegister (this is a necessary handshake to guarantee that the change is seen by the ID Reader object).

During an acquisition, the Trigger Ready bit in the AcqStatusRegister is cleared and the Acquiring bit is set to True. When the acquisition is completed, the Acquiring bit is cleared. The Trigger Ready bit is again set to True once the device is ready to begin a new image acquisition.

The reader allows acquisitions to overlap with the decoding of previous acquisitions. The Trigger Ready bit is set high after the acquisition is complete, while decoding may still be in progress. The Decoding bit is deprecated and only mirrors the behavior of the Acquiring bit. If trigger queuing is active or other trigger sources can interfere, the Trigger Ready bit may not be reliable. As result, conflicting trigger overruns may occur, which are reported in Bit 3 of the ResultCode attribute of the ID Reader object.

In certain cases, you can cancel an acquisition by clearing the Trigger signal before the read operation is finished. This allows you to cancel reads in Presentation and Manual mode if no code is in the field of view. To ensure that a read is not unintentionally cancelled, make sure that the PLC holds the Trigger signal True until both TriggerAck and ResultsAvailable are True (or DecodeComplete toggles state).

To force a reset of the trigger mechanism, set the AcqTriggerEnable attribute to False until the AcqStatusRegister is 0. Then the AcqTriggerEnable can be set to True to re-enable acquisition.

Decode / Result Sequence

After an image is acquired, it is decoded. When the decoding is complete and a result is ready to be delivered, the reader toggles the DecodeComplete bit of the DecodeStatusRegister.

Decode results are reported asynchronously to the ID Reader Object. If BufferResultsEnable is set to False, then the decode results are immediately placed into DecodeResults, and the Results Available bit is set to True.

Note: The only way to ensure that you are not losing results is to use BufferResults. Make sure that your application can read each DecodeResult in time if you do not use BufferResultsEnable.

If the BufferResultsEnable attribute is set to True, the new results are queued. The earlier decode results remain in the DecodeResults attribute until they are acknowledged by the client setting the ResultsAck attribute to True. After the Results Available bit is cleared, the client sets the ResultsAck attribute back to False to allow the next queued results to be placed in to the DecodeResults attribute. This is a necessary handshake to ensure that the DataManreader's client, the PLC, receives the results, even if short gaps occur between results.

Behavior of DecodeStatusRegister

Bit	Bit Name	Results if Buffering Disabled	Results if Buffering Enabled
1	Decoding	Set when acquiring and decoding an image. The value of the Decoding bit is always the same as the Acquiring bit.	Set when acquiring and decoding an image. The value of the Decoding bit is always the same as the Acquiring bit.
2	Decode Complete	Toggled on completion of an image decode.	Toggled on completion of an image decode.
3	Results Buffer Overflow	Remains set to zero.	Set when decode results could not be queued because the client failed to acknowledge a previous result. Cleared when the decode result is successfully queued.
4	Results Available	Set when new results are placed in the DecodeResults attribute. Stays set until the results are acknowledged by setting ResultsAck to true.	Set when new results are placed in the DecodeResults attribute. Stays set until the results are acknowledged by setting ResultsAck to true.

Results Buffering

There is an option to enable a queue for decode results. Enabling it allows a finite number of decode result data to queue up until the client (PLC) has time to read them. This is useful to smooth out data flow if the client (PLC) slows down for short periods of time.

If reads occur faster than results can be sent out, the primary difference between buffering or not buffering is determining which results get discarded. If buffering is not enabled, the most recent results are kept and the earlier result (which was not read by the PLC fast enough) is lost, because the more recent result will overwrite the earlier result. If buffering is enabled (and the queue becomes full) the most recent results are discarded until space becomes available in the results queue.

Note: If you have an overflowing queue and then disable buffering, there will be a greater than 1 difference between the TriggerID and ResultID values. This difference represents the number of reads that had occurred but could not be queued because the queue was full (number of lost reads equals TriggerID - ResultID - 1). After the next read, the ResultID value returns to the typical operating value of TriggerID - 1.

Assembly Object

Assemblies are combinations of selected attributes (data items) from CIP objects within a device. The device vendor defines assemblies according to their needs and combine data together in useful groupings according to the requirements of the application.

DataMan is an I/O adapter class device. The convention for adapters is that Input Assemblies produce (transmit) data for another device (that is, DataMan to PLC) and Output Assemblies consume (receive) data from another device (that is, PLC to DataMan). DataMan acts as an I/O module for another device such as a PLC.

Assembly objects use implicit messaging. They are blocks of data which are transmitted as the raw payload of implicit messaging packets. These implicit messaging packets are produced (transmitted) repeatedly at a predefined chosen rate (for example, 100ms or 200ms).

DataMan readers have a single input assembly and single output assembly. These assemblies combine selected attributes (data) of the DataMan ID Reader Object into groupings that minimize network bandwidth, and still allow for efficient control and processing. The data in these assemblies can also be accessed individually from the ID Reader Object. However, using the assembly objects is much more efficient, thus they are the primary means of runtime communication between a DataMan reader and a PLC.

Input Assembly

The Input assembly provides status information, process state, and decode results.

Instance	Byte	Bit 7	Bit 6	Bit 5	Bit 4	Bit 3	Bit 2	Bit 1	Bit 0
11	0	Reserved				Missed Acq	Acquiring	Trigger Ack	Trigger Ready
	1	General Fault	Reserved			Results Available	Results Buffer Overrun	Decode Complete Toggle	Decoding1
	2	SoftEvent Ack 7	SoftEvent Ack 6	SoftEvent Ack 5	SoftEvent Ack 4	SoftEvent Ack 3	SoftEvent Ack 2	SoftEvent Ack 1	SoftEvent Ack 0
	3-5	Reserved
	6	Trigger ID (16-bit integer)
	7	Trigger ID (16-bit integer)
	8	Result ID (16-bit integer)
	9	Result ID (16-bit integer)
	10	Result Code (16-bit integer)
	11	Result Code (16-bit integer)
	12	Result Extended (16-bit integer)
	13	Result Extended (16-bit integer)
	14	Result Data Length (16-bit integer)
	15	Result Data Length (16-bit integer)
	16	Result Data 0
	...
	499	Result Data 483

Output Assembly

The Output assembly contains control signals, software event signals, and any user data required for the trigger and decode.

Instance	Byte	Bit 7	Bit 6	Bit 5	Bit 4	Bit 3	Bit 2	Bit 1	Bit 0
21	0	Reserved				Results Ack	Buffer Results Enable	Trigger	Trigger Enable
	1	SoftEvent 7	SoftEvent 6	SoftEvent 5	SoftEvent 4	SoftEvent 3	SoftEvent 2	SoftEvent 1	SoftEvent 0
		2	Reserved
		3	Reserved
		4	User Data Option (16-bit integer)
		5	User Data Option (16-bit integer)
		6	User Data Length (16-bit integer)
		7	User Data Length (16-bit integer)
		8	User Data 0
		...
		499	User Data 491