USB Communication: PIC Processor, Capture Software & Standards

[Kawakaze]

I am making a CCD camera from scratch and all seems to be going pretty swimmingly. However, my programming skills are very basic and the communication with the computer is set to be my next stumbling block. The camera will be controlled via a PIC processor, I have a friend who is writing some capture software. Can anyone point me to some good books on this topic. I am very keen to make the system to industry standards, i.e. reading out in common format, using standard commands to communicate with the camera.

 

[schip666!]

Thankfully you are not planning to build the entire controller and interface from scratch...

Microchip has a buncha PICs with built in USB, for instance, I use the 18F2455. Their demo code is just about indecipherable, but I have managed to get it to emulate serial comm. You are more likely to want to do a mass storage interface, which looked fairly daunting but should be do-able. Look here:
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1486&redirects=USB

 

[yungman]

I worked on a CCD camera for mounting onto the M16. We used Firewire at the time. But using USB II is better as Firewire is pretty much dead. We did not use PIC, but we used embedded processor using 8051 core with USB interface by Cypress and Analog Devices. Go onto their site and look for one that suit your needs and download the data sheet and app. Notes. We learn from those without having a textbook.

But my info is 6 years old, so I don't know anything newer. These kind of stuff evolve very fast.