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Head ache with usb problem for multi-camera
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts]
17 year
Dear All,

I really need your help at the moment. Now, i am working with more than 10 cameras, exactly the same type : Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3. They all need to be connected to PC via usb to download the pictures.

I don't know how to recognize which picture come from which camera since they downloaded and save with the same name. And the usb adresses changes each time i plug/unplug the camera since they connected via usb hub.

Is there any way that i can have an identity sign for each camera, so that i can dishtinguish between them ?

Many thanks
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts] 17 year
Any body could help please !! :(
Anonymous 16 year
nobtiba,

We looked into this but it appears that few manufactures actually use a unique serial number with their cameras. Would instead the usb hub/port number work instead? I.e. as long as you plug the camera into the same hub/port it would have the same unique number associated with it. If you changed the port then the number would also change ... not sure if this solves your issue. Let us know!

STeven.
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts] 16 year
I hope to find this unique number, no matter what it belongs to the cameras or the ports of the usb hubs, but unfortunately i couldn't !

The port address of usb hub will changes each time you plug-in the camera. I.e. i use gphoto2 software run on Linux to see the type of camera and usb port address, the command like this:

gphoto2 --auto-detect

Then i will get smth like this:
Aiptek Pencam                  usb:001,020

What belongs to the cameras is the same for all the cameras because i use the same type of cameras.

The address that belong to the usb ports are changed each time plug-in even it is still the same port.

So i looking for another usb hub or downloading software that could help me to find an unique and unchange index that can tell me the camera i am using.

Anonymous 16 year
nobtiba,

We were thinking more along the lines of the usb port number and hub number. The logical address might change but the actual port number *should* not as it is tied to the hardware unit.

One thing you can check is if your camera's do have the USB serial # ... none of ours that we checked do but you might get lucky.

STeven.
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts] 16 year
As far as i checked, i did not find out the different USB serial # of my cameras.

May be i also don't know how to check the actual port number tied to the usb hub that should not be changed. Could you tell me more detail at this point ?
Anonymous 16 year
Its very complicated, we just researched the concept but have nothing implemented. If that were part of RoboRealm would that solve your issue?

STeven.
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts] 16 year
Any stuff that could solve this problem will be the solution for me, and if i have options then i will choose one. Just tell me how since now i don't have any idea about it .

Tom Amara  [13 posts] 16 year
I have had a similar problem. One thing to check is your usb ports to see if you have more then 1 usb hub. Some computers will have 2 or more ports on 1 hub and some have 4 ports on 2 hubs. You want to try and get your cams onto 2 different hubs so the usb ports can handle the bandwidth of the cams individually.
Tom Amara  [13 posts] 16 year
My last post has more to do with 3d stereo vision problems I am having, but the info may be helpful for you.
nobtiba from Singapore  [8 posts] 16 year
Hi,

i thingk we are talking about the usb address changing problem. My PC have several usb ports on it and yes, each of the port connect to an usb hub which has 7 usb port.

i need to use usb hub because it help to extend the usb port of PC. I don't know what is your last post you are talking about ?, tried to find around but i cant find it.

Think that i am stuck at this point, so i want to see the problem at another view point: Now i want to by different cameras that each can down load its image into a common memory storage, after that i will down load them all into my computer. Do you know any camera board or hardware allow it ?

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