TEXT INSERTERS FOR ELECTRONIC SCALES. A scale interface to CCTV Video. Text Insertion equipment is a means of combining the information in a digital data stream with Closed Circuit Television or CCTV. The combination of data and CCTV video enhances the information content of both. Digital data often comes over the well-known RS232 serial interface which, in the Personal Computer world, is known as the COM port. A Text Inserter can overlay the serial data into CCTV. Such data is now inseparably part of the image. A digital video recorder or DVR captures this image which can be useful for many reasons not the least of which is dispute resolution. Point Of Sale (POS) and similar retail applications for Text Inserters are common where store managers and owners use them to document and discourage unauthorized discounts or even illegal sales to minors of liquor and tobacco. In Electronic Scale applications, Text Inserters help to document and discourage fudging of the gross and tare weight measurements or the weighing of less valuable iron or brass as copper. In Electronic Scale applications the Text Inserter combines with the CCTV camera and DVR to capture the Who, the What the Where and the When of an event. Here is how it typically works. The cameras and CCTV recorder sees the Who and the Where. The CCTV recorder typically stamps the video with date and time, giving the When. The Text Inserter completes the storey by capturing What the scale measured so that the video has the completes the story. Typical applications include but are not limited to metal recycling centers and landfill weigh stations.

A Text Inserter enhances the value of the scales you are selling and may let you step your customer up to a higher end models with data interfaces. For scale Text Inserters, scale installers have an advantage over the CCTV installer. The CCTV installer may know little or nothing about electronic scales. There are many opportunities for installing a Text Inserter for a customer who has an existing or legacy CCTV system and here your familiarity with scales is an advantage. As a scale installer, you have the responsibility for connecting to the interface of the scale. Once you have learned how to interface the Text Inserter to the scale, you have mastered the most difficult part. As always, you should observe good grounding techniques for the scale and use shielded cables for the serial data. In lighting prone areas, you may even want to use a short-hall modem or other methods of providing surge isolation. The CCTV cabling to the Text Inserter is simple. The Text Inserter is located near the DVR. Connect the output of the CCTV camera to the input of the Text Inserter and connect the video output into the DVR input. Stand alone Text Inserters are ideal for either legacy or new installations of CCTV cameras and DVRs. Stand alone Text Inserters can be used on one or more of the video input channels of a DVR. Some DVRs come with a Text Inserter input data port but may only support either one interface, or a very limited data format incompatible with the scale data. With a stand alone Text Inserter, you can insert data onto any CCTV camera image you desire. In a system with multiple scales, you can use multiple Text Inserters, one for each scale and CCTV camera pair. Some of the features your customer wants from a Text Inserter:

• Contrasting characters boarders
• Programmable Banner of Constant Text
• Flexible screen location for inserted text

Contrasting borders around characters keep them intelligible regardless of a bright or dark background. Whether your inserted text is black or white, without a contrasting border, it can get lost in the video image as in the left image of figure 4. Figure 4 Poor Text Inserter, left. Solid white characters get lost. Good Text Inserter, right, contrasting character outline stays visible. With a contrasting border, the text remains fully intelligible regardless of how bright or dark the CCTV camera image. This is important for systems where the CCTV camera is located, or can see, outside such as thru a large glass window or glass doors. In such an application, the camera may see both the glare of full daylight and the pitch black of night. Neither black nor white characters will be intelligible under all such lighting conditions. A contrasting outline around each character guarantees that you can read the text. Programmable Banner of Constant Text. A banner is a string of text that the Text Inserter constantly inserts. This text is useful to supplement the data that comes from the scale. For instance, the installer can program a fixed banner to label the scale location and even a scale number for a locations with multiple scales.

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