RTC
®
5 PC Interface Board
Rev. 1.9 e
7 Basic Functions for Scan Head and Laser Control
129
“Laser Active” Signals
The signals for “laser active” operation – after
set_laser_control – can be activated via
set_laser_pulses, set_laser_pulses_ctrl or
set_laser_timing. Additionally they can be enabled
via set_laser_control or enable_laser and disabled
via set_laser_control or disable_laser
(1)
. The
command get_startstop_info (Bit #9) queries the
current status of the laser control signals (enabled or
disabled).
Even if the laser control signals for “laser active”
operation have been enabled and activated as
described above, they will only appear at the output
ports if they are switched on via further commands.
They are (automatically) switched on when mark or
arc commands are executed (see page 93); they can
also be switched on for a fixed scanner position via
the command laser_on_list for a specified time
interval
(2)
or switched on (for an indefinite period of
time) via laser_signal_on or laser_signal_on_list
and switched off via laser_signal_off or
laser_signal_off_list.
The laser control signals for “laser active” operation
are automatically switched off by the RTC
®
5, when a
marking command (mark or arc) is followed by a non-
marking command, when a list is stopped (via
set_end_of_list or stop_execution) or a list is
temporarily interrupted (after set_wait, pause_list
or stop_list). In the latter case, the signals are
switched on again, when the list is continued (after
release_wait or restart_list). The laser control
signals are also automatically switched off by a
list_nop command. This command will be automati-
cally inserted by the RTC
®
5 under some circum-
stances, e.g. as a replacement for list commands with
an invalid parameter.
“Laser Standby” Signals
After first-time activation of the laser control signals
via set_laser_control, standby signals can be acti-
vated and deactivated via set_standby or
set_standby_list.
Standby signals will be permanently outputted after
activation without further commands if and only if no
signals for “laser active” operation are switched on.
If applicable, the commands which switch on and
switch off the signals for “laser active” operation (see
previous section), correspondingly switch from
standby to “laser active” signals (or vice versa). If the
“laser active” signals are deactivated (e.g. via
PulseLength
= 0), then no switching will occur and
the standby signals will be permanently outputted
even during execution of such commands.
If the standby signals are deactivated, then for “laser
standby” operation all outputs will be set to their
basic TTL states (e.g. LOW if a high signal level was
specified via set_laser_control).
If activated standby signals shall be deactivated when
a list is halted via pause_list (here the RTC
®
5 auto-
matically switches off only the laser control signals
for “laser active” operation), then this must be
explicitly induced by calling the command
set_standby(
PulseLength
= 0). If you do not know
the currently set standby parameters at the moment
you call the control command pause_list command
(the standby parameters could have been changed
within a list) these can be read out via the control
command get_standby.
(1) If the signals are disabled, the laser output ports (LASERON,
LASER1 and LASER2) are in the (high impedance) tristate mode
(the signals will be automatically disabled by pause_list, too,
and reenabled by restart_list).
(2) Via laser_on_pulses_list, you can also switch on the LASERON
signal for a specified number of external signal pulses.
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