Digital Photo Frame Help !!!!!!!!!!

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

Hi please can you help me

I have to build a digital photo frame for a project and price it.

I think I have to obtain the following, but I am unable to find any clear instructions on the internet what I need and how they fit together. I thought this would be an easy project but now I am not so sure......
1. SD Card reader
2. Circuit Card
3. LCD

It only has to be a working model, but I have not got a clue what parts etc I have to get and the price they cost.

Any ideas??

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Not an easy project by any stretch of the imagination - presumably this is a final project in a degree course?.

 

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

Hi I thought it would be quite easy, and suggested that I take it on, it does not need any controls, only on / off.

 

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

P.S. I have searcged the internet for help but there is nowhere that has the specifications

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Like I said, it's a cpmplex task - reading the SD card is fairly easy (the easiest bit to do), you've then got to decompress the MPEG images, scale them to the screen size, and transfer them to the screen.

 

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

Hi Nigel, does the Circuit Card take control of this process?

 

[crutschow]

The problem is that we can now easily can buy very complex electronics cheaply, and this can lead one to believe that the electronics are simple, when they are not. A photoframe requires a card reader circuit, an interface circuit to the display, and a microprocessor to read the date from the card reader and convert it into a form readable by the display circuit. This requires a significant amount of software for the µP. I'm not sure of the magnitude of that task but I would imagine it's at least several months of design work by an experienced programmer.

 

[nickelflippr]

Like Nigel says, one would need to get the picture file format decoded into a properly sized array or table data file to be used by the micro and glcd. So knowledge of a scripting language would be necessary along with the requirements of the microprocessor language/compiler and the glcd. Part one of the project would be to get familiar with something like Python and PyPIL (Python Imaging Library) or Java or? The PyPIL library can decode all the different image formats, resize them, and otherwise manipulate them into a file that could be downloaded to an SD and read as a micro language header file.

You might be lucky, and the micro picked out would have a built in library to decode an image to a header file, and you could skip step one? Supposedly Microchip has a TIFF file converter, although I have not verified that. Also there is a Hackaday project that converts monochrome BMP files for an AVR, and a glcd.

EDIT: This looks easier if pre-canned vendor routines are used, such as the Microchip c30, c32 graphics library. Decodes BMP, JPEG, images and SD support.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi Nigel, does the Circuit Card take control of this process?

Yes, but you've got to design it, build it, and program it.

 

[Sceadwian]

Nigel. nickleflipper..
No one said he has to use a complex image format. Atomsoft already has full code and software for this type of project ON the forum.... He even used my Avatar from the forum on the display... Reminds me I gotta update that..
Icanvelieve I would recommend contacting Atomsoft in a private message and ask for his assistance and permission to use his code for a class asignment. As long as you're willing to read the code and learn how he did things he may be willing to supply any information not already publicly available in the forums here.

 

[olly_k]

How about converting an old laptop? There are lots of sites with the relevant info...

 

[AllVol]

How about converting an old laptop? There are lots of sites with the relevant info...

In fact, this month's issue of Nuts and Volts has a complete article on this subject.

 

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

Hi, many thanks for your advice

I thought that I would be able to purchase a SD Card reader, a Circuit Board and LCD attach them and it would work, I did not realise that I would have to purchase or design the software as well, I thought it would already be integrated on the Circuit board.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I thought that I would be able to purchase a SD Card reader, a Circuit Board and LCD attach them and it would work, I did not realise that I would have to purchase or design the software as well, I thought it would already be integrated on the Circuit board.

That's BUYING a photoframe, not building one - no one is going to be selling them in pieces, but you could buy one and disassemble it?.

However, assembling a ready made device isn't much of a project.

 

[icanbelieveitsnotbutter]

Hi, the thing is I have to price up the components that make a digital photo frame, e.g. SD Card reader - Item XXXXXX = £1.

The project I am working requires me to go to a company and tell them how much the photo frame would cost to build per component part.

 

[Sceadwian]

You can price the components if you want, won't tell you about the true cost of making the frame though cause you have to factor in the man hours for the programmers, you could estimate that. Does this need to be a functional device or is this just an exercise in cost assessment?