Video input: Digital camera hardware connection
There are two general ways to connect a digital camera to the BeagleBoard: the simple USB interface, and the camera connector. The latter connector was designed to be used with camera modules from Leopard Imaging (https://www.leopardimaging.com). However, in this chapter we will follow the first USB approach, using a USB-based web camera which is easy to obtain online. A list of supported USB cameras has been provided at http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc. The Logitech C310 has been employed for this book (around $30 from Amazon).
Another advantage of the USB camera is easy connection. After you get the Logitech C310, you can simply open the package and insert the USB interface into the BeagleBoard. An example of physical connection has been provided in the following figure: