Camera Protocols

Overview

Various Televic Conference products offer the ability to connect a camera system. Various protocols that can be used for this are described in this section.

The camera control can be connected to one of the following Televic Conference products:

• The CoCon Room Server

The CoCon Room Server allows for the following type of connection to the camera system.

• RS232
• TCP/IP
• UDP

If CoCon sends out the camera protocol, this is done by the CoCon Room Server. This PC will send out the commands to the camera system.

RS232 communication

The appropriate serial port to use on the Plixus engine is by default COM4. The communications port COM4 operates at a default speed of 19200 bits per second.

A complete overview of the settings of the communications port for the camera control:

• Port: COM4 Configurable
• Bits per second: 19200 Configurable
• Data bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Stop bits: 1
• Flow control: None

When using the CoCon Room Server to send out the camera protocols, the local COM-port can of course be chosen as a part of the camera protocol configuration.

TCP/IP communication

In this mode the Plixus engine and CoCon both operate as a TCP/IP server. The default connection port for the engine is 5003. The camera systems must make the TCP connection to the engine or to the CoCon Room Server!

UDP communication

In this mode the Plixus engine sends the camera commands via UDP to a destination IP address.

The default communication port on the Plixus engine is 10001.

Protocols

Following protocols are supported:

• TLVCAM1 (TLV Protocol (default))
• TLVCAM2 (Philips protocol)
• TLVCAM3 (EP BXL protocol)
• TLVCAM4 (EP BXL+ Name protocol)
• TLVCAM5 (ARBOR protocol)
• TLVCAM6 (RUMINE)
• TLVCAM7 (EP BXL+ Timestamp protocol)
• TLVCAM8 (Philips protocol + Start stop vote)

The protocol is configurable via the Central Unit, or using the CoCon Room Configurator.

Commands for TLVCAM1 protocol (TLV)

All commands sent for this protocol start with a ‘%’ sign. The last character is a character that states the end of the transmission. Just before the end of transmission character, there are four characters within the command sent to the camera control which account for the CRC checksum. The CRC checksum is in uppercase hexadecimal form while all other numbers are in decimal form.

The protocol is described as follows: STX ‘%’ data CRC ETX

With:

• STX = start transmit char (0x25 = ‘%’)
• ETX = end transmit char (0x0D)
• CRC = 16 bit sum of the ASCII characters between STX and CRC

All commands sent by the protocol, need to be acknowledged by the camera system! For UDP connection this is not necessary.

The protocol will retransmit the command up to 3 times if no acknowledge is received.

The acknowledge frame is 1byte long and holds the value 0x06.

We will adopt a certain notation to explain the messages sent. All separate entities in a message are represented between curly brackets. If the contents of such an entity is also between quotes (‘ ‘) then this means that this is a literal string. Otherwise it describes the logical entity. A logical entity will also contain a number between brackets. This number states how many characters the entity will exist of. If the subtext 1+ is attached to the entity between curly brackets, then this means that one or more occurrences of this entity may occur.

Whenever a microphone of a delegate or the microphone of the president is activated, then a command is sent to the camera control. Whenever an active microphone is deactivated, another command is sent to the camera control.

• The microphone of the president is activated:

  {STX}{‘P’}{Microphone number (4)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of the president is deactivated:

  {STX}{‘p’}{Microphone number (4)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  {STX}{‘M’}{Microphone number (4)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  {STX}{‘m’}{Microphone number (4)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

The remaining commands are control commands.

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  {STX}{‘R’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• At a time-interval of around 5 seconds a synchronization message is sent to the camera control. The message contains all the numbers of the active microphones or the number 0 to stipulate that there are no microphones active.

  {STX}{‘S’}{Microphone Number (4)}1+{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  {STX}{‘V’}{‘0000’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

Examples

If the president microphone is activated, and the president microphone has the number ‘0001’ then the following message is sent: %P00010111. When the president microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: %p00010131. If a delegate microphone is activated, and that delegate microphone has the number ‘0003’ then the following message is sent: %M00030110. When the delegate microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: %m00030130

Suppose now that the delegate microphone with number ‘0003’ is active. On a synchronization check the synchronization message will look like this: %S00030116. Suppose now that the delegate microphones with number ‘0002’ and ‘0004’ are also active. On a synchronization check the synchronization message will look like this: %000300020004029C. When no microphones are active, then the following synchronization will be received: %S00000113. When the camera control system should reset itself to its start position, then the following message will be received: %R0052 .When all microphones are deactivated simultaneously, then the following message is received: %V00000116

Commands for TLVCAM2 protocol (Philips)

All commands sent by this protocol start with a ‘$’ sign or ‘&’. Commands are terminated with a CR(0xd) and LF(0xa).

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  $1{Microphone number (4)}<CR><LF>

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  $2{Microphone number (4)}<CR><LF>

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  &30000<CR><LF>

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  &30000<CR><LF>

Examples

If the president microphone is activated, and the president microphone has the number ‘0001’ then the following message is sent: $10001<CR><LF>. When the president microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: $20001<CR><LF>. If a delegate microphone is activated, and that delegate microphone has the number ‘0003’ then the following message is sent: $10003<CR><LF>. When the delegate microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: $20003<CR><LF>.

When the camera control system should reset itself to its start position, then the following message will be received: &30000<CR><LF>. When all microphones are deactivated simultaneously, then the following message is received: &30000<CR><LF>.

Commands for TLVCAM3 protocol (EP BXL)

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  micro <microphone n°> ON <LF><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

• The microphone of a president is activated

  micro P ON <LF><CR>

• All microphones are deactivated:

  micro OR ON <LF><CR>

• The microphone of the president is deactivated

  micro P OFF <LF><CR>

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated, but a microphone of a president is still on

  micro P ON <LF><CR>

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated and no president microphones are on

  micro <microphone n°> OFF <LF><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  HARDWARE RESET !!! <LF><CR>

Commands for TLVCAM4 protocol (EP BXL + Name)

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  <microphone n°> : <Name>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

• The microphone of a president is activated

  P<microphone n°> : <Name>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  HARDWARE RESET

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  All micro's OFF

Commands for TLVCAM5 protocol (ARBOR)

All commands sent by this protocol start with a ‘%’ sign. The last character ETX is a character that states the end of the transmission. Just before the end of transmission character, there are four characters within the command sent to the ARBOR system which account for the CRC checksum. The CRC checksum is in uppercase hexadecimal form while all other numbers are in decimal form.

The protocol is described as follows: STX ‘%’ data CRC ETX. With:

• STX = start transmit char (0x25 = ‘%’)
• ETX = end transmit char (0x0D)
• CRC = 16 bit sum of the ASCII characters between STX and CRC

We will adopt a certain notation to explain the messages sent. All separate entities in a message are represented between curly brackets. If the contents of such an entity is also between quotes (‘ ‘) then this means that this is a literal string. Otherwise it describes the logical entity. A logical entity will also contain a number between brackets. This number states how many characters the entity will exist of. If the subtext 1+ is attached to the entity between curly brackets, then this means that one or more occurrences of this entity may occur.

Maybe this notation seems a little hard to comprehend at first, but some examples should clarify them. Whenever a microphone of a delegate is activated, then a command is sent to the ARBOR system. Whenever an active microphone is deactivated, another command is sent to the ARBOR system.

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  {STX}{‘M’}{Microphone number (4)}{Delegate’s Full name (60)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  {STX}{‘m’}{Microphone number (4)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• Start recording of the conference

  {STX}{‘S’}{Conference room (20)}{Agenda title (40)}{Agenda item (40)}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• Stop recording of the conference

  {STX}{‘s’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• Agenda item

  {STX}{‘I’}{Agenda item (40)}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

The remaining commands are control commands:

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  {STX}{‘R’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  {STX}{‘V’}{‘0000’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

Commands for TLVCAM6 protocol (Rumine)

All commands sent by this protocol start with a ‘%’ sign. The last character is a character that states the end of the transmission. Just before the end of transmission character, there are four characters within the command sent to the camera control which account for the CRC checksum. The CRC checksum is in uppercase hexadecimal form while all other numbers are in decimal form.

The protocol is described as follows: STX ‘%’ data CRC ETX. With:

• STX = start transmit char (0x25 = ‘%’)
• ETX = end transmit char (0x0D)
• CRC = 16 bit sum of the ASCII characters between STX and CRC

All commands sent by this protocol, need to be acknowledged by the camera system! For UDP connection this is not necessary.

The acknowledge frame is 1byte long and holds the value 0x06.

We will adopt a certain notation to explain the messages sent. All separate entities in a message are represented between curly brackets. If the contents of such an entity is also between quotes (‘ ‘) then this means that this is a literal string. Otherwise it describes the logical entity. A logical entity will also contain a number between brackets. This number states how many characters the entity will exist of. If the subtext 1+ is attached to the entity between curly brackets, then this means that one or more occurrences of this entity may occur.

Maybe this notation seems a little hard to comprehend at first, but some examples should clarify them. Whenever a microphone of a delegate or the microphone of the president is activated, then a command is sent to the camera control. Whenever an active microphone is deactivated, another command is sent to the camera control.

• The microphone of the president is activated:

  {STX}{Microphone number (3)}{‘M’}{Delegate’s name (40)}{Delegate’s First name (20)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of the president is deactivated:

  {STX}{Microphone number (3)}{‘m’} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  {STX}{Microphone number (3)}{‘M’}{Delegate’s name (40)}{Delegate’s First name (20)} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  {STX}{Microphone number (3)}{‘m’} {CRC (4)}{ETX}

The remaining commands are control commands:

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  {STX}{‘R’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  {STX}{‘V’}{‘000’}{CRC (4)}{ETX}

Commands for TLVCAM7 protocol (Timestamp)

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  M<microphone n°> : <Timestamp><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

  Timestamp format: hh:mm:ss

• The microphone of a president is activated

  P<microphone n°> : <Timestamp><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

  Timestamp format: hh:mm:ss

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  m<microphone n°> : <Timestamp><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

  Timestamp format: hh:mm:ss

• The microphone of a president is deactivated

  p<microphone n°> : <Timestamp><CR>

  where <microphone n°> is 3 bytes long.

  Timestamp format: hh:mm:ss

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  HARDWARE RESET<CR>

  All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  All micro's OFF<CR>

Commands for TLVCAM8 protocol (Philips + Start&Stop Vote)

All commands sent this protocol start with a ‘$’ sign or ‘&’. Commands are terminated with a CR(0xd) and LF(0xa).

• The microphone of a delegate is activated:

  $1{Microphone number (4)}<CR><LF>

• The microphone of a delegate is deactivated:

  $2{Microphone number (4)}<CR><LF>

• All active microphones are deactivated and the camera control should reset itself to a neutral starting position.

  &30000<CR><LF>

• All active microphones are deactivated simultaneously.

  &30000<CR><LF>

• Start Vote

  v1<CR><LF>

• Stop Vote

  v0<CR><LF>

Examples

If the president microphone is activated, and the president microphone has the number ‘0001’ then the following message is sent: $10001<CR><LF>. When the president microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: $20001<CR><LF>. If a delegate microphone is activated, and that delegate microphone has the number ‘0003’ then the following message is sent: $10003<CR><LF>. When the delegate microphone is deactivated, then the following message is sent: $20003<CR><LF>

When the camera control system should reset itself to its start position, then the following message will be received: &30000<CR><LF>. When all microphones are deactivated simultaneously, then the following message is received: &30000<CR><LF>.