Device Control

To add a device control time span:

1. Select a display unit, and open its properties. See Edit Display Unit Properties.

   

2. Go to Controls > Device Control.

   

3. Click Add. The Add Time Span Wizard opens.

By default, the Add Time Span Wizard contains the following pages:

• Welcome – Name the device control time span.

  

• Date Range – Specify the start and end date of the time span, if you want.

  

• Day of Week Mask – Specify the days of the week for which the device control will be active, if you want.

  

Device control time span properties contain many options you can configure.

• Communication Port
• Quiet Time
• Operation Value
• Operation Time
• Error Handling
• Auto-Brightness
• Temperature Thresholds
• Number of Temperature Sensors
• Monitoring

Communication Port

Device control operations are executed by sending commands to display devices through a hardware interface, typically RS-232.

The Communication Port attribute in Broadsign Control Player specifies which hardware communication port on the playback PC is connected to the display device for sending commands.

To control multiple monitors, you can use more than one COM port on Broadsign Control Player, each connected to a different display device.

In case an operation fails on one of the monitors, Broadsign Control Player uses its error handling routines, as detailed in Error Handling.

On Linux systems, the communication port is identified as "/dev/ttyS0" or "/dev/ttySx" (where x is 0, 1, and so on), depending on the specific port being used.

Quiet Time

The Quiet Time value in the Settings tab of the Device Control Operation Properties dialog sets a delay, in seconds, for any future operations to be applied to the device after the current one has been executed.

Operation Value

Each operation that can be sent to a display device must be sent with a corresponding value, which is set in the Settings tab of the Device Control Operation Properties dialog. For instance, a Set Power operation can either have an “On” or “Off” value, respectively meaning to turn the screen on or to turn it off, while a Set Channel operation's value would be the channel to which the device should be set.

Operation Time

The timing settings for device monitoring operations can be edited in the Time tab of the Device Control Operation Properties dialog. For daily operations, meaning operations that are programmed to be performed at a specific time each day, this tab shows the time of day when the operation is set to take place. For repeating operations, this tab is where a limited daily time range within which to repeat the operation as well as the constant time interval between each repetition can be set.

Error Handling

When a device control operation fails, a Playback Incident is triggered and reported to Broadsign Server. Contacts associated with the incident receive email notifications to inform them of the event.

For example, operation failures can occur in various scenarios, such as:

• Attempting to Assert Power when the device is off.
• Attempting a Power On when the device is already on.
• Attempting an Assert Channel when the device is on a different channel.

The Error Handling tab in Broadsign Control Player allows you to program additional actions when a Device Control Operation fails.

Four supplementary actions can be configured:

• Content Stoppage: Pause content display until the incident is resolved to maintain the accuracy of Proof of Play reports for Ad Copy repetitions.
• Retry Attempts: Specify how many times to retry the Device Control operation before considering it as failed. Error handlers are executed on each retry, bytes are drained from the command buffer if so configured, and a quiet time is observed. Once all the retries have been exhausted and the Device Control operation has not completed successfully, an incident is recorded.
• Follow-up Operation: Program a follow-up Device Control Operation to address the failure. For example:
  • If an "Assert Power On" failed, a logical follow-up could be a "Set Power On" operation.
  • If an "Assert Channel" for channel three fails, the follow-up operation could be a "Set Channel" to channel three.
• Screen Buffer Clearing: Optionally clear the screen buffer after a failed operation using the "drain bytes" option, useful for devices that send extra data on errors.

See also Error Handling.

Auto-Brightness

You can combine Query Luminosity and Set Brightness to automatically throttle the brightness of a display based on the ambient brightness of the environment where the display is installed. This allows the display to lower its brightness automatically as it gets dark, for example at night or when there is thick cloud cover.

To use auto-brightness, create a “Set Brightness” operation that repeats at the frequency at which you want brightness to be throttled. In the auto-brightness settings, you must match ranges of luminosity values (returned from Query Luminosity) and set a corresponding display brightness level.

You can also tie in the brightness setting with temperature monitoring as explained in Temperature Thresholds.

Temperature Thresholds

When you use the Query Temperature device operation, you are actually retrieving the temperature value of a temperature sensor This can help you observe whether your display is going outside its safe operating temperature levels.. If you combine it with Auto-Brightness, this feature can really extend the life of your display.

To set the temperature thresholds, you need to create a Query Temperature device control operation. Based on the values returned from query temperature, you can specify a Warning Threshold and a Critical Threshold. Temperature values below the warning threshold are considered “Healthy” and above the critical threshold are considered Critical. Temperatures between warning and critical are considered “Warning”.

You can also monitor temperature using multiple heat sensors as explained in Number of Temperature Sensors. In this case, you must enter a list of values in the Query Temperature operation which maps to a list of hex codes defined in the configuration profile, for example “Query Temperature” value 1, value 2 and value 3 for three separate sensors.

Number of Temperature Sensors

The Query Temperature device control operation allows you to query multiple sensors if they are on the same communication port. In the configuration profile, you specify multiple Query Temperature hex commands targeting a particular sensor using the sensor’s unique ID. In the temperature thresholds, you can specify that a minimum amount of the sensors have exceeded the threshold before it can be considered exceeded, for example if 3/5 monitors are above warning, the display will only be considered in a warning state if the thresholds is set to require a “Number of Sensors Threshold” of 3 or less.

Monitoring

The Monitoring tab in the Device Control Operation Properties dialog allows you to associate Incident Thresholds to your device control operations, which will assist you in dealing quickly with any issues that may arise. Keep in mind that any Incident Thresholds set at the Device Control Operation level will override any applicable domain level Incident Thresholds.

You can associate an Incident Threshold to your device control operation by clicking the Add button in the Monitoring tab. This will cause the Add Incident Threshold wizard to appear, which will allow you to select the incident type using the drop-down list and set the threshold's escalation options. The Incident Threshold that can be set on this resource is Display – Device Error.

There are two types of device control operations:

• Daily Operations – Daily Operations are performed every active day of the time span at a specific time. For example, a Power On operation can be set to occur every day at 9 AM, and a Power Off operation every day at 5 PM.
• Repeating Operations – Repeating operations are performed at a constant fixed time interval, irrespective of the time. For example, an Assert Power On, which verifies that the device is on, can be programmed to be sent every five minutes.

To add a device control operation type:

1. Select a display unit, and open its properties. See Edit Display Unit Properties.

   

2. Go to Controls > Device Control.

   

3. Select a device control time range, and then click Edit. The Time Span Properties dialogue box opens.

   

4. Go to Operations.
5. In the Daily Operations section or the Frequent Operations section, select Add. The Add Device Control Operation Wizard opens.

By default, the Add Device Control Operation Wizard contains the following pages:

• Device Control Operation Type – Select from one of the supported types.

  

  Operation	Description
  Set Power	Powering on or off the display.
  Assert Power	Verifying that the display is on or off.
  Assert Channel	Verifying that the channel is on or off.
  Change Channel	Changing the channel.
  Assert Input	Verifying the input type (for example, HDMI).
  Change Input	Changing the input type.
  Set Volume	Setting the volume level.
  Set Contrast	Setting the contrast level.
  Set Brightness	Setting the brightness level (see Auto-Brightness).
  Query Temperature	Evaluating the temperature level (see Temperature Thresholds and Number of Temperature Sensors).
  Query Luminosity	Evaluating the luminosity level.
  Device Control	For custom commands (for example, initialization).

• Device Control Operation Communication Port – Select which communication port to use:

  • Serial – You will need to select the communication port.

    

  • TCP – Select between:
  • Use first defined TCP service.

  • Use specific TCP service (provide the Hostname/IP and Port #).

  

  • Time of the Day – Select the time of day at which the operation is to occur.

    

  • Value – The value of the device control, for example, if adding an operation that controls volume, you could set it to "77".