---

Front Panel VFD Menu

 

Th Brick HD includes a simple mechanism for configuring and monitoring the processor using a 2x20 line VFD and shaft encoder mounted on the front panel. A virtual representation of this display is provided by the Brick-HD Control Software by selecting the main menu Display option. This will present a dialog box as show below.

 

 

 

 

The VFD provides a number of status summary pages, a control menu for downloaded sequences and a configuration menu. To scroll through these pages from the default page rotate the shaft encoder knopb clockwise or click on the down button using the dialog box from the Brick-HD Control software. 

 

The display will go blank after a configurable period if not used to prevent burning in certain characters from the default display. If the display is blank, press the control knob to wake it up (or enter in the case of the virtual display above). If the knob is pressed when the default display is selected it will blank the display.

 

The top level pages available are,

• Real time clock and status display

• Video input status

• IP configuration display

• Ethernet status

• Environmental status

• Software version

• Sequence control

• Configuration

The sequence control and configuration pages contain further menu levels, the other pages are just status displays.

 

 

Configuration Menu

 

To select the configuration menu rotate the control knob clockwise until the message "Push to configure..." is displayed. Press the control knob. The top line displays the position in the configuration menu, the bottom line the selected item in the menu. Rotate the knob to select a particular option and press to select. Each menu level ends with the Exit option. If selected this will drop back to the previous menu level.

 

The control knob can be pressed and then rotated clockwise or anti-clockwise before being released providing two menu navigation short cuts. Releasing the knob after pressing and rotating anti-clockwise moves back to either the previous menu, or in the case of a multi-field value to the previous field. Pressing and releasing the knob after rotating clockwise moves forward in the menu system. When a menu option is shown this is the same as just pressing and releasing the knob. If a menu option has been selected and and associated value is available to edit it will be abandoned and the menu option re-displayed.

 

Each menu option when selected either selects a further menu layer or ends with a value that can be modified. Values can be either a single field or mulitple fields (e.g. an IP address consists of 4 byte fields). The selected field will flash. Pressing the knob will save the displayed value and step to the next field. To cancel any changes press and rotate the knob anti-clockwise and release to go backwards to the menu or previous field. Press and rotate clockwise then release to go forwards. This will skip over all other fields back to the menu and cancel any changes to preceding fields in that value (if any).

 

The configuration menu levels/options available are shown below.

 

Config

    Video

        I/P

            Chnl          {DVI|YPrPb} 

            Std           {X, Y, Scan, Rfsh }

            Auto-mode     {On|Off}

            Save

            Restore

            Exit

        O/P

            Type          {DVI|YPrPb|RGB}

            Enable        {Channel, YES|NO}

            Map           {Channel, Row, Column}

            Filter        {YES|NO}

            Save

            Restore

            Exit

        Exit

    Align

        Split            {X, Y}

        Row              {Row, Offset} 

        Column           {Row, Offset}

        Pan            

            Rows         {Offset}

            Cols         {Offset}

            Exit

        Zoom

            Rows         {Offset}

            Cols         {Offset}

            Exit

        Save

        Restore

        Exit

    Options              {Bit7 .. 0} 

    Boot                 {Filename|<none>}

    FPGA                 {Filename|<none>}

    Clock

        Date             {Day, Month, Year}

        Time             {Hours, Min, Secs}

        Exit

    Display

        Timeout          {Seconds} 

        Brightness       {0..3}

        Exit

    IP

        DHCP             {On|Off}

        Address          {A,B,C,D}

        Mask             {A,B,C,D}

        Gateway          {A,B,C,D}

        DNS              {A,B,C,D}

        SNTP             {A,B,C,D}

        MAC Address      {A,B,C,D,E,F} 

        Exit

    Unit ID              {0..255}

    EDID

        Get              {DVI Channel 1..16}

        Set              {Filename|<none>}

        Delete           {Filename|<none>}

        Exit

    Reset                {Yes|No}

    Keypad               {Yes|No}

    Baudrate

        Host             {Default|1k2|4K8|9K6|19K2|48k|56k}

        Loop             {Default|1k2|4K8|9K6|19K2|48k|56k}

        Exit

    Service

        Telnet           {Yes|No}

        HTTP             {Yes|No}

        MTCP             {Yes|No}

        TFTP             {Yes|No}

        Exit

    Clear

        Config

            Video-in     {Yes|No}

            Video-out    {Yes|No}

            Align        {Yes|No}

            All          {Yes|No} 

            Exit

        Base

        Debug            {Yes|No}

        Secret           {Yes|No}

        Exit

    Exit

  

Changing some values such as IP addresses, baud rates and boot filenames will only take effect following a reset.

 

Sequence Control Menu

 

The sequence control menu allows sequences that have been installed via the Buttons dialog box to be executed locally. When selected the Sequence Control page displays the name of any executing sequence file or <none> if there isn't a sequence running. Press the control knob to enter the menu, which has the following options

Stop
Run        {Filename|<none>}
Run Num    {0..9}

Startup    {Filename|<none>}

Delete     {Filename|<none>}

Exit

Stop will stop any sequence that is running.

 

Run will present a sub-menu allowing the list of files in the Brick-HD /sequence directory with the file extension .sfb or .SFB to be selected. If selected the sequence will execute.

 

Run Num will run sequences mapped to the ASCII characters 0..9.

 

Startup will copy the selected file to a file called "/sequence/startup.sfb" If this file is present following a reset or power on it will be executed.

 

Delete will delete the selected file.

 

 

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Program Options

Program options are selected from the File/Options menu.

Three options are available

• Skip the standard include file.

This can be useful sometimes when testing sequence files. If the option is checked the file STD.INC will not be included before a sequence file is interpreted.

• Don't perform a link status check.
  
  Normally when a menu option is selected requiring communication with a remote unit, a link status check is first performed. A message dialog will be presented if this check fails and the normal dialog box will not be presented. To stop this behaviour check this box.
  
  Skipping the link status check can be useful if there is a problem with one of a number of linked Brick-HD units - for example if two units have the same ID, both will respond to the status check message which will then be corrupted.
   

• Enable logging

To record messages sent to and from the processor in a log file check the logging enabled tick box. Once a log has been created it can be viewed from this menu using the View Log button. To clear the log click Clear Log. This feature should be used with caution since large log files could be generated.

The selected options are not saved, so the default options will always apply when the program starts.

This dialog is used to set the Split (magnification). Click on a value in the X column to set the X and Y split. If an asymmetric split is desired select the Y split factor. X will remain unchanged

This dialog is available from the Monitor Alignment dialog.

Array Dimension

The Array Dimension dialog allows the output channels to be mapped in bulk in regular arrays. The Dialog is selected by clicking on the Map button from the Monitor Alignment Dialog available from the main menu.

Sequence Buttons

The Sequence Buttons Dialog box is available from the main menu "Buttons" or by right clicking in the main window client area.

The dialog box provides 10 tabbed pages of buttons which comprises a project. Each button is associated with a sequence file. The highlighted button in the action group determines what will happen if one of the buttons on the tabbed section is left clicked, using the mouse. If the button is right clicked a menu will appear presenting a set of actions, which is a shortcut way of performing an action on the sequence file associated with the button, if that action isn't selected. Right clicking on the space where a button could be placed presents a different menu to create a new button or paste a previously cut button.

The default action is to execute the Sequence file (Run).

To create a new project - or select an existing project click on the Project button in the Action group. This will present a file open dialog box. Use this to either move to a suitable directory and enter the name of a new project, or navigate to a directory and click on an existing project then Open. Project files have the extension .EFX

See below on how to add buttons to the project

To execute a sequence, select the Run action and left click on the button.

To move a button, select the Cut action and click on the button. Left click on a spare button to place it. It is possible to change pages in this state. The Cut button will be remembered and can be pasted more then once. This only duplicates the button - there is still only one underlying sequence file.

To permanently delete a button select the Delete action and click on the desired button. This will only delete the button, not the associated sequence file.

To edit the sequence associated with the button click on Edit in the action group, then the desired button. If the sequence file exists it will be opened in the editor. If not a dialog box asking to create the file will be presented. A sequence file is a plain text file containing a number of sequence commands. The format of a sequence file in general is described here.

See below to rename the button, or associated file.

To exit from the dialog box click Done. If changes to the project have been made you will be prompted to save these changes. If this request is cancelled the button dialog will remain, If the answer is No, changes since the last save are lost.

 

If the mouse button is released at another location within the dialog box, the spare button positions will be highlighted. Clicking on one of these will pop up the "Add Sequence Button" dialog as before.

 

Installing Sequences on the Processor

It is possible to download a sequence to the processor Flash memory and have it execute on the processor itself. Execution can be triggered using the VFD menu on the front panel  - or by any other control device capable of sending ASCII characters at the correct speed and format (The default is 19200 bit/s, 8 Data bits, 1 Stop bit and no Parity).

The Brick-HD must be have the TFTP service enabled and have IP connectivity with the PC running the control software to allow file transfer with the controlling PC.

To download a sequence click on the install action then the button associated with the sequence. This will invoke the sequence compiler. If successful, the compiled sequence, now in a binary format, is downloaded to the Flash memory of the processor. The filename used is derived by the software from the PC filename - but this can be changed prior to downloading if required. The extension ".SFB" must be used for files to be executed by the processor. Files downloaded to the Flash memory can be managed using the Flash utility available from the main menu Flash option.

In a multi-processor installation, sequence files are generally only installed on processor 0. Messages in the sequence for other processors in the daisy chain are sent by unit 0 to the addressed processor. The slave processors behave in the same way as if they were being controlled by a remote PC.

It is possible to install sequences on processors other than unit 0 by selecting the processor selecting the Unit as the primary unit from the setup dialog. Changing the Unit ID from the "Unit ID" group of buttons changes the unit ID in compiled sequences but does not set the primary unit.

Executing a Sequence

When a sequence is run the software reads the lines of text from the file into memory and begins interpreting them. If an error is detected a dialog pops up indicating the error. At this point it is possible to select an option to open the file and go directly to the line causing the error.

The line number currently being executed is displayed. The time-code, relative to the time the sequence stared is also displayed. Since lines execute quickly it's only lines with a "wait" command the will be displayed in the line number box for a sustained period. At this point the Skip button will be enabled. To skip over the wait, click the skip button. Execution will continue until then next wait statement. To pause indefinitely click the Pause button. The name of the Pause button will change to Run. Click this Run button to resume execution.

To exit the sequence at any point click Stop.

If the Done button is clicked when a sequence is running it will be abandoned and the dialog box closed.

If the sequence contains a REM statement, the Tabbed page of buttons is replaced by a text window while the sequence is running. REM statement text is displayed in this window. If REM statement does not cause the text window to appear and a button from the tabbed page of buttons is clicked, the current sequence is aborted and the new sequence selected runs.

Set Unit ID

A special macro value "_UNIT" is set to the value of the current unit ID (indicated by the IDx pane in the status line of the main window) at the start of a sequence. This value can be changed by selecting the unit ID from one of the file buttons in the "Unit ID" set. 

A specific unit ID button will only be active if that unit has been enabled in the Setup dialog.

To use this value within a sequence, command macros must use the _UNIT value in place of the unit ID value in send commands, for example,

send 7 _UNIT 0

The value of _UNIT can also be set within a sequence, for example,

set _UNIT = 1

Serial Communications Protocol

 

FRAME STRUCTURE

 

The Serial RS-232 communications frame structure is common to both directions of transmission. Messages are delimited by start and end of message flags. The body of the frame comprises the control and address bytes the message (which is optional) and a single byte checksum.

 

SOM

Control

Address

[Channel]

[Source]

[ <Message data...> ]

Checksum

EOM

Frames not containing any message data bytes are referred to as 'null' frames.

 

Characters received between EOM and SOM characters (i.e. un-framed) are ignored - unless the single character sequence file feature is invoked.

 

The start and end of messages are special character values that must not occur in the data bytes between them to ensure correct message framing. To achieve this a third value, the byte stuff character, (BSF) is used. This is also a unique character value that also must not appear as a data byte, so is also preceded by a BSF character.

 

The byte values of these three special characters are:

SOM	0x7E
EOM	0x7D
BSF	0x7C

Byte transparency is achieved by replacing any of the three special characters that occur as data bytes with a two byte sequence headed by the BSF character. The second character is the character X-ORed with the 'smudge' character, 0x20, which prevents recognition by the receiver as a special byte. e.g. a data byte 0x7E is replaced with the byte pair: 0x7C,0x5E.

 

The channel and source bytes are only present in extended frames. An extended frame is indicated by bit 5 in the control byte set to 1. Extended frames are only required between devices in a multi-device chain. Extended frames are not required for communication between the host PC and a Brick-HD and are not used by the PC control Software supplied.

 

 

CONTROL BYTE

 

The control byte comprises two fields. The upper 4 bits are mode bits controlling the use of the addressing information. The lower 4 bits are the Device Address. In the receive direction (Processor to PC) the mode bits are not used. (Unused bits are marked in the table below with an dash) As a convention, unused bits should be set to zero, but receiving software should not reject messages if they are not.

Transmit Bits
7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
M1	M0	EXTN	0	A3	A2	A1	A0

 

 

Receive Bits
7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
-	-	EXTN	1	A3	A2	A1	A0

Device Address [ A3 to A0 ] Device Type

 

Device Address	Device Type
0 - 6	Reserved
7	Brick Processor

The two mode bits M1 and M0 allow for 4 addressing modes:

 

M1	M0	Addressing Mode
0	0	Normal Address
0	1	Response (Poll)
1	0	Global of type (A3 to A0)
1	1	Global all units.

The EXTN bit indicates an extended frame is used. If an extended frame is used two bytes are added to the frame header, channel and source. The channel relates to the TCP/IP socket on the Brick-HD from which the message originated and the source byte is the Unit ID of the originating Brick-HD. Channels number from 0.

 

 

 

ADDRESS BYTE

 

The address byte allows 256 devices of the type selected in the Control byte Device Address field to be individually addressed.

 

NORMAL ADDRESS MODE

 

In this mode, the address byte is used to select a specific device (one of 256), of the type set by the device address field in the control byte. Only one unique device will therefore act on the message.

 

RESPONSE (POLL) MODE

 

The message will be received by the addressed device in the same manner as the Normal Address mode, however the addressed device will respond with a return frame. If there is no message pending in the addressed device the response will be a null frame. Note this will be the reply from a previous message. If the device receives a POLL it will send the next message in the outgoing queue before processing the message. A null frame can be used to read the next message from the send queue without executing a command.

 

GLOBAL TYPE ADDRESS MODE

 

All devices of the type defined in the control bytes unit field will act upon this message. It is not possible to globally poll devices since more than one would respond and the messages collide. In this mode the address byte is redundant, but it is still sent to maintain a simple frame structure. By convention the address byte should be zero in this case.

 

GLOBAL ADDRESS MODE

 

This is similar to the previous case except that all devices of any type will act on the message.  The usefulness of this mode is really restricted to generic commands such as 'RESET' and 'BAUDRATE'

 

CHECKSUM

 

The checksum is calculated by summing modulo-256, all of the bytes between the start and end of message characters, prior to the byte stuffing process, and subtracting this figure from zero.  The receiver checks the received data by summing all the bytes following the start of message (after expanding the 'stuffed' bytes). When the end of message character is received the sum should be zero.

 

MESSAGE CONTENTS

 

The length of the message is not limited by the protocol. As described above, it can be of zero length for use in polling and null responses, where there is otherwise no data to transfer. The message format is the same for both directions of transmission, comprising a function code in the range 0 to 255 followed by an optional parameter list. The convention for parameters greater then 255 is least significant byte first.

 

Function codes are device specific and detailed in separate manuals for each device. The function codes from 0 to 15 are reserved for generic operations, such as returning software version numbers, which all devices support. In addition there are generic function codes to support extended addressing techniques for selecting multiple devices.

 

PROTOCOL VIOLATIONS

 

Any protocol violations should cause the current message to be abandoned. The receiver will revert to a mode waiting for the start of message character. If the violation was an out of sequence start of message character, a new message will be assumed. Message frames with checksum errors are ignored.

 

Although the BSF character would normally only precede a 'smudged' version of one of the 3 special byte codes, (SOM, EOM, BSF) the presence of any other character is not considered a violation. The 'un-smudging' process should be applied regardless of the 'smudged' character code provided it is not either SOM, EOM or BSF.

 

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Sequence File Format

The Brick-HD Software control program includes a simple real-time sequence control language. Video effects are invoked using timed sequences of commands to the hardware. The language commands are held in standard ASCII text files. The sequence files may be created with the integrated editor or an external text editor/word processor.

Control commands are decoded and sent as messages to the hardware via the PC serial ports. Sequences can be compiled and downloaded to the processor itself and executed there.

The control language uses a basic command and parameter list format. A line based macro processor is included.

The description of the commands uses the following common language notation. Optional parameters are contained in square brackets. A parameter which must be one of a set is indicated by the set enclosed in curly brackets, each parameter separated by a vertical bar. Variable parameters are contained in angle brackets. Parameters are separated by commas.

Each line of the command file consists of either a blank line, a comment, or a command. Only one command may be invoked per line. Most commands are followed by a variable length list of parameters dependent on the command type.

Numeric parameters can be in either decimal, hex, or binary. Hex numbers may be represented in either the 'C' format as 0xnn or the 'assembler' format using a leading decimal digit and trailing 'H' Binary numbers are designated by a trailing 'B'.  Any number may have leading zeros. Unlike 'C' this does not designate base 8. Hex numbers may use upper or lower case letters.

For example

All commands and parameters should be delimited by a space, comma, or tab character. The default base may be changed using the RADIX command to any base from 2 to 16. Macros may be defined to substitute text strings with key words. Command words can be in either upper or lower case. Macros are case sensitive.

Sequence File Commands

The following commands are implemented.

INCLUDE

The include command 'includes' text from another file in the current file. The command syntax is:-

INCLUDE { <filename.typ> | ["][d:][\path\]filename[.typ]["] }

The INCLUDE command has one parameter, either a filename in angle brackets or a conventional Windows filename. Quotes are optional on the conventional filename if it doesn't use spaces. Included filenames in angle brackets are expected to be in the same directory as the program.

Conventional filenames without the angle brackets can optionally have drive letters, path descriptions and file types.

Includes can be nested to a depth of 10. The nesting depth is the only method by which recursive includes are trapped. Files may be 'included' at any point in a command file.

The file STD.INC is a special case. If a file of this name is found in the current directory it will be included before the sequence file is executed.

SEND

The SEND command sends a single command to the processor. The send command expects at least 3 parameters. (See the hardware interface description for details of commands.) Command syntax is as follows:-

SEND <p1>,<p2>,<p3> [,<p4> .. <pN>]

The parameters p1 to pN are numbers in the range 0 - 255. A parameter from p4 onwards may be preceded by the '&' character to force it to occupy two bytes, LSB first.

The first 3 parameters common to all SEND commands are as follows.

p1 = Module type.  

p2 = Module address. 

p3 = Message function code.

Module type is a number with the following allocation, 

0 - 6  : RESERVED 

7      : BRICK PROCESSOR

The module address is a number from 0 to 255. A macro “_UNIT” may be used instead, which substitutes the currently selected unit address from the UNIT ID menu.

The message function code is decoded by the addressed module which executes the function using any parameters which follow.

The Brick-HD series processors have no separate internal modules so requires only one sub-address. By default this is zero. If additional processors are used, e.g to provide full frame splits greater than 4x4, each processor needs to be allocated a unique address. If the processors are ordered with this intention, they will be supplied pre-configured.

Parameters p4 to pN are placed in the data bytes section of a message. An ASCII text string can be used in the parameter list.

Each character of the string will be converted to a number in the range 32..127 and used in the same way as numeric parameters.

GET

The GET command combines SEND with a poll for the reply. The command syntax is the same as SEND.

OUTPUT

The OUTPUT command is a lower level version of the SEND command. It will send any number of parameters supplied as bytes to the hardware (limited by the maximum line length) without formatting the data into a structured message.

Command syntax is...

OUTPUT <p1> [<p2> .. <pN>] 

A parameter may be preceded by the '&' character to force it to occupy two bytes, LSB first. ASCII strings may be sent by enclosing them in double quotes, For example:

OUTPUT "PLAY",0x0D

RATE

This sets the assumed refresh/field rate. This may be used in WAIT commands where fractions of a second are expressed as N fields. (See the WAIT command syntax below.) It is also used when sequences are compiled and downloaded to the Brick-HD itself. The sequence compiler will convert a WAIT command to a number of fields using this parameter.

The default value is 60.

WAIT

This is the primary time dependent command word. Parameters supplied determine whether the control program will wait for a set period, until the elapsed time since the start of the file, the absolute time or on reaching a time code for the selected video source.

Command syntax is as follows.

WAIT [FOR|ELAPSED] <time>

WAIT EVENT {DVI-SYNC | YPBPR-SYNC | DVI-LOS | YPBPR-SYNC}

The time parameter consists of hh:mm:ss:ff or hh:mm:ss.dd

Value	Units
hh	Hours
mm	Minutes
ss	Seconds
dd	1/100 fractions of a second
ff	Fields

The time is defined in the 24 hour clock format, hours, minutes, seconds and optionally hundredths of a second if a dot is used to separate the seconds or fields if a colon is used.

The field rate is determined using the RATE command (above).

The default if no sub-command is supplied is the same as FOR.

The WAIT FOR subcommand will wait for the selected time on decoding the command. The wait condition can be terminated in advance by clicking on the "skip" button.

The WAIT ELAPSED subcommand will wait until the elapsed time from the start of the command file is greater than the time defined.

The WAIT EVENT subcommand can be used to pause the sequence waiting for an external event. The sequence will halt indefinitely until the event condition is met. Four conditions are currently provided.

Event	Description
DVI-SYNC	DVI input becomes active
DVI-LOS	DVI input loss of signal
YPRB-SYNC	YPrPb Input out locked (to line sync)
YPRPB-LOS	YPrPb Input loss of input signal

 

DEFINE

Macros can be defined, using the DEFINE command, which will be expanded on a line by line basis when encountered.

Command syntax is…

DEFINE NAME [=] text....

The macro NAME can have up to 16 characters. There is no restriction on the characters of the macro name apart from delimiters equals, space,  tab and comma. Macros are expanded as they are encountered in the input file by the command processor except if they are parameters to a macro definition.

Macros must be defined before they can be used.

The macro text can comprise delimited parameters. A parameter substitution mechanism is provided. This allows up to 9 parameters in the text portion of the macro definition to be undefined. These are designated by a question mark followed by a decimal digit in the range 1 to 9.

Parameters following the macro name on expansion will be substituted in the order defined by the number following the question mark.

For example the macro defined like this…

DEFINE SWAP = ?2,?1

On expansion, will reverse the parameters supplied, so that for example…

OUTPUT SWAP 200,100

Expands to…

OUTPUT 100 200

Macros can be nested to any depth, but on expansion the line length must not exceed 132 characters.

FORGET

Macros and procedures can be deleted from the symbol table at any point in the file using the FORGET command. If previously defined macros depend on the macro that has been deleted they will cause errors on expansion later.

Command syntax is…

FORGET name

PROCEDURES

Procedures are similar to macros in many ways except that they span more than one line and may contain a number of commands. Up to 9 parameters can be passed to each procedure. The procedure is defined starting with the PROC keyword and terminates with the ENDPROC keyword. Both keywords must be on a separate line.

Command syntax is…

PROC name [p1 .. pn]

  .

  Commands

  .

ENDPROC

Procedures can have up to 9 parameters. These can be used to substitute parameters to commands within the body of the procedure, or passed as further parameters to procedures calls within the procedure body, for example:-

PROC EFFECT start,middle,finish ; Procedure EFFECT with 3 parameters

  SEND 7 0 1,2,start            ; Use each parameter in turn for the

  SEND 7 0 1,2,middle           ; same basic command

  SEND 7 0 1,2,finish

ENDPROC                         ; End of procedure

EFFECT 1,2,3                    ; Execute procedure

EFFECT 4,5,6                    ; Again with different arguments

The dummy arguments: 'start, middle, finish' define the number of parameters the procedure will accept. When the procedure is used the number of parameter arguments supplied is checked. If the wrong number of parameters is supplied an error message is displayed and execution stops.

Note:    Procedures with parameters are not supported in compiled sequences downloaded (installed) to the Brick-HD.

REMARKS

The REM command allows remarks to be displayed on screen as the commands are sent to the processor. All the text following the REM statement is displayed on the screen. As soon as the macro expander recognises the REM command, macro expansion ceases.

In addition a number of escape codes are provided as follows.

@t Current system time. 

@d Current system date. 

@s File start time. 

@e Elapsed time.

@f The current sequence file name. 

@b Bell character.

Two further escape codes may be used in REM commands to show the two innermost loop counts generated by the REPEAT command.

@i Inner loop count 

@j Second level loop count

REM commands are not compiled into download sequences.

REPEAT

Command syntax is.

REPEAT [FOREVER | <n>]

The REPEAT command marks the beginning of a program loop. REPEAT commands must be matched by a corresponding AGAIN or UNTIL command.

An optional loop count can be supplied. If a loop count is not supplied, FOREVER is assumed.

A loop can be terminated using a parameter to the UNTIL command even if it is started with a REPEAT FOREVER command, for example:-

REPEAT 20

 .

 Commands on any number of lines

 .

AGAIN

Or...

REPEAT FOREVER

  . 

  Commands in loop 

  . 

UNTIL 00:20:00

REPEAT commands can be nested, for example:-

REPEAT            ; Start of outer loop 

  REPEAT 20       ; Repeat a sequence 20 times

  .

  Commands        ; Commands comprising the sequence 

  .

  AGAIN           ; Loop back to nearest REPEAT 

UNTIL 0:0:10      ; Keep going until time is passed

Two special macros are provided which are converted to the current loop index when used. These special macros are @i and @j.

The following shows the format.

REPEAT 3 

  REPEAT 3 

    REM Loop = @j,@i 

  AGAIN 

AGAIN

This double loop will display in a window the following messages…

Loop = 1,1 

Loop = 1,2 

Loop = 1,3 

Loop = 2,1 

(etc... until) 

Loop = 3,3

These special macros can be used as parameters to macros and procedures.

AGAIN

This command marks the end of a looping program block. There are no parameters. See above REPEAT command.

UNTIL

The UNTIL command marks the end of a sequence loop. The loop is repeated conditionally with one of two conditions: ELAPSED, or LOOP. Command syntax is.

UNTIL [ ELAPSED [ TIME[ = ] ] hh:mm:ss[ {.dd|:ff} ] ] 

UNTIL [ LOOP [TIME[ = ] ] hh:mm:ss[ {.dd|:ff} ] ]

ELAPSED TIME is followed by time parameters.

The loop will continue until the elapsed time since the start of execution of the file is greater than the time parameter.

UNTIL LOOP TIME is also followed by time parameters. This will loop until the elapsed time since the start of the

loop is greater than the supplied time parameter.

POLL

Command syntax is.

POLL <card>,<address>

This command requests information from hardware in the output buffer. A higher level command "GET" will send a command and automatically poll for a response.

If the POLLed device has any data ready for transmission it will be returned on receipt of this command.

Devices will only have data if they have been sent a command previously requesting it.

If no data is ready a 'NULL POLL' message will be returned. There will be no displayed information in response to 'NULL POLL'

If the device addressed does not exist then after a short time-out period a message will be displayed showing that the POLL command failed.

Returned messages are defined in the device-specific documentation.

RADIX

The the SEND program uses decimal numbers by default. This may be changed using the RADIX command to any base from 2 to 16.

The base selection parameter is always in decimal regardless of the current radix.

Command syntax is.

RADIX <n>

For example to select HEX as the default base…

RADIX 16

Note: This can cause problems with pre-defined macros if the do not explicitly define the base of a number.

EXIT IF

This command enables ‘include’ files to be 'included' more than once without causing re-definition errors using a conditional EXIT command. The command syntax is:-

EXIT IF [ DEFINED ] symbol

If the symbol is already defined 'including' is abandoned and control continues from the 'calling' file.

For example:-

EXIT IF FRED 

DEFINE FRED = 1

COMMENTS

Comments can be included either on a blank line or at the end of a command line by preceding the comment with a semicolon.

Commented lines must be less than the line maximum of 132 characters. Blank lines and spaces may be freely spread throughout a command file to improve readability.

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Message Functions

 

The full set of supported message functions for a particular version of firmware can be determined using the shell command "show message". The picture below shows the output from a terminal emulator using the the command shell with the output from "show message".

 

The same command with a -d switch will format the output so that it can be cut and pasted directly into an include file (i.e. the default std.inc).

Many of these messages are used to control the processor via the Control Software and are not useful in user created sequence files. Those that are most likely to be useful in a user created sequence are listed below.

RESET

 

Resets the addressed device.

 

All internal parameters are set to their power on reset state. The device configuration is derived from a combination of front panel switches and configurations stored in on-board Flash memory.

Example

send 7 0 0        ; Reset Brick-HD device 0

SHELL COMMAND

Sends a shell command to the addressed device. This is a very powerful function allowing a command from the rich set of shell commands to be used. Shell commands which produce an output cannot be used, since there is no mechanism to read the output text. Using the ? and ?? shell commands from the shell will display the supported list. Those shown with an (M) preceding the command can be used in a message.

Example

send 7 0 1 "set video input dvi"     ; Select input from the DVI connection

This example achieves the same as the FN_SETIN message with parameter 0 (DVI), i.e.

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 0                  ; Select input from the DVI connection        

The advantage of using explicit messages rather than shell commands is that they are shorter and use less resources in firmware, so execute slightly faster.

GO

Execute a held command. Used in multi-device applications. A hold command may be broadcast to all devices followed by a command to each device, which is held. Following a broadcast GO command all devices will execute the held command synchronously.

Example

send 7 0 FN_GO

HOLD

Hold a command, pending a later GO command

Example

send 7 0 FN_HOLD

IMMEDIATE

Force the next command to be executed immediately.

Example

send 7 0 FN_IMM

SELECT INPUT

Select a video input source.

There are three forms of this command depending on the number of parameters supplied

1 .   The full set of parameters are supplied explicitly setting the input configuration

2.    The input source is selected and the input standard detection mode is set to manual

3.    The input source is selected, the automatic standard selection process runs by default.

Examples

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 1 0 0 &1280 &720 60 0        ; Component YPrPb - force 720P/60

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 0 0                          ; DVI use currently configured video standard

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 0                            ; DVI use automaic video standard detection

Other examples, in this case both have the same effect

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 1                            ; Component YPrPb, defaults to automatic standard detection

send 7 0 FN_SETIN 1 1                          ; Component YPrPb, explictly set to automatic standard detection

To save the settings to be applied on startup.

SELECT OUTPUT MODE

The Brick-HD can output either DVI or Component Video via the same DVI connectors. All 16 channels have to use the same format. Channels can be selectively enabled/disabled using the channel enable flags. These are optional. If not provided all channels are enabled.

e.g.

send 7 0 FN_SETOUT 0 &0xEEE0

will set the output mode to DVI and enable only the 9 monitors in the top left hand corner of the nominal 4x4 array.

The output enable flags are optional. If not supplied all outputs will be enabled.

If supported by the firmware the 2D output filters can be set on/off per channel.

To save the selected settings use the following. There are no parameters required.

EFFECTS COMMANDS

These commands are commonly used to assemble sequences of effects.

SET SPLIT

Set the split factor. This will magnify the image by the factor.

Example

send 7 0 FN_SPLIT  2            ; Set X,Y magnification to 2 

send 7 0 FN_SPLIT  4 3          ; Set asymmetric split x=4, y=3

WASH COLOUR

Set the colour wash for a given monitor or all monitors simultaneously.

The command will have no direct visual effect unless a wash is already selected on a given display monitor. When a monitor display mode is set to WASH the colour set with this command will be applied.

If a wash is currently displayed the on-screen colour will be updated.

Examples,

Set the wash colour of channel 1 to bright red.

send 7 0 FN_SETWASH 0 255 0 0    ; Set monitor 1 (0) to red

Set the wash colour of all channels to bright mid blue.

send 7 0 FN_SETWASH 255 0 0 255  ; Set all monitors to blue

DISPLAY

This command sets the display mode for a given monitor.

Examples, show the preset channel wash colour or video

send 7 0 FN_DSPMODE 0 0        ; Show video on monitor 1   

send 7 0 FN_DSPMODE -1 1       ; Show colour washes on all channels

Note: -1 translates to 255 for a signed byte

AUXOUT

The FN_AUXOUT commands sends a string of arbitrary bytes out of the auxillary serial port (Loop). This can only be used with a stand alone Brick-HD or the last Brick-HD in a chain in the case of a multi-Brick-HD installation.

Example, to send the string PLAY followed by cariage return out of the loop port of Brick-HD with the ID of zero,

send 7 0 FN_AUXOUT "PLAY" 0x0D

If the Brick-HD is used in a multi-Brick-HD mode, the Host and Loop serial ports can be configured in a bussed mode, so that characters received on the Host port are sent directly out of the Loop port. This ensures that all devices in the chain recieve the message at the same time.

To prevent this interferring with the characters sent to the device being controlled by the string commands the last Brick-HD in the chain should be configured with the command FN_RS232 with mode parameter set to 1.

The Brick-HD will have the RS-232 mode set to independent following a reset.

If set to independent messages will still be sent along the daisy chain of devices but will depend  the unit ID. Messages addressed to devices other than the local device will be forwarded out of the loop port but there will be a delay since the whole message has to be read before the unit id is inspected to route the message.

FREEZE

Freeze or Un-Freeze the display.

SEQUENCE EXECUTION FUNCTIONS

The following commands are used to initiate sequences which have been downloaded to the processor FLASH memory using the download menu command.

RUN DOWNLOADED SEQUENCE

This command executes a sequence which has previously been downloaded to processor and stored in FLASH memory.

The file A:/sequence/seqmap.conf in the Brick-HD filing system maps ASCII characters to sequence file names. These single characters can be used via the serial link if it is set to character mode, instead of the default message mode. This mapping can be done using the command shell, or using the Brick-HD Control software via the "Sequence/Remote" menu option.

The Brick-HD can be configured to start in character mode by configuring it using the VFD menu from the front panel, or using the shell command "set keypad on". From a shell session via the serial port the exit command will also enter character mode. To return to command mode press return 4 times.

Sequence files can also be executed by name using FN_RUNSEQ.

Example, run sequence mapped to character A

send 7 0 FN_SEQIRN "A"            ; Run sequence A

RUN SEQUENCE FILE

Executes a sequence file by name.

Sequence files are stored in the Brick-HD flash filing system directory A:/sequence/

Example, run a sequence called split1.sfb

send 7 0 FN_RUNSEQ "split1.sfb"       ; Run sequence

READ EXECUTING SEQUENCE FILE NAME

Returned Data.

Example, to read the current executing sequence if any

get 7 0 FN_READEQ         ; Read seqeuence

The result will displayed in the Remark window. In order for the result to persist, the get command should be following by a wait statement in a sequence.

CANCEL EXECUTING SEQUENCE

Example

get 7 0 FN_STOPSEQ         ; Stop any executing seqeuence

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Editor

Find

 

To search for text in a file using the editor, enter the text in the Find field.

 

 

Click "Find next" to search from the current cursor location. If the "Match case" check box is ticked the text must have the same upper and lower case. If "Match whole word" is ticked the matched text must be surrounded by white space.

 

Go to Line Number

 

To position the cursor on a specific line, enter the line number and click OK

 

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Remote Sequence

 

The processor includes a Flash memory filing system. Compiled sequence can be downloaded to the filing system - and have a single character mapped to them for character mode sequence file execution. Compilation and downloading is done using the Buttons dialog.

 

Sequence files are held in a directory "/sequence".  The file holding the mapping between single characters and compiled sequence files is seqmap.conf in the same directory.

 

From the main menu option "Sequence/Remote" the dialog box show below can be invoked to manage remote sequence files. A list of files is read from the remote unit when the dialog box is opened. The file seqmap.conf is then read and the character mapped files overlaid leaving a combined list.

Using this dialog it's possible to run and stop binary sequence (.sfb) files previously installed using the Buttons sequence file creation dialog.  To run a sequence file, select the line containing the sequence file and click run. To stop any executing sequence click Stop. There is no need so select a specific sequence file to stop a running sequence.

 

To delete a sequence file, select the line containing it and click delete.

 

To modify a line entry, select the line to modify and click Modify, or just double click the line. This will pop up a further dialog box allowing the associated character code and comment for the file to be amended, as illustrated below.

 

 

 

The Char and Dec fields are essentially the same. The Char field shows the ASCII character mapped. The Dec field shows the decimal equivalent of that character. Changing one field will cause the other to update with the appropriate value. If the decimal number is outside the displayable ASCII character range the Char field will be blank.

 

Files mapped to ASCII characters in the range 0..9 (decimal 48 to 51) can be invoked using the Sequence Keypad dialog or from the front panel VFD menu.

 

 

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Sequence Keypad

 

Sequences saved in the flash memory filing system may be mapped to so that they will execute when a single mapped ASCII character is received via the host  port. Characters 0 through 9 when mapped can be tested from the Brick-HD Control software directly using the sequence keypad.

 

To map a sequence to a character, see the Remote Directory section.

 

 

 

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Binary Sequence Decoder

 

Sequences that have been compiled into a binary format and stored on the PC for downloading to the Flash memory in the Brick-HD processor can be decoded using the Decode menu option from Sequences in the main menu.

 

A file open pop-up dialog will appear when this option is selected allowing a binary sequence file to be opened for decoding.  To decode a sequence file already installed in the Flash memory use the "Sequence / Remote" main menu option.

 

The file will be decoded in a read only text window as shown in the example below.

 

 

 

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Reset

 

To restart the processor select the unit id (or all units) and click OK. The CPU on the Brick-HD processor will execute a software restart. This is necessary after downloading new firmware. It can also be used to restore the processor to a known initial state when developing sequences.

 

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Version Information

 

To obtain the firmware and FPGA version information for connected units click on File, then Hardware Info. The following dialog will be displayed. The example below shows a typical response for a single unit connected to the PC.

 

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Firmware Update

 

It is possible to update the processor with later versions of firmware as they are made available using the Brick-HD Control software.

 

The firmware comprises two files. One with the extension .xsvf contains the data for the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chips which are the chips that split and magnify image in real time. A second file contains the system code for the microprocessor with the extension .bin

 

Current versions of both file types are distributed with the Video Control Software and installed in the same directory as the vwctrl.exe program, typically C:\Program Files\BrickHD\

 

Later versions may be available on the Media Technologies Web site. To use one of these, the .bin and or .xsvf  file should be copied to any convenient PC directory prior to installation. There is no need to copy it to the above directory.

 

In a multi-processor installation, each processor has to be updated separately. To select the ID of the processor to update use the Setup dialog to select the Primary Processor ID, which is the ID of the processor that will be updated.

 

To update the firmware on the selected processor, select File / Config from the main window menu. This will pop up the configuration dialog.

 

 

 

Click the Update button next to the file type to be updated and browse to the copy of the relevant file downloaded and saved previously. Select the file from the open file dialog and click OK. The firmware download process will begin, with a confirmation filename dialog box as shown below. A this point the remote (destination) filename and location could be changed, however the default presented will be correct.

 

 

 

On selecting OK from Remote filename dialog the progress dialog will be presented as below.

 

 

 

The filenames for FPGA and System code will be updated when the new file is selected for download. When OK or Apply is clicked the new configuration will be set in the Brick-HD.

 

In order to run the downloaded firmware it is necessary to reset the processor.

 

The Brick-HD flash memory provides two volumes. One is a conventional directory and file based volume. Files are divided into data blocks in a similar manner to conventional disk based filing system. Deleted data blocks are marked as "dirty" when a file is deleted but can be recovered and reused automatically. It also incorporates a wear leveling mechansm to prevent one part of the device being worn out prematurely before the rest of the device. This filing system has to be mounted as part of the system start-up process. If for any reason this volume is not mounted, the list of filing system directories will not be shown.

 

The 2nd volume provided is called "Bootflash:". This is a much simpler filing system where the files are written to the flash device with a single data block. When a file is deleted the space is not immediately recoverable. This does not need to be mounted at start-up. It makes the process of copying data from the flash device to RAM much faster. Files in Bootflash: are rarely updated, usually only as part of a firmware update. There is space in the Bootflash: volume for a number of firmware updates. If Bootflash: eventually runs out of space it may be "squeezed" to recover the space occupied by deleted files. The sequence process will be invoked automatically by the PC software as part of the download process.

 

FPGA and system code to be used as part of the boot process (start-up) must be located in Bootflash:

 

If following a reset, the processor does not work it is possible to drop back to a special version of the code (the ROM Monitor) which allows the code to be re-installed. To force the processor to start the RMON, turn off the power, then power up with the front panel "Select/Push" knob pressed.

 

The RMON does not automatically mount the flash filing system or load the code into the FPGAs.

 

To change the code used from the Front Panel, once the RMON is running, rotate the Select/Push knob clockwise until "Press to configure" is displayed. Press to select the configuration menu. Rotate the  knob clockwise until the FPGA menu option is displayed - press the knob to select. Rotate the knob clockwise/anti-clockwise to view the FPGA file to use from the available list. Press to select a particular version. The configuration will be saved and the FPGA menu option will be re-displayed. Rotate the knob clockwise until Exit is displayed, then press the knob to leave configuration mode.

 

The system code file (.bin)  can be selected in a similar manner. In this case select Boot instead of FPGA and select one of the available .bin files in the list.

 

Once both have been set, reset the processor to use the new configuration.

 

Any file type can be downloaded to Bootflash: (or the conventional flash volume) using the download option from the Brick-HD Control software main menu.

 

Files are transferred to the Brick-HD using TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol), therefore the TFTP server must be enabled. It is possible to transfer files to/from the processor using other TFTP clients, such as that provided with windows XP/Vista/7.

 

Further Information

For further information on the Brick-HD Videowall processor, online help and the latest software and firmware please visit www.mediat.co.uk or www.mediat.us

To report bugs with this software please visit http://www.mediat.co.uk/bugreports.htm