Categories, Level sets, Categories level sets – Grass Valley NV9000-SE v.5.0 User Manual
Page 156
138
Devices and Device Categories
Introduction
Categories
Device categories provide a way to (1) organize devices and (2) provide an orderly and mean-
ingful naming system to control panel operators.
Device categories provide a way around NV9000-SE Utilities’ restrictive 8-character device
mnemonics.
Simply said, a category is a base name for a set of devices to which control panel operators can
append one or more suffixes (or indexes) to specify a complete device name.
Suffixes are alphanumeric strings of up to 4 characters. An oerator can append up to 8 suffixes to
a device’s base name to fully specify the device name.
An index is a number that, converted to text, completes a device name. Indexes are generally
not used at control panels, but are used by NVISION series master control subsystems.
At control panels, operators enter indexes as suffixes consisting of single digits.
Multiple devices can be defined in NV9000-SE Utilities and named according to a base name
and one or more suffixes. Consider for example,
CAM A 10
This base name for this device is “CAM.” The device name has 3 suffixes: “A”, “1,” and “0.” To select
this device, an operator would press a button on a control panel that selects “CAM” for cameras,
and then press in succession, “A,” ”1,” and “0.” This might, for instance, mean camera 10 in room
A. Hundreds or thousands of cameras names could be created using this technique.
Most NVISION series control panels have buttons that can be devoted to category/suffix device
selection. These are usually called category buttons. In pressing those buttons, the operator has
asked for a device whose name in the configuration database might not have any resemblance
to “CAM A 10.” That is, the names by which panel operators can select devices using category
selection are most likely different from the names used in the configuration database.
Device categories in NV9000-SE Utilities are called simply “categories.”
The use of categories and suffixes presumes the existence of at least one control panel in
your system that has matching category (and suffix) buttons. See
Level Sets
Devices belong to level sets and send and receive signals on different signal levels. Those levels
are called virtual levels in NV9000-SE Utilities and the virtual levels for a device are defined in its
level set.
(See
on page 111 for information.)
When we say that a device belongs to a level set, we mean that a device is assigned a level set
when it is created. The device sends and receives signals on one or more of the virtual levels of
that level set.)
Some systems do not really need level sets. However, NV9000-SE Utilities requires at least
one level set. In those systems, a single level set will contain all virtual levels and is therefore
equivalent to no level set.)