VBrick 7000 Series, Getting Started Manual

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Streaming Video Basics
VBrick H.264 Appliance Getting Started Guide 59
VBrick Accessories
VBrick appliances have various optional hardware accessories. These work directly with
VBrick appliances or through the use of ActiveX control software, also available from
VBrick. For information about microphones, cameras and other VBrick hardware
accessories, please contact VBrick directly. ActiveX controls for cameras and other software
accessories are also available from VBrick.
Serial Port Passthrough
When configured properly, VBricks provide full duplex, end-to-end transparent passthrough
of user data from one VBrick to another, or to other IP devices. The COM port is used for
passthrough. The serial port operates at its configured baud rate (e.g. 110 to 115.2K bps). See
the
H.264 Admin Guide for passthrough configuration details. Some common applications
include:
• Remote control of a camera, pan-tilt-zoom.
• Remote control of a security door lock.
• Low speed data transport.
• Data collaboration between PCs.
How Passthrough Works
VBrick appliances are able to receive data on a particular TCP/IP port and transparently
output that data to a serial port. Conversely, any data input to a serial port can be passed
through to other devices connected to that TCP/IP port. Devices include other VBricks or
special applications connected to the appropriate TCP/IP port. This feature is called "Serial
Port Passthrough." COM is assigned port 4439. A typical application is for two VBricks
connected to each other's TCP/IP port 4439. In this case, characters typed into a terminal
program attached to one VBrick's serial port appear on a terminal program attached to the
other VBrick's serial port. In this case, the TCP/IP network serves as an intermediary
between the serial ports of two VBrick appliances.
You must select configuration settings to enable Serial Port Passthrough. First it is necessary
to decide if the appliance will be designated as an
Initiator
or
Responder
of Passthrough
connections. If configured as an
Initiator
it will continuously attempt to setup a Passthrough
connection to other devices. When configured as a
Responder
it will accept up to 64
connections from
Initiator
appliances. It is possible to Disable Passthrough Mode, so that the
VBrick neither initiates nor responds to Passthrough requests. If a VBrick is set to be an
Note Passthrough mode is used to send control information from one VBrick to another
and may not support sustained data at higher data rates.