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TERMINAL ELIMINATOR PLUS
any slave data is in the TEP’s internal buffer, the TEP will transmit the data to
the master device in one of two different ways depending on whether the
current mode is of the Concentrate or Conversation type.
In either of the Conversation modes, the slave’s data will be taken from the
TEP’s internal buffer and retransmitted out the master port (using the word
structure, baud rate, and flow control you’ve set for of the master port with
port switch SWA) on a character-by-character basis. If the TEP is
not
in
Transparent Conversation Mode, then—depending on how you’ve set the
TEP’s options—the slave data may be formatted (data inserted or stripped)
for a more readable output (see the next section).
In either of the Concentration modes, a particular slave’s data will only be
transmitted to the master device when:
1. It’s that slave’s turn in the round-robin scan.
2. The TEP has buffered enough data from that slave device to define at
least one valid record. Valid record requirements are defined by the user
at initialization time.
3. The master port is not flow-controlled OFF (DTR input low, for example).
Valid records can be defined as any combination of the following:
1. Received data (1 or more bytes) terminated by a user-selected end-of-
record character (for example, [ETX] code, carriage return, or form-feed
character). Refer to
Section 4.2.2
.
2. Received data matching the user-defined terminating record length
(1 to 255 bytes). Refer to
Section 4.2.4
.
3. Received data that is followed by an inter-record gap (a period of time
between records in which no characters are received). Throughout this
manual, the inter-record gap is called the “no-receive delay.” You can set
this time period to between 1 and 65535 times 10.4 ms. Refer to
Section
4.2.5
.
Any of the above can be disabled, but don’t disable all three for the same port
at the same time, or no valid records will ever occur and none of that port’s
data will be sent to the master. An additional qualifier can be used to further
define a record:
