Page 26 of 59
Appendix A – TAP Interface Specifications
This appendix is included for those who want to develop their own paging control software or add an interface for the
WaveWare v
8
Paging Encoder
to their existing software applications.
A simple definition of the
TAP Protocol
is that the TAP Protocol normally requires a connect and disconnect process and
normally assumes that the Host system maintains a database of pager reference numbers called IDs, and that the paging
system maintains a database of all paging parameters associated with each ID. The
TAP Interface
supports paging
messages up to 244 characters in length. The actual maximum length of transmitted messages in the
WaveWare TAP
Interface
is 245 minus the ID field length. With an ID value of 5, you can transmit up to 245 characters per message. With
an ID value of 1233425120, you can transmit up to 235 characters per message.
To configure your
WaveWare v
8
Paging Encoder
to use the TAP Paging Protocol, you may be required to configure the
com port settings in the paging encoder. Please refer to
Appendix B – Com Port Settings
, for details on configuring
communication protocols.
Your
WaveWare v
8
Paging System
typically communicates with a PC or other host device via RS-232 at 9600 Baud, 8
data bits and 1 stop bit. The eighth data bit is ignored (no parity). You can configure the paging system for other serial
communication parameters. Please refer to
Appendix B – Com Port Settings
, for details on serial communication
parameters.
The
WaveWare v
8
Paging Encoder
maintains an input buffer which can receive commands from the PC while a page is
being transmitted. The input buffer should be able to contain approximately ten paging messages before getting full.
When a command is received from the PC, the paging system responds with a message that includes error messages if
the command was not understood or not properly transmitted. The first three digits of each paging system response
conform to the response codes defined in the
TAP v1.8
specification.
See Appendix D – TAP Response Codes
for a listing of the response codes.
The
WaveWare v
8
Paging Encoder
encodes paging messages into
POCSAG
paging format and transmits the encoded
paging message. If the
Carrier Detect
function is enabled, transmissions will be delayed while interfering signals are
detected.
Control characters recognized by the paging system in
TAP Protocol
mode include:
CARRIAGE
RETURN
<CR>
$0D
START OF TEXT
<STX>
$02
END
OF
TEXT
<ETX>
$03
END OF TRANSMISSION
<EOT>
$04
SUBSTITUTE
<SUB>
$1A
ESCAPE
<ESC>
$1B
Control characters generated by the
WaveWare v
8
Paging System
in
TAP Protocol
mode include:
LINE
FEED
<LF>
$0A
CARRIAGE
RETURN
<CR>
$0D
ACKNOWLEDGE
<ACK>
$06
NEGATIVE ACKNOWLEDGE <NAK>
$15
ABANDON TRANSACTION
<RS>
$1E
ESCAPE
<ESC>
$1B
END OF TRANSMISSION
<EOT>
$04
XON
<XON>
$13
XOFF
<XOFF>
$11
Tap Interface Specifications Continued on next page…
