Grass Valley iControl V.6.02 - Manual (Page 312)

Alarms in iControl
Alarm Components
302
Alarm Components
In addition to knowing the status of an alarm, it is often useful to know the history of the
alarm, and whether or not someone has taken any action in response to it. iControl represents
these changes in alarm status over time using three components: current, latched, and
acknowledgment.
Current
This is the component of an alarm corresponding to its current status. If a freeze alarm is red, it
means the video is currently frozen. As soon as it starts again, the alarm is cleared and
becomes green.
Latched
This is the component of an alarm corresponding to the worst status that the alarm has
recently exhibited. For example, a transient fluctuation in a video signal may cause an alarm
configured to detect a video signal freeze to turn red for a moment, and then return to green.
iControl keeps track of the fluctuation by setting the latched component of the alarm to red,
giving the operator a visual cue that this alarm may need to be watched more closely. A latch
can be reset by an operator, causing iControl to set the latch status to green and then begin
tracking status changes all over again.
The latched component of an alarm can be configured to track the alarm on either the server
side (in which case the latch can be reset by any operator from any client workstation), or on
the client side (in which case the client workstation “remembers” the latch status from a
previous session, regardless of what has happened on the server in the interim).
Latches can be reset by an operator when an alarm’s current status is green. Resetting a server-
side latch for an overall (virtual) alarm simultaneously resets the latches on all associated sub-
alarms. Resetting a client-side latch for an overall (virtual) alarm has no effect on the latches of
associated sub-alarms (these must be reset one by one).
Acknowledgment
This is the component of an alarm that reflects an operator’s response. If an alarm changes to
an error status, its acknowledgment component (if it is visible) will also change color. When an
operator acknowledges the alarm (by clicking on a button or choosing a menu item), the
acknowledgment component turns green. If, however, the issue that initially triggered the
alarm is not resolved within a certain period of time, the acknowledgment component will
once again change color to attract the operator’s attention.
Alarm acknowledgment can provide visual feedback to operators at different locations. An
alarm acknowledgment by one operator will be seen by all operators viewing the same
iC Web page, and is usually an indication that somebody is attempting to resolve the cause of
an alarm.
iC Web has a feature that allows operators to have all alarms on a page blink when an
acknowledgment is required.
Acknowledging a virtual alarm automatically acknowledges its constituent sub-alarms. Sub-
alarms can also be acknowledged individually.