Alarm scheduling, Alarm inversion scheduling, Alarm – Grass Valley iControl V.6.02 User Manual
Page 342: Scheduling
Alarms in iControl
Alarm Scheduling
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Alarm Scheduling
iControl version 3.20 introduces enhanced alarm management by providing tools to schedule
alarm suppression on a per-channel and per-alarm basis.The objective of alarm scheduling is
to provide the means to configure an iControl system in order to suppress generation of
alarms according to a schedule.
In some situations, normal events in the network would be reported as errors by iControl.
Operators now have the ability to schedule certain alarms not to be generated during specific
periods of the day.
• Some TV channels only broadcast during a certain period of the day. Outside of the regular
broadcast period, the signals consist, for example, of a slate with music. Instead of
reporting a “signal freeze” alarm during these periods, iControl can suppress the reporting
of “freeze” alarms, while continuing to report alarms for video black and audio silence.
• Some broadcasters perform a sign-off at the end of the broadcast day. Many signals
monitored by iControl therefore switch to an invalid format. Because sign-off is a normal,
and predictable, event, it is useful for iControl operators to configure their system for
alarms to be automatically suppressed during specified periods, and revert to their normal
behavior outside of those periods.
Operational modes can be enabled manually or based on a schedule with the exception of the
snooze mode which can only be enabled manually. Alarm suppression changes the
operational mode of an alarm for a certain period of time.
Alarm Inversion Scheduling
You can schedule an alarm inversion action (switching to On or to Off). When you schedule an
inversion action, you configure the system to change the Inverted mode at a set time and then
to switch back at another set time. Scheduled inversion actions occur during a Grace period.
The purpose of the Grace period is to provide a buffer span of time during which the alarm
state is ignored. Without a Grace period the following scenario could happen: If a channel
goes off-air at 02:00 and there is a scheduled inversion changing a Freeze alarm to Non-freeze
at 02:00, but the feed doesn’t stop until five seconds later, the Non-freeze alarm will go red for
IMPORTANT: If your network is configured to report alarms to multiple GSMs, it is
recommended that you configure the same Grace period duration for manual
inversions among all GSMs. Similarly, it is recommended in this case that you
configure the same Grace period duration for scheduled inversions among all
GSMs.
See also
For more information about:
• the Inverted operational mode, see
• Manual inversion actions, see
• Scheduling inversion actions, see