Appendix A: Command Protocol Reference Guide; Using Soundstructure Command Protocols; Understanding Soundstructure Control Interfaces; Understanding Rs-232 - Polycom SoundStructure C16 Design Manual

Appendix A: Command Protocol
Reference Guide

Using SoundStructure Command Protocols

This chapter describes the SoundStructure™ command protocol used to control and configure the
SoundStructure products via the RS-232 and Ethernet interfaces. The target audience for this document is
the control system programmer and other application developers who need to understand how to control
and configure SoundStructure devices.
The purpose of the SoundStructure command and control protocol is to provide an interface for configuring
SoundStructure devices and controlling their operating parameters. With SoundStructure devices, a
collection of SoundStructure devices linked over OBAM™ will behave as a single device and controlling the
collection of devices only requires one connection to a control interface on any of the linked devices.

Understanding SoundStructure Control Interfaces

The SoundStructure control protocol has been designed so that all features are available over all interfaces.
Some features will only be practical over the higher bandwidth connections (for example, firmware updates
take much less time over the Ethernet interface than the RS-232 interface and signal meters are more
responsive over the Ethernet interface). While the SoundStructure Studio Windows software makes full use
of the control protocol to configure and control SoundStructure, user applications, such as AMX
®
Crestron control systems will typically only use a subset of the control protocol to adjust settings and
monitor system parameters for functions such as muting, volume control, and dialing.
SoundStructure Control Interface
LAN

Understanding RS-232

A SoundStructure device's RS-232 port is a female DB9 DCE supporting a fixed data format of eight data
bits, no parity, and one stop bit. The supported flow control options are hardware (RTS/CTS) and none. The
supported baud rates are 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200 with a default baud rate of 9600. This
interface is primarily intended for connecting a control system (such as AMX or Crestron) to a
SoundStructure device. However, other types of controllers (such as a Windows PC running SoundStructure
Studio) may use this interface as well.
Polycom, Inc.
PIN 2: TXD
PIN 3: RXD
PIN 5: GROUND
PIN 7: CTS
PIN 8: RTS
RS-232
C-LINK2 IN OBAM OUT IR 12V
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
REMOTE CONTROL 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
REMOTE CONTROL 2
8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 15 16
8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 15 16
®
SoundStructure C16
®
and
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