Polycom Vortex EF2211 Operating instructions

Installed Voice Business Group
RS-232 Command Set:
Vortex EF2211 Programming Guide
Copyright © 2003 Polycom, Inc.
Polycom  and the Polycom logo are registered trademarks of Polycom, Inc.
ASPI, Vortex, VS4000, Viewstation, and iPower are
registered trademarks of Polycom, Inc.
All other brand names, product names, and trademarks are the
sole property of their respective owners

Vortex EF2211 Programming
Guide
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. RS-232 Hardware
3. Programming Tips
3.1. Initialization
3.2. Wildcard Characters
3.3. Using Acknowledgements
3.4. Macros and Presets
4. Command Structure
4.1. Device Type
4.2. Device ID
4.3. Command Name
4.4. Command Data
4.5. Command Terminator
4.6. Examples
5. Status Messages
6. Command Types
6.1. Boolean Commands
6.2. Integer Commands
6.3. Channel Commands
6.4. Matrix Commands
6.5. Miscellaneous Commands
7. Command List
8. Command Reference
8.1. AA -- Enable or Disable Auto Answer Mode
8.2. ACKMOD -- Enable or Disable Acknowledgment Mode
8.3. AEC -- Enable or Disable Acoustic Echo Cancellation
8.4. AECMODE -- Set Amount of Double Talk Suppression used in the AEC.
8.5. AGC -- Enable or Disable Mic/Line Input Automatic Gain Control
8.6. AGCMAX -- Set Maximum Allowed Mic/Line Input AGC Gain
8.7. AGCMIN -- Set Minimum Allowed Mic/Line Input AGC Gain
8.8. AGCRATE -- Set Ramp Rate of Mic/Line Input AGC
8.9. AHCP -- Enable or Disable Call Progress Based Auto Hangup
8.10. AHLD -- Enable or Disable Loop Drop Based Auto Hangup
8.11. AMASGN -- Assign Inputs to an Automixer
8.12. AMAUTO -- Select Automatic or Manual Gating for each Automixer Input
8.13. AMBUSID -- Set Automixer Groupings for EF Bus

8.14. AMCHAIR -- Enable Chairman Mode for Specified Automixer
8.15. AMCHNUM -- Set Chairman Mic
8.16. AMDECAY -- Set Decay Time for Automixers
8.17. AMGATEC -- Set Automixer Gating Control Mode
8.18. AMGATER -- Set Automixer Gate Ratio
8.19. AMGATET -- Set Automixer Gate Threshold
8.20. AMGNOM -- Set Global Maximum Number of Open Mics for Bus Automixer
8.21. AMHOLD -- Set Automixer Hold Time
8.22. AMLMM -- Set Last Mic On Mode for Specified Automixer
8.23. AMLMN -- Set Microphone That Will Remain On in Manual Last Mic On Mode
8.24. AMNOM -- Set Local Maximum Number of Open Mics for Automixer
8.25. AMNOMAT -- Select NOM Attenuation on Each Output
8.26. AMOFFAT -- Set Off Attenuation for the Specified Automixer
8.27. AMPRIOR -- Set Gating Priority for the Specified Mic
8.28. AMREFB -- Set Automixer Reference Bias for the Specified Automixer
8.29. AMREFE -- Enable Automixer Reference for Specified Automixer
8.30. BAUD -- Set Baud Rate for RS-232 Port
8.31. BLAUTO -- Enable Automatic BLDATA Messages
8.32. BLDATA -- Request Level Information
8.33. BLINFO -- Select Information to be Reported in BLDATA
8.34. BROAD2 -- Broadcast Arbitrary Command Strings to RS-232 Port
8.35. BROADA -- Broadcast Commands to Other Connected Devices
8.36. BUSREF -- Set Which AEC Reference is Placed on EF Bus
8.37. CGATE -- Query Camera Gating Status Information
8.38. CGATEEN -- Enable Automatic Camera Gating Messages
8.39. CGATET -- Set Camera Gating Hold Time
8.40. COUNTRY -- Specify Country Definitions for Phone Interface
8.41. DELAYO -- Set Output Delay
8.42. DELAYOE -- Enable Output Delay
8.43. DIAL -- Send DTMF Digits to Phone Interface
8.44. DSPAUTO -- Enable Automatic DSPLOAD Status Messages
8.45. DSPLOAD -- Query Percentage of Variable DSP Resources Used
8.46. ERROR -- Enable or Disable Error Messages
8.47. FADERGIL -- Set Fader Gain of Line Inputs as a Group
8.48. FADERI -- Set Input Gain Fader
8.49. FLASH -- Execute Hook Flash
8.50. FLOW -- Set Flow Control Mode for RS-232 Port
8.51. FPLOCK -- Lock/Unlock Front Panel
8.52. FPPSWD -- Change Front Panel Password
8.53. GAINA -- Set Phone Input Gain
8.54. GAIND -- Set Gain of Incoming DTMF Tones
8.55. GAINDIT -- Set Gain of Incoming DTMF Tones
8.56. GAINDT -- Set Dial Tone Gain
8.57. GAINGIL -- Set Gain of Line Inputs as a Group
8.58. GAINI -- Set Input Gain

8.59. GAINO -- Set Output Gain
8.60. GAINP -- Set Phone Output Gain
8.61. GAINSIT -- Set From Phone User Tone Gain
8.62. GAINSOT -- Set To Phone User Tone Gain
8.63. GATE -- Query Gating Status Information
8.64. GATEEN -- Enable Automatic Gating Messages
8.65. GMUTEO -- Mute All Outputs
8.66. ID -- Set Device ID
8.67. LABEL -- Set or Query one of the Device Labels
8.68. LAGC -- Enable or Disable Line Input Automatic Gain Control
8.69. LAGCLINKAB -- Enable or Disable Stereo AGC Linking on Inputs A and B
8.70. LAGCMAX -- Set Maximum Allowed Line Input AGC Gain
8.71. LAGCMIN -- Set Minimum Allowed Line Input AGC Gain
8.72. LAGCRATE -- Set Ramp Rate of Line Input AGC
8.73. LEC -- Enable or Disable LEC
8.74. LECMODE -- Set Amount of Double Talk Suppression used in the LEC.
8.75. LI -- Query State of Logic Inputs
8.76. LIA -- Assign Action for when Logic Input is Activated
8.77. LID -- Assign Action for when Logic Input is Deactivated
8.78. LIH -- Assign Action for when Logic Input is Held
8.79. LIEN -- Enable Automatic Logic Input Status Messages
8.80. LIG -- Configure Logic Input Pins Into a Group
8.81. LIK -- Delete One or All Logic Input Pin Commands
8.82. LIM -- Mask Logic Input Pins
8.83. LIN -- Assign Command to Logic Input Group
8.84. LIP -- Set Polarity for Logic Inputs
8.85. LO -- Query or Set Status of Logic Output Pins
8.86. LOA -- Define Behavior for Logic Output Activated State
8.87. LOD -- Define Behavior for Logic Output Deactivated Status
8.88. LOEN -- Enable Automatic Logic Output Status Messages
8.89. LOK -- Delete One or All Logic Output Pin Commands
8.90. LOM -- Mask Logic Output Pins
8.91. LOP -- Set Polarity for Logic Outputs
8.92. MACROA -- Add Command to Current Macro
8.93. MACROK -- Delete One or All Macros
8.94. MACROL -- List All Commmands in a Macro
8.95. MACROQ -- Execute Macro Quietly
8.96. MACROS -- Start a New Macro
8.97. MACROW -- Write Macro to Non-Volatile Memory
8.98. MACROX -- Execute Macro
8.99. METER -- Select which Signal is Displayed on the Front Panel LED Meter
8.100. MGAIN -- Set Crosspoint Gains in Main Matrix or Submatrix
8.101. MGATE -- Select Gated or Ungated Microphone Signal in Matrix
8.102. MIC -- Enable Microphone Gain Stage on Input 1
8.103. MINI -- Enable Modem Initialization String

8.104. MINISTR -- Set Modem Initialization String
8.105. MMUTE -- Mute Crosspoint in Main Matrix or Submatrix
8.106. MUTEGIL -- Set Mute Status of Line Inputs as a Group
8.107. MUTEI -- Mute One or More Inputs
8.108. MUTEO -- Mute One or More Outputs
8.109. NC -- Enable Noise Cancellation
8.110. NCL -- Set Noise Cancellation Attenuation
8.111. NVINIT -- Reinitialize Non-Volatile Memory
8.112. NVLOCK -- Lock/Unlock Non-Volatile Memory
8.113. NVPSWD -- Change Non-Volatile Memory Password
8.114. PEQIA -- Set All Parameters for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.115. PEQIB -- Set Bandwidth Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.116. PEQIE -- Set Enabled Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.117. PEQIF -- Set Frequency Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.118. PEQIG -- Set Gain Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.119. PEQIS -- Set Slope Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.120. PEQIT -- Set Type Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Input Stage
8.121. PEQOA -- Set All Parameters for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.122. PEQOB -- Set Bandwidth Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.123. PEQOE -- Set Enabled Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.124. PEQOF -- Set Frequency Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.125. PEQOG -- Set Gain Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.126. PEQOS -- Set Slope Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.127. PEQOT -- Set Type Parameter for Specified Parametric EQ Output Stage
8.128. PHANTOM -- Enable Phantom Power on Input 1
8.129. PHONE -- Take Phone On-Hook or Off-Hook
8.130. PING -- See Which Devices Are Present
8.131. PRESETK -- Delete One or All Presets
8.132. PRESETL -- List All Commmands in a Preset
8.133. PRESETP -- Set Which Preset Will Be Activated At Power-Up
8.134. PRESETQ -- Execute a Preset Quietly
8.135. PRESETW -- Save a Preset
8.136. PRESETX -- Execute a Preset
8.137. REDIAL -- Redial the Last Dialed Phone Number
8.138. REFASGN -- Assign AEC Reference to Input Channel
8.139. REFGAIN -- Set Reference Output Gain
8.140. RING -- Enable or Disable Ring Messages
8.141. SGGAIN -- Set Gain of Signal Generator
8.142. SGMUTE -- Mute Signal Generator
8.143. SGTYPE -- Set Type of Signal Produced by Signal Generator
8.144. SOUNDL -- Play Sound Locally
8.145. SOUNDP -- Play Sound to Phone
8.146. SSDELAY -- Set Delay Between Screen Saver Screens
8.147. SSEN -- Enable or Disable Screen Saver
8.148. SSSTART -- Set Idle Time Required for Screen Saver to Start

8.149. SSTEXT -- Set Text to be Displayed by Screen Saver
8.150. SWRESET -- Perform Soft Reset of System
8.151. SWVER -- Query Software Version
8.152. TONEE -- Enable or Disable Entry and Exit Tones
8.153. TONER -- Enable or Disable Ring Tones
8.154. VTXMODI -- Enable VTX Mode on Specified Inputs
8.155. VTXMODO -- Enable VTX Mode on Specified Inputs
1. Introduction
This document describes the command protocol that is used to communicate with the Vortex EF2211
via its RS-232 port.
2. RS-232 Hardware
The communication between the Vortex and a host controller is conducted via the RS-232 port on the
back panel of the Vortex. The Vortex's RS-232 port operates at the following settings:
●Bit Rate (bps): 9600 (default), 19200, or 38400
●Data Format: 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (8N1)
●Flow Control: none (default) or hardware (RTS, CTS)
Note that although the flow control setting is user selectable to none or hardware, hardware flow
control must be used when updating the firmware of the Vortex. This means that while a 3-wire RS-
232 cable (RX, TX, GND) is acceptable for control of the Vortex, the minimum cable for updating
firmware should contain 5 wires (RX, TX, RTS, CTS, GND).
3. Programming Tips
3.1. Initialization
During power up of the Vortex device or initialization of the host program, electrical fluctuations on
the RS-232 lines may cause the Vortex to receive spurious data. After initialization, the host program
should send a few carriage return characters (^M, ASCII 13) to the connected Vortex to flush out any
spurious characters it may have received. Failure to do this could result in the Vortex ignoring the first
command received after initialization.
As part of the host program initialization, the host will want to synchronize the status of its controls
with the current status of the Vortex devices that are being controlled. The host could initialize its
controls to default values and then send commands to the Vortexes to set them to the same state.
This approach has significant disadvantages since initializing the host program could undo settings
made by other host programs or by the front panel controls of one of the linked Vortex devices. A
better approach is to query the linked Vortex devices for their status and set the host program
controls based on the return values.

3.2. Wildcard Characters
The use of the wildcard character, '*', can make programming the host controller much easier. Be
careful when using wildcards, however, since they can generate a lot of traffic on the digital bus.
3.3. Using Acknowledgements
It is a good idea for the host program or control system to make sure that all connected Vortex
devices have acknowledgment mode enabled (see the ACKMOD command). When acknowledgment
mode is on, a Vortex device will send an acknowledgment for each command it receives. Proper use
of acknowledgments makes the host program more robust and makes supporting multiple hosts
effortless. The rest of this section describes how to use acknowledgments to achieve these goals.
As a convenient example, let us imagine a host program with a graphical user interface (GUI). The
user presses buttons on the GUI to enable or disable features of various linked Vortex devices. The
buttons on the GUI reflect the current status of the corresponding feature.
When the user presses a button on the GUI to enable or disable a feature, the host program should
send the corresponding command to the selected Vortex device. It may be tempting to update the
status of the GUI button at this point, but this can cause problems if there are transmission errors or if
there are multiple host controllers. The proper way to handle this is to only update the GUI controls
based on acknowledgments received from the Vortex device.
To implement this, organize your code so that the functions that send commands are totally separate
from the functions that receive responses from the Vortex devices. This also enables your host
program to support the presence of multiple host controllers. For example, consider the following
sequence of events.
1. Another host sends a command to a Vortex device.
2. The Vortex device responds with an acknowledgment that is broadcast to all of the other hosts.
3. Your host program receives the acknowledgment and updates the status of the corresponding
control.
The result of this programming model is that all hosts and linked Vortex devices will always be
synchronized.
For simple on/off features, your host program can make use of the toggle arguments to some
commands (e.g., 'SSEN2'). By sending a toggle command when a button is pressed, and updating the
button based on acknowledgments, your host program will not have to keep track of the status of the
button.
In a similar fashion, many of the integer commands (such as gains) can be controlled by incrementing
or decrementing them by a specific amount. For example, the command 'GAINIA>1 ' increments the
input gain on channel A by 1 dB. The acknowledgment for this command will return the actual value
that the gain was incremented to. Thus, to implement a volume control, your control program can
send a command to increment the gain by 1 dB when the "up" button is pressed and decrement the
gain by 1 dB when the "down" button is pressed. The control can update its level indicator based on
the acknowledgment that is received.

3.4. Macros and Presets
Although macros and presets are similar, there are times when using one is better than the other.
Presets store the absolute values of all of the non-global settings of the device. This includes, but is
not limited to, input and output gain settings, matrix settings, algorithm settings, parametric EQ
settings, and automixer settings. See Section 7 for a list showing all the commands and which are
saved to presets.
Presets should be used when you really want to change all the settings in a device. One example
would be when you want to have one unit be able to control different rooms. In this case, having a
preset for each different room is the easiest solution.
Macros are like mini-presets. You can define them to change only the settings you are interested in.
One advantage of macros over presets is that macros can make relative changes in addition to
absolute changes. An absolute change is something like "set the input gain to -3 dB". A relative
change is something like "raise the input gain by 3 dB". One example of using macros for a relative
change is stereo volume ramping. If you have two outputs setup to have left and right program audio,
then you could build a macro that contains two commands: one to increment the left channel by 1 dB
and the other to increment the right channel by 1 dB. Then, by calling that macro, you can ramp the
stereo outputs. A similar thing can be done with decreasing the volume.
Another thing to consider when using macros and presets is to use the MACROQ and PRESETQ
commands instead of the MACROX and PRESETX commands. Both the Qand Xversions execute the
macro or preset, but the Xversions produce acknowledgements for the settings that change, while
the Qversions don't. If your control system updates its status by looking at the acknowledgements
that come back, then you'll probably want to use the Xversions. Another option would be to use the Q
versions and then manually query the values you're interested in. If your control system does not
need use acknowledgements, or if you are manually querying the values you're interested in, using
the Qversions is better since it doesn't generate acknowledgements and thus reduces RS-232 traffic.
4. Command Structure
A Vortex command consists of a series of ASCII characters with the following structure.
Description Number of Characters Range of Values
Device Type 1 0-9, A-Z, *
Device ID 2 0-9, *
Command Name 1-7 0-9, A-Z
Command Data 0-64 ASCII characters
Command Terminator 1 ^M (ASCII 13)
4.1. Device Type

A single alphanumeric character is used to indicate the device type. The devices in Polycom's
EchoFree family have the following device types.
Device Device Type
EF200 A
EF1210 C
EF2280 F
EF2241 B
EF2211 S
EF2210 Q
EF2201 T
Device type '*' can be used to send a command to all device types simultaneously.
4.2. Device ID
Two numeric characters are used to indicate the device ID. The Vortex can be configured for device
IDs from '00' to '07'. Note that even though the device ID is less than 10, the leading '0' must be
included. Device ID '**' can be used to send a command to all device IDs simultaneously. Some
examples of using wildcard characters are given below.
●'S**' broadcasts to all EF2211 devices that are linked together.
●'*07' broadcasts to all devices with device ID 07 (this format is not commonly used).
●'***' broadcasts to all devices that are linked together.
4.3. Command Name
The command name can be from 1 to 7 characters long. Command names will be specific to device
types. In other words, the EF2280 has its own command set, which is different from the EF2241's,
which is different from the EF1210's, etc. There are some commands, such as 'PING', that are
common among all the various command sets.
4.4. Command Data
The command data is a series of 0-64 characters containing payload data for the command.
Obviously, the command data will be specific to the command type. note that the maximum number
of payload characters for the EF200 and EF1210 is 32, but the Vortex devices support up to 64
characters in the payload. This increase was necessary to accommodate the matrix gain and
macro/preset commands.
4.5. Command Terminator
The command terminator is a single character indicating the end of a command. ASCII 13 (^M) was

chosen as the terminator to allow manually typing commands using a simple text terminal.
4.6. Examples
In the following examples, Vortex commands are enclosed in single quotes, 'like this'. Also, the
terminator character is not explicitly shown, but its presence is implied.
Consider the command '***PING'. The device type and ID for this command are wildcards, thus the
command will be sent to all devices. The command name in this case is 'PING', and there are no data
characters (payload). Note that the 'PING' command is supported by all of the Vortex devices, thus
broadcasting the command to all devices makes sense.
Consider the command 'S**GAINIA10'. The device type for this command is 'S' and the device ID is
a wildcard, thus the command will be broadcast to all EF2211 devices linked together. The command
name in this case is 'GAINIA' and the command data (payload) is '10'. This command sets the gain
on input A of all connected EF2211's to 10 dB.
Command Effects
***PING Requests PONG response from all linked Vortex devices.
S**GAINIA10 Sets the gain on input A of all connected EF2211 devices to 10 dB.
5. Status Messages
The Vortex sends status messages via RS-232 and EF Bus any time one of its internal parameters
changes. This means that the host program does not need to continually poll the Vortex in order to
detect status changes. Status messages are in the same format as the commands used to set the
corresponding parameter.
For example, suppose you send the command 'S**GAINIA10' and there are two EF2211's linked
together with device IDs 3 and 7. The EF2211's will respond with 'S03GAINIA10' and
'S07GAINIA10', respectively. Now, someone uses the front panel of the EF2211 set to ID 7 to
decrease input A's gain by 1 dB. When this happens, the EF2211 will respond with 'S07GAINIA9'.
This example illustrates that status messages can be sent as the result of an RS-232 command or as
the result of some other change in the Vortex device such as front panel adjustments, logic inputs,
etc.
Status messages can be turned off via the ACKMOD command. ACKMOD refers to acknowledgement
mode since the term status message and acknowledgement are synonymous for our purposes.
6. Command Types
Many of the Vortex commands have similar formats. The main formats are described here in order to
provide a better understanding of the command set.