Protocol

The V1CS uses a standard RS232 PC serial interface protocol. To interact with the V1CS please connect to the associated COM port on your computer with the following settings:

  • Baud Rate: 9600
  • Data Bits: 8
  • Parity: None
  • Stop Bits: 1

Upon connecting to the V1CS there are many commands which you can send to control the Valentine One® and its operations. Below is a summary of each of these:

  • Power On: To power on the V1CS so that it may start receiving information from the Valentine One® you must send the ASCII character ‘p’ to the V1CS. Data should then become available on the port and be easily read in a form that represents the Valentine One® display. The display on the Valentine One® should also turn off. Please see the notes below on the format of data available when read from the V1CS.

  • Power Off: To power off the V1CS so that data will stop being transmitted from the Valentine One® you must send the ASCII character ‘o’ to the V1CS. Data should then stop being available on the port and the display on the Valentine One® should turn back on.

  • Mute: Sending the ASCII character ‘m’ will mute the Valentine One®. This has the same functionality as pressing the mute button on the Valentine One® briefly.

  • Change Mode: Sending the ASCII character ‘c’ will change the operating mode of the Valentine One®. This has the same functionality as pressing and holding the mode button on the Valentine One® for approximately two seconds.

The format of the data when read from the V1CS is a series of 17 bytes separated by the ASCII character number 32, a blank space ‘ ‘. This is a table describing what each byte represents and their possible values:

Byte Description Possible Values
1 Loud/Quiet 1 = Loud, 0 = Quiet
2 Strength 1…8
3 Led - X 1 = on, 0 = off
4 Led - K 1 = on, 0 = off
5 Led - Ka 1 = on, 0 = off
6 Led - Laser 1 = on, 0 = off
7 8 Segment Display - A 1 = on, 0 = off
8 8 Segment Display - B 1 = on, 0 = off
9 8 Segment Display - C 1 = on, 0 = off
10 8 Segment Display - D 1 = on, 0 = off
11 8 Segment Display - E 1 = on, 0 = off
12 8 Segment Display - F 1 = on, 0 = off
13 8 Segment Display - G 1 = on, 0 = off
14 8 Segment Display - DP 1 = on, 0 = off
15 Front Arrows 1 = on, 0 = off
16 Side Arrows 1 = on, 0 = off
17 Rear Arrows 1 = on, 0 = off

This is a reference diagram to what the locations on an 8segment display represent:

8Seg

This is an example data stream sequence that would be expected to be seen from the V1CS:

08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111 08111111111111111