Network Control of the PCR-1000

Having the ability to remotely control and tune the PCR-1000 significantly increases the flexibility of the receiver. Normally, remote control is made available over a point-to-point connection (such as with a dial-up and a modem) or over a local or wide area LAN, or the Internet.

When connected to a network, the receiver becomes a shared resource, just like a network printer. An excellent example of a PCR-1000 receiver operating in a network environment is JavaRadio.

There are several issues when considering to operate a PCR-1000 over a network. The most significant is how much control should be given to the user(s), assuming that more than one person is interested in using the receiver at any given instant.

An issue of equal importance is how the receiver control is accessed. When using Windows applications, the remote network connection can be used with the ActiveX control. But for greater flexibility between different platforms, a network interface should be provided. The 'vanilla' interface would use HTTP for high level connections and TCP/IP or UDP for low level connections.

A number of possibilities exist when using an ActiveX control to operate the PCR-1000 receiver. A primitive UDP connection can be established with the PCR-1000 ActiveX control. In it's current form, PCR-1000 commands can be transmitted using UDP packets over the network. Raw PCR commands are sent directly to and from the receiver. There are a few overhead commands that are used to maintain channel control.

• HELLO alerts the ActiveX control that network communication is requested.
• BYE closes the control to network communication.
• DEFAULT sets the receiver to the default settings.

At this time there is no mechanism to query the current state of the receiver. The network interface assumes that remote connections will first put the receiver into the default state by issuing the DEFAULT command. From there, any further modifications will be sent from the remote network connection, and not made locally. With the possibility of a future release, addition of a STATUS command to the ActiveX control will forward the receiver's settings over the network.

A second possibility is to convert the ActiveX control from an OCX to an EXE, and to use the Microsoft Windows Network connections to remotely control the receiver. In reality, both options will be considered in future versions of the control if sufficient interest is shown in these features. The control can already be used with an HTTP interface by applying the ActiveX control to an HTML page.

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This page is maintained by: Ted Handel
Page Last Updated: 6-22-2000