Projector Subunits (Subsystems)and Their Contents

Rick Landau , Dell, and theProjector & Display Management WG2007/06/18

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Scope of Devices: Projectors and Displays

• Video projectors and displays

– Permanently or semi-permanently mounted for use

– Used as a utility, a service that is expected to be always available

– Devices that need to be managed remotely

• Examples:

– Projectors mounted in conference rooms, theaters

– Digital signage in public areas

• NOT desktop monitors attached to PCs

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Current state of Our Model of Projectors & Displays

• Division of the device into subunits

• Possible contents of the various subunits

– Suggestive lists, not exhaustive

• Need to decide later

– What to include in the specs

– What is mandatory versus optional (usage profiles)

• Leave room for expansion

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Need Formal Definitions

• We need to define subunits formally. For each subunit,

– What are its purpose and content?

– How it is distinguished from other subunits?

• Then define data items within subunit formally

– Name, contents, semantics, usage

– What shall we call it, in SNMP and Web contexts?

– What does it contain? How do the agent and the user interpret its contents?

– How do the agent and the user manipulate it?

– Careful to distinguish setting data versus state and status info

– (Approximate but probably not precise data syntax, which sometimes depends on the access protocol)

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Scope of Definitions for a Subunit

• What's the purpose

• What's in, what's out

• What functions are to be included, e.g.,

– Management functions included

– Discovery not included

– Delivery of images and data not included

– On the other hand, management of discovery protocols, e.g., disabling UPnP, is included

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Proposed Subunits

• And who is drafting a spec for the subunit

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Subunits of a Projector - 1

• General information

– Power states - RM

• Localization - RL

• Interlocks - RL

• Display Settings and Capabilities - HM & KA

• Light Source - HM & KA

• Signal Sources - HM & KA

• Optics - RL

• Thermal Management - ND

– Fans

– Filters

– Temperature sensors

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Subunits of a Projector - 2

• System controller - RR

• Interfaces - RR

• Transports Capabilities - RR

• Interpreters & Codecs - RR

• Console - RL

• Audio - ND

• Alerts - RL

• FRUs – No, not a separate group

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Who Are Those Initials?

• KA - Koichi Ara, NEC

• ND - Nick D'Alessio, Dell

• LF - Lee Farrell, Canon

• RL - Rick Landau, Dell

• RR - Raymond Rogers, Symon

• RM - Randy Massengale, Spinoza

• HM - Hiroshi Midorikawa, Epson

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General Information Subunit

• Purpose: Describe and control all the scalar information that describes the unit overall.

• Identification

– Manufacturer, model, serial number

• Status

– Power state

– Age, unit

– Temperature, unit

• Settings

– Current language for console, SNMP, web server

– Date, time

– Power on/off

• Current status values (may be here or in related groups)

– E.g., video connector in use, video mode, audio source, etc.

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Localization Subunit

• Purpose: Describe all the local languages supported by the management agent.

• Language, region, character set

• If this group is absent, assume English

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Interlocks Subunit

• Purpose: Describe all the interlocked covers and safety switches in the device.

• Description

• Status

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Display Capabilities Subunit

• Purpose: Describe the static characteristics of the device that do not change depending on the state of the device.

• Physical size (for display, not projector): Horizontal, Vertical, unit

(Note that Horizontal, Vertical, Width, and Height will be tricky to define, given that the device may be mounted in different positions.)

• Resolution: W pixels, H pixels

– Pixel aspect ratio

• Color model, color depth, bits

• Mounting options: landscape, portrait, upside down

• Mounting settings: front/rear, floor/ceiling, landscape/portrait

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Signal Sources Subunit

• Describe the logical inputs to the device.

• Video

• Audio

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Light Source Subunit

• Purpose: Describe and control the static and dynamic characteristics of all the lights in the device: backlights, sidelights, lamps, LEDs, lasers, etc.

• Lamp type, technology, part number for replacement

– Multiple lamps for some DLPs

– Even backlighting is replaceable in LCDs

– Replaceable modules of LEDs

– Maybe multiple part numbers for a single item (e.g., different brightnesses)

• Status

• Age, unit, max age

• On/off cycles

• Power save mode settings

– Blanking, standby, off (may need careful wording to avoid submarine patents)

– Timeouts, enable/disable

– No-signal image

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Current Video State

• Purpose: Describe and control the properties that affect the image representations of the device.

• Current source (here or in General group? Probably general)

• Input color space: 4-2-2, 4-4-4

• input sync polarity, H and V frequencies, HxV pixels, aspect ratio, Interlace/progressive, color system

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Video Settings and Profiles

• Purpose: Describe and control all video settings.

• Settings may be combined into stored profiles for different setups

• Settings that might be included as part of current profile

– Current mode settings

• Picture mode: PowerPoint, photo, video, cinema

• Maintain aspect ratio? Stretch, crop, squeeze modes

– Appearance

• Color temperature

• Brightness, contrast, gamma (more than one parameter, choice of curve from set, separate curves per color)

– Optional to protect trade secrets

• Color intensities

• Saturation, sharpness, tint

• White intensity

• Noise reduction

• H and V position, size

• closed captioning,

• dynamic color balance for colored targets (move to installation settings)

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Saved Profiles per Video Source

• Different video sources may have assigned default values for display

– Signal source: interface and channel

• All the same attributes as the current state, including

– Mode

– Others (on previous page)

• Other features not stored in profile (move these)

– Picture-in-picture, picture-by-picture settings

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Optics Subunit

• Purpose: Describe and control the physical optical components of the device.

• Focus level

– Autofocus enable

• Zoom level

• Keystoning H and V levels

– Autokeystone enable

(Again, Horizontal, Vertical, Up, Down, Left, Right need to be defined very carefully)

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Thermal Management Subunit

• Fans

• Filters

• Temperature sensors

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Fans

• Purpose: Describe the static and dynamic characteristics of all fans or other cooling devices.

• Name, location, part number for replacement, replacement cycle

• Status

• Speed setting, reading, maybe very coarse measurements

• Maybe thresholds for speeds

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Filters

• Purpose: Describe the static and dynamic characteristics of air flow filters in the device.

• Name, location, part number for replacement

• Age, unit, replacement cycle

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Temperature and other thresholds

• Purpose: Describe the static and dynamic characteristics of temperature sensors and thermal limit switches in the device.

• Multiple

• Simple sensors or scalar settings

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System controller Subunit

• Purpose: Describe the static characteristics of the hardware and software in the controller(s) of the device.

• Battery backup status

• Timer programmed events

• Multiple controllers

– Identification

• Firmware versions

• Upgradeable?

– Controller status or errors, esp. for subcontrollers

• History

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Interfaces Subunit

• Purpose: Describe and control the physical interfaces of the device and their relationships to signal source interpreters.

• (Every connector, including hand remote control)

• Enable/disable

– Including power switch

• Status

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Transport Mechanisms XXXX

• Purpose: Describe and control the network characteristics of the device used for display and management data.

• Description

• Enable/disable

• For protocols spoken on interfaces, e.g.,

– IP parameters: addr, mask, broadcast, DNS, DHCP

– Wireless parameters: IP, WEP, WPA, wi-fi radio

– USB parameters

– IR format

– Serial line protocols

• May need to include multiple entries in the network stack, e.g., IP and HTTP, MMS, RealMedia, etc.

(The combination of interface, channel, and video mode parameters needs a very general data model, not just linear lists of settings.)

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Transport Capabilities Subunit

• Purpose: Describe the static characteristics of the communications protocol stacks.

(examples only, not exhaustive)

Interfaces

physical interface, e.g., ethernet

enable/disable

Transports

ISO layer 2, e.g., IP, wireless

appropriate parameters

Session protocols

RealMedia, Windows Media, SIP, RTTP

HTTP, RDP

enable/disable

Payload formats (codecs)

MPEGs, JPG, PDLs

(Associations come later)

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Interpreters, Codecs Subunit

• Purpose: Describe the static characteristics of the video and audio data interpreters and their relationships to transport protocols.

• Interpreter types available

– E.g., JPG, PDF

– Packetized video

– MPEG

• Capabilites, interactions between content, transport, connector

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Console Subunit

• Purpose: Describe all the physical controls of the device.

• Buttons

– Description

– Enable/disable functions for some buttons

• Lights

– Description, color capabilities

• Physical display (e.g., LCD panel on device)

– Contents

• On-screen display

– Localizable

• Remote control enable/disable

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Audio Subunit

• Purpose: Describe and control the audio inputs and outputs of the device.

• Current source

• Settings: mute, volume, tone, treble, bass, theater sound, noise reduction

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Alerts Subunit

• Purpose: Describe all recent error and warning conditions in any subunits of the device.

• Log of previous alert conditions

• Asynchronous delivery

– Methods: traps, email, SMS, pager

• Enable/disable classes of alert conditions

• Overflow management discipline: ring buffer, aging, etc.

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FRUs (Field Replaceable Units)

• Part numbers, and serial numbers if available, for field-replaceable units

• Subunit ID

• Description

• Part number

• Serial number

• Customer replaceable? Training level maybe.

• (Decided not to make this a separate subunit. FRU information will be kept with the individual units.)

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Additional Questions

• Need a clear statements of intellectual property considerations

• Example:

– This specification includes no information on the subject of patents, trademarks, or licenses.

– The presence of a management object does not imply a license to implement a related feature using any particular technology.

– All vendors should submit PWG "Letter of Assurance" stating intellectual property claims and non-claims.

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Use Cases

• Basic asset inventory: what do I have installed, what spare parts do I need to stock? ND

• Predict consumption of spares: how old are the lamps, filters, when will they need replacement? ND

• Restore device to its default setup. RL

• Read the setup of the device to establish default. RL

• Restore device to profile appropriate to next usage, depends on customer. RM

• Turn device on/off based on hours of operation. RR

• Turn projector off every night to save power and lamp. RR

• Predict usage of consumables based on environmental history, e.g., humidity, dust. HM

• Does the firmware need updating?

• Alert condition, send out person with right training and parts in hand.

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Representational Considerations

• Guideline: If a management application will make decisions based on a piece of data, then the data must be rigidly structured.

– Integers instead of strings ro represent numeric values

– Enumerated values where possible to represent all the valid choices, for integers and for strings

• Need careful description of the repeating nature of properties

– Multiple instances of an object, e.g., a fan, within the device

– Identification of the several instances

• Every instance has a description and, if it can be sensed, a status value

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