39
CHAPTER 5: Operation
5.3.2 T
HE
C
ONVERSATION
M
ODES
Communication in the Concentrate modes is many-to-one, all slaves
interacting with the master simultaneously. But there are times when the
operator of the master console might need to actively interface with one
selected device. For example, the operator may have reason to closely observe
the data of one particular slave port, and perhaps respond with data from the
console. Or there may be a need for the console operator and a particular
slave device to transfer data bidirectionally.
In the Conversation modes, the Terminal Eliminator basically acts as a one-
to-one switch, with the master port linked to any one of the slaves for full-
duplex bidirectional communication. The console and selected device can
transfer information back and forth without being interrupted by the other
slaves. Any data received on any slave port is buffered by the Terminal
Eliminator Plus until the one-to-one link (Conversation Mode) is terminated
by the console operator.
If you want to change the slave that is in a Conversation mode with the
console, or if you want to switch to Broadcast Only Mode, you can either
return to Normal Mode and enter the appropriate one of the “C
n
[CR],”
“T
n
[CR],” or “BC[CR]” commands, as described in
Sections 5.2.4 through
5.2.5
, or you can enter a chained command as described in
Section 5.2.9
.
The only difference between regular Conversation Mode and Transparent
Conversation Mode is that the Transparent version allows data to flow
through the TEP to the master device unchanged by the formatting
conventions you establish with the TEP’s internal DIP switches and
initialization menu. This is especially useful when a particular slave’s data is
more legible or easier to diagnose for problems in its raw state.
The “Disconnect” and “Abort” commands (see
Sections 5.2.1 and 5.2.2
) are
the only commands the TEP will execute in either of the Conversation modes.
Return to your TEP’s standard Concentrate mode to enter any other
command.
To prevent conversations from monopolizing the TEP, you can enable a
“Back to Concentrate Mode” timeout in the initialization menu. This timeout
counts down when no data is received from the master device; if it expires,
the TEP goes back to its standard Concentrate mode. See
Section 4.2.8
.
