Appendix C Registers, Data Formats, & Queries
ChartScan User’s Manual C-17
The ESB in the Serial Poll Status Register is also cleared by these operations. The Command Error, Execution
Error and Device Dependent Error are also cleared with an Error Query (E?) command.
Bit Location
Description
Set, Clear and Descriptive Information
DI01
Alarm
Set when the acquisition system has sensed a valid alarm condition. The alarm is cleared when
the alarm condition no longer exists.
DI02
Trigger
Detected
Set when the acquisition system has detected the trigger condition and will be cleared when the
acquisition is complete or the trigger has been reconfigured.
DI03
Ready
Set when the acquisition system is ready to process another command. It is cleared when the
system is processing a command line. This bit should be examined with a serial poll prior to
issuing a new command line. This allows any detected errors to be traced to the specific
command line containing the error. If all the setup information for the operation of a specif ic
acquisition system is included in one line, this bit also indicates when all processing is done and
the X command is completed. This ensures that the acquisition system is done proc essing all
state changes before initiating any further activity.
DI04
Scan
Available
Set when at least 1 acquisition scan is available in the acquisition buffer to be read. Cleared
when there are no scans available in the buffer to be read.
DI05
Message
Available
(MAV)
Set when the output queue is not empty. It is cleared when the output queue is empty. This bit
reflects whether any command responses are still in the output queue.
DI06
Event Status
Register Bit
(ESB)
Reflects the logical OR of all the bits in the Event Status Register (ESR) ANDed with their
equivalent enable bits in the Event Status Enable (ESE) register. If this bit is set, at least one bit
in the ESR is set and has its corresponding enable bit in the ESE set. The status comm and U0
can be issued to read the ESR. See the following for more information on ESR and ESE.
DI07
Service
Request Bit
(SRQ)
Set when the acquisition system is requesting service. It is cleared when an SPOLL is performed.
DI08
Buffer
Overrun
Set if a buffer overrun occurs. It is cleared when the buffer becomes empty by either reading out
the contents of the buffer or performing a Reset (*B) of the buffer.

Using Status Reporting Registers

As mentioned earlier the status reporting registers are organized in a hierarchical structure with the lower level
registers containing more general information and the higher leve l registers containing more detailed
information about particular events. In general, the lowest level register, the Status Byte Register (STB)
contains information that may require more immediate action from the controller in that events contained in this
register tend to be more time critical.
However, as mentioned earlier, other registers may access the STB via the ESB bit. This allows any condition
within the status reporting register hierarchy to have access to the STB and therefore Serial Poll and Service
Request functionality. The following is an example to show, in brief, how the status reporting register hierarchy
works. Notice that the clearing of the higher level registers cleared the bits in the lower level registers that were
associated with the root cause of the condition.
PRINT#1,"OUTPUT07; N0 X N16 X" ‘ Configure ESB in the STB to be set when a Device
Dependent Error occurs.
PRINT#1,"OUTPUT07; M0 X M32 X" ‘ Configure SRQ when the ESB in the STB occurs.
A Device Dependent Error will now cause ChartScan to issue a Service Request (SRQ) to the controller. When
the SRQ occurs, the controller may perform the following sequence to determine the exact cause of the Service
Request.
PRINT#1,"OUTPUT07;E?X" ‘ Query the ESC to determine the cause of the error
PRINT#1,"ENTER07; ‘ Get the response
INPUT A$ ‘ Screen shows E016.This is a calibration error
PRINT A$
PRINT#1,"OUTPUT07;U2X" ‘ Query the CSR to determine the cause of the ‘ calibration error
PRINT#1,"ENTER07; ‘ Get the response
INPUT A$ ‘ Screen shows E002. This is a calibration Gain error
PRINT#1,"OUTPUT07;U0X" ‘ Now query the ESR (reading ESC should have cleared it)
PRINT#1,"ENTER07; ‘ Get the response
INPUT A$ ‘ Screen shows 000 — Device Dependent Error no longer there
PRINT A$
PRINT#1,"SPOLL07 ‘ Screen shows 4 — ESB bit no longer set (only Ready is set).