iPump 6420 User’s Manual
system. This is called “Compel-over-Internet”. Along with this capability, the i6420 may also poll for and then pull in it’s local spot files over the same internet connections. This is called “Internet File Delivery”. This allows the i6420 to easily implement a premium radio network feature called “Automation Mode”, to be discussed.
Compel commands, either directly addressed, or addressed as groups, or “indirectly addressed” based on current unit settings, are one method of controlling iPump6420 Audio Servers. Because of timing-delay functions built into Compel, the network operator can accurately overlay network “avails” with local spots. In addition to real-time Compel commands, the network operator can exploit the network-wide time synchronization of all Wegener edge receivers when being fed from a single Compel control system. Just as events may be scheduled in the Compel control system, those same schedules may also be loaded to the remote field iPump6420s. These schedules can create a model for iPump 6420 automatic behavior, guaranteeing that critical commands are executed on target i6420s precisely at expected times.
1.2.4.Premium Features
Automation Mode
In Automation Mode, the i6420 is totally removed from the need for a satellite downlink connection. In this mode, the i6420 functions as a “radio station in a box”. All its content, from local spots to the music or talk-format material, is downloaded to the unit as audio files. Daily schedule files, which give traffic-system instructions to the unit, are regularly downloaded to the unit. The unit is directed to an NTP time source through its LAN IP connection. With the time reference and the traffic schedule, the unit then autonomously plays it’s files, delivers closures and sends RBDS messages to the local radio network affiliate.
ShowShifting
Many syndicated radio shows originate at a specific time in the broadcast day. For a radio- network to resell that show, it often has to record the original feed and then re-broadcast over satellite later at times convenient for the subscribing affiliates. This is a waste of satellite bandwidth when the iPump6420’s ShowShifting feature is purchased and made available. This feature allows the central radio network manager, or a local user, to schedule local recording of the original show episodes, then subsequent planned playback times. These recordings are, unlike a “Tivo”, include more than the streamed audio feed, but also include a capture of the timestamped track of associated Compel commands that went out with the original program episode: Commands for local spot plays, RBDS messages, and for local relay closure outputs. This whole effort is done so seamlessly that, at playback, the local affiliate cannot distinguish between the original show episode broadcast and the ShowShifted episode playback.
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