RDPWin

RDP - Actuator Monitor

Enhanced Movie Interface (RU Module) Required

Actuator Topics
Configuration Hardware Requirements Installation	Monitor The Process Upgrades

Actuator Topics

Configuration

Hardware Requirements

Installation

Monitor

The Process

Upgrades

Overview

Once the Actuator is installed and interfacing with the Enhanced Movie Interface (RU Module), the processes can be monitored.

Actuator Activity

The fields available in the Actuator Activity section of this screen are configurable. See Configuration for details.

Check Now: Click the Check Now button to request the Actuator communicate with RDP regarding reservation update information.

Requests from LodgeNet

Verb: The Verb field indicates what action RDP must take when receiving a message from the movie system. Example "XCKO" is an express checkout request, "NAME" is a request to return the names of guest in the specified room and "POST" is a request to post a charge. The starting position and length are configurable.
Transaction ID: The Transaction ID sent from the movie system must be included in the response message sent by RDP. The starting position and length are configurable.
Sequence Number: All messages with a transaction have a unique sequence number. Example: "0000", "0001", "0002" etc. The Sequence Number sent from the movie system must be included in the response message sent by RDP. The starting position and length are configurable.

Communications Activity

In the Communications log section of the Actuator Monitor, messages are recorded as the Actuator, RDP Database, and Video Check-out systems process reservation information. The following messages are interpreted as follows:

<STX>

Start-of-Text (STX) indicates the beginning of the message which includes the unique Sequence Number, the description of the process such as CHKI for check-in and CHKO for check-out, and the reservation's room number for which the message is being sent.

<ETX>

End-of-Text (ETX) indicates the beginning of the message which includes the unique Sequence Number, the description of the process such as CHKI for check-in and XCKO for express check-out (Video Check-out), and the reservation's room number for which the message is being sent.

<ACK>

The receiving system posts an <ACK> to acknowledge receipt of information with a timestamp.

Examples

00089999CHKI202	Sequence# 00089999, CHKI - check-in, Room Number 202
00099999CHKO102	Sequence# 00099999, CHKO - check-out, Room Number 102
0001999XCKO223	Sequence# 0001999, XCKO - express check-out (a.k.a. Video Check-out System), Room Number 223

In the example shown above, the area encircled in red is interpreted as follows reading from the bottom upward:

RDP -> LodgeNet: <STX>00089999CHKI102<EXT>. RDP telling LodgeNet that Room 102 checked in.
LodgeNet -> RDP: <ACK>. LodgeNet is acknowledging the message from RDP.
RDP -> LodgeNet: <STX>00099999CHKO102<EXT>. RDP telling LodgeNet that Room 102 checked out.
LodgeNet -> RDP: <ACK>. LodgeNet is acknowledging the message from RDP.

In the example shown above, the area encircled in blue is interpreted as follows reading from the bottom upward:

LodgeNet -> RDP: 00019999XCKO223 292. LodgeNet is requesting RDP check out Res# 292 from Room 223.
RDP -> LodgeNet: <ACK>. RDP is acknowledging the message from LodgeNet.

In cases where characters are lost during transmission, the negative acknowledgement character <NAK> is transmitted to the sender.