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# GigE Vision Action Command

The Action Command is used to trigger actions in multiple cameras in a network simultaneously. When Action Command is configured, the Software can send commands across the network and have devices in a predefined group respond based on how they have been configured to respond to certain commands. In this way, a single command can trigger actions such as Frame Start in multiple cameras with a minimum of latency and configuration effort. The Action Command can be used in various scenarios where image fusion is required.

Search for the following three parameters in the feature tree and configure them for each camera that needs to receive commands.

Note:

- The camera should support the Action Control feature, or configuring Action Command will be unavailable.

- ActionDeviceKey, ActionGroupKey, and ActionGroupMask are all displayed in hexadecimal notation.

Table 1 Parameter Description
Parameter | Description
--- | ---
ActionDeviceKey | A kind of password which enables the camera to check the validity of the commands.
ActionGroupKey | Used to specify a group of cameras to perform actions.
ActionGroupMask | Used to filter out some cameras from the specified group.

1. Go to Tool > GigE Vision Action Command.
   Figure 1 GigE Vision Action Command Window
2. Select network interface(s) to set the subnet(s) that the command to be sent to.
3. Enter the device key, group key, and group mask.

   Parameter | Requirement
   --- | ---
   Device Key | Its value should be the same with the value of the ActionDeviceKey feature.
   Group Key | Its value should be the same with the ActionGroupKey feature.
   Group Mask | The bitwise AND operation of the Group Mask against the ActionGroupMask feature should results in non-zero.

4. Optional: Set in Scheduled field to to enable scheduled action command.
   Benchmark Camera

     The value of the GevTimestampValue feature of the selected camera will be automatically acquired and be used as the start time point for the delay.

   Delay Time

     The delay time should NOT be shorter than the maximum time required to transmit the command across the network.

   When the benchmark camera receives the command, all the cameras will trigger certain actions simultaneously after the specified delay time.

5. Optional: Enable the Software system to send commands periodically.
   1. Enable Periodically Send.
   2. Enter the interval for sending the command.
   Note:

   - If you enable Periodically Send, Request Acknowledge will be disabled, or vice versa.

   - The default value is 1000ms, and valid value range is from 1ms to 3600000ms.

6. Optional: Enable Request Acknowledge to display the acknowledgment messages.
   Note:

   - If you enable Request Acknowledge, Periodically Send will be disabled, or vice versa.

   - Up to 50 messages can be displayed. Once the message number exceeds 50, the earliest message will be automatically deleted.

7. Click Start Sending.

## Sample Use Case

To generate slow-motion playback in stadiums for the purpose of viewing and analyzing the athlete's movement details, a group of camera is installed parallel to a race track (see picture below).

When the athlete passes, four cameras (subgroup 1) synchronously execute an action (capture images in this example).

As the athlete advances, the next four cameras (subgroup 2) synchronously capture images. One after the other, the subgroups continue in this way until the athlete has reached the end of the race track. The resulting images can be combined and processed to generate the slow-motion playback in subsequent steps using other technology and programs.

In this sample use case, the followings should be defined.

- Use the ActionDeviceKey parameter to authorize the execution of the synchronous image acquisition. The device key should be configured on each camera and it should be same with the device key for the action command protocol message.

- Use the ActionGroupKey parameter to define the group of cameras in a network segment that is addressed by the action command (in this use case: group 1).

- Use the ActionGroupMask parameter to define the subgroups in the group of cameras that capture images synchronously (in this use case: subgroups 1, 2, and 3).

Figure 2 Sample Use Case In Stadium