Director Functions

Overview

The Director must ensure that the BridgePads are set up correctly initially, and manage their use and abuse through and after the session.
There a many ways that BridgePads can be set up and used, and all session information is stored on the table units until they are initialized for another session.

Important points for administration are:

• Ensure BridgePads are set to the correct channel. If two computers are used (each with a BridgePad Base Unit) then each will be set to a different channel. Make sure you know which units are to be used by which computer.
• If you do assign a table to the BridgePad table unit, mark the unit clearly so that it gets to the correct table.
• Ensure that all units are kept up-to-date with the same firmware revision. Units on older firmware may not talk to the server if new software is installed!
• Keep some spare sets of batteries on-site.
• Set up the session with the Server on an unused channel (Recommended but not required), then ensure game settings are what you require before setting to the channel of the table units.
• Monitor the connections at the start of the session, go to tables that are not initialised and ensure that there is not a problem with the unit, and that they have not logged in to the wrong table.
• During the round, check that results are coming in from tables. There is not a problem if a table unit can't send information to the server; all information is stored on the table unit until communication is restored, and then it will send all unsent results.
• At the end of the penultimate round, remind players that it is their responsibility to ensure that the final results are sent in. If they leave the BridgePad with no contract and result, you have no choice but to enter the board as Not Played.
• Make sure that you can identify where BridgePad table units have been if there are results not in. These units still hold the data from the round, and this may be used to send the entire session's results for that table.
• Ensure that the BridgePad table units are restored to their case after use. They are valuable and the last thing you want is for them to be dunked, trodden on or taken home.

Director Functions on the BridgePad

Entering the Director Function Screen

From the Welcome screen - press BACK
Put in the password - you will have this if you manage BridgePads!
You now have the Director's menu with the following options:

1. Set Section / Table
2. Set Channel number
3. Screen Time Out
4. Replace Failed Unit
5. Show RF settings
6. RF Upgrade
7. Re-Send Game Data

NOTE To leave the Director Menu - press NEXT

Descriptions

Set Section / Table

With this you can restrain the BridgePad table unit to a specific section and table. It will automatically log in to that table and will NOT ask for a table number from the players. Be careful with this, as you need to have the section defined, and these are SINGLE LETTERS in the BridgePad scenario.

Set Channel number

Use this to set the channel for all BridgePad units that will talk to one Base unit (on one computer). If different base units are connected to different computers, then each of the computers should be running on different channels, and they will only get information from BridgePad table units set to the channel they are using.

Screen Time Out

This controls the length of time before the screen goes blank on the BridgePad Table unit. The longer it is set the less sessions the batteries will last. The shorter it is set, the faster the players have to think when entering the information or the unit will sleep and they will have to press the PWR key again.

Replace Failed Unit

If a unit fails during the round, then you can get a spare Table unit, and use this option to replace the failed unit. Ensure the spare unit is set to the correct channel. When this function is used, the spare unit will ask for the table number, and when this is entered it will connect to the server and upload all the results that have been successfully sent to the server. This should bring the unit back to the current round and the players can continue from there with the replacement unit. NOTE Before replacing a unit, check if all the results have been transmitted. If not, and if possible, resend all results from that unit to the server before replacing the unit.

Show RF settings

This shows the MAC address of the unit - a unique identifier for the hardware in that BridgePad Table unit. It also shows various other information on the current communication setup.

RF Upgrade

This option is used to update the firmware in the Table units. Each unit is generally updated from the server, but once it is updated, the unit can be used to update other units. It is important to keep the firmware level in the BridgePad Table units consistent with the matching Software BridgePad UI.

Re-Send Game Data

A vital function if you have a table with data missing. If a BridgePad Table unit has stopped communicating with the server for some reason (maybe low batteries or maybe something more serious) then it is possible to re-transmit all of the table results to the server again using this function. NOTE it is VITAL that you know which Table Unit belongs to the table that has not sent the data, otherwise you need to go through all the units until you can identify the one you require. When you choose option 7 the BridgePad will tell you what table it was at, and ask you to confirm that you want to re-transmit the results.

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