On Wednesday December 12th Comlite Systems released an update to the LAN4000 light signaling software.  Version 1.4 is now the current version of the LAN4000.

Below is a list of all the new features and improvements.

1. Added light colors – Lights can now be red, blue, or green.

2. Added Timed button text – Custom text can now be entered when a timer button is set. It appears as the button tip text when you hover your mouse over the timer button.

3. Improved Ease of Use – Station name is automatically selected in Station list when a text is received. This reduces the number of keystrokes necessary to reply to a text message.

4. Improved Ease of Use – Removed requirement that Administrative station be named “Administrator”.

5. Improved Problem Reports and Logs. Log entries are time stamped. Trials can submit Problem Reports.

6. Improved .Net connectivity and connection recovery.

7. Improved Feedback – Displays a “Reconnecting” message when the reconnect button is pressed on a Client. Displays “Reconnected” if the attempt is successful and “Reconnection failed” if it is not.

8. Improved Configuration file – Combined Administrator and Client configuration files into a single XML configuration file.

9. Improved multiple network card handling – Automatically detects multiple Network Cards (NICs) during startup, enabling the ‘Choose NIC’ button in ‘Setup’.

On Thursday May 10th Comlite Systems released it’s third update to the LAN4000 light signaling software since August of 2011.  This new update adds a significant upgrade by adding text capabilities to the LAN4000 for the first time.

Below is a list of all the new features and improvements.

 New Features:

1. Text Messaging – The LAN4000 now contains an easy-to-use, intuitive text messaging system.  Predefined and custom text can now be sent to and from any stations in your network.

Up to 15 predefined messages can be set up in the Admin station and any station can send custom messages by simply typing the text to send.

1. Report Problem button – Reporting a software problem is now built into the LAN4000.  Registered users (that are still in their maintenance period) can submit problems directly to Comlite with logs attached.  Simply launch the About Box and select “Report Problem”.  A confirmation email is sent to you after submitting your report.

1. Local chime disable – The LAN4000 is a light-signaling system that also allows you to define specific chimes to sound along with specific button presses.  This gives you two ways of being notified of a button press.  However, there are instances when you’d like your PC to notify you silently.  With this version, you can now mute the chime on your PC so that incoming messages are displayed silently.

1. Timer cancel – Version 1.2 introduced timer buttons.  Version 1.3 allows you to instantly cancel the timer by pressing the button once the timer has started.

        Timer local chime – If the local chime is not disabled, timed buttons now chime       on all PCs, including the PC that started the timer.

Improved:

1. Notification timing  - Version 1.2 added the ability to temporarily pop-up from being minimized to display a button press.  Version 1.3 adds the ability to stay onscreen until a button is pressed.  There is now an “infinity” selection in the Notification setup that instructs the station to not re-minimize after displaying.

2. About box display – The About Box has been redesigned, contains more          information, and will now display a “Renew” button when your maintenance agreement is within 30 days of expiring.

Installer – The install program now modifies more firewall settings: ‘Notify if program blocked’; ‘Allow unicast responses to multicast/broadcast traffic’; and ‘Allow firewall exceptions’ are now set to yes.

1. Reconnect button – The connection light is also a reconnect button.  Pressing this button now displays a status dialog that indicates success or failure of the reconnection attempt.

We exhibited at the SECO meeting in Atlanta on 3-1-12  through 3-3-12.  We had several of our customers tell us about their experience using our light signal communication products.  Here are their comments:

“I Don’t know how any office can function without a Comlite System” “I know if I have patients waiting so I can quit talking and get on to the next patient”

Rob Dobrusin, OD

 “Having a Comlite System saves me half of an employee’s salary per year”

P. Duncan Roy, Jr., OD

“ Comlite saves me a ton of time.  I’m seeing 2 more patients per day!” 

Sarah Gordon, OD

LAN4000 Light Signaling Software Functions

The LAN4000 is designed to allow custom configuration of button functions and appearance to reflect your office layout and staff makeup.  This is accomplished via the user-defined standalone and sequence buttons that comprise the LAN4000 system.

Screen Layout

The LAN4000 screen consists of three main areas: Primary Buttons, Control Buttons, and Application Buttons

Primary Buttons

The primary buttons are the oval buttons with red indicators.  The red indicators can be off, on, or flashing.  There are two types of primary buttons:  standalone and sequence.

Standalone buttons

A standalone button is a button that is not part of a sequence.  When pressed once, a standalone button lights and stays lit.  When pressed a second time, the button flashes.  When pressed a third time, the button turns itself off.

Sequence buttons

The LAN4000 can have up to five sequences.  These sequences are defined on the Server station.  (Refer to the Setup section for instructions for defining sequences.)   The first button press in a sequence causes the button to flash.  Subsequent button presses on the rest of the buttons in the sequence light the particular buttons.  Press the flashing sequence button to turn it off and the next button in the sequence will begin flashing.

NOTE:  Right-click on any button in a sequence to move that button to “next in line” in the sequence.  A chime will play when this occurs.  When the current flashing button is pressed, this button will flash next.

Control Buttons

The Control buttons are Chime, Priority, and Clear.

Chime

Press the Chime button followed by any primary button.  This will cause the chime (if one has been assigned) for that button to sound one time on all stations. This does not affect the status of the button.  For example, if it is blinking, it will remain blinking.

Priority

A single primary button can be defined as the Priority button.  The Priority button is typically used to identify the local station and will alert the other stations of an emergency at the local station.  (For example;  If button 101 is the button that identifies the local station you would select Priority and then select button 101.  Each station’s Priority button is defined in Setup)

Pressing the Priority button places all stations into “priority mode”; clears the display; and then flashes the defined primary button.  The flash rate is twice the normal rate and all other stations continuously play the chime defined for that button.  Each station can define its own distinct priority button.  Unless defined otherwise, the default chime for the priority button is Chime 1.

Clear

The Clear button has two uses in the LAN4000.  If the system is in “priority mode”, it reverses the action of the Priority button.  It turns off the defined priority button and redisplays the button sequence that was active before the Priority button was pressed.  If the system is not in “priority mode”, pressing the button will clear all standalone buttons.

NOTE:  On the LAN4000 Administrative Station only, pressing the Control Key + Clear will clear ALL lit or blinking buttons.

Application Buttons

The LAN4000 Client has three rectangular buttons underneath the Control Buttons.  The LAN4000 Administrative Station has four.

Exit

The Exit button ends the LAN4000 program.  Exiting a client disconnects that    Client Station from the Administrative Station.  Exiting the Administrative Station disconnects all clients.

Status

LAN4000 Administrative Station only.  This button displays the Status screen.  Refer to the Status screen page for more information.

Setup

The Setup button displays the Setup Screen which allows you to configure your LAN4000 network and individual client stations.  Refer to the Setup screen page for more information.

Help

Displays help function.

Connection

On the LAN4000 Administrative Station, the yellow indicator light in the upper right hand corner  is on when there is a network connection.  On the Client Station, it is on when there is a server present somewhere on the network.  The indicator is also a connection button.  If the indicator is off, press it to try to reconnect to the server.

Minimize

Press the bar in the upper right corner to minimize the LAN4000 to the task bar.

Screen Size

Select the lower right corner and drag the screen to change the size of the Comlite display.  The cursor will change to an arrow when over the selection area.

About Box

Displays LAN4000 version and licensing information; configures updater; and accesses log files.

To launch the About Box, click on “Comlite LAN4000″ in the top middle of the onscreen interface.  The About Box display is as follows:

The Version is the version installed on your PC.  Registered indicates whether the LAN4000 is registered.  If the software is not registered, then the number of days remaining in the trial is displayed.  The Install Date is the date the current version of software was installed and the Renew Date is the date the maintenance expires.  License displays the license number.

The Updates section is for checking for updates and configuring the frequency of the update check.

The Logs section allows you to access the log files.  This is helpful when troubleshooting.  Clicking on Select Log File opens a file selection dialog.  The log files are ordered by date, so you typically will select the most recent log file.  Your default text editor is launched when a file is selected.