Modern professional audio devices are designed as building blocks for large, complex systems.
Whereas audio signal paths have converged to industry standards a long time ago, driven by prac-
tical necessities, and only recently challenged by new transport technologies like Ethernet, the professional audio markets have not evolved a similar technological convergence in the area of remote,
centralised control of systems of audio equipment (the notable historical exception being MIDI, which
but has a limited scope and extensibility).
In this heterogeneous environment of diverging standards proposed by individual vendors as well
as open communities, there is no existing self-evident solution to be found for the needs raised by
designing professional Sennheiser audio equipment.
As a consequence, communication protocols implemented in Sennheiser products have so far been
designed on a single-product or product-family basis. This has worked sufficiently well, up to the
point that separately developed protocols start to concur in nexus devices or applications, like:
• Wireless Systems Manager (PC-based control application for wireless transmission)
• remote channel for Sennheiser microphones
• Media Control Systems (third party products, e.g., Crestron)
• A/V studio integration (third party products, e.g., Lawo)
• smartphone or tablet apps
• future centralised Sennheiser services
It has become evident that product-specific protocols fail to scale well in nexus products because
of the added complexity in re-implementing the same remote control functionality from a customer
point of view in a multitude of different backwards-compatible ways. It is not feasible to add more
ever different technical solutions to the existing variety --- the aim must be to define a reasonably
future-proof protocol suitable for existing as well as envisioned products, devices, and services.
A broad market evaluation of existing technical solutions was performed in a joint Sennheiser PRO
division working group. As a result, it turns out that Open Sound Control comes closest to the specific needs for an extensible, future-proof command, control, metering, and configuration protocol for
Sennheiser products.
This document describes the specific adaption of Open Sound Control to Sennheiser use, "Sennheiser Sound Control", SSC. The main other ingredient is JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), which
enhances ease-of-use and the implementation complexity for small to smallest devices.
Note that the protocol is intended for command and control. Network audio streaming is entirely out
of its scope.
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Open Sound Control Overview
1. Open Sound Control Overview
Open Sound Control (OSC) is a protocol developed at The Center For New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT) at University of California, Berkeley.
The OSC specification Version 1.1 is available from the Open Sound Control website at:
http://www.opensoundcontrol.org/ .
It is a very simple and very extensible protocol that can be implemented easily in embedded systems.
It can be transported over IPv4 and IPv6 protocols using UDP packets and TCP streams.
Even very small PIC microcontrollers can handle OSC messages via projects such as MicroOSC from
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/research/uosc .
The OSC Schema defined by MicroOSC at:
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/library/uosc_project_documentation/osc_address_schema
was used as a starting point for some parts of the schema defined in this document.
OSC handles more advanced packet formats such as bundles of messages to be atomically executed
at the same time with timestamps, as well as addresses with wildcards and array values.
1.1 JavaScript Object Notation Overview
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to
read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript
Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format
that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of
the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and many others.
These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language.
The central website for JSON information is http://json.org. JSON is formally specified in RFC 4627
(MIME-type application/json).
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a text format for the serialization of structured data. It is derived from the object literals of JavaScript, as defined in the ECMAScript Programming Language
Standard, Third Edition.
JSON can represent four primitive types (strings, numbers, booleans, and null) and two structured
types (objects and arrays).
A string is a sequence of zero or more Unicode characters.
An object is an unordered collection of zero or more name/value pairs, where a name is a string and
a value is a string, number, boolean, null, object, or array.
An array is an ordered sequence of zero or more values.
The terms "object" and "array" come from the conventions of JavaScript.
JSON’s design goals were for it to be minimal, portable, textual, and a subset of JavaScript.
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Conventions
2. Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD
NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP14/RFC 2119, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels".
2.1 Terminology
SSC Messageprotocol unit of transmission
SSC Serverdevice or application that receives SSC messages, and replies to
them
SSC Clientdevice, application or person that sends SSC messages
SSC Containernamed entity containing SSC Methods or other Containers
SSC Methodnamed attribute or action callable on a SSC Server
SSC Addressfull name of a SSC Method, including names of all enclosing Con-
tainers.
may be represented by a JSON object hierarchy.
SSC Address Treea JSON object hierarchy consisting of one or more SSC Addresses.
SSC Address Spacehierarchical tree comprising all the SSC Addresses of a SSC Server
SSC Method CallSSC Message requesting execution of a SSC Method
SSC Method Argumentsarguments included in a SSC Method Call
SSC Method ReplySSC Message send by SSC Server as result of a Method Call
SSC Sessionassociation of a specific SSC Client to an SSC Server
binary OSCthe binary OSC encoding as opposed to JSON-based SSC
restricted SSC Servera SSC Server that doesn‘t implement some optional parts of this
specification
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SSC Data Structure Specification
3. SSC Data Structure Specification
3.1 Applying JSON to the OSC device model
OSC models the controlled device as a tree-shaped hierarchy of methods, with the method addresses
constructed from the names of all the nodes in the hierarchy, written like a file path.
/container at address "/"
out1/container at address "/ out1/"
xlr1/container at address "/out1/xlr1/"
gain 5address "/out1/xlr1/gain": method with numeric argu-
ment
mute trueaddress "/out1/xlr1/mute": method with boolean argu-
ment
...more methods of "/out1/xlr1"
xlr2/container at address "/out1/xlr2/"
...methods of "/out1/xlr2"
out2/container at address "/out2/"
...methods of "/out2"
...more methods and containers of "/"
JSON allows to model that structure as a hierarchy of JSON objects.
{root object"out1": {object "out1"
"xlr1": {object "out1.xlr1"
"gain": 5,numerical property "out1.xlr1.gain"
"mute": true,boolean property " out1.xlr1.mute"
...more properties of " out1.xlr1"
},
"xlr2": {object " out1.xlr2"
...properties of " out1.xlr2"
},
"out2": {object "out2"
...properties of "out2"
},
...more properties and objects of the root object
}
The OSC Method Address (like "/out1/xlr2/gain") is interpreted as a property path navigating through
the hierarchy of JSON objects. The value of each property MUST be either a primitive JSON data
type, or a JSON array. Rationale: This allows to clearly separate SSC Method Addresses from SSC
Method Arguments at JSON parser level without knowledge of the underlying method address tree.
The resulting JSON tree structure of hierarchical objects, the SSC Address Space, is tailored to describe the functionality of a specific SSC Server, in the same way as foreseen by OSC.
In JSON it is possible to serialise the complete state of all properties in the tree to a closed form,
thus describing the complete state of the SSC Server. In this way, JSON can be used as an excellent
extensible data format for configuration files, or for scripting applications, which drive a system of
SSC Servers through a sequence of programmed configurations.
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SSC Data Structure Specification
For command and control applications it is desirable to access single properties independently. This
can be achieved in JSON syntax by the simple convention, that all the properties of a SSC Server that
are not mentioned in a JSON message are left unchanged.
In this way, applied to the example above, the JSON form
{ "out1": { "xlr1": { "gain": 5 } } }
can be understood as a SSC Method Call of the SSC Method "/audio/out1/level_db" with the argument 5, presumably to set the level to that level, or as an SSC Method Reply message stating the
current level.
3.2 JSON Message Transaction Syntax
The SSC Message exchange is described here as transaction using the following syntax:
Prefix "TX:" indicates a SSC Message that a SSC Client is sending to a SSC Server.
Prefix "RX:" indicates a SSC Message that the SSC Server will send back to the Client.
A SSC-Message is written verbatim, enclosed by curly brackets { }.
A transaction to set the gain of "xlr2" of "out1" to −10 then looks like this:
TX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": −10 }}}
RX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": −10 }}}
Note that the execution of the method results in a method reply message, which for simple property
setters states the actual value of the property resulting from executing the message.
The resulting value may be different from the supplied argument, e.g., for a read-only property, or if
the argument is out of range, and the device may adapt it to the allowed range (this is not considered
as an error):
TX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": −100000 }}}RX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": −15 }}}
Getter-methods, which request the value of a property from the SSC Server, are realised by supplying
the special JSON value null as argument to method sent to the address of the property:
TX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": null }}}
RX: { "out1": { "xlr2": { "gain": −15 }}}
Compared to binary OSC, the JSON syntax is slightly more verbose for single attribute settings, but
this is compensated when multiple attributes are set in the same transaction:
To facilitate true interactive use, an extra-placable SSC Server is introduced as an implementation
option.
3.3 SSC JSON Message Syntax
3.3.1 Elementary data types
All SSC data is composed of the primitive JSON data types:
• string: a sequence of zero or more Unicode characters in UTF-8 encoding, wrapped in double
quotes, using backslash escapes. A character is represented as a single character string. Binary
zero bytes can be included in a string using Unicode escape notation: "\u0000".
• number: a number in conventional "scientific" notation. 0, 42, -23, 3.141259, 1.0e+100
are all valid numbers. A Restricted SSC Server MAY reject non-integer numeric arguments, or it
MAY adapt them by silently converting them to integer values.
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SSC Data Structure Specification
• true: the boolean true value.
• false: the boolean false value.
• null: indicates a missing value; used as pseudo argument for getter-methods.
The SSC Server MAY auto-convert elementary data types without further indication to their specific purpose. The client is usually informed about the actual value used by the SSC Server in the
response to the SSC method execution.
If the server auto-converts the data type, it MUST follow these conversion rules:
• string to number: String is parsed for leading whitespace, which is skipped, then for a numerical
part. Any remaining non-numerical tailing characters are ignored. Completely non-numerical
strings convert to zero. The exact behaviour MUST have the same result as calling the C standard function strtod().
• string to boolean: Any non-empty string is true, an empty string is false.
• number to string: a string representation of the number suitable for interpretation by strtod() is
used.
• number to boolean: Number zero is false, everything else is true.
• boolean to string: true results in "true", false in an empty string "".
• boolean to number: true is 1, false is 0.
3.3.2 SSC Messages
A Message is the protocol unit of transmission. Any application that sends SSC Messages is a SSC
Client, any application that receives SSC Messages is a SSC Server.
A SSC Message MUST be sent as a single closed JSON form describing a JSON object. Extra
whitespace between the elements of the message MUST be ignored by the receiver.
This means that every SSC Message is enclosed in a pair of curly brackets { }.
3.3.3 SSC Addresses
Every SSC Server implements a set of SSC Methods. SSC Methods are the potential destinations
of SSC Messages received by the SSC Server, and correspond to each of the points of control that
the application makes available. "Invoking" a SSC Method is analogous to a procedure call; it means
supplying the method with arguments and causing the method’s effect to take place. The SSC Server
MUST respond to each received SSC Message by sending a SSC Method Reply Message to the originating SSC Client.
A SSC Server’s SSC Methods are arranged in a tree structure called a SSC Address Space. The leaves
of this tree are the SSC Methods and the branch nodes are called SSC Containers. A SSC Server’s
SSC Address Space MAY be dynamic; that is, its contents and shape MAY change over time.
Each SSC Method and each SSC Container other than the root of the tree MUST have a symbolic
name which MUST be composed entirely of printable ASCII characters other than the following:
The SSC Address of a SSC Method is a symbolic name giving the full path to the SSC Method in the
SSC Address Space, starting from the root of the tree. A SSC Method’s SSC Address begins with the
character "/" (forward slash), followed by the names of all the containers, in order, along the path
from the root of the tree to the SSC Method, separated by forward slash characters, followed by the
name of the SSC Method. The syntax of SSC Addresses was chosen to match the syntax of URLs.
SSC Methods MAY be overloaded with respect to their arguments: the SSC Server may execute the
method in different ways depending on the arguments given.
SSC Methods MAY also be overloaded with respect to their Address: the SSC Server may execute
a different SSC Method instead, and reply with an SSC Method Reply to that different SSC Method
Address ("aliased" SSC Methods). Example: a wireless receiver might report the battery charge level
of the wireless transmitter either as a lifetime or as a percentage, and it might respond to a general
"battery state" SSC Method Address either by executing the lifetime or the percentage Method, depending on the circumstances.
An SSC Method may be invoked with an empty argument list by supplying the JSON null value. This
kind of SSC Method call SHOULD normally have the semantics of a query resulting in the current value of the property addressed by the method, without further side effects. SSC Methods that change
the state of an SSC Server SHOULD normally have arguments.
Example:
• query current gain of XLR2 output of OUT1 module:
3.3.4 SSC Message Dispatching and Pattern Matching
When an SSC Server receives an SSC Message, it must invoke the appropriate SSC Methods in its
SSC Address Space based on the SSC Message’s SSC Address Patterns. This process is called dispatching the SSC Message to the SSC Methods that match its SSC Address Patterns. All the matching SSC Methods are invoked with the same argument data, namely, the SSC Arguments in the SSC
Message.
The parts of an SSC Address or an SSC Address Pattern are the successive names of the JSON object
members in the SSC Method Call.
A received SSC Message must be dispatched to every SSC Method in the current SSC Address Space
whose SSC Address matches the SSC Message’s SSC Address Pattern. An SSC Address Pattern
matches an SSC Address if:
1. The SSC Address and the SSC Address Pattern contain the same number of parts; and
2. Each part of the SSC Address Pattern matches the corresponding part of the SSC Address.
A part of an SSC Address Pattern matches a part of an SSC Address if every consecutive character
in the SSC Address Pattern matches the next consecutive substring of the SSC Address and every
character in the SSC Address is matched by something in the SSC Address Pattern. These are the
matching rules for characters in the SSC Address Pattern:
1. ? in the SSC Address Pattern matches any single character
2. * in the SSC Address Pattern matches any sequence of zero or more characters
3. A string of characters in square brackets (e.g., [aeiou]) in the SSC Address Pattern matches any
character in the string. Inside square brackets, the minus sign (-) and exclamation point (!) have
special meanings:
Two characters separated by a minus sign indicate the range of characters between the
given two in ASCII collating sequence. A minus sign at the end of the string has no special
meaning.
An exclamation point at the beginning of a bracketed string negates the sense of the list,
meaning that the list matches any character not in the list. (An exclamation point anywhere
besides the first character after the open bracket has no special meaning.)
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SSC Data Structure Specification
4. A comma-separated list of strings enclosed in curly braces (e.g., {foo,bar}) in the SSC Address
Pattern matches any of the strings in the list.
5. Any other character in an SSC Address Pattern can match only the same character.
When an SSC Address Pattern is dispatched to multiple SSC Methods, the order in which the
matching SSC Methods are invoked is unspecified.
Support for address pattern matching is OPTIONAL for an SSC Server; it MAY be left out in a restricted implementation. If the SSC Server does not support address pattern matching, it MUST treat
the special pattern characters like normal characters. An SSC Client can find out whether address
patterns are supported by receiving error replies, or by calling the SSC Method /osc/feature/pattern.
3.3.5 SSC Methods addressing array values
An SSC Method MAY have an array of elementary data as value. The value array MAY be empty. The
SSC method MUST NOT switch between returning arrays and elementary data as values.
All the elements of the array SHOULD have the same elementary data type. If the SSC Method is
reflected in a corresponding /osc/limits Method, then the limits information SHOULD include the
count property to describe the array size, and all elements MUST have the same elementary data
type (see section "5.1.6 SSC Method parameter range reflection - /osc/limits" p 22).
An SSC Method that accepts an array as SSC Method Argument SHOULD also accept an elementary value, and handle it by silently converting it to an array containg that elementary value as
single element. The SSC Method Reply MUST contain the actual array in this case.
3.3.5.1 Accessing complete arrays
It MUST be possible to invoke an array-valued SSC Method in the same way as an elementary-valued Method.
An SSC Method Call with a JSON null value as argument is used to query the current state of the
property addressed by the Method. The SSC Method Reply then contains the array value.
An SSC Method Call with a JSON array as Method Argument is used to change the property addressed by the SSC Method.
An array-valued SSC Method MAY put additional requirements on the acceptable size of the array
value argument. The SSC Method Reply MAY indicate an SSC Error in this case. SSC Error Code 416
("requested range not satisfiable") MUST be used to indicate errors caused by the requested array
value size.
3.3.5.2 Combined query-and-change of complete arrays
If the array-valued argument of an SSC Method Call contains a combination of null and not-null values, the
SSC Server MUST interpret this as a query for the current value of the null-valued elements of the array
property, combined with a change of the non-null valued elements. The SSC Method Reply MUST then
state the current value of the complete array, after applying the requested changes. A restricted SSC Server MAY respond with an SSC Error 414 ("request too complex") if it does not support this kind of request.
This combined query-and-change request allows an SSC client to directly change specific elements
of an array-valued SSC Method while saving an extra Method Call to first request the current values
of array elements to keep unchanged. The first SSC Method Call of the following SSC Method transaction is only included to show all current values.
An SSC Server MAY implement an additional SSC Method Argument syntax to facilitate partially
querying and changing of array-valued SSC Methods. The OPTIONAL support of this feature is is
indicated in the SSC feature method /osc/feature/array_ranges (See also section "5.1.14.5 Support
for array range access" p 29).
Array ranges are specified by an JSON object as part of the SSC Method Arguments. This object
MAY contain the keys
• index: specifies the zero-based index of the first element of the requested array range
• count: specifies the number of elements of the requested array range
The range specification object MUST be the first element of the JSON array forming the SSC Method Argument of the SSC Method Call.
In Method Calls to query array-valued SSC Methods, the null Method Argument is replaced by an
JSON array consisting of the range specification JSON object only. The SSC Method Reply MUST
also contain the range specification inside the value array, followed by the values of the array elements in the specified range. The range specification count MUST be equal to the number of value
array elements.
An SSC Method Call to change an range of an array value also provides a JSON array as the SSC
Method Argument, which contains the range specification as the first element, followed by the values
for the array elements inside the specified range. The value for the range count MUST be equal to the
number of the value array elements.
If the specified value for index is negative, then the array range shall start at an index of array size plus the specified value (e.g., -1 indicates the last array element).
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SSC Data Structure Specification
If the specified value for count is negative, then the array range shall contain as many elements as the array size plus the specified value (e.g., -1 indicates all but one array element).
In SSC Method Replies, all values of a range specification MUST be given as positive numbers, even
if they were specified with negative values in the SSC Method Call. Thus the last array element can
be requested as follows:
The current size of the array addressed by the SSC Method can be queried by specifying an empty
array range starting at the last element. The index value given in the array range specification of the
Method Reply is one less than the array size.
If an SSC Method Call queries an array value, and specifies an array range that is not a subrange of
the actual array value, then the SSC Server MUST adapt the specified range to fit the actual array
range, in the following order:
• adapt the requested array range index to the nearest valid actual array index, i.e., either the
requested index, zero, or one less than the actual array size
• adapt the requested array range count to the nearest possible size, i.e., the requested size, or
the number of elements starting at the adapted index.
If an SSC Method Call requests to change an array value, and specifies an array range that is not
a subrange of the actual array value, then the SSC Method Reply MUST consist of a regular Reply
indicating the actual array size combined with an SSC Error 416 ("requested range not satisfiable",
see also section "5.1.2 SSC error state - /osc/error" p 19). The actual array size is indicated by an
array range specification with size zero and the index of the last array element, e.g.:
Per default, the SSC Server shall invoke the SSC Methods addressed by an SSC Message immediately, i.e., as soon as possible after receipt of the message.
An SSC Server may have access to a representation of the correct current absolute time. The optional SSC Method /device/time can be used to query and optionally set the local SSC time used by
a device. SSC does not provide a mechanism for clock synchronisation; if an SSC Server utilises a
mechanism like NTP or PTP to sync to the absolute time it should handle request to set its SSC time
by introducing a local offset from SSC time to the absolute time.
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SSC Data Structure Specification
An SSC Message may contain the SSC method /osc/timetag in addition to other methods. In this
case, the SSC Time Tag indicates the time when the SSC Server shall execute all of the methods
contained in an SSC Message. If the time represented by the SSC Time Tag is before or equal to the
current time, the SSC Server should invoke the methods immediately (unless the user has configured the SSC Server to discard messages that arrive too late). Otherwise the SSC Time Tag represents a time in the future, and the SSC Server must store the SSC Message until the specified time
and then invoke the appropriate SSC Methods.
Time tags are represented by a JSON number. The integer part of the number specifies the number
of seconds since January 1, 2000, and decimal part specifies subsecond precision. Time tags with a
value less than 31622400 (corresponding to January 1, 2001) are interpreted as a time offset relative
to the current SSC time of the SSC Server.
The actual precision that the SSC Server supports is implementation dependent; especially, it’s
allowed for an restricted SSC Server to ignore the fractional part of a time tag without raising an
error. An SSC Client may enquire the supported time precision by invoking the method /device/
timeprecision.
SSC Method Invocations in the same SSC Message are atomic; their corresponding SSC Methods
should be invoked in immediate succession as if no other processing took place between the SSC
Method invocations.
3.3.7 SSC Sessions
An SSC Session is defined by the association of a specific SSC Client with an SSC Server. The SSC
Server MAY keep state information specific to each SSC Client (e.g., state relating to SSC Method
subscriptions, or authorisation). If the SSC Server keeps such state, it MUST be coupled to the SSC
Session. When the SSC Session terminates, session state SHOULD be cleared (e.g., all SSC Method
subscriptions of the client are cancelled).
An SSC Session begins implicitly with the first SSC Method Call that a specific SSC Client sends to
an SSC Server.
The SSC Server SHOULD provide the SSC Method /osc/state/close to allow the SSC Client to actively terminate the SSC Session (see "5.1.8 SSC Session termination - /osc/state/close" p 23).
If the underlying transport protocol is based on connections (e.g., TCP/IP), then the SSC Session MUST last for the duration of the connection. The SSC Session MUST be terminated when
the connection is closed. The SSC Server MAY send an SSC Method Reply {"osc":{"state":{"close":true}}} before it terminates the SSC Session. The SSC Client MUST also consider the SSC Session as terminated if the connection is closed.
If the underlying transport protocol is not based on connections (e.g., UDP/IP), then the SSC Session MUST last for at least 60 seconds. The SSC Server SHOULD terminate the session automatically
60 seconds after the last succesful SSC Method Call. Each succesful SSC Method Call sent by
the SSC Client MUST reset the automatic SSC Session timeout interval. The SSC Client MAY call
the SSC Method /osc/ping for this purpose. The SSC Server SHOULD send an SSC Method Reply
{"osc":{"state":{"close":true}}} before it terminates the SSC Session. The SSC Client SHOULD also
consider the SSC Session as terminated 60 seconds after receiving the last SSC Message from the
SSC Server.
The SSC Server SHOULD keep state information that is explicitly specific to the SSC Session in
SSC Methods that are based in the SSC Container /osc/state, e.g., information about SSC Method
subscriptions (see"4. SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe" p 17). Additionally, SSC Server
state specific for an SSC Session MAY affect the results of calls to other SSC Methods (e.g., the
SSC Server might only allow a single SSC Client at a time, or it might provide an SSC Method for
Session authorisation, and reject other SSC Method Calls with SSC Error replies until an SSC Client
has been authorised).
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SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe
4. SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe
A subscription request is sent by a client to a server for an address pattern to subscribe to. The SSC
Server normally accepts the subscription request, and remembers that the requesting client wishes
to be notified about value changes of the subscribed addresses.
The SSC Server MAY refuse subscription requests, subject to device-specific policy or implementation specific limitations. The SSC Server MUST reply on the subscription request immediately either
by acknowledging the request, or by sending an error reply.
The SSC Server MUST send an initial subscription notification to the client, which contains the result of calling the subscribed SSC Methods immediately with null-argument when the subscription
request is handled. This initial notification MAY be bundled with the reply to the subscription request
itself.
Each subscription notification MUST have identical contents to the reply to an imagined SSC Method
invocation with null-argument to the subscribed SSC Method Address at the time that the notification is sent.
The SSC Client MAY bundle a call to /osc/xid with the subscription request. If a xid is supplied,
a reply to /osc/xid MAY be bundled with each subscription notification, with the xid of the reply
identical to that supplied by the client.
The SSC Server MUST send value changes of the subscribed addresses to the SSC Client. By default,
the SSC Server will send subscription notifications if and only if the subscribed addresses change
in value. The SSC Client can modify this behaviour by supplying optional parameters with the subscription request, allowing to either throttle the rate of notifications, or stimulate additional periodic
notifications even if the subscribed addresses do not change in value.
Every subscription is specific to the connection between SSC Client and SSC Server. Also each SSC
Method can only be subscribed once per connection. This means, that if a SSC Client requests a subscription which is already subscribed by that client on that connection, then the SSC Server MUST
treat this as if the existing subscription was silently terminated and immediately requested anew.
4.1 Subscription notification rate parameters
Optional subscription request parameters related to notification rate:
• "min" minimum notification period (ms), 0=none, default 0
• "max" maximum notification period (ms), 0=none, default 0
If "min" is 0, then notifications are not sent when a subscribed address changes in value, they are
only sent based on the "max" period. If "min" is greater than 0, notifications are sent after the specified time duration has elapsed, even if the value of the subscribed address is unchanged. If "max"
is 0, then notifications are only sent when a value changes, or based on the "min" period. If "max" is
greater than 0, then notifications are sent not earlier before the specified time duration has elapsed,
even if the subscribed address changes value in the meantime.
4.2 Subscription cancelling and expiration
The SSC Server MUST terminate a subscription in these cases:
• the subscribed client cancels the subscription explicitly
• a maximum number of notifications has been sent
• a maximum lifetime relating to the begin of the subscription expires
• the SSC Client closes the connection
• the transport layer of the SSC connection signals a communication error
If the SSC Server decides to terminate the connection because the lifetime or notification count expires, then it MUST inform the SSC Client by sending an error reply "310 – subscription terminated"
to the SSC address that terminates subscription together with or immediately after the last subscription notification.
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SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe
Optional subscription request parameters related to termination:
• "cancel" "true" cancels the subscription (default false).
• "count" maximum number of notifications to send, default 1000
• "lifetime" maximum lifetime (s) of the subscription, default 10s
The SSC Client may renew a subscription at any time, thereby resetting all of the lifetime limitations.
To renew a subscription, the SSC Client re-requests it; there’s no difference between an initial subscription request and a renewal request.
4.3 Subscribing to multiple addresses
The SSC Client MAY request multiple subscriptions in a single request; either by providing them
explicitly as SSC Address Tree, or by specifying address patterns as subscription addresses, or even
both in the same request.
The SSC Server MAY either treat all those subscription requests separately, as if the addresses had
all been requested for subscription individually. In this case all the subscription notifications would
each contain the SSC Method Reply to a single subscribed address.
Alternatively, the SSC Server MAY bundle subscription notifications which happen to be sent at the
same time into a single notification. The SSC Client MUST be able to handle a bundled notification if it
requests multiple subscriptions in a single request, but it MUST NOT rely on the SSC Server bundling
the notifications.
In any case the SSC Server SHOULD NOT bundle notification causes, meaning that the SSC Server
SHOULD NOT send any subscription notifications for addresses in a bundle with notifications to other addresses, if they would not be sent if all subscriptions had been requested individually.
If some of the SSC addresses in a subscription request must be rejected with errors, whereas other
subscriptions succeed, then the SSC Server MAY reject the request completely with an error reply
detailing all the failed addresses. If possible, the SSC Server SHOULD instead execute the successful
subscriptions and only reject the erroneous ones. This MUST result in a successful reply message to
the subscription request, with the reply value including only the successful addresses. In this case
the SSC Error state MUST be set to "210 – Partial Success", and MAY be accompanied by a parameter named "failed_addresses" with an Array of Address trees composed of all the failed Method
Addresses (erroneous Addresses replaced by {}), in bundled or unbundled representation. The value
of the Address in the Address Tree SHOULD be set to the SSC Error Code relating to the failure of the
specific Address. See also the transaction example.
The SSC Server MAY also send a SSC Error "210 – Partial Success" when in fact all of the subscriptions have failed, because the SSC Client receives sufficient information in this Error Reply to work
out this fact.
4.4 Supscription request and reply syntax
The SSC Address for subscriptions is /osc/state/subscribe.
This SSC Method may be called with a null parameter, which results in a SSC Address
tree of all addresses currently subscribed by the SSC Client on the current connection.
The SSC Method also takes a structured parameter, specified as a JSON array.
Each element of the array is a SSC Address Tree specifying the SSC addresses that the SSC Client
requests to subscribe. The SSC Address Tree MAY contain Address patterns.
A SSC Server that supports subscription MUST be able to interpret a single Address Tree element in
the Method Argument array. Multiple Address Trees MAY be supported, or the SSC Server MAY reject
them with a SSC Error 414 (request too complex).
The Response to the subscription Request will normally echo the Request, if all subscriptions can be
handled successfully. If subscription parameters were requested, then the SSC Server MAY adapt
the requested parameters, and MUST send back the adapted parameter values in the Reply. If multiple subscriptions are requested in a single Request, then the SSC Server might find it necessary to
adapt subscription parameters differently for different Addresses. In that case, the array in the Reply MAY contain additonal Address trees containing additional adapted parameter objects. The SSC
Server MAY also reject the subscription request completely (with SSC Error code 406), or partially
(with SSC Error code 210) in such a case.
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5. General SSC Address Schema
Some parts of the SSC address space are reserved by this specification for purposes of meta-protocol information, generic device-independent features, and device capability description.
The reserved parts of the address space are rooted in the addresses:
/osc
/device
/internal
The addresses and methods rooted in these reserved addresses are described in the following sections. This specification should be revised if additional addresses in the reserved address spaces,
or additional reserved address spaces are introduced.
The /internal address space is reserved for internal usage in the SSC Server itself. SSC Clients
MUST NOT send any requests addressing methods based in /internal, and SSC Servers MUST NOT
implement any externally callable methods.
5.1 SSC Meta Information - /osc
5.1.1 SSC Protocol version - /osc/version
Read-only value. Reports the SSC version implemented in the server.
Read-only method. Typically this method is not requested actively by the client, but the server sends
it as the SSC Method Reply to a faulty SSC Method Call. Simple example:
The error method result MUST contain an array of all the error messages resulting of all method executions in the client message.
The error method result array MUST contain as elements one or more SSC Address Trees corresponding to the method address of each faulty method execution (in the example: "/out1/xlr23", corresponding to the JSON object chain { "out1": { "xlr23": ... } }).
The value of each of the error object chains MUST be an array; this is the actual error message resulting from executing the specified method address. Typeset in **bold** in the example.
The error message MUST contain an integer numeric value, the error code. The error code SHOULD
be chosen from the list of error codes detailed below. The SSC Server MAY send different error
codes, which then SHOULD be chosen in the same spirit as the canonical error codes.
The error message MAY contain additional information about the error. This will be contained in a
JSON object, given as the second item of the error array. Exceptionally this array object has arbitrary
properties. The additional information MAY contain a human-readable description of the error; this
MUST be sent as a string value for the property named desc (for "description"). The additional error
information MAY contain other properties intended for debug or service purposes,
or future protocol extensions. The SSC Client MUST ignore any properties that it does not know.
If the SSC Server sends a non-canonical error message, it SHOULD supply human-readable "desc”
information as well, because the SSC Client can’t be expected to react in any specific way to an
unknown error, other than to relay the description to the user.
The language of any error description MAY depend on the optional /device/language setting.
The following complex example shows how an SSC Message containing three SSC Method calls is
answered, where two methods fail and one succeeds:
If the request message violates the JSON syntax, the complete message cannot reliably be parsed
and MUST NOT be partially parsed or executed, so that the SSC Server MUST send an error response
(400, "not understood") relating to the complete message, not to any method address. This error
result message would look like this:
Error method results for successful method executions MUST NOT be sent without being explicitly
requested by the client, by querying "/osc/error". Example:
The error code is a three digit integer, defined in the style of SMTP, FTP or HTTP error codes.
The first digit of the error code defines the class of response. The last two digits do not have any
categorization role.
There are 5 values for the first digit:
1xx - Informational response - Request received, continuing process.2xx - Success - The action was successfully received, understood, and accepted.3xx - Incomplete - Further action must be taken in order to complete the request.4xx - Client Error - The request contained bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled.5xx - Server Error - The server failed to fulfill an apparently valid request.
A simple SSC Client would only have to look at the first digit of the error code in order to determine
what how to deal with the Method Reply.
400 message not understood 401 authorisation needed 403 forbidden 404 address not found 406 not acceptable (e.g., wrong type for parameter)
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408 request time out 409 conflict 410 gone 413 request too long 414 request too complex 416 requested range not satisfiable 422 unprocessable entity (error in a complex method parameter) 423 locked 424 failed dependency 450 answer too long 454 parameter address not found (e.g., address in a subscription request)
5.1.2.5 5xx - Server Error
500 internal server error501 not implemented503 service unavailable
5.1.3 SSC transaction ID - /osc/xid
When an SSC Clients calls the Method /osc/xid, the parameters supplied for the method will be
reflected back in the Method Reply of the SSC Server. This can be used by the client to keep track
of client-side per-server state.
See also section "4. SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe" p 17 for a special application of
this Method to subscriptions.
5.1.4 SSC Ping - /osc/ping
When a client invokes the /osc/ping method the server will immediately respond with an /osc/
ping response with identical result as invoked. "color:orange">The invoked parameters in an array
COULD exceptionally have arbitrary properties.
SSC Clients MUST be able to understand both bundled and unbundled Replies.
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Note that the responses are empty JSON objects if the address is an SSC Container for more addresses, JSON null if the address is an SSC Method Address.
The method /osc/schema may be called with a null parameter. This is equivalent to querying for the
root address schema.
The SSC Client is able to enumerate the complete SSC Address Space of the SSC Server by starting
with a query for the address root scheme { "osc": { "schema": null }}, and recursively querying all the
SSC Addresses where the replies point to SSC containers.
5.1.6 SSC Method parameter range reflection - /osc/limits
The /osc/limits method allows clients to query what kind of values and what range are accepted by
the server in an SSC Method call as parameter values. The response of the request is always a JSON
array containing a JSON object describing properties of the addressed SSC Method. These properties MUST be constant during runtime of the device.
The property list is extensible for application-specific features as well as for revised versions of this
specification.
Currently defined optional properties are:
• "type": string
"Number", "String", "Boolean", or "Container"
• "min": number
minimum valid value
• "max": number
maximum valid value
• "inc": number
recommended user interface increment value
• "length": number
maximum length of a string
• "count": number
count of array elements that can be expected in responses and that has to be used for
settings. -1 represents a not constant or indistinct size (see also section "3.3.5 SSC Methods
addressing array values" p 13.
• "subscr": boolean
if false then the value can not be subscribed, if true then the value can be subscribed.
• "const": boolean
if false then the value can change during runtime, if true then the value is constant.
"const":true implies "subscr":false and "writeable":false.
• "writeable": boolean
if false then the value can not be set, if true then the value can be changed by command.
"writeable":true implies "const": false
• "units": string
String describing value units (preferably SI)
• "desc": string
descriptive text, meant for display to the user
• "desc_ref": string
reference to a not constant description node
• "option": string
array of all allowed options for the value
• "option_desc": string
array with description text relating to the option values
The language for "units", "description", and "option_desc" MAY depend on /device/language, see also
section "7.4.40 /device/language" p 44".
Similar as described for /osc/schema, the SSC Server may format the Method Replies in bundled or
unbundled representation of the SSC Addresses, and the SSC Client MUST be able to understand
either.
5.1.7 Session-specific SSC Address Space - /osc/state
SSC Methods under the /osc/state Address have results which are specific to the SSC Session
between SSC Client and SSC Server. This means that it is possible that different SSC Clients invoke
the same SSC Method with different arguments, and the immediate reply as well as the resulting
state of the SSC Server will differ for each SSC Client.
This behaviour differs from the normal behaviour of an SSC Server, where the server state is shared
between all SSC Clients and connections.
5.1.8 SSC Session termination - /osc/state/close
When an SSC Client calls this SSC Method with a true argument, the SSC Server MUST terminate
the SSC Session immediately after the reply has been sent.
In case of an underlying connection-oriented transport like TCP, the SSC Server MUST close the
transport-layer connection after the SSC Method Reply has been sent.
When the SSC Session is terminated, the SSC Server clears any state specific to the session, see
section "3.3.7 SSC Sessions" p 16.
Optional subscription request parameters related to notification rate:
"min": minimum notification period (ms), 0=none, default 0"max": maximum notification period (ms), 0=none, default 0"bw": maximum bandwidth for replies (byte/s), 0=unlimited, default 0
If "min" is 0, then notifications are not sent when a subscribed address changes in value, they are
only sent based on the "max" period. If "min" is greater than 0, notifications are sent after the specified time duration has elapsed, even if the value of the subscribed address is unchanged.
If "max" is 0, then notifications are only sent when a value changes, or based on the "min" period. If
"max" is greater than 0, then notifications are sent not earlier before the specified time duration has
elapsed, even if the subscribed address changes value in the meantime.
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If "bw" is greater than 0, then the bandwidth consumed for notification replies is tracked by the
SSC Server, and notifications are suppressed when the specified bandwidth would be exceeded. If
any notification has been suppressed due to bandwidth limitation, the SSC Server SHOULD send a
notification about the actual value of the subscribed address as soon as the bandwidth limitation
can be met again. The bandwidth calculation MAY be approximate, and the SSC Client MUST NOT
rely on a byte-exact bandwidth limitation.
If multiple subscriptions are requested with a common set of optional parameters, then the optional parameters MUST be interpreted as if all of the requests had been issued separately, each
request with the identical set of parameters. Especially, the "bw" parameter imposes the specified
bandwidth limit for each subscribed SSC address separately; it is not a summary limit for all of the
requested subscriptions.
The SSC Server SHOULD ignore any unknown subscription parameters. Parameter name "internal"
is reserved and MUST NOT be used in SSC Client requests.
5.1.8.2 Subscription cancelling and expiration
The SSC Server MUST terminate a subscription in these cases:
the subscribed client cancels the subscription explicitlya maximum number of notifications has been senta maximum lifetime relating to the begin of the subscription expiresthe SSC Client closes the connectionthe transport layer of the SSC connection signals a communication error
If the SSC Server decides to terminate the connection because the lifetime or notification count
expires, then it MUST inform the SSC Client by sending an error reply "310 – subscription terminated" to the SSC address that terminates subscription together with or immediately after the last
subscription notification.
Optional subscription request parameters related to termination:
"cancel": "true" cancels the subscription</s>, default false"count": maximum number of notifications to send, 0=unlimited, default 0"lifetime": maximum lifetime (s) of the subscription, 0=until SSC session termination,
default 0
The SSC Client may renew a subscription at any time, thereby resetting all of the lifetime limitations. To renew a subscription, the SSC Client re-requests it; there‘s no difference between an initial
subscription request and a renewal request.
5.1.8.3 Subscribing to multiple addresses
The SSC Client MAY request multiple subscriptions in a single request; either by providing them explicitly as SSC Address Tree, or by specifying address patterns as subscription addresses, or even
both in the same request.
The SSC Server MAY either treat all those subscription requests separately, as if the addresses had
all been requested for subscription individually. In this case all the subscription notifications would
each contain the SSC Method Reply to a single subscribed address.
Alternatively, the SSC Server MAY bundle subscription notifications which happen to be sent at the
same time into a single notification. The SSC Client MUST be able to handle a bundled notification
if it requests multiple subscriptions in a single request, but it MUST NOT rely on the SSC Server
bundling the notifications.
In any case the SSC Server SHOULD NOT bundle notification causes, meaning that the SSC Server
SHOULD NOT send any subscription notifications for addresses in a bundle with notifications to
other addresses, if they would not be sent if all subscriptions had been requested individually.
If some of the SSC addresses in a subscription request must be rejected with errors, whereas other
subscriptions succeed, then the SSC Server MAY reject the request completely with an error reply
detailing all the failed addresses. If possible, the SSC Server SHOULD instead execute the successful subscriptions and only reject the erroneous ones. This MUST result in a successful reply
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message to the subscription request, with the reply value including only the successful addresses.
In this case the SSC Error state MUST be set to "210 – Partial Success", and MAY be accompanied
by a parameter named "failed_addresses" with an Array of Address trees composed of all the failed
Method Addresses (erroneous Addresses replaced by {}), in bundled or unbundled representation.
The value of the Address in the Address Tree SHOULD be set to the SSC Error Code relating to the
failure of the specific Address. See also section "6.1.8.5 Subscription example transactions" p 25.
The SSC Server MAY also send an SSC Error "210 – Partial Success" when in fact all of the subscriptions have failed, because the SSC Client receives sufficient information in this Error Reply to
work out this fact.
5.1.8.4 Subscription request and reply syntax
The SSC Address for subscriptions is /osc/state/subscribe.
This SSC Method may be called with a null parameter, which results in an SSC Address tree of all
addresses currently subscribed by the SSC Client on the current connection.
The SSC Method also takes a structured parameter, specified as a JSON array.
Each element of the array is an SSC Address Tree specifying the SSC addresses that the SSC Client
requests to subscribe. The SSC Address Tree MAY contain Address patterns.
Subscription parameters are specified by embedding them into the Address Tree object as the first
JSON object name/value pair with the special name ”#” (which can not appear as an Address). The
value MUST be a JSON object containing one or more optional subscription parameters by name
and value. The subscription parameters are applied for subscribing all SSC Method Addresses in
the Address Tree that contains the parameter object. The ”#” name/value pair SHOULD be the first
item, otherwise the behaviour of the SSC Server MAY depend on the implementation.
An SSC Server that supports subscription MUST be able to interpret a single Address Tree element
in the Method Argument array. Multiple Address Trees MAY be supported, or the SSC Server MAY
reject them with an SSC Error 414 (request too complex).
The Response to the subscription Request will normally echo the Request, if all subscriptions can
be handled successfully. If subscription parameters were requested, then the SSC Server MAY
adapt the requested parameters, and MUST send back the adapted parameter values in the Reply. If
multiple subscriptions are requested in a single Request, then the SSC Server might find it necessary to adapt subscription parameters differently for different Addresses. In that case, the array in
the Reply MAY contain additonal Address trees containing additional adapted parameter objects.
The SSC Server MAY also reject the subscription request completely (with SSC Error code 406), or
partially (with SSC Error code 210) in such a case.
6.1.8.5 Subscription example transactions
Standard case: subscription request, reply and notifications, automatically terminated:
An SSC Server MAY support this Method to allow the SSC Client to select a preferred formatting
style for all SSC reply messages to be sent on the connection to the SSC Client by the SSC Server.
Two styles are defined:
> prettyprint = false: compact representation, no whitespace
> prettyprint = true: formatted by adding whitespace
The exact format of prettyprinted messages depends on the implementation. The SSC Client MUST
NOT depend on any specific whitespace decoration. The default style is not specified; the SSC
Server MAY choose the default style for each connection independently, e.g., by analysing the first
SSC Message sent by the SSC Client; or an UDP SSC Server may use different default output styles
on different UDP ports.
5.1.10 SSC interactive method address base - /osc/state/baseaddr
This is an OPTIONAL Method. It helps to explore a device in a truely interactive manner, and may
additionally be used to reduce message lengths by shortening addresses in SSC Messages for
applications, where an application monitors only a tiny subset of the address space of a complex
device with a deeply-nested address space.
The "baseaddr" must specify an existing, valid address on the SSC Server. It is automatically added
by the SSC Server to the beginning of any SSC Address in SSC Method calls by the client. It is
automatically stripped from replies by the SSC Server to the Client. The base address has effect on
messages send over the specific transport-layer client connection.
If the SSC Server can’t match an address in an SSC Method call to an address by prepending the
base address, it additionally tries to match it as an absolute address. In this way, especially the /
osc-address space can be accessed again to reset the base address.
Setting the base address to non-empty fails if the targeted address contains a method or container
with the partial address "osc".
The SSC Client may query the server for the support of this feature by invoking /osc/feature/baseaddr.
5.1.11 SSC timed method execution - /osc/timetag
When this method is called as part of an SSC Message, all the SSC Method Calls contained in the
same Message are to be executed by the SSC Server at a time determined by the timetag parameter. Compare section "3.3.6 Temporal Semantics and SSC Time Tags" p 15 .
This method may be called as part of an SSC Message to estimate the communication delay and
clock offset between SSC Client and server. Like in NTP or PTP, four timestamps are used, forming
an array. The SSC Client sends the method call and provides the array containing the first, client-side timestamp. The SSC Server will add two server-side timestamps in the SSC Method Reply, and
finally the client can insert the fourth timestamp upon reception of the Reply Message.
The four timestamps are:
sending time of the Message from the SSC Client as value of the client /device/timereception time at the SSC Server as value of the server /device/timesending time of the Reply at the SSC Server, value of server /device/timereception time of the Reply at the client, value of client /device/time
Support for timestamps is optional. If the SSC Server doesn’t implement it, it shall omit the
timestamp completely from the Reply Message.
5.1.13 SSC Method Authorisation - /osc/tan
In some applications (like conference systems), remote configurability of SSC devices might pose a
security risk, because some attacker with access to the LAN might remotely gain access to sensitive audio streams by reconfiguring devices.
Transaction Authorisation Numbers (TANs) are a simple but efficient means to control configuration access without relying on complex cryptographic protocols, which might be too complex for
environments like media control systems.
A list of TAN numbers is distributed between the SSC devices in a system. The SSC Client must
provide a valid TAN with each SSC Method Call. The SSC Server refuses to execute the method if it
finds the TAN to be invalid. Each TAN may only be used once.
How the TAN list is distributed between the SSC devices in a system is out of the scope of this
specification.
This SSC Address Space is provided to enable the SSC Client to query the SSC Server whether optional protocol features are supported. In the spirit of extensibility, the SSC Server MUST send a reply
with a value of false for each feature that is doesn’t know about, even if the feature didn´t exist at all
when the server was implemented.
5.1.14.1 Support for pattern matching on SSC addresses
A client may query /osc/feature/pattern to inquire whether the SSC Server supports pattern-matching meta-characters in SSC addresses.
The support is described by a string containing one character for each supported matching pattern:
* matches on complete address parts are supported
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? matches on partial addresses are supported[ matches on character ranges are supported
Read-only string. *Unique* product number, preferrably identical to the number on a product label.
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5.2.4 /device/identity/vendor
Read-only string: often "Sennheiser".
5.2.5 /device/name
User-settable persistent device name. This name should be the preferred, and most convenient way
for the customer to identify devices. If the device has a display, this name should be displayed there, preferably in the network context; if it has a menu, this name should be configurable or it COULD
be derived from /device/system or/and e.g. /device/location. This name MUST not be misunderstood as channel name that identifies for example an audio link like rx1/name but it is to understand
as device identification in a network environment.
If the device is networked, this name shall be used as the name for device discovery (see also
section "6.3 SSC Server Discovery" p 34). If device discovery automatically renames the device
to resolve naming conflicts, this should be reflected in this property as well as in the display of the
device.
Note that the maximum lenght of /device/name which may be represented in the limits (see also
section "5.1.6 SSC Method parameter range reflection - /osc/limits" p 22) is dependent on the
device discovery concerning unicode length and the name collision resolution.
5.2.6 /device/system
User-settable persistent system name.
This determines the logical system that this device is a part of. It’s intended to help the customer to
logically separate devices which form different functional systems, but are accessed by means of
the same communication medium.
5.2.7 /device/time
Current absolute clock value of the device. Units are seconds, potentially fractional, counting the
seconds from 2000-01-01T00:00:00+0000 UTC. The time can be changed by using this address,
unless the server is synchronised to absolute time externally, e.g., by means of NTP.
If the device doesn’t support absolute clock value, the clock value shall always indicate a time before 2001-01-01T00:00:00+0000, that means the value is greater than 0 and less than 31622400.
If the device doesn’t support a clock at all, it shall always return the value 0.
5.2.8 /device/timeprecision
Read-only value specifying the precision of the clock of the device as used for /device/time, SSC
time tags, and SSC time stamps.
If the device doesn’t support a clock at all, it shall always return the value 0.
5.2.9 /device/language
User-settable value determining the language to be used for values returned by the server which
are meant to be displayed to the user. Examples are /osc/error/desc, /osc/limits/.../desc, /osc/
limits/.../option_desc.
An SSC Client can determine the possible language options by querying /osc/limits/device/language.
Languages are encoded with 2-3-letter-codes as per the locale convention, e.g. "de", "de_DE". Default language is British English, "en_GB".
Support for languages is optional. Restricted SSC Servers may omit description texts completely;
they should return an empty string for /device/language. Servers offering only one fixed language
should return that for /device/language, and refuse attempts to change it.
5.2.10 /device/network
This address space allows remote configuration of network settings. Devices without network
connectivity don’t need to implement the address space. Devices that don’t support IPv4 should not
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implement the IPv4 address space.
5.2.10.1 /device/network/ether/interfaces
Read-only array containing a list of all the user-relevant ethernet interface of the device.
The names SHALL match the user-readable labeling of the connectors of the device. If the physical
port on the device do not carry a textual label, then the textual designation in the user manual of the
product SHALL be used.
Internal interfaces which are not accessible to the user MUST NOT be listed here. All accessible
physical ports MUST be listed here, even if they all can only be used in a shared configuration, e.g.,
if they are connected to an internal switch.
5.2.10.2 /device/network/ether/macs
Read-only array containing a list of the MAC addresses of all the user-relevant ethernet interface of
the device. The order of the list matches /device/network/ether/interfaces.
The MAC addresses are specified as strings in standard hex-colon-notation.
5.2.10.3 /device/network/ipv4
Address Space for IPv4-specific settings.
These generic methods only relate to the most common case of a device with only a single network
interface, or when all of the physical interfaces operate in a bridged configuration, so that only one
set of IPv4 network settings is necessary.
More complex devices using different IPv4 addresses on different sets of physical interfaces
SHOULD utilise this address space for the main remote control connection, and provide additional
address spaces for the remaining interface sets; e.g., /device/network/ipv4-dante.
5.2.10.4 /device/network/ipv4/interfaces
Read-only array relating to /device/network/ether/interfaces. The array contains numbers indexing
into the array of physical interface names, and thus also into the array of interface MAC addresses
at /device/network/ether/macs.
The interface index array MUST contain the indices of all physical interfaces which share the IPv4
configuration detailed by the following methods.
5.2.10.5 /device/network/ipv4/auto
Boolean value that indicates whether IPv4 shall be configured automatically by means of DHCP and
ZeroConf (Auto-IP). If this value is set to true, all the following properties are read-only. true is the
default.
5.2.10.6 /device/network/ipv4/ipaddr
Current IPv4 address of the device as a string in standard dot-decimal notation.
5.2.10.7 /device/network/ipv4/netmask
Current IPv4 netmask of the device as a string in standard dot-decimal notation.
5.2.10.8 /device/network/ipv4/gateway
Current IPv4 gateway of the device as a string in standard dot-decimal notation, "0.0.0.0" if no
gateway is available.
5.2.10.9 /device/network/ipv6
Address Space for IPv6-specific settings. Like /device/network/ipv4, only the most common case
of a single physical interface is specified here. IPv6 SHALL be applied in full autoconfiguration
mode only, so that all IPv6 specific method are read-only.
5.2.10.10 /device/network/ipv6/interfaces
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Read-only array relating to /device/network/ether/interfaces. The array contains numbers indexing
into the array of physical interface names, and thus also into the array of interface MAC addresses
at /device/network/ether/macs.
The interface index array MUST contain the indices of all physical interfaces which share the IPv6
configuration accessible by the following methods.
5.2.10.11 /device/network/ipv6/ipaddr
Read-only array of all the IPv6 addresses used on the specified physical interfaces in standard
string notation.
The interface specifiers for link-local IPv6 addresses MUST be stripped from the address because
they have only internal relevance. An SSC Client application MUST add the interface specifier of the
interface local to the client to link-local IPv6 addresses, so that they may be copied and pasted on
the client side.
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SSC Transport Layer Adaptations
6. SSC Transport Layer Adaptations
The SSC data format as defined in the previous sections can be transported by different transport protocols, or stored in persistent files. This section specifies what transports are supported,
and how the specific features of transport layers shall be applied to transporting SSC Messages.
If an SSC Server supports more than a single transport for SSC, it SHALL behave consistently regardless of the transport used.
6.1 UDP/IP
UDP/IP is the standard transport for all devices with an Ethernet interface or another interface typically used for internet connectivity. All those device MUST implement the UDP/IP transport for SSC.
All devices SHALL implement UDP over IPv6. Support for UDP over IPv4 is OPTIONAL.
One UDP datagram is used to transport one SSC Message. If the SSC Message is really large (e.g.,
a complete device configuration), IP fragmentation might fail, if a restricted device does not implement IP re-assembly properly. In that case, the SSC Server should break up the message into
multiple SSC Method Calls instead. If atomic execution is relevant, SSC time tags may be used.
The UDP port number to used by the SSC Server should normally be discovered by the SSC Client by
means of the server discovery protocol. The default port number is 45. An alternative port number is 6970.
• Rationale: No other standard UDP service is expected to use 45. The IANA reservation for a
"Message Passing Service" is historic, and SSC is actually passing messages itself. Sennheiser
was founded in 1945. An alternative port number is useful for situations where the default port
cannot be used.
6.2 TCP/IP
Support for transporting SSC Messages over TCP/IP is OPTIONAL. An SSC device choosing to support TCP/IP SHOULD support the same set of IP versions for TCP as well as for UDP.
One important application for TCP/IP is to integrate SSC devices into media control systems. In
these systems ease of use of the protocol is of special relevance.
TCP/IP is a byte-stream based transport. Therefore it is necessary to define a way of fragmenting
the stream into SSC Messages.
The following two-character sequences are recognised as an SSC Message separator:
• Rationale: An unescaped newline cannot appear in the data of a legal SSC Message. The
newline character supports interactive use of SSC. Newline alone as single separator character would prevent formatting a large SSC Message over multiple lines (important to store SSC
Messages in readable or editable text files).
To support interactive use, SSC Servers providing TCP transport MAY implement the SSC base
address feature. They MAY also support the relaxed SSC parser as specified in the appendix.
SSC Messages containing time-critical commands should be pushed (TCP flag PSH) through the
TCP stack for minimum latency, after writing the Message separator sequence.
The TCP port number to be used by the SSC Server is expected to be discovered by the client by
means of the server discovery protocol. The default port number is 45.
• Rationale: Same as UDP.
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SSC Transport Layer Adaptations
6.3 SSC Server Discovery
If IP network devices implement a discovery protocol then it MUST be DNS-SD (Apple Bonjour). The
discovery service CAN optionally be enabled or disabled by the application.
The DNS Service-Type is specified as "_ssc".
Because all networked SSC Servers must implement SSC-over-UDP, they MUST all publish a DNS-SD
service under "_ssc. _udp". Those servers that additionally support TCP MUST publish another DNSSD service under "_ssc._tcp".
The DNS-SD service instance name must be identical to the device name accessible as /device/
name. DNS-SD automatic name collision resolution SHOULD be performed, and the resulting name
changes MUST be reflected back into /device/name and the persistent device configuration. The
renaming rules MAY be tailored to suit product specific requirements.
The DNS-SD service registration includes the port numbers used. SSC Clients SHOULD NOT rely on
default ports.
The DNS-SD hostname SHOULD NOT be presented to the user. It may contain a unique identification
part (e.g., derived from the device MAC or serial), to avoid name collisions and automatic renaming.
Additional information about the SSC Server may be provided with a DNS-SD TXT-record.
The following properties are currently defined for the TXT record:
txtvers Version of the TXT record format. Currently "1".version SSC-Version provided by the SSC Server.txtvers: Version of the TXT record format. Currently "2".sscvers: SSC-Version provided by the SSC Server.model: Model nameid: Unique identification of the device, derived from the device MACs or serial.links: URI(s) of other related services.links.sub: URI(s) of other related services in the same device.links.http: If this SSC Server offers HTTP(S) transport, the base SSC request URI, including
TCP port number.
info: Optional Information, e.g. "info=simulation". which is not to misunderstand as indicator
for device or communication properties but for debugging.
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Developer’s Guide for EM 9046
7. Developer’s Guide for EM 9046
This chapter describes in detail how a developer should use the SSC interface as implemented for
the EM 9046.
7.1 Transport layers
The EM9046 provides SSC service over
TCP/IPv6 port 45UDP/IPv6 port 45TCP/IPv4 port 45UDP/IPv4 port 45
SSC Clients can choose the transport best suited for the specific application.
Metering (SSC Container /m) is best run over UDP, whereas TCP is a better fit for command and control because of the inherent reliability guarantees of TCP.
The EM9046 supports 32 simultaneous SSC Sessions in total, for any combination of transports.
Additional attempts to open SSC Sessions are rejected with SSC error 503 ("service not available").
p 12)
accessing array ranges (section "3.3.5 SSC Methods addressing array values" p 13) sessions (section "3.3.7 SSC Sessions" p 16) subscriptions to all methods (section "4. SSC subscriptions - /osc/state/subscribe" p 17)
Optional subscription parameters (min, max, bw, count, lifetime) are not supported. The lifetime
of subscriptions is controlled by the SSC Session, i.e., subscriptions last for the duration of a TCP
connection, or while the SSC client sends any SSC request (like /osc/ping) every 60 seconds over
UDP.
7.3 Variable SSC address space
The EM9046 can be configured with different modules. Most SSC Methods of the EM9046 are tied
to specific modules, thus they are only available for the mounted modules.
All the top-level SSC containers are always present. Top-level containers relating to an unavailable
module don‘t contain any SSC methods. The following containers depend on modules mounted in
the respective slots:
To detect the hardware configuration of an EM9046 device, the following SSC query can be used.
The * pattern matches existing SSC addresses only, therefore the reply contains the product types
of all mounted modules. Example for an EM9046 with 4 receiver channels and one audio module:
Metering data in container /m and transmitter information in container /mates depends on the hardware configuration, too.
The SSC method tree of /audio1 and /audio2 differs depending on the type of the audio output module.
For more details, see sections "7.6 /audio* - audio output modules" p 50, "7.7 /m - metering
data" p 53, "7.8 /mates - detachable system components" p 55.
7.4 /device - general EM9046 functionality
The EM9046 has two LAN ports, labeled "LAN UP" and "LAN DOWN". Accordingly, all the network
configuration methods exhibit arrays of size 2 for values. In current software releases, the EM9046
operates both LAN ports in a bridged configuration. Therefore, the two entries of the arrays are
equal. To change network settings, equivalent arrays should be written.
In the following list, enumerated method names are subsumed for clearness.
Container /device/carrier_scan contains 8 subcontainers named carrier_range1 to carrier_range8,
where 1-8 correspond to the separate antenna booster ranges.
In the list this is abbreviated as /device/carrier_scan/carrier_range*, where the asterisk represents
a digit.
SSC methods that relate to the antenna boosters connected to RF IN A and RF IN B, like /device/
carrier_ranges/active, transparently access the antenna boosters of the first EM9046 in an RF-IN
daisy-chain (or "cascade") configuration. This also means that changes to such settings may affect
all EM9046 devices in the cascade group.
Network name for identification including discovery.
EM9046 names are always 8 characters long, shorter names are filled with spaces.
Only characters from the set of uppercase letters A-Z, digits 0-9, and $()_~ are allowed.
Name of system of related devices. EM9046 sets this to the list of device names of the RF-IN cascade group (names separated by commas). Currently, the user cannot change it.
Example: "JOHN , PAUL , GEORGE , RINGO ".
List of IP settings modes. If false, then the current IP settings are controlled automatically e.g. by
DHCP or ZeroConf. If true, then the manual_* settings are taken over to the current settings as long
as the manual_* settings are valid, otherwise the device returns SSC ERROR 406.
Cooperative lock for exclusive device access for network clients. An SSC Client may write some
unique information (e.g., its IP address), and another SSC Client would be able to check that the
lock is already taken. The SSC Server does not enforce exclusive access by itself. The lock must be
refreshed every 60 seconds.
The Wireless Systems Manager respects the lock. It writes its IPv4 address to claim the lock.
Labels of preset frequencies for /rx*/preset, e.g. ["A3.1", "A3.2", "A3.3", ...]
Depends on the connected antenna boosters and the selected booster range.
type: Stringconst: falsewriteable: falsecount: 0 or 40subscr: true
7.4.28 /device/presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies
Preset frequencies selectable for /rx*/preset, e.g. [470200, 470600, 471000, ...]
Depends on the connected antenna boosters and the selected booster range.
• limits
type: Numberconst: falsewriteable: falsecount: 0 or 40
These SSC containers represent the up to 8 receiver channels of the EM9046. Each /rx* container
stands for the receiver module in the corresponding slot of the EM9046.
In the method listing, the enumerated method names are subsumed as /rx*. The asterisk represents
a digit between 1 and 8.
7.5.1 RF carrier frequency presets
The EM9046 has a common carrier frequency preset bank for all receiver channels.
These carrier frequency presets depend on the connected antenna boosters, and on the selected
booster frequency range. The common preset bank is represented at /device/presets/bank1.
Each receiver channel additionally provides an individually configurable preset bank, containing a
single preset called U. This is represented at /rx*/presets/bank1.
The SSC containers representing the preset banks contain the array-valued methods labels and
carrier_frequencies. These contain the display names of the presets and their corresponding frequency values.
Method /rx*/preset represent the preset setting for a receiver channel. It contains the SSC address
of the selected preset, e.g. "/device/presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies[5]", or "presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies[0]" (SSC path relative to same /rx* container). To get the actual preset frequency
and label, the indicated SSC address must be queried.
The actual carrier frequency configured by a preset is reflected in the method /rx*/carrier_frequency. If the carrier frequency is changed by directly setting this method, the preset setting changes to
the U preset, "presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies[0]".
Channel carrier preset. SSC address of chosen preset carrier frequency.
Either "presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies[0]", or "/device/presets/bank1/carrier_frequencies[n]".
The SSC tree for each audio output module depends on the type of the module.
Slots OUT1 and OUT2 are represented by containers /audio1 and /audio2, respectively.
Both slots can contain an analogue output module EM9046AAO or digital output module
EM9046DAO.
Slot MAN is represented by container /audio3.
It can contain a network audio module EM9046DAN.
7.6.1 Analogue output module EM9046AAO
The analogue output module EM9046AAO supports 16 output channels, in containers /audio*/out1
to /audio*/out16. The out* containers correspond to the following connectors (as reflected in SSC
method /audio*/out*/label):
All outputs provide an SSC method level to set the analogue output level. The levels of the multicore
outputs out9 to out16 are linked (due to the hardware setup); if one level is changed, the levels for
the other 7 outputs follow suit.
7.6.2 Digital output module EM9046DAO
The digital output module EM9046DAO supports 24 output channels, in containers /audio*/out1
to /audio*/out24. The out* containers correspond to the following connectors (as reflected in SSC
methods /audio*/out*/label):
out1: XLR 1/2 a leftout2: XLR 1/2 a rightout3: XLR 3/4 a leftout4: XLR 3/4 a right ...out7: XLR 7/8 a leftout8: XLR 7/8 a rightout9: XLR 1/2 b leftout10: XLR 1/2 b rightout11: XLR 3/4 b leftout12: XLR 3/4 b right ...out15: XLR 7/8 b leftout16: XLR 7/8 b rightout17: Digital Multicore 1out18: Digital Multicore 2 ...out24: Digital Multicore 8
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Developer’s Guide for EM 9046
7.6.3 Network audio module EM9046DAN
The digital output module EM9046DAN supports 16 network audio channels, in containers /audio3/
out1 to /audio3/out16. The out* containers correspond to the following network streams (as reflected in SSC methods /audio3/out*/label):
out1: main audio stream 1out2: main audio stream 2...out8: main audio stream 8out9: aux audio stream 1out10: aux audio stream 2...out16: aux audio stream 8
All outputs provide an SSC method name to reflect the configurable network audio stream name.
In current firmware, the stream names can only be queried or changed by means of the external
network audio management application. The name method always returns the same result as the
label method.
7.6.4 Audio crossbar switch
The EM9046 can connect each RX audio channel to any output in hardware. The RX audio is represented by two logical channels, audio and audio_aux. The cmd mode setting of the RX channel in
combination with the state of the (optional) CMD button on the RF transmitter determine whether
audio is enabled on audio, or audio_aux, or both.
In current EM9046 software the routing is fixed.
Each logical audio channel of each RX module can be routed to any output on any audio output module. All SSC output containers /audio*/out* provide a method inputs, detailing the audio sources
connected to the output channel as an array of SSC addresses pointing to the SSC addresses of the
audio source (e.g., ["/rx3/audio", "/rx5/audio_aux"]).
Reciprocally, all receiver channel containers /rx* provide the methods /rx*/audio and /rx*/audio_
aux. These methods list the SSC addresses of the outputs connected to the channels.
7.6.5 Audio module methods
In the following method list, the enumerated parts of the methods names are subsumed and represented by an asterisk.
In the pattern /audio*, the asterisk is 1, 2, or 3.
In the pattern /audio*/out*, the second asterisk represents a number from 1 to 16, or 1 to 24 for
EM9046DAO modules.
7.6.6 /audio*/label
Slot label: "OUT1", "OUT2", or "MAN" (Multi Audio Network).
All metering data is bundled in container /m, so that it can be subscribed comprehensively, and without too much overhead. All metering methods yield arrays, where each element represents data
from a specific RX channel. The data sources are listed in method /m/sources as SSC addresses.
The first element of /m/sources (e.g., /rx3) means that all first elements of the methods /m/rssi_a,
/m/rssi_b, etc., correspond to the respective channel (e.g., CH3).
Metering data is always subscribed completely. Subscribing one metering data method (except
/m/sources) implicitly subscribes all other methods, too. It is recommended to subscribe to /m/*.
Subscription notifications are sent at a rate of 10/sec.
This SSC container keeps status information about detachable devices:
antenna boostersRF transmitters
If no device is connected, the SSC methods return dummy information.
The set of active devices can be queried from /mates/active.
There are two antenna boosters and up to eight transmitters, subsumed in the method listing as /
mates/antenna_booster*, and /mates/tx*. The asterisk represents a digit.
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Developer’s Guide for EM 9046
7.8.1 /mates/active
list of SSC relative addresses of active connected devices, e.g. ["tx1", "tx5", "antenna_booster1",
"antenna_booster2"]
SSC reply output style is not supported. Returns false.
7.9.2 /osc/state/close
SSC session close.
7.9.3 /osc/state/subscribe
SSC subscriptions.
7.9.4 /osc/feature/array_ranges
SSC array ranges are supported. Returns true.
7.9.5 /osc/feature/timetag
SSC timed method execution is not supported. Returns false.
7.9.6 /osc/feature/baseaddr
SSC interactive method address base is not supported. Returns false.
7.9.7 /osc/feature/subscription
SSC subscriptions are supported. Returns true.
7.9.8 /osc/feature/pattern
SSC message dispatching and pattern matching are supported. Returns "*?".
7.9.9 /osc/limits
SSC method parameter range reflection.
7.9.10 /osc/schema
SSC schema reflection.
7.9.11 /osc/version
SSC protocol version.
7.9.12 /osc/xid
SSC transaction ID.
7.9.13 /osc/ping
SSC Ping.
7.9.14 /osc/error
SSC error state.
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8. SSC Error List
• 100 : continue
• 102 : processing
• 200 : OK
• 201 : created
• 202 : adapted
• 210 : partial Success
• 310 : subscription terminates
• 400 : message not understood
• 401 : authorisation needed
• 403 : forbidden
• 404 : address not found
• 406 : not acceptable
• 408 : request time out
• 409 : conflict
• 410 : gone
• 413 : request too long
• 414 : request too complex
• 416 : request range not satisfiable
• 422 : unprocessable entity
• 423 : locked
• 424 : failed dependency
• 450 : answer too long
• 454 : parameter address not found
• 500 : internal server error
• 501 : not implemented
• 503 : service unavailable
SSC Error List
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Network Audio Monitoring
9. Network Audio Monitoring
The EM9046 provides a network audio streaming service for monitoring purposes.
9.1 Audio Streaming Standards
The audio streaming concept is based on open Internet-standards.
It aims to be compatible with Ravenna, omitting the clock synchronisation features (http://ravenna.
alcnetworx.com/technology/technology-overview.html).
Following Internet Standards are applied:
• stream management: Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) (RFC 2326)
• stream information and configuration: SDP: Session Description Protocol (RFC 4566)
• stream format: RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications (RFC 3550)
• RTP profile: RTP Profile for Audio and Video Conferences with Minimal Control (RFC 3551)
• RTP payload formats: MIME Type Registration of RTP Payload Formats (RFC 3555)
The EM9046 works as a sending-only streaming server. The stream always contains 8 channels,
regardless whether the sources (EM9046 receiver modules) are working, receiving audio signals,
or are even installed at all. Unused channels are filled with digital silence (zero-valued samples).
Likewise, the "cmd" function of the Digital 9000 system is ignored.
The EM9046 supports a single RTP stream and a single RTSP session. When a second client
connects to establish a new RTSP session, the first session will be disconnected.
The EM9046 provides the RTSP/RTP service on the RTSP standard port 554/TCP/IPv4.
The RTSP path is "/.well-known/rtsp”, conforming to RFC5785. Redirects must be followed.
The stream will be described in the SDP record correctly as audio/L16/rate/8, and no port change
is assumed. This means that the channel to play-back has to be selected in the streaming client by
means of the respective streaming player API.
An audio streaming client should follow these steps to connect to the EM9046 streaming service:
• establish TCP connection to the RTSP port of an EM9046
(if this fails, then the EM9046 doesn’t support audio streaming)
• establish RTSP session to RTSP path /.well-known/rtsp,
following any RTSP redirect response (Status 301, Moved Permanent) (ref. RFC5785)
• follow standard RTSP procedure to SETUP the RTP stream.
Alternatively, the client may take these steps:
• query for DNS-SD instances of service type _ssc._udp
• retrieve TXT record of found instances, and inspect property links.sub for a RTSP-URL.