HUMAN INTERFACE

Console input and monitoring, Records and Printing and Logs, and Speech Communication are all human-interfaces; corresponding to human hands, eyes, memory, and ears.

The human interface is an important aspect of a control system. But my system was the first broadcast control system to work without interfacing. How can the interfacing be important, and yet not needed?...

"Why futz with rules? Why not just get it done?" -Frederick Barthelme

The FCC placed interfacing first; I placed it second, and in so doing, my system became almost - illegal. Actually, increased responsiveness to people was - indirectly - still achieved. In the FCC rules, good interfacing was implicitly implied, but explicitly over stated. The rules became a burdon; getting in the way; and the FCC mandate was too "simplistic"; too rigid. I was the first broadcaster to change it.


I took great liberties: My system was the first "autonomous system" for the broadcaster. In 1985, I made an attempt at control using two types of commercial equipment. (I need not mention the company's names, as the faults applied to all "other" equipment on the market.) The effort, basically, failed; The commercial interface had cryptic push buttons, and confusing LEDs, and a numerical readout which corresponded to a "numerical-position". In addition, it seems communication would always be lost at the same time as equipment would be in trouble. Doomed combination! Thus, a broadcaster could never "see" what was really going-on.
With other control systems, when things went bad, everything went bad. Interfacing was the biggest problem: too restricting and too explicit.

"There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line." - Oscar Levant

My autonomous system helped with those problems. I supplied a "buffer" between the person and the equipment.
Insanity at the time!

"It is essential for victory that generals are unconstrained by their leaders." - The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

"It is essential for victory that generals are unconstrained by their leaders."
- The Art Of War by Sun Tzu


Here is a brilliant quote from a successful war-person that I employed and embraced in all my work...
My work emphasizes that Practical War is the same as Practical Control.
Here, in analogy, the "Leaders" are my people in Master Control.
And the "Generals" are my autonomous control devices.

My souverain people have wishes, and my control devices are relentless in exquisit skill.


This project was more than fun; it was real joy. And this was despite my fellow engineers "not having a clue" about the concept, and presenting great resentment and personal discredit. But clearly the results were helping the broadcaster. In addition to helping broadcasting, I was helping my friends. Few people understand how a control system designed to operate without people can have people as a focus. Ultimately, people operating your systems give it purpose. Ultimately, technical merits mean nothing without "purpose". My friends - themselves - have, in fact, designed in a major way the human interface by their sincerity, warmth, need, and camaraderie; You must let them! My friends have always been there to guide me in interfacing; Do not deny them. However - never let your friends invade your technical arena; they have no understanding. Keep two planes, and keep them separate. You should give your friends the illusion that they are participating in the technical areas. Respect their inabilities, and cherish their hearts.

PRINTING AND PAPER LOGS, Computer RECORDS

RECORDS INTERFACE

VISION and MONITORS

VISUAL INTERFACE

SPEECH and SOUNDS

AUDIO INTERFACE






AS the microprocessing modules communicate with each other, there may or may not be a response one to another. Some communications are "statements" where no response is expected. For example, when the master clock periodically sends out a time statement to all units on the Net, not only is no response expected but not wanted. If dozens of units all responded there would be a cacophony of unnecessary communication.

Now, that is only part of the story:
If a human appears on the Net, everything changes!
Here are three lines of code. All of the microprocessing modules have sections of code similar to this. Buffer3 is the Group classification of who sent the communication packet; in this case the "Human Group". The human group has always had the value of zero. The group can contain a possible 255 human individuals in this group. If the communication NORMALLY requires no response, then this time (remember, it came from a human) it WILL have a response, and the response will reverently be directed back to the human that sent it. I have kept this feature as "Unconditional", and further, every whisper, every comma, every period is considered rhetorical and yields a response - and all from just being human.
My system does not need people; that is true. But any person (with clearance) is given the utmost reverence and priority. Every module has pieces of code like this to continually remind themselves of Who is talking to them.
My system works so well because it does not care about people, yet at the same time, it worships them.