CH A P T E R
2
Using Cisco Instant Connect
This chapter describes how to use Cisco Instant Connect. It includes these topics:
•
Cisco Instant Connect Screens, page 2-1
•
Starting Cisco Instant Connect and Logging In to Cisco IPICS, page 2-6
•
Logging Out of Cisco IPICS, page 2-7
•
Using the Talklines Screen, page 2-7
•
Using the PTT Screen, page 2-8
•
Using the Menu Screen, page 2-10
•
Using the About Screen, page 2-10
•
Using the Settings Screen, page 2-11
•
Switching from Background Operation, page 2-12
•
Understanding Call Assurance, page 2-13
Cisco Instant Connect Screens
You control many of the Cisco Instant Connect operations by using the features on its screens. The
following figures describe these screens and provide references to sections in this manual that provide
related information:
•
Log In screen—Figure 2-1 on page 2-2
•
Talklines screen—Figure 2-2 on page 2-3
•
PTT screen—Figure 2-3 on page 2-4
•
Menu screen—Figure 2-4 on page 2-5
•
About screen—Figure 2-5 on page 2-5
•
Settings screen—Figure 2-6 on page 2-6
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Cisco Instant Connect Screens
Figure 2-1
Log In Screen
Description
Reference
1
IPICS Server field
2
Username field
See the “Starting Cisco Instant Connect and
Logging In to Cisco IPICS” section on page 2-6
3
Password field
4
Remember Password switch
5
Log In button
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Cisco Instant Connect Screens
Figure 2-2
Talklines Screen
Description
Reference
1
Logout icon.
See the “Logging Out of Cisco IPICS” section
on page 2-7
2
Search box.
3
Channel icon.
See the “Using the Talklines Screen” section on
page 2-7
Appears blue for an enabled channel and
appears gray for a disabled channel.
4
Radio icon.
Appears blue for an enabled radio and appears
gray for a disabled radio.
5
VTG icon.
Appears blue for an enabled VTG and appears
gray for a disabled VTG.
6
Incident icon.
Appears blue for an enabled incident and
appears gray for a disabled incident.
7
Talklines list.
8
Talkline name.
9
Talkline status icon.
Appears blue for an enabled talkline and appears
gray for a disabled talkline.
10 Menu icon.
Appears green when the Cisco IPICS server to
which you are logged in is on line and appears
red when the server is off line.
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Cisco Instant Connect Screens
Figure 2-3
1
PTT Screen [Update Screen shot without 7 and 3]
Description
Reference
Talkline (incident, VTG, channel, or radio)
name.
See the “Using the PTT Screen” section on
page 2-8.
When you are receiving transmission from a
talker on a talkline, the Cisco IPICS user ID of
the talker appears under the talkline name
2
Menu icon.
Appears green when the Cisco IPICS server to
which you are logged in is on line, and appears
red when the server is off line.
3
Full Duplex icon / Half Duplex icon.
4
PTT button.
5
Speaker icon / Headset icon.
6
Back button.
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Cisco Instant Connect Screens
Figure 2-4
Menu Screen
Description
Reference
1
Cisco IPICS server and status
See the “Using the Menu Screen” section on
page 2-10
2
About button
See the “Using the About Screen” section on
page 2-10
3
Settings button
See the “Using the Settings Screen” section on
page 2-11
4
Cancel button
See the “Using the Menu Screen” section on
page 2-10
Figure 2-5
About Screen
Description
Reference
1
Back button
See the “Using the About Screen” section on
page 2-10
2
Cisco Instant Connect version number
—
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Starting Cisco Instant Connect and Logging In to Cisco IPICS
Description
Reference
3
Fully qualified domain name of the Cisco IPICS See the “Starting Cisco Instant Connect and
server that you are logged in to
Logging In to Cisco IPICS” section on page 2-6
4
Cisco IPICS user name that you are logged in
with
5
Help button
6
Privacy Policy button
7
License Information button
Figure 2-6
See the “Using the About Screen” section on
page 2-10
Settings Screen
Description
Reference
1
Back button
2
IPICS server settings options
See the “Using the Settings Screen” section on
page 2-11
3
Media server settings options
4
Media settings options
Starting Cisco Instant Connect and Logging In to Cisco IPICS
After you start Cisco Instant Connect, you must log in to the Cisco IPICS server to be able to use Cisco
Instant Connect to communicate with other Cisco IPICS users.
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Logging Out of Cisco IPICS
To start Cisco Instant Connect and log in to Cisco IPICS from a supported Apple device, perform the
following steps.
If you logged in to Cisco IPICS from the current device before, the IPICS Server field and the User field
are filled in automatically with the information that you entered last time. In addition, the Password field
is filled in automatically if you checked the Remember password box.
Procedure
Step 1
Tap the Cisco Instant Connect application icon
.
The Cisco Instant Connect Log In screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-1 on page 2-2.
Step 2
Tap the IPICS Server field and enter the fully qualified host name of the Cisco IPICS server that you
want to log in to.
For example, if the Cisco IPICS server name is ipics, enter the fully qualified host name as
ipics1.cisco.com.
Step 3
Tap the Username field and enter your Cisco IPICS user name.
Step 4
Tap the Password field and enter your Cisco IPICS password.
The password is case sensitive.
Step 5
(Optional) Toggle on the Remember Password switch if you want the password that you enter to be
entered automatically the next time you start Cisco Instant Connect.
Step 6
Tap the Log In button.
The Talklines screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-2 on page 2-3. For more information about this
screen, see the “Using the Talklines Screen” section on page 2-7.
Logging Out of Cisco IPICS
You can log out of Cisco Instant Connect from the Talklines screen (see Figure 2-2 on page 2-3). When
this screen is displayed, tap the Log Out icon
to log out, then tap OK in the confirmation window.
A Cisco IPICS administrator can log out any Cisco Instant Connect user from the Cisco IPICS
Administration Console. To do so, choose Administration > Active Users from the Server drawer,
choose the Mobile tab, check the box in the left column for each user to log out, and then click the
Logout button.
Using the Talklines Screen
The Talklines screen, shown in Figure 2-2 on page 2-3, appears when you log in to Cisco IPICS or when
you choose one of the options to exit the PTT screen.
The Talklines screen displays in alphabetical order the names of incidents, VTGs, channels, and radios
(collectively called talklines) with which you are associated. An empty screen appears if no talklines
meet this criterion.
You can communicate on any active talkline that appears on this screen.
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Using the PTT Screen
On this screen, talklines are identified by the following icon. A blue icon indicates a talkline that has
been enabled in the Cisco IPICS Administration Console and a gray icon indicates a talkline that has
been disabled.
•
Channel icon
•
Radio icon
•
VTG icon
•
Incident icon
—Indicates a channel
—Indicates a radio
—Indicates a VTG
—Indicates an incident
In addition, a green Talkline Status icon
indicates that the corresponding talkline that has been
enabled in Cisco IPICS. A gray Talkline Status icon
indicates a talkline that has been disabled.
When the Talklines screen is displayed, you can take any of these actions:
•
Go to the PTT screen and connect to the desired talkline—Tap the icon next to the talkline on which
you want to communicate, or tap the name of that talkline. When the connection is established, you
hear a connect tone to confirm the connection.
•
Search for a specific talkline—Find a talkline that begins with one or more designated characters by
tapping the Search field, using the keypad that appears to enter the characters in the Search field,
then tapping the Apple device Search button. The system automatically displays talklines that
match the search criteria. Search characters are not case sensitive. For example, if you enter a lower
case “a,” the system finds names that contain “a” and that contain “A.”
You can delete the characters in the Search field by tapping the Exit icon
that appears in the
field. You can cancel a search after you tap the Search field by tapping the Cancel button that
appears next to this field.
•
See the status of the Cisco IPICS server—The Menu icon appears green
when the Cisco IPICS
server to which you are logged in is on line, and appears red
when the server is off line.
•
Access the About screen and the Settings screen—Tap the Menu icon (
or
). See the “Using
the About Screen” section on page 2-10 and the “Using the Settings Screen” section on page 2-11.
•
Log out of Cisco IPICS—Tap the Log Out icon
, then tap OK in the confirmation window.
Using the PTT Screen
You can communicate with other Cisco IPICS users via an active talkline (incident, VTG, channel, or
radio) with which you are associated. To do, you use your Apple device as a push-to-talk (PTT) device
to communicate with other users who have joined the same talkline. The PTT screen provides control
for PTT communication.
To communicate with other Cisco IPICS users, perform the following steps.
When you are receiving transmission from a talker on a talkline, the Cisco IPICS user ID of the talker
appears under the talkline name at the top of the Talklines screen. For example, the user ID
“mark_iphone5s” appears as follows:
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Using the PTT Screen
Procedure
Step 1
From the Talklines screen, tap the row that contains the talkline on which you want to communicate, or
tap the name of that talkline.
The “Joining talkline” message appears. Then, you are connected to the selected talkline, the speaker on
your Apple device enables automatically, and the PTT screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-3 on
page 2-4. The PTT button appears at the bottom of the PTT screen.
For a description of the talkline icons, see the “Using the Talklines Screen” section on page 2-7
Step 2
Use these actions to communicate on the talkline:
•
To talk, tap and hold the PTT button. To listen, release the button.
•
If the latch feature is enabled for you for the incident, VTG, channel, or radio, you can double-tap
the PTT button to latch this button. Latching the PTT button has the same effect as continuing to
hold it. Double-tap the PTT button again to release the latch.
The appearance of the PTT button indicates the PTT state, as described in Table 2-1.
In addition, you can take any of these actions while the PTT screen is displayed:
•
See the status of the Cisco IPICS server—The Menu icon appears green
when the Cisco IPICS
server to which you are logged in is on line, and appears red
when the server is off line.
•
Access the About screen and the Settings screen—Tap the Menu icon (
or
). See the “Using
the About Screen” section on page 2-10 and the “Using the Settings Screen” section on page 2-11.
•
See the speaker mode—A speaker icon
indicates that you are using the internal speaker of the
Apple device. A headset icon
indicates that a headset is connected to the Apple device. You
can tap either icon to display a description of the speaker mode.
•
See the duplex mode—The Full Duplex icon appears
when you are communicating in full
duplex mode.
The Half Duplex icon appears
when you are communicating in half duplex mode. You can tap
either icon to display a description of the mode.
In full duplex mode, you continue to receive audio while you are holding the PTT button. In half
duplex mode, you can receive audio only when you are not holding the PTT button.
Step 3
To exit the PTT screen, and disconnect from the current talkline, tap the Back button
Table 2-1
.
PTT Button States
PTT Button Appearance
PTT State
Idle (neither transmitting nor receiving audio),
latching not available
Idle (neither transmitting nor receiving audio),
latching available
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Using the Menu Screen
Table 2-1
PTT Button States (continued)
PTT Button Appearance
PTT State
Receiving audio, latching not available
Receiving audio, latching available
Transmitting audio, latching not available
Transmitting audio, latching available
Latched
Unable to PTT
Using the Menu Screen
The Menu screen, shown in Figure 2-4 on page 2-5, appears when you tap the Menu button (
or
on the Talklines screen or the PTT screen. (Figure 2-2 on page 2-3 shows the Talklines screen and
Figure 2-3 on page 2-4 shows PTT screen.)
)
The Menu screen displays the FQDN of the Cisco IPICS server that you are logged in to. It also displays
the connectivity status of that server (“online” or “offline”).
In addition, the Menu screen includes these buttons:
•
About—Tap to display the About screen. See the “Using the About Screen” section on page 2-10.
•
Settings—Tap to display the Settings screen. See the “Using the Settings Screen” section on
page 2-11.
•
Cancel—Tap to exit the Menu screen and return to the screen from which you displayed it.
Using the About Screen
The About screen, shown in Figure 2-5 on page 2-5, appears when you tap the About button on the Menu
screen. (Figure 2-4 on page 2-5 shows the Menu screen.)
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Using the Settings Screen
The About screen provides this information:
•
Version—Version of Cisco Instant Connect that is running on your Apple device
•
Server—Fully qualified domain name of the Cisco IPICS server that you are logged in to
•
Username—Cisco IPICS user name that you are logged in with
In addition, the About screen includes these buttons:
•
Back
—Tap to exit the About screen
•
Help—Tap to display on line help, which is an on line version of this reference guide. The help
appears in a browser. To return to Cisco Instant Connect, double-click the Apple device Home
button to close the browser, then scroll to and tap the app.
•
Privacy Policy—Tap to display Cisco Privacy. The privacy policy appears in a browser. To return
to Cisco Instant Connect, double-click the Apple device Home button to close the browser, then
scroll to and tap the app.
•
License Information—Tap to display Cisco open source license information. The license
information appears in a browser. To return to Cisco Instant Connect, double-click the Apple device
Home button to close the browser, then scroll to and tap the app.
Using the Settings Screen
The Settings screen, shown in Figure 2-6 on page 2-6, appears when you tap the Settings button on the
Menu screen. (Figure 2-4 on page 2-5 shows the Menu screen.) You can also access the Settings screen
by tapping the Cisco Instant Connect application icon on your Apple device Settings page.
To exit the Settings screen, tap the Back button
.
Table 2-2 describes the options on the Settings screen.
Table 2-2
Settings Screen Options
Option
Description
IPICS SERVER SETTINGS
Update Interval (Mobile)
Interval in seconds at which Cisco Instant Connect updates the list
of incidents, channels, VTGs, and radios in the Talklines screen
when you are using Cisco Instant Connect on a 3G or 4G
connection.
To change this value, tap this option, choose a value from the list
that appears, then tap Done.
The default value is 60.
Update Interval (WiFi)
Interval in seconds at which Cisco Instant Connect updates the list
of incidents, channels, VTGs, and radios in the Talklines screen
when you are using Cisco Instant Connect on a WiFi network.
To change this value, tap this option, choose a value from the list
that appears, then tap Done.
The default value is 10.
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Switching from Background Operation
Table 2-2
Settings Screen Options (continued)
Option
Description
MEDIA SERVER SETTINGS
Enable Connect Tones
Toggle on this switch if you want Cisco Instant Connect to play a
tone when you connect to or disconnect from a talkline.
By default, this switch is toggled on and connect tones are enabled.
Reconnect Delay
Interval in seconds at which Cisco Instant Connect attempts to
reconnect to media server if connectivity to that server is lost.
To change this value, tap this option, choose a value from the list
that appears, then tap Done.
The default value is 10.
MEDIA SETTINGS
Full Duplex
Toggle on this switch if you want to communicate in full duplex
mode when you are connected to a talkline and are using the PTT
screen. If this switch is toggled off, you communicate in half duplex
mode.
By default, this switch is toggled on and full duplex mode is
enabled.
Mic Gain
Relative sensitivity of the Apple device microphone. Lower this
value if the microphone picks up too much ambient sound.
To change this value, tap this option, choose a value from the list
that appears, then tap Done.
The default value is 1.00.
Speaker Adjustment
Volume of the Apple device internal speaker as a percentage of the
Apple device main volume setting.
To change this value, tap this option, choose a value from the list
that appears, then tap Done.
The default value is 1.00.
Internal Speaker
Toggle on this switch if you want the Apple device to play sounds
through its internal speaker.
By default, this switch toggled off and the device plays sounds
through its external speaker.
Switching from Background Operation
When Cisco Instant Connect is running in the background on your Apple device and you are connected
to an active talkline, even in the background, a red bar appears at the top of your Apple device screen.
If Cisco Instant Connect is running in the background, you can bring it to the foreground in any of these
ways:
•
Tap the Cisco Instant Connect application icon
•
Tab the red bar at the top of your Apple device screen
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Understanding Call Assurance
•
Double-tap the Apple device Home button to display the Recent App list, then tap the Cisco Instant
Connect application icon that appears in this list
Understanding Call Assurance
The Cisco Instant Connect call assurance feature attempts to reestablish a connection to Cisco IPICS if
your Apple device loses its connection while you are communicating on a talkline.
This feature works as follows:
•
If you are communicating on a talkline over a Wi-Fi network and that connection to the IPICS server
is lost, your Apple device attempts to reconnect to the server through a 3G or 4G network. While it
is trying to reconnect, Cisco Instant Connect plays a loss of connection tone every 10 seconds (by
default), and the Unable to PTT button appears (see Table 2-1 on page 2-9) with messages that
describe the current state or activity.
When the Apple device can reconnect to the Wi-Fi network, it does so automatically. Again, it plays
a loss of connection tone every 10 seconds during this time, and the Unable to PTT button appears
with descriptive messages.
•
If you are communicating on a talkline over a 3G or 4G network and that connection to the IPICS
server is lost, your Apple device attempts to reconnect to the server through a valid Wi-Fi network.
While it is trying to reconnect, Cisco Instant Connect plays a loss of connection tone every 10
seconds (by default), and the Unable to PTT button appears (see ) with messages that describe the
current state or activity.
When the Apple device can reconnect to the 3G or 4G network, it does so automatically. Again, it
plays a loss of connection tone every 10 seconds during this time, and the Unable to PTT button
appears with descriptive messages.
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