Interacting with NIC
In this page we describe how you can interact with NIC (Neuroelectrics Instrument Controller, the software for control with NE devices) using other software.
Contents
About Synchronization: general principles
Sending Markers to NIC from other software or hardware
NIC provides a server that other software can connect to in order to receive markers. Those received markers are synchronized with the EEG streaming for further analysis.
This NIC server is running in the TCP/IP port 1234. Up to five clients can simultaneously send markers to NIC by making a TCP/IP connection to this port.
Once a client is connected it needs to send the following string in order to send a marker:
<TRIGGER>XXXX</TRIGGER>
Where XXXX can represent any integer number different from zero (from -2147483647 to +2147483647). This marker will be co-registered in the output files generated by NIC to the corresponding EEG sample. For instance, in the output tabulated text file, there is a column just after the timestamp that is filled with zeros. When a marker is received its corresponding number is set to that column. See the following example:
... 26748 -27675 35631 42398 532666 64345 12376 40988 0 1382432459788 26865 -26683 35685 42450 532711 64821 12376 41046 0 1382432459790 26810 -26821 35531 41997 532821 64945 13164 41099 0 1382432459792 26749 -26995 35325 42008 532712 64377 13478 41286 0 1382432459794 26796 -27245 35932 42391 532923 64245 13620 41117 300 1382432459796 <-- Reception of the marker #300 26622 -27510 35501 42630 532876 64193 13031 40986 0 1382432459798 26751 -27912 35611 42003 532345 64344 12967 40731 0 1382432459800 ...
