School Bell and Alarm System

[Ref: Template in User Manual]
A template is a pre-set bell timetable, used to set up bell settings for a day, a term, or a whole school year quickly and easily; templates are stored in database and can be used forever.
There are three types: template day, template week, and template term.
A template day is composed of bells set for a school day, which is the basic building block of templates and can be applied to a school day, week, term or school year;
a template week is composed of seven template days and can be applied to a school week, term or school year;
a template term is composed of template weeks matching the number of weeks in a school term and can be applied to a term or a school year.

[How to]
Creating a template day is the first step to ease your bell scheduling. A build-in template day is there for your reference or change (it is named Common School Day, its path is: Scheduler window - Template tab - Day type - Name table. you can cick the Details cell in its row to view in Day Bell Timetable section. You can modify it and save as your common school day template).
The easist way to create a new template day is to clone an existing template and modify it and then save it with a meaningful name.
e.g. Bells on Tuesday are different from Common School Day. Follow the steps to create a template day for Tuesday:
(a) Select the Common School Day in the name list (the selected name will display in Name text box);
(b) Click on Save As button;
(c) Change the name to e.g. Tuesday and click Save button to confirm;
(d) Click on Details button to view its details and modify its settings for Tuesday;
(e) Click on Save button to save it. Done.

Once you have tamplate days, it is much easier to create a template week then a template term.

For a template week:
1. select Week type in Template tab;
2. select Create button;
3. enter a meaningfull name, e.g. Common Week;
4. click on dat cell and select a select a template day in the dropdown list and do the same for each day in the week (No School Bell Day is a defaul template day for Saturday and Sunday if you do not select a template for them);
5. click Save button to save it. Done.

For a template term, it is similar to creating a template week:
1. select Term type in Template tab; 2. select Create button; 3. enter a meaningfull name, e.g. Term 1; 4. click on a Week cell and select a template week in the dropdown list and do the same for each week in the term; 5. click Save button to save it. Done.
Once templates are ready you can apply them with just a couple of mouse-clicking.

[Ref: Template in User Manual]
A. To apply a template day to a day:
1. click on the date in the Term tab in Scheduler window;
2. right click on the Bell cell in Day Bell Timetable section;
3. click on the arrow button to select a template day in the dropdown list in the pop-up window;
4. click on OK button to apply. Done.
B. To apply a template day or week to a week or multi-weeks:
1. click on a week number of a week or drag down to select more weeks in the Term tab ;
2. right-click in the highlighted week number section and select a template in pop-up window;
3. click on Apply button to confirm. Done.
C. To apply a template day or week or term to a term:
1. right click the Week cell at top-left of the Term tab to get a pop-up window;
2. select a template type in the Type dropdown list;
3. select a template name in the Name dropdown list;
4. click on Apply button to confirm. Done.
D. To apply a template day or week to a year:
1. click on a radio button of a year in the Year tab and make sure the dates of all terms are defined;
2. click on Day or Week radio button to choose a template type;
3. select a template in the name list;
4. click on Apply button to apply. Done.

[Ref: Set up School Year in User Manual]
The first thing for a school year is to set up start date and end date of each term.
Select Settings tab in Scheduler window then click Manage School Settings button, the Set up School Year window will pop up.
You can set up current school year and next school year by selecting a school year radio button, then:
1. select or enter the term number;
2. select Start Date and End date of the term;
3. click OK button; (the dates of the term will show in a grid table for you to review) 4. click Save botton to save it into database.
Repeate the same steps above for other terms.
You can set up holiday dates in the In-Term Holiday Settings section.
Once the settings are done you can apply a template day or week to the school year in Year tab in Scheduler window (there will be no school bell on those holidays), or you can apply a template day/week/term for a term in Term tab.
Click here for how to apply template

[Ref: Add a Special Event in User Manual]
Sometimes you may need to set up a serial of bells with the same interal for a special event, such as Teacher-Parent Interview event.
Special Event is the falicity for this purpose. e.g. a Teacher-Parent Interview evening: starting at 4:30 pm, total 35 interviews, 5 minutes for each interview and a bell ringing for 3 seconds by the end to reminder the interview time has elapsed.
you can use the facility "Special Event" to set up all bells by a few mouse-clicking.
[How to]
There are two ways to access the facility in the Day Bell Timetable section of the scheduled date for the event:
1. right-click in a Name cell in the Day Bell Timetable section in Scheduler window;
2. click in a Name cell and select the Special Event item at the bottom of the dropdown list.
In the pop-up window of Set up a Special Event
1. enter a name of the event, e.g. Teacher-Parent Interview Evening;
2. enter/select the total number of bells, e.g. 35;
3. enter/select start time, e.g. 4:30 pm;
4. enter/select interval in minute between two bells, e.g. 5;
5. enter/select ringing time in second, e.g. 3;
6. click OK button to save the settings into database. Done.
You can review the settings in the Day Bell Timetable section.

[Ref: Instructions of iBell Software Installation]
To install the iBell software with an installation CD:
1. Plug the CD into a targeted computer;
2. Select in the pop-up window or on the CD/DVD drivew: Open folder to view files.

To install the iBell software with downloaded package:
Open the packqage to view files.

Then follow the steps below to set up the iBell applications:
1. Copy the whole folder and past it onto Windows C drive;
2. Copy the two shortcuts, iBell Scheduler – Shortcut and iBell Controller – Shortcut and past them in the computer desktop;
3. Double click iBell Scheduler – Shortcut to start the Scheduler program and double click iBell Controller – Shortcut to start the Controller program.

Then follow the instuctions in User Manual to create templates, set up terms in a school year and apply templates to schedul bells.

[Ref: Installation and Setup Instructions]
An USB relay and a USB cable are provided for connection between the host computer and the circuit of institution bell system. If there is an audio/speaker in the system, an audio cable is needsed to connect the computer and the audio/speaker system.

[How to]
1. Plug one side of the USB cable into an USB outlet on the computer and the other side into the USB relay as illustrated in picture;
2. Use a twin-line electrical wire for connection between the computer and the school bell circuit as illustrated in picture. Note: the twin-line electrical wire must match the electrical requirement of the school bell circuit.
3. Connect an audio cable between the audio outlet of the computer and school audio/speaker system (if the system exists) as illustrated in picture.