Page 16 - Bridgemate II Manual

Chapter 1: Description Bridgemate II scoring system 10

wired connection can be used for hardware analysis of the Bridgemate device. This cable is only
required in the rare occasion of a hardware failure and is not used during normal operations.

Bridgemate Control Software

A specific program is required to control the server from the PC: Bridgemate Control Software (“BCS”).
This program runs on Windows2000 or higher and is controlled in part by your scoring program. BCS
fully controls the server and data exchange between the server and the PC. BCS first saves all the
relevant session data used by the server to control the Bridgemates. BCS then retrieves all entered
board results from the server and stores these in the result file. All other server controls are also
executed from BCS.

In addition, the following three components are important. Although they are not supplied together with
your Bridgemate II scoring system, they are of crucial importance to the correct operation of the
system.

• Client (=Personal computer with Bridgemate Control Software)
• Result file
• Scoring program

Client

Bridgemate Control Software runs on a so-called “client” (Windows-based) personal computer (PC).
The scoring program and BCS usually run on one client PC, to which the server is also connected.
During big tournaments, multiple servers may be required to support the high number of Bridgemates
and/or to establish and maintain the wireless communication between the server and the Bridgemates.
In this case, the servers are connected to a network PC, and the network consists of multiple clients.

Note: The term “client” suggests that the Bridgemate II scoring system also consists of a PC network
server. This is not the case. All (network) PCs running the Bridgemate II scoring system are known as
clients.

Result file

The result file is created by the scoring program. It contains all the session data, including sections,
tables, movements, etc. This data is generated by the session configured in the scoring program. BCS
reads this session data and feeds the correct data to the server. During the session, BCS reads all the
board results entered in the server and saves these in the result file. All Bridgemate II result files have
the file extension .bws.

Scoring program

The scoring program creates the session and calculates the scores. After you have created a session,
the scoring program will create the abovementioned result file. This file contains all the relevant
session data. The scoring program will read all board results saved in the result file and process these
during the session. These procedures are explained in more detail in the user manuals or help files of
your scoring program.

Procedure

Having examined the individual components of the Bridgemate II scoring system, the next step
involves assessing the entire process and how the different components relate to each other.

The process is outlined in the below diagram: