Encore Viewer and SmartCard Reader

always_tired · Post by **always_tired** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:39 pm

I have not been able to read my SmartCard with Encore Viewer and the Mako DT3500 card reader (USB), both purchased at cpap.com. I have not gotten much help from Respironics customer service either.

When I tell Encore Viewer to read the card, I get the message that says it's reading the card and percentage complete. It appears to work OK but then I get a pop-up that says there was no therapy data on the SmartCard. To verify this, I took my SmartCard to the medical equipment company that supplied my CPAP. They have Encore Pro with the same card reader and had no trouble reading the data and printing the reports. I don't want to have to go there everytime I want a report.

Is there an updated driver for the reader somewhere? The reader shows up under the Device Managers and the driver version is 2.0.0.0 dated 4/16/2007.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:13 pm

I don't think Respironics has customer support for their software.

What software and version are you using?

Did you install drivers that came with MAKO card reader or drivers that came with Respironics software ... you should have used those that came with software.

always_tired · Post by **always_tired** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:23 pm

I am using Encore Viewer 1.0 and the drivers that came on the Encore Viewer installation disk.

Respironics is supposed to be supporting Encore Viewer since they don't want patients using Encore Pro. I did get a reply from tech support but the suggestions didn't help.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:35 pm

I've never used the "Viewer" program, but do you have the card reader plugged into a USB "hub"? It needs to be plugged into a port that goes directly into the motherboard.
Don't know......just taking a guess.

Den

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:23 pm

Wulfman wrote:I've never used the "Viewer" program, but do you have the card reader plugged into a USB "hub"? It needs to be plugged into a port that goes directly into the motherboard.
Don't know......just taking a guess.

Den

In addition, you may need to plug it into the same port every time, at least that's the case with Encore Pro.

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:02 am

One issue to remember with USB ports: if you have a device which draws its power from the computer (it doesn't have an adapter and power cord) like the Smartcard reader, then you must use a USB port that can supply adequate power to the device or it will not work.

For example, keyboards often have USB ports but they are not always "powered". That's why you want to be sure to use a USB port either directly on the computer itself or on an expansion hub that is powered.

Mindy

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Power

Vadim · Post by **Vadim** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:14 pm

I don't know, folks, about you, but I use my reader on both home and work comps, and at work I plug it into the USB hub which is not even high speed - 1.1 USB hub, and it works fine, reads data, etc.

You need to make sure that you follow all the instructions - for example, it says you need to install Encore software BEFORE you connect the reader to USB port. Do just so.

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:16 pm

Vadim wrote:I don't know, folks, about you, but I use my reader on both home and work comps, and at work I plug it into the USB hub which is not even high speed - 1.1 USB hub, and it works fine, reads data, etc.

You need to make sure that you follow all the instructions - for example, it says you need to install Encore software BEFORE you connect the reader to USB port. Do just so.

Hub or not doesn't matter .... powered USB port does!!!

Mindy

always_tired · Post by **always_tired** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:08 pm

Don't know if this tells you anything, but the SmartCard Toolkit at mycpap.com appeared to read the card and wrote a 32 K file. Is there anyway to know if this is "real" data or just some kind of header info?

Captain_Midnight · Post by **Captain_Midnight** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:14 pm

A-T
There are more experienced Encore users here than I; however, for my setup, it only seems to work if I start the computer with the Smartcard reader plugged into the USB ==> Then, at the opening screen I start up Encore = = > then I plug the card into the reader = = Then down load, all in that order.

When I installed the Encore, I paid attention to close all other programs (I've had some "issues" when I don't).

All works well, except that Encore viewer for the A-FLEX will not save to a file conveniently. (I have to print to a file using MS Office Doc Imaging, then save that to a real file).

Hope this helps --

Tom in Sacto

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:03 pm

always_tired wrote:Don't know if this tells you anything, but the SmartCard Toolkit at mycpap.com appeared to read the card and wrote a 32 K file. Is there anyway to know if this is "real" data or just some kind of header info?

32k is normal and is "real" data ... it's a "bin" or binary file and holds quite a bit of coded data. EncorePro (or EncoreViewer) decodes it.

Mindy

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:08 pm

Captain_Midnight wrote:A-T
... for my setup, it only seems to work if I start the computer with the Smartcard reader plugged into the USB ==> Then, at the opening screen I start up Encore = = > then I plug the card into the reader = = Then down load, all in that order.

Tom in Sacto

Hi Tom,

I never need to worry about sequence of those steps.... however, what I've found with computers over the years is that sometimes when we have trouble getting something to work, we fiddle with "stuff" and then somehow it magically works. We then think that it worked due to the most recent set of steps. In reality, the resolution could be something completely different. There are all kinds of computers with different version of the OS and different configurations so lots of things are possible. I certainly can't say for sure that the sequence you are using is or isn't necessary ... I can only note that I've not seen that.

In order to get my smartcard reader to work conveniently in Vista, I followed a tip from another forum member to use services.msc to set the smartcard reader driver to load automatically at startup.

If you have Vista, let me know and I'll send you the info or you can find it in a thread here.

Mindy

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