This release includes the following new features and functionality.

The Vocera Smartbadge redefines healthcare communication by combining smartphone usability with hands-free freedom. Vocera Smartbadge represents a new category of wearable communication devices that enable clinician agility and accelerate patient care.

What's New in 5.0.3.45 [12.4]

With V5000 Smartbadge, Vocera introduced its first touch screen along with a touch sensor as the Call button. Due to the nature of wearable devices, fingers are not the only surfaces that come into contact with a touch sensor. Wrists, forearms, and other material may come into contact with the touch sensor leading to calls being initiated accidentally.

To mitigate this, Vocera has introduced a capability in the Smartbadge using the touch surface on display, the proximity sensor, and the Call touch sensor to assess whether a user has placed a call intentionally or accidentally. If an accidental call is detected, the Smartbadge will log the event, but not place a call. Internal testing has shown this new capability to reduce the number of accidental calls that are placed.

This new capability does not change the Call touch sensor behavior when a finger or thumb is placed on the touch sensor. Neither does it change the behavior of the Panic button in any way.

For those customers who are experiencing accidental calls through the touch sensor, Vocera would like to invite these customers to evaluate the changes in the Smartbadge firmware, which introduces the accidental call detection.

This new firmware is based on the 5.0.3.45, which was generally available in December 2019. This new firmware is labeled as 5.0.3.45 [12.4].

Any customers who deploy this firmware are encouraged to send Voice Server logs to Vocera in order to measure how effective this feature is in reducing the number of accidental calls.

What's New in 5.0.3.45

• Bluetooth headset certification—Bluetooth headsets are now certified to be used with V5000 Smartbadge.
• USB C digital headsets—Vocera Smartbadge supports the use of USB-C digital headset. Due to the variety in configurations and performance of digital USB-C headsets, it is recommended to choose USB-C headsets that are targeted for laptops and Android smartphones. This feature is enabled by the following badge property V5._EnableDigitalHS_ [True|False]. The default value is false.
• Hot Word to initiate a Genie call—Vocera Smartbadge now has the ability to respond to the spoken voice command OK Vocera to initiate a Genie call without the user having to touch the Call button for a true, handsfree calling experience. This feature is enabled through the badge property V5.EnableHotword [True|False]. The default value of the property is False.
• PIN Authentication—An authentication PIN can be enabled to identify the user logging into the Smartbadge. As the user presses the Call button, the genie enunciates an invitation for the user name and then requests a PIN for authentication. The user PIN requirement is set up by the administrator. To further secure the experience, the authentication PIN is prompted after the session timeout. However, calls, messages, and alerts are delivered even after session timeout. But to interact with the screen, the PIN must be entered.
• Log File Enhancement—ARP entries are now displayed in the Smartbadge log files.
• Wi-Fi Changes
  • A badge property V5.ForceIGMPVersion introduced to force specific IGMP versions to be adopted. The default value is IGMP v3.
  • The Linux TCP Selective Acknowledgement (SACK) vulnerability detailed in CVE-2019-11477, CVE-2019-11478, and CVE-2019-11479 have been mitigated in this release.
• No Response Notification—If no response is received to a message sent from the web console or the Vocera Collaboration Suite app within the response timeout timeframe, a notification is received on the Vocera Smartbadge.
• User Interface Enhancements
  • The volume settings are now available for speaker, handset, headset, and Bluetooth audio paths. The volume settings are saved in the user profile.
  • Configurable delay for the Panic Button operation is introduced. The default is 1 second and can be controlled through the badge property V5.PanicDelayDurationMS = 100-5000 (msec).
  • When a call is forwarded to an external phone number, the forwarded number is hidden.
  • Two new options, Broadcast and Urgent Broadcast, are introduced for Groups in the interface.
  • Turn the screen off by swiping to the right on any primary screen such as Event/Home, Directory, and Settings screens.
  • Haptic touch for the keyboard is a user option, accessible through user settings. A vibration can be felt when typing to aid in typing accuracy.
  • Expired messages and alerts are automatically removed from the Events screen to reduce clutter.
  • Page callback option now available to call a Vocera user directly rather than routing the callback as an outside call.
  • The callback button now displayed and supported for VMI messages.

Release 5.0.3.45

• G5W-3253—When 80MHz or 40MHz channels were enabled on the WLAN controller, the Smartbadge only display the center frequency. The Smartbadge now displays the Primary Channel.
• G5W-3538—Smartbadge did not delete the expired message sent from Vocera Collaboration Suite using a message template.
• G5W-3391—A message sent from the Vocera Collaboration Suite did not display a subject.
• G5W-3890—Participants list for a text message sent to a distribution list did not display on the senders call log.
• G5W-3939—A received VMI message with a callback option did not display the CallBack button.
• G5W-3947—A received Page with a callback option did not display the CallBack button.
• G5W-4195—Aruba quiet IE feature causes the radio to stop transmitting.
• G5W-4392—Smartbadge sometimes displayed Requesting IP address after continuously failing to authenticate.
• G5W-4831—Users could not accept, decline, or hold an incoming broadcast while a broadcast call was in progress.
• G5W-5324—Event icons were missing when a call log event was tapped twice.
• G5W-5405—Incoming Call screen did not display when PTT Rx was interrupted by an incoming call.
• G5W-5694—Add and Call buttons disappeared in a chat participant screen.
• G5W-5707—Choppy audio was observed with Aruba Infrastructure when UAPSD was disabled on the AP, and UAPSD enabled on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-5739—While navigating between Chats and Participants screens, the Call button sometimes disappeared.
• G5W-5742—Favorite and unfavorite action could not be performed accurately by one-click on the Favorite button.
• G5W-5744—Quick reply and Keyboard options disappeared in the chat layer.
• G5W-5815—Pressing the DND button during the Welcome Tutorial did not end the tutorial while a call was on hold with another call.
• G5W-5927—Broadcast audio was not heard on the Bluetooth headset.
• G5W-5968—802.11v was being erroneously enabled and was not functional. It is now disabled.
• G5W-5994—If the title name of a participant was more than 15 characters, the title was truncated.
• G5W-6020—When announcing through the speaker option is on, the audio prompts played out of the speaker, in the handset mode, had lower volume than the speaker mode.
• G5W-6125—Could not place calls to a telephone number using a dial pad after putting the ongoing call on hold.
• G5W-6178—Received page alert did not display under messages or alerts.
• G5W-6204—Genie did not respond if the call button was held for 1.5 seconds to log in.
• G5W-6212—There was no audio between a Smartbadge and a Badge in a conference while another unicast call between them was on hold.
• G5W-6270—Expired alerts were not removed.
• G5W-6271—The alert expired message was not displayed when a user viewed an expired alert.
• G5W-6272—Response options were not hidden when an alert expired.
• G5W-6326—Setting server IP address from the Admin menu returned an error for a valid IPv4 address.
• G5W-6399—Notification tone was played, and a notification banner was displayed for an outgoing page.
• G5W-6402—Quick Reply option displayed Press and Hold Selection to edit twice on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-6569—No IGMP Version were shown in the badge logs.
• G5W-6719—While on the standby mode, the Smartbadge received a roam trigger event at RSSI -68 instead of -73.
• G5W-6872—Echo could sometimes be heard at the far end in the Handset Mode.
• G5W-6905—Keypad and search icons were missing in Group filtered Directory layer.
• G5W-6986—Responding to an MCR option required multiple taps sometimes.
• G5W-7182 —A Page that has been read, may be flagged as unread if a user logs out and logs back in again.

Release 5.0.2.163

• G5W-3476—When in a Conference call and placing the current call on hold to make another call, the GUI did not indicate that there were multiple calls in progress.
• G5W-3845—Mass distribution message appeared as a conversation message instead of a notification message.
• G5W-3888—Mass distribution message sent to a group with more than 50 members did not display the participant list.
• G5W-3917—When a message with attachments was sent from VCS to the Smartbadge, clicking show more messages, displayed empty messages and not messages with attachment.
• G5W-3924—When a message was sent from VCS to a distribution list of participants using Smartbadge, the following error was displayed No recipients found! Add participant(s) to continue!.
• G5W-4109—When in off-campus mode the Smartbadge would occasionally assert.
• G5W-4246—On rare occasions when moving through the “Request IP address” stage the Wi-Fi radio would not return to power save mode.
• G5W-4095—The split scan channel list would continue to increase. This has now been restricted to a limit of 10 channels
• G5W-4383—VMI messages from the Voice Server did not display VMI option response selection.
• G5W-4431—Voice messages were not received if the Do Not Disturb (DND) button was pressed before the arrival of the notification banner.
• G5W-4468—Ongoing panic call ended if the receiver got an incoming call and selected the hold and accept option from the call screen.
• G5W-4686—A Smartbadge configured into handset mode permanently did not enunciate incoming calls, even if it was configured in the Voice Server.
• G5W-4756—Smartbadge screen did not respond if the call was initiated from a chat session.
• G5W-4772—Roam failure reason codes have now been added to Smartbadge logs.
• G5W-4778—Missed call and message alerts were not enunciated when the user returns online after being off-network for a short while.

Release 5.0.1.87

• G5W-1609—When roaming frequently, the radio driver would occasionally restart.
• G5W-2845—Vibrator sometimes stayed on at times after the call button was triggered.
• G5W-3074—Messages received from the web console did not contain a subject line.
• G5W-3166—Blank space appeared at the upper layer of the Directory screen.
• G5W-3364—When the USB-C analog headset were used, a pop sound was sometimes was heard in idle mode.
• G5W-3379—Urgent voice Messages were displayed as normal messages in the call history.
• G5W-3536—When selecting a timer for the DND feature, there was no indication which timer option dash been selected.
• G5W-3560—Messages with attachments received from the web console were not indicated in the Smartbadge.
• G5W-3632—In certain circumstances, when using the Secure Chat functionality, a white box concealed a portion of the display.
• G5W-3752—Audible beep was not heard for unread message reminder alerts on the Smartbadge when the user was in DND mode.
• G5W-3768—Audible beep was not heard for unread message reminder alerts on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-3796—Voice message state was not updated after the voice message was played.
• G5W-3846—When viewing search results after searching for users in the Directory, the status of the search result was sometimes not correct.
• G5W-3850—When placing a Panic call on hold, the display did not reflect that the call was held.
• G5W-3881—There were no options to accept or decline the incoming call when a panic call was in progress on the press.
• G5W-3882—Message status did not update when a regular message was sent along with an urgent message.
• G5W-3906—Chat and call buttons persisted on the call history screen.
• G5W-3916—It was not possible to add Vocera Secure Text users to new conversations.
• G5W-3930—The search icon was displayed in the Group view.
• G5W-3941—Double-clicking contact titles in a list opened a gray text box.
• G5W-3984—When a call was initiated to a Group member, the call was placed to the Group instead of the to the Group member.
• G5W-3993—Pressing the DND button during Instant Conference did not invoke the Genie.
• G5W-3996—Screen would sometimes turn off while trying to send a text message when the Smartbadge was in a call using the handset mode.
• G5W-4031—Smartbadge did not go out of DND mode if a call was initiated from the Smartbadge screen.
• G5W-4037—Initials were missing when the voice message was received for the first time from a user.
• G5W-4041—Smartbadge lost all the call history after a power cycle.
• G5W-4061—Voice message status received from yourself always appeared unplayed.
• G5W-4106—Message status was not updated when the user received a message while in the chat screen.
• G5W-4107—The chat and call buttons on the user details screen disappeared.
• G5W-4121—The following error message "No recipients found!Add participants to continue!" appeared up when a Smartbadge called a Vocera Secure Text user.
• G5W-4130—The call icon was still filled with color even after ending the Urgent call that was placed to a contact from the favorite list.
• G5W-4145—When rejoining a held broadcast call, the Genie call screen was displayed.
• G5W-4194—With EAP authentication even if a PAC file was expired the Smartbadge did not attempt to use the expired PAC file.
• G5W-4286—Broadcast call appeared as an "Unidentified call" in the call history.
• G5W-4312—The Smartbadge did not authenticate correctly with an IAS authentication server with using PEAP authentication.
• G5W-4404—In the search screen, user availability status appeared grey for unavailable users.
• G5W-4449—Group icon was missing in the Group view.
• G5W-4457—Users with on-call and monitor statuses did not receive a message.
• G5W-4490—Voice messages appeared played when a user logged out and then logged back in again.
• G5W-4572—Pressing the physical Call button did not Hold and Accept the incoming call during a panic call session.

Release 5.0.0.76

• G5W-4175—When a user tried to open a voice message while in an active call, a Restart UI message appeared.

Release 5.0.0.73

• G5W-3598—When an Urgent message was received, two entries appeared in the message history—one for the enunciated call and one for the message.
• G5W-3564—When an alert was received from a monitor alarm system, the subject sometimes truncated in the summary view.
• G5W-3573—If a completely drained battery is inserted into the Smartbadge and a USB C charger is applied, the Smartbadge may fail to boot correctly.
• G5W-3559—When the calling party was put on hold by a remote party, there was no visual indication that the local user has been put on hold.
• G5W-3914—When receiving an alert through the VMI gateway, the header displayed “VMI Message.”
• G5W-2187—Speech Zone Fallback was integrated for V5000 Smartbadge.
• G5W-3591—The internal Smartbadge prompts now use the same voice as the Vocera Genie (Jennifer.)
• G5W-2970—Search result screens could not be scrolled in portrait mode.
• G5W-1753—Battery and charging status displayed in an overlay when a charger was connected.

As part of the resistance to dust and water ingress, the removable battery is a snug fit when initially deployed with the Smartbadge. When removing the battery after sliding the latch to the red position, it is recommended to apply a little pressure in the direction of the USB-C socket to ease the removal of the battery.

The following list provides information about known product issues in the 5.0.3.45 firmware and the Vocera Smartbadge:

Release 5.0.3.45

• G5W-2987—When using 802.11r roaming, Smartbadge does not support FT-Over DS roaming; it supports over-the-air roaming.
• G5W-4994—When joining together multiple parties into a conference call, on some occasions no audio will be heard when first joined. Putting the call on hold and resuming it will restore the audio.
• G5W-5102—When replying to an MCR response by voice, the responded option is not displayed.
• G5W-5226—During Broadcast and Urgent Broadcast calls, the name of the initiator is displayed on the call screen instead of the Group name in all the Smartbadges.
• G5W-5282—When a call transfer is in progress and the user attempts to end the transfer by pressing the DND button, the transfer is completed instead of being ended.
• G5W-5372—Participant list is empty when a call is placed to an external number.
• G5W-5608—Smartbadge updates firmware multiple times in a cluster setup if the Voice Server nodes have different firmware images loaded.
• G5W-5667—Sometimes, an empty event is displayed on the Home screen and cannot be deleted.
• G5W-5826—MCR status on UI does not get updated if the user provides a voice response to the enunciated VMI messages (all messages.)
• G5W-5979—Group name is not displayed in the initiator Smartbadge during a broadcast call.
• G5W-6016—Search input field accepts numbers and special characters.
• G5W-6017—If the Directory screen is closed and re-opened after a minute, the Directory screen does not display the default Favorites page in the Directory screen.
• G5W-6267—With WPA-PSK-SHA256, the Smartbadge is sometimes unable to generate temporal keys in the four-way handshake.
• G5W-6239—Response from the Smartbadge to server pings are delayed.
• G5W-6342 —On rare occasions, the Smartbadge may beep to indicate that there is an unread message, but no message appears in the Home screen.
• G5W-6344—Message indicating successful PIN setup pops up for less than a second.
• G5W-6395—Selecting a time for DND is considered as input when entering or creating the PIN.
• G5W-6841—Deleting a character in the chat window with the delete key sometimes resulted in more characters getting deleted.
• G5W-6900—UI displays the name of the conference initiator twice on the Smartbadge of the user accepting the conference call first.
• G5W-6987—The chat icon inside a conversation disappears when a user clicks the Choose a Response option.
• G5W-7002—A USB-C digital headset may not be detected when handset mode is enabled.
• G5W-7016—Voice message events are not displayed under call logs.
• G5W-7019—Deleting alerts from endpoints does not reflect on the Vocera Smartbadge.
• G5W-7027—After you update the PIN timeout values, the Vocera Smartbadge still uses the old PIN timeout value while prompting for the PIN entry.

Release 5.0.2.163

• G5W-3253—When 80MHz or 40MHz channels enabled on the WLAN controller, the Smartbadge will display the center frequency.
• G5W-3538—Smartbadge does not delete the expired message sent from VCS using a message template.
• G5W-4036—The user receives a normal call during DND after restarting VS server.
• G5W-4195—Aruba quiet IE feature causes the radio to stop transmitting. Disabling the Aruba Quiet IE feature works around this issue.
• G5W-4831—User cannot accept, decline or hold incoming broadcast calls when another broadcast call is in progress.
• G5W-5102—When replying to an MCR response by voice, the response options are not displayed.
• G5W-5667—Empty events are displayed on the Home screen and not able to delete it.
• G5W-5707—Choppy audio is observed when UAPSD is enabled in the Smartbadge and UAPSD is disabled in AP. Workaround: If UAPSD is enabled or disabled in the Smartbadge it needs to enabled or disabled in the Access Point too.
• G5W-5824—Alert tone plays while VMI message is enunciated.
• G5W-5979—Group name is not displayed in the initiator Smartbadge during a broadcast call.

Release 5.0.1.87

• G5W-3925—When a conversation that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
• G5W-3933—When a conversation with MCR that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
• G5W-4154—The Smartbadge does not support DisplayShortName and DisplayShortCallerName badge property yet.
• G5W-4802—While typing messages, occasionally keys in the keyboard do not go back to the original position.

Release 5.0.0.73

• G5W-1609—When roaming frequently, the radio driver may restart.
• G5W-2809—LEAP Authentication may fail due to an incorrect size PMK.
• G5W-2900—During an 802.1x association, the first attempt may fail due to a delay, causing a second attempt which is successful.
• G5W-3026—When using Cisco WLC 8.3 where both 802.11ac and 802.11n are disabled, the Smartbadge ping messages are not passed to the Vocera Voice server. This problem is resolved with Cisco WLC 8.5.
• G5W-3074—Messages received from the web console do not contain a subject line.
• G5W-3364—When using a USB-C analog headset, a pop sound may sometimes be heard in idle mode.
• G5W-3379—Call log displays Urgent voice messages as normal voice messages.
• G5W-3476—When in a Conference call and placing the current call on hold to make another call, the GUI does not indicate that there are multiple calls in progress.
• G5W-3536—When selecting a timer for the DND feature, there is no indication which timer option has been selected.
• G5W-3560—If an attachment is sent from a Smartphone client to the Smartbadge, there is no indication that there is an attachment.
• G5W-3566—When deploying the Vocera Smartbadge with a standalone AP in a test environment, the Smartbadge may take several minutes to complete its DHCP transaction. This problem does not occur in a Wireless LAN environment.
• G5W-3632—In certain circumstances, when using the Secure Chat functionality, a white box may conceal a portion of the display. Workaround: Dismissing the conversation and restarting or swiping to a new layer resolves this issue.
• G5W-3846—When verbally acknowledging a multiple-choice response alert, the display does not indicate that the alert has been acknowledged.
• G5W-3850—When placing a Panic call on hold, the display does not reflect the held call status.
• G5W-3852—While adding a participant to a chat conversation, and rotating the Smartbadge to portrait mode, to portrait, the Search key appears instead of the Add key.