This section summarizes the new features in the Vocera Smartbadge 5.1.1.51 [15.3] release.

Placing Direct Calls from Vocera Devices

As part of the Vocera care team connect solution, the new direct call feature enables the communication between the patient and the caregiver in bed locations that lack nurse call. This feature reduces the need to don and doff PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and improve the patient experience.

When the direct call feature is enabled on Vocera Platform and Vocera devices, the user can press the Call button to immediately place a call to a predefined recipient without having to interact with the genie. The direct call recipient can be another user, group, or a contact in the system.

To enable this feature, set the custom badge property V5.DirectCallEnabled true by using the BCU or through the VCB menu only. Do not add this property to the Badge.Properties of the Vocera Platform. The default value of the badge property is false.

Vocera recommends the following:

• Do not enable this property on the Vocera device of caregivers.
• Do not add the V5.DirectCallEnabled property to the Badge.Properties of the Voice Platform.

For information on Vocera device usage guidelines for the Direct Call feature, refer to the Vocera V-Series Smartbadge User Guide, Vocera B-Series Badge User Guide, and Vocera Device Configuration Guide available on Vocera Documentation Portal.

This section summarizes the new features in the Vocera Smartbadge 5.1.1 release.

• USB-C digital headsets—Vocera Smartbadge supports the use of USB-C digital headsets. 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.
• Wake Word to initiate a Genie call—Smartbadge now has the ability to respond to the spoken voice command OK Vocera to initiate a Genie call without having to touch the Call button for a true, hands-free calling experience. This feature is enabled through the badge property V5.EnableHotword [True|False]. The default value of the property is False.
• 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.
• Hide patient information―If you do not have permission to view patient information, the patient information header displays the patient location only, and the patient view in the directory is hidden.
• Accept alert option for multiple users
  • If configured, a new view option is offered for an alert to be looked at before accepting or declining. You can see who has accepted or declined the alert in the Alert Chat view.
• 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 now hidden.
  • You can now 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 now be felt when typing to aid in typing accuracy.
  • Expired messages and alerts are now automatically removed from the Events screen to reduce clutter.
  • Empty screen tips are now provided to define blank screens.
  • Alert pop-up screen is now displayed during Genie enunciation.

This section summarizes the new features in the Vocera Smartbadge 5.1.0 release.

• PIN Authentication for Logging in

  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.

• Home Screen Features

  • The Home screen has the following filters:

    • Home—Displays an integrated view of all call types, voice messages, text messages, alerts as entries in a conversation.
    • Calls—Displays the call records and selecting one will take you to the call view for the corresponding conversation.
    • Messages—Displays text message.
    • Alerts—Displays all alert-based conversations.

  • The most recent conversation is displayed at the top.
  • You can leave a conversation by swiping left and tapping Leave.
  • You can favorite contact from a call log or a voicemail.

• Directory Screen

  • Directory screen displays the following filters:
    • Staff—Names of the staff members in your favorite list.
    • Patients—Name, room number, MRN, gender, DOB of the patient assigned to the user.
    • Groups—Names of the groups in your favorite list.

  • You can search the names of staff and groups, and favorite the search for easy access.

• Messages and Alerts

  • Messages and alerts appear in the inbox in chronological order with the newest at the top.
  • Incoming messages and alerts play the appropriate notification based on priority or enunciate based on the server specified setting.
  • New alerts are received as pop-ups with a brief description and may include response options such as Accept, Decline, Accept & Call.
  • Patient details are provided along with messages and alerts if a patient is associated with it.

• Patient Context

  Provides the ability to access information about a patient to understand the real-time situation of the patient. Patient context has the following features if a patient is assigned to a user:

  • Patient identification details, such as name, DOB, MRN, sex, room.
  • Current status such as admit reason, fall risk score, and so on.
  • Care team information to access additional patient details enabling a user to see and communicate with specific members of the patient’s care team.
  • Patient details can be attached to new conversations.
  • Patient details get attached to a call made to a care team member.
  • You can leave a conversation.

• Flexible DND

  Options available to select preset custom messages.

There are no new fixes in this release.

• G5W-5150—Selecting the Hold and Accept option on the screen of an incoming call while a panic call is in progress terminates the panic call.
• G5W-5639—When a user comes out of the DND mode, the genie enunciates the missed call information twice even when the user cancels the genie enunciation.
• G5W-5984—Intermittent unable to logout using the UI button.
• G5W-6149—Calling an inactive user from the call log displays the following error: Voice service is unavailable.
• G5W-6177 / PFM-12804—When a user sends a voicemail to a group that they do not belong to, the user gets a notification along with the receiver.
• G5W-6181—Smartbadge notification tones play repeatedly when Vina client sends an image until the request times out.
• G5W-6275—Alert escalating to tertiary level may not display the Accept option.
• G5W-6343—If a calling user has an apostrophe in their user ID, the UI crashes.

• G5W-3253—When 80MHz or 40MHz channels enabled on the WLAN controller, the Smartbadge will display the center frequency.
• G5W-4195—Aruba quiet IE feature causes the radio to stop transmitting. Disabling the Aruba Quiet IE feature works around this issue.
• G5W-5707—Choppy audio is observed when UAPSD is enabled in the Smartbadge and UAPSD is disabled in AP.

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 5.1.1.51 [15.3] firmware and the Vocera Smartbadge:

• G5W-2809—LEAP Authentication may fail due to an incorrect size PMK.
• G5W-2987—When using 802.11r roaming, Smartbadge does not support FT-Over DS roaming; it supports over-the-air roaming.
• 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-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-4195—Aruba quiet IE feature causes the radio to stop transmitting. Disabling the Aruba Quiet IE feature works around this issue.
• 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-5776—Several call log entries are displayed every time users decline the same group call.
• G5W-5948—The Smartbadge does not retain the DND mode after a reboot.
• G5W-6267—With WPA-PSK-SHA256, the Smartbadge is sometimes unable to generate temporal keys in the four-way handshake.
• G5W-7002—A USB-C digital headset may not be detected when handset mode is enabled.
• G5W-7277—The chat screen does not open when the Smartbadge receives a text message during sleep even if the Raise to Wake option is enabled.
• G5W-7293—The IP address of the Voice Server cluster is displayed in the badge settings even after clustering is disabled.
• G5W-7510—Accept and decline options appear on the alert details screen when the alerts are accepted from the PIN timeout screen.
• G5W-7526—Declined alerts are displayed on the Home screen even after the same user re-logs in.
• G5W-7536—Alert does not expire if the alert was received on the PIN timeout screen and accepted by a user.
• G5W-7572—Pressing the call button does not initiate a call to the contact when the voice message details screen is opened from a conversation calls screen.
• G5W-8015—Due to the extended numbering format of the 5.1.1.51 [15.3] firmware, the standalone Windows installer incorrectly identifies this firmware as 5.1.1.003.