The Vocera Smartbadge is a small, lightweight, wearable communication device purpose-built for healthcare. The Smartbadge is powered by the Vocera Platform, enabling interoperability with the majority of clinical and operational systems used in healthcare.

The Smartbadge gives caregivers the agility to respond to the complex and unpredictable patient care environment by enabling real-time situational awareness and allowing them to receive a prioritized alert and alarm notifications, make and answer calls hands-free, and send messages securely.

The salient features of the Smartbadge are:

Hands-free calling and answering calls.
Smooth, natural bi-directional conversation.
Seamless texting as done on a smartphone.
Receive phone calls, messages, and alerts with essential information available at a glance.
Present priority items to the end-user.
Integration of hardware, software, and firmware within a single device.
Real-time situational awareness and help in reducing interruption fatigue.

For detailed documentation, refer to the following documents:

Vocera V-Series Smartbadge (User Guide)
Vocera Release Notes Library (Previous versions of the release notes)
Vocera Device Configuration Guide (Information on firmware installation)
Feature Applicability (Information on the minimum required server and firmware versions)

Supported Versions of Vocera Servers

Before installing this firmware, ensure that one of the following Vocera product is installed:

Vocera Voice Server 5.3.4 or later, Vocera Messaging Platform 5.3.4 or later (optional).
Vocera Platform 6.3.4 or later

New and Enhanced Features

This section summarizes the new features.

New Features in 5.6.1.12 (5.6.10012)

Enhancement to screen swipe-to-sleep—Previously, some users inadvertently put their Smartbadge to sleep while swiping between screens. Now, when swiping to turn off the Smartbadge screen, the display darkens in synchronization with the swipe motion. This clear visual feedback ensures users understand the action they are performing. If the screen is released mid-swipe, the badge remains awake, and the full screen is revealed.
Enhancing the display short name feature—To keep the identities of staff members confidential, the display short name feature on the Smartbadge has been enhanced to include additional screens such as call log, inbox, favorites, and notification banners. This behavior is controlled through a property, which is disabled by default.

Fixed Issues

The following list contains fixes and improvements for firmware release and the V5000 product.

Fixed Issues in Release 5.6.1.12 (5.6.10012)

G5W-15191 The swipe-to-delete function does not work for text messages sent from the user console.
G5W-15478 In rare instances, the Smartbadge fails to receive alert notifications during the failover period.
G5W-15602 The Add me or Remove me option is not displayed for groups (Vocera Platform 5.x).

Known Issues

The following section lists the known issues in this firmware release and the V5000 Smartbadge product.

Known Issues in 5.6.1.14

The following list provides information about known product issues in the 5.6.1.14 firmware and the Vocera Smartbadge:

Vocera Platform 6.x and Vocera Platform 5.x

G5W-7356 V5000 Smartbadge performs complete 802.1X authentication when it roams to a new Access Point (APs) that has a profile with 802.11w and OKC enabled.
G5W-6722 No audio is played through the Kimwood and CTXTKER digital USB-C headset.

Vocera Platform 6.x

G5W-13462 The Badge enunciates urgent alert twice if the alert is received during an instant conference.
G5W-5776 Several call log entries are displayed every time users decline the same group call.

Vocera Platform 5.x

G5W-6344 Message indicating successful PIN setup pops up for less than a second.
G5W-7810 Genie icon continues to display on the status bar even after a speech-to-text message is sent.

Vocera V5000 Release Notes

Version 5.6.1.14

Release Date: December 2024

Updated: December 5, 2024

Vocera Smartbadge Overview