These protocols all share a common programming model, but vary in signalling detail, depending on the form of the underlying data transport mechanism.
OCA was based on an existing control protocol named OCP, which had been created by Bosch Communications Systems in 2009 and 2010.
OCP was in turn based on an embryonic control protocol standard named AES-24 [2] [3] developed by the AES in the early 1990s.
The Alliance completed OCA development in the Fall of 2014, and transferred the specification to the AES for rendering into a formal standard.
Today, the OCA Alliance works to develop and enhance the functionality of AES70 and to promote AES70's adoption throughout the professional media systems industry.
The Alliance promotes understanding and adoption of AES70, facilitates the creation of AES70 implementations and related tools and technologies, and develops future functional enhancements of the AES70 standard.
OCA objects are abstractions that represent device control and monitoring points and media connections.
Future versions will expand the audio control repertoire, and may address video devices as well.
AES70 includes features that allow manufacturers to extend the OCA class structure to address functions not in the standard repertoire.
In this capacity, AES70 provides a useful level of abstraction for applications, allowing controllers and devices to use one common software model for managing stream connections of various transport architectures.
The OCA Alliance defines recommended practices for interfacing AES70 with various well-known media transport architectures.
In such systems, machine intelligence is required to manage cumulative settings effects that lead to overrange or underrange parameter values.
AES70 includes a powerful and general mechanism for applying, storing, recalling, uploading, and downloading sets of operating parameter values.
Manufacturers may define their own extensions to the control repertoire, and these will coexist peacefully with standard elements.
AES70 protocols offer encryption and authentication options that allow the construction of secure control and monitoring networks.
These primitives may be used by maintenance software to ensure that incomplete firmware updates do not render critical devices and networks inoperative.