Introduction to Programming The Status Model
34 Agilent 8163A/B, 8164A/B & 8166A/B Mainframes, Fifth Edition
The Operational/Questionable Slot Status Event Register (OSSER/QSSER) 
contains the status of a particular module slot. A bit changes from 0 → 1 
when an event occurs, for example, when a laser is switched on. For 
details of the function of each bit of these registers, see 
“Operation/Questionable Status Summary Register” on page 38.
The Operational/Questionable Slot Enable Status Mask (OSESM/QSESM) 
allows you to choose the events for each module slot that may affect the 
Operational/Questionable Status Event Register (see below). If you set a 
bit of the OSESM/QSESM to zero, the occurence of the corresponding 
event for this particular module slot cannot affect the 
Operational/Questionable Status Event Register. The default is for all the 
bits of the OSESM/QSESM to be set to 0.
The Operational/Questionable Status Event Summary Register 
(OSESR/QSESR) summarizes the status of every module slot of your 
instrument. If, for any slot, any bit of the QSSER goes from 0 → 1 AND the 
corresponding bit of the QSSEM is 1 at the same time, the QSESR bit 
representing that slot is set to 1.
The Operational/Questionable Status Enable Summary Mask 
(OSESM/QSESM) allows you to choose the module slots that may affect 
the OSB/QSB of the Status Byte. If any bit of the QSESR goes from 0 → 1 
AND the corresponding bit of the QSESM is 1 at the same time, the QSB of 
the Status Byte is set to 1. If you set a bit of the OSESM/QSESM to zero, 
the corresponding module slot cannot affect the OSB/QSB. The default is 
for all the bits of the OSESM/QSESM to be set to 0. 
The Operational/Questionable Status Enable Summary Mask for the 
Agilent 8163A/B Lightwave Multimeter and the Agilent 8164A/B 
Lightwave Measurement System consists of one level. These are 
described in “Status System for 8163A/B & 8164A/B” on page 35.
As the Agilent 8166A/B Lightwave Multichannel System has 17 module 
slots, the Operational/Questionable Status Enable Summary Mask 
consists of two levels. This is described in “Status System for 8166A/B” 
on page 36.