CMU  Instrument Model and Command Processing 
1100.4903.12 5.15  E-8 
If the instrument is addressed as a talker without the output buffer containing data or awaiting data from 
the data set management, the output unit sends error message "Query UNTERMINATED" to the status 
reporting system. No data are sent on the GPIB bus, the controller waits until it has reached its time 
limit. This behavior is specified by SCPI. 
 
 
 
Command Sequence and Command Synchronization 
What was said above makes clear that overlapping execution is possible in principle for all commands. 
Equally, setting commands within one command line are not absolutely serviced in the order in which 
they have been received. 
In order to make sure that commands are actually carried out in a certain order, each command must 
be sent in a separate command line, that is to say, with a separate IBWRT()-call.  
In order to prevent an overlapping execution of commands, one of commands *OPC, *OPC? or *WAI 
must be used. All three commands cause a certain action only to be carried out after the hardware has 
been set and has settled. By a suitable programming, the controller can be forced to wait for the re-
spective action to occur (cf. Table 5-1). 
 
 
Table 5-1  Synchronization with *OPC, *OPC? and *WAI 
Com-
mand 
Action after the hardware has settled  Programming the controller 
*OPC  Setting the operation-complete bit in the ESR  - Setting bit 0 in the ESE 
- Setting bit 5 in the SRE 
- Waiting for service request (SRQ) 
*OPC?  Writing a "1" into the output buffer  Addressing the instrument as a talker 
*WAI  Executing the next command 
Note: The GPIB bus handshake is not stopped 
Sending the next command