Tom,
Unless you already have software that does the functions you are looking to control automatically, or have either a driver or programming manual from Sony, you are up a creek without a paddle.
Manufacturers of such devices usually are not particularly interested in people using custom software to command their devices. This takes away from their sales. I had experiences of this exact nature with regards to a Schenck product (great product, terrible company to deal with). I ended up having to pay several thousand dollars for worthless driver software that did nothing I needed, and wrote an 'eavesdropper' program to systematically listen to command sets and responses to give me the information I needed to write my own driver (at a cost of only about 20 hours).
If you have such software, I would suggest eavesdropping on the comlink and getting the commands and responses. As you don't have the kind of program available that I wrote (it is VERY difficult to write a program that monitors a command, and parses out all responses in an organized manner) you will have to parse things manually and experiment. Try writing a simple com program that allows you to enter commands and read responses. After practice and experimentation, you can gleen enough information to be able to implement commands in your software.
However; if you don't have such software, then you have three options: Buy such software, if it exists; Give up, go buy a product with a driver or software; or...search online for a hack. I have seen a number of programs online in various places for such obscure things as communication with Cellular Phone embedded code. As there is no commercial need, for example, for a customer to talk to his phone's embedded code, such software is never available, though it is used internal to cell phone manufacturers in engineering and manufacturing test (I have personal experience with this). You may be able to find some software or documentation online that gives you the command set.
Of course, there is one other option available to you that I have so far neglected to mention. You could contact Sony and ask for the commands. Who knows, they might just give them to you (or you could make a support call, get routed to an engineer, and actually find someone willing to give you the commands.) This is an unlikely option, but one that you should still consider before 'giving up...'.
Good luck. If you get the commands, be sure to post them here.
