Wireless and wired speaker hub for a home theater system

• US 10,575,095 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2008
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: McCarty, William A., King, Jr., Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): Monikang, George C
• Application Number:
  US12/270,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20090067640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,121 Days
• Field of Search: 381 77, 381 80, 381 81, 381 84, 381 85, 381 78, 381311, 381334, 381 27
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/024 Positioning of loudspeaker enclosures for spatial sound reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/026 Single (sub)woofer with two or more satellite loudspeakers for mid- and high-frequency band reproduction driven via the (sub)woofer
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/00 Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence

Abstract

A method and system for communicating audio, video, and/or control signals within a home entertainment system. A plurality of audio channels is communicated between a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver. The wireless transmitter is located proximate to a speaker housing. In some embodiments the speaker housing also encloses a center channel loudspeaker. The center channel loudspeaker transmits an audio signal to a remote loudspeaker. An exemplary remote loudspeaker is a subwoofer loudspeaker. The subwoofer loudspeaker provides one or more received audio channels to one or more surround loudspeakers.

Claims

1. An entertainment system comprising:

a first loudspeaker housing having a receiver, a first loudspeaker, and an amplifier disposed therein, wherein the receiver is configured to wirelessly receive a plurality of channels of an audio signal, wherein the amplifier is configured to amplify at least two of the received channels, wherein the first loudspeaker is configured to emit as sound one of the amplified channels, and wherein the other amplified channel is to be routed from the amplifier to a second loudspeaker in a second loudspeaker housing; and

a transmitter, separate from the first loudspeaker housing and the second loudspeaker housing, configured to wirelessly transmit the plurality of channels of the audio signal to the receiver, each of the plurality of channels being different from each other, and wherein none of the channels in the plurality of channels is a sum or difference signal.

2. The entertainment system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is housed within a third loudspeaker housing having a third loudspeaker therein that is configured to emit as sound a channel of the audio signal that is different than each of the plurality of channels.

3. The entertainment system of claim 1, further comprising an audio module configured to process the audio signal into the plurality of channels and provide the plurality of channels to the transmitter.

4. The entertainment system of claim 1, wherein the other amplified channel is routed to the second loudspeaker using a wired connection.

5. The entertainment system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter combines the audio signal with a control signal to form a combined signal, and transmits the combined signal to the receiver over a network;

and wherein the receiver is configured to receive the combined signal from the transmitter and extract the control signal and the audio signal from the combined signal.

6. The entertainment system of claim 5, wherein the control signal is one of a volume level, equalizer information, or audio channel identification information, and wherein the control signal is user selectable.

7. The entertainment system of claim 5, further comprising a microcontroller configured to manipulate the audio signal based on the extracted control signal.

8. The entertainment system of claim 1, wherein the amplifier is further configured to amplify another received channel, said amplified another received channel to be routed to a third loudspeaker in a third loudspeaker housing that is separate from the first loudspeaker housing and from the second loudspeaker housing.

9. A system comprising:

a first loudspeaker housing having therein a receiver configured to receive over a network a plurality of different channels of an audio signal from a transmitter that is separate from and outside of the first loudspeaker housing and outside of a second loudspeaker housing, wherein none of the channels in the plurality of channels is a sum or difference signal;

an amplifier within the first loudspeaker housing, configured to amplify at least two but not all of the received channels; and

a first loudspeaker within the first loudspeaker housing, configured to emit as sound one of the amplified channels, and wherein the first loudspeaker housing is configured to route the other amplified channel to the second loudspeaker housing that is separate from the first loudspeaker housing.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the network is one of a wired network and a powerline network.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the network is one of a wireless radio frequency (RF) network or a wireless infrared (IR) network.

12. The system of claim 9 further comprising a third loudspeaker housing having therein said transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit the plurality of different channels of the audio signal to the receiver in the first loudspeaker housing, and a third loudspeaker configured to emit as sound a channel of the audio signal that is different than each of the plurality of different channels that are wirelessly transmitted to the receiver.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the amplifier within the first loudspeaker housing is further configured to amplify another received channel, the first loudspeaker housing being configured to output said amplified another received channel to a third loudspeaker housing that is separate from the first loudspeaker housing and the second loudspeaker housing.

14. A method performed in a loudspeaker housing for distributing audio channels, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving, into a first loudspeaker housing, a plurality of different audio channels of an audio signal that are being wirelessly transmitted by a transmitter that is separate from the first loudspeaker housing and separate from a second loudspeaker housing, wherein none of the audio channels in the plurality of different audio channels is a sum or difference signal;

amplifying each of the plurality of different audio channels using amplifier circuitry in the first loudspeaker housing, wherein a first amplified audio channel of the plurality of different audio channels drives a first loudspeaker in the first loudspeaker housing; and

routing a second amplified audio channel of the plurality of different audio channels to a second loudspeaker in the second loudspeaker housing using a first wired connection.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of different audio channels are wirelessly received from the transmitter which is in a third loudspeaker housing in which there is a third loudspeaker.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the third loudspeaker is one of a center speaker or a subwoofer.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first loudspeaker is one of a center speaker or a subwoofer.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving control information into the first loudspeaker housing to manipulate at least one of the received plurality of different audio channels.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the control information comprises at least one of equalizer information or volume control information.