Audio related system communication protocol

• US 20050246041A1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lee, John, Stevenson, Andrew, Kreifeldt, Richard Allen, Shuttleworth, Timothy J., Zollinger, Howard Scott, Plunkett, William A., Werf, Bruce Vander
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/04 Studio equipment; Interconnection of studios
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F

Abstract

A system for management and control of audio related equipment. The system provides an architecture to manage, monitor, and control all of the audio related equipment in an audio system. A communication protocol used within the system allows standardized communication between the performance equipment mangers and the audio related devices, as well as device-to-device communication. The protocol allows users to add audio related devices to an audio system without performing a setup to configure communication between the devices.

Claims

1. A signal addressing structure operable to interact with an audio-related device, comprising:

a version component representing a type of protocol with which the signal is associated;

a length component representing a number of bits associated with the signal;

a source node ID component representing a unique, network interface independent identification of an audio related device associated with the source of the signal;

a destination node ID component representing a unique, network interface independent identification of an audio related device associated with the destination of the signal;

a message ID component representing a type of instruction associated with the signal;

a flag component representing a characteristic associated with the signal;

a count component representing a hop count for the signal; and

a message component representing a message to be processed by the audio-related device.

2. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where, the length component comprises a header length and a message length, the header length determined by sum of the number of bits associated with the version component, the length component, the source address component, the destination address component, the message ID component, the flag component, and the count component.

3. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the message length represents the number of bits associated with the message component.

4. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the source node ID component includes a region representing a virtual device associated with the source of the signal.

5. The signal addressing structure of claim 4, where the source node ID component includes a region representing an object associated with the source of the signal.

6. The signal addressing structure of claim 5, where the destination node ID component includes a region representing a virtual device associated with the destination of the signal.

7. The signal addressing structure of claim 6, where the destination node ID component includes a region representing an object associated with the source of the signal.

8. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the flag component is configured to provide an acknowledgment by the source of the signal that an action has been completed.

9. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the flag component is configured to provide a request by the source of the signal for an acknowledgement when an action has been completed by the destination of the signal.

10. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the flag component is configured to provide a response to a request.

11. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, further comprising a sequence number component operable to count each time a message is passed between the source of the signal and the destination of the signal.

12. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the message component includes a message operable to instruct an audio-related device to change the value of a state variable by a relative percentage.

13. The signal addressing structure of claim 12, where a payload of the message is a number between 0 and 100.

14. The signal addressing structure of claim 1, where the message component includes a message that is operable to instruct the audio-related device to transmit changes in the audio-related device to the source of the signal.

15. A method of interacting with an audio-related device:

establishing a communication link with an audio-related device including at least one virtual device, at least one object, and at least one state variable;

transmitting a message instructing the audio-related device to change a value of the state variable, the message including a flag representing a request that the audio-related device communicate a response upon changing the value of the SV to the value indicated in the message; and

receiving an acknowledgment from the audio-related device indicating that the value of the SV had been changed.

16. The method of claim 15, where the message instructs the audio-related device to increase the value of the state variable by a percentage value.

17. The method of claim 15, where the message instructs the audio-related device to decrease the value of the state variable by a percentage value.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving a response from the audio-related device each time the value of the SV changes.

19. The method of claim 16, where the response received from the audio-related device represents a percentage of change for the SV.

20. The method of claim 17, where the response includes a number between 0 and 100.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising transmitting a message instructing the audio-related device to perform an operation in response to receiving the acknowledgement from the audio-related device.

22. An audio-related device comprising:

memory configured to store settings of an audio-related device;

a user interface configured to change the settings stored in memory;

a communication port configured to transmit and receive signals on a communication link;

a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the user interface, and the communication port;

a communication manager operatively coupled to the communication port and the processor, and configured to generate a message comprising a plurality of packets, each of the packets including

a length component representing the number of bits associated with the signal;

a source node ID component representing a unique, network interface independent identification of an audio related device associated with the source of the signal;

a destination node ID component representing a unique, network interface independent identification of an audio related device associated with the destination of the signal;

a message ID component representing a type of instructions associated with the signal;

a flag component representing a characteristic associated with the signal;

a count component representing a hop count for the signal, and

a message component representing a message to be processed by the audio-related device.

23. The audio-related device of claim 22, where the flag component represents an acknowledgment by a device to which the audio-related device has communicated that an action has been completed.

24. The audio-related device of claim 22, where the flag component represents a request for an acknowledgement when an action has been completed by a device to which the message is directed.

25. The audio-related device of claim 24, where the memory includes a queue of messages generated by the communications manager, the communication port sequentially transmitting messages in the queue in response to receiving the acknowledgement.

26. The audio relate device of claim 25, where the messages in the queue include instructions that are dependent upon completion of other instructions in the queue.

27. The audio-related device of claim 22, where the flag component represents a response to a request.

28. The audio-related device of claim 22, where the message component includes a message that instructs a device to which the message is directed to change a state variable value by a percentage value.

29. The audio-related device of claim 28, where a payload of the message includes a number between 0 and 100.