UNIFICATION OF MULTIMEDIA DEVICES

• US 20080242222A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D&M Holdings Incorporated (DEI Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Altec Lansing Australia Pty., Limited
• Inventors: Celinski, Tomasz, Bryce, Stuart, Kent, Adjam J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,987,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/008 in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field

Abstract

Described herein are various methods and systems relating to the unification of media devices, and more specifically to the provision of wireless audio systems. In overview, two or more wireless speaker subsystem units substantially autonomously form a single wireless audio system having its own control interface. This control interface is used to apply operational changes across the wireless audio system, such as volume adjustment. That is, an operational change may be applied to the system as a whole, and this change is subsequently implemented by each of the individual wireless speaker subsystem units.

Claims

1. A method for providing one or more multimedia systems including one or more networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:

discovering the devices on a computer network;

defining one or more groups, each group representative of a networked multimedia system including the devices;

defining one or more zones, each zone representative of one or more networked groups;

providing via a group and/or a zone a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group, and/or the zone; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the group and/or the zone.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 including the step of identifying among the devices a group and/or a zone leader device.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the devices each autonomously determine whether they are the group and/or zone leader device.

4. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein the determination is based on a predefined comparison protocol.

5. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein the leader device provides the system control interface.

6. A method as recited in claim 5 wherein the leader device is responsive to the system control signal for defining and providing the corresponding device control signals.

7. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein each device has a respective hierarchical identifier for facilitating the identification of the leader device.

8. A method as recited in claim 7 wherein the hierarchical identifiers are embedded in respective unique device identifiers.

9. A method as recited in claim 8 wherein the unique device identifiers are MAC addresses.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein providing the system control interface includes advertising the group and/or the zone on the network.

12. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the device control signals are indicative of a change time at which the change is to be made such that the operational change is implemented across the group and/or the zone by the devices in synchronicity.

17. A method as recited in any preceding claim, wherein at least some of the devices include a radio interface and wherein the network includes a wireless network.

11. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the system control interface is provided in accordance with an open networking protocol.

11-1. A method as recited in claim A11 wherein the networking protocol is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

13. A method performed by a networked multimedia device for providing a multimedia system and none or more multimedia zones including the device and none or more complementary networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:

connecting to a computer network;

undergoing a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, the none or more complementary devices, and the none or more complementary multimedia systems;

determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the none or more complementary devices; and

determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the none or more complementary multimedia systems; and

in the case that the device is the group leader;

defining a group representative of the networked multimedia system including the device and the none or more complementary devices providing via the group a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the group; and

in the case that the device is the zone leader;

defining a zone representative of the group and the none or more complementary multimedia systems providing via the zone a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; and

being responsive to the zone control signal for providing respective corresponding system control signals to the groups to implement the operational change across the zone.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein implementing the operational change includes providing to the none or more complementary devices respective device control signals corresponding to the operational change.

15. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the system control interface is provided in accordance with an open networking protocol.

16. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein the open networking protocol is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

28. A networked multimedia system as recited in claims 14 or 27, wherein at least some of the devices include a radio interface and wherein the network includes a wireless network.

18. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors maintained by a networked multimedia device cause the multimedia device to carry out a method of providing a multimedia system and none or more multimedia zones including the device, the none or more complementary wireless multimedia devices, and the none or more complementary multimedia systems, the method comprising the steps of:

connecting to a computer network;

undergoing a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, the none or more complementary devices, and the none or more complementary multimedia systems;

determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the none or more complementary devices; and

determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the none or more complementary multimedia systems; and

in the case the device is a group leader;

defining a group representative of a networked multimedia system including the device and the none or more complementary devices;

providing via the group a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the group; and

in the case that the device is the zone leader;

defining a zone representative of the group and the none or more complementary multimedia systems providing via the zone a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; and

being responsive to the zone control signal for providing respective corresponding system control signals to the groups to implement the operational change across the zone.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18 or 19, wherein at least some of the devices include a radio interface and wherein the network includes a wireless network.

19. A computer-readable medium encoded with a set of instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to carry out a method for providing one or more multimedia systems including one or more networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:

discovering the devices on a computer network;

defining one or more groups, each group representative of a networked multimedia system including the devices;

defining one or more zones, each zone representative of one or more networked groups;

providing via a group and/or a zone a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group and/or the zone; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the group and/or the zone.

21. A multimedia playback unit including:

a networking interface for connecting to a computer network;

a first processor for carrying out a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, the none or more complementary devices, and the none or more complementary multimedia systems;

a second processor for determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the none or more complementary devices and, where the device is the group leader;

defining a group representative of a networked multimedia system including the device and the none or more complementary devices;

providing via the group a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the multimedia system; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the multimedia system; and

a third processor for determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the none or more complementary multimedia systems and, where the device is the zone leader;

defining a zone representative of a network of groups including the device, the none or more complementary devices, and the none or more complementary multimedia systems;

providing via the zone a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; and

being responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the zone.

22. A multimedia playback unit as recited in claim 21 wherein the device is neither the group leader nor the zone leader and the third processor attempts to join a networked multimedia system represented by a group provided by a group leader.

23. A multimedia playback unit as recited in claim 21 including:

an infrared port for receiving a control signal;

a fourth processor for determining whether the control signal is a system control signal; and

a fifth processor for, where the control signal is a system control signal, providing that control signal to the group and/or the zone.

25. The multimedia playback unit as recited in any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the networking interface includes a radio interface and wherein the computer network is a wireless network.

24. A multimedia playback unit including:

a networking interface for connecting to a computer network;

a first processor for carrying out a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, the none or more complementary devices, and the none or more complimentary multimedia systems;

a second processor for identifying a group leader among the device and the none or more complementary devices;

a third processor for identifying a zone leader among the device and the none or more complementary multimedia systems;

an infrared input for receiving a control signal; and

a fourth processor responsive to the control signal where the device is neither the group nor the zone leader for providing data over the network indicative of the control signal to the group and/or the zone leader.

26. A networked multimedia system including:

a plurality of networked multimedia playback devices including a relative group leader, the group leader providing a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the multimedia system, wherein the group leader is responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to each of the multimedia playback devices to implement the operational change across the multimedia system.

27. A plurality of networked multimedia systems as recited in claim 26,

wherein the set of networked multimedia systems include a relative zone leader, the zone leader providing a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the plurality of multimedia systems, wherein the zone leader is responsive to the system control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to each of the multimedia playback devices to implement the operational change across the plurality of multimedia systems.