Universal digital media communications and control system and method

• US 6,686,530 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2001
• Issued: 02/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gibson Brands, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gibson Guitar Corporation (Gibson Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Flaks, Jason S., Frantz, Richard A., Juszkiewicz, Henry E., Yeakel, Nathan W., Amit, Shri, Sherman, Thomas L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Donels, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US09/995,405
• Publication Number:
  US 20030172797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 846/00, 846/45, 369/4, 370/276, 370/420, 381/118
• US Class Current: 84/600
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0058 Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system G10H1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/115 Instrument identification, i.e. recognizing an electrophonic musical instrument, e.g. on a network, by means of a code, e.g. IMEI, serial number, or a profile describing its capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/295 Packet switched network, e.g. token ring
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/301 Ethernet, e.g. according to IEEE 802.3

Abstract

A digital media communications and control system includes a plurality of audio devices each of which includes a device interface module for communication of digital media data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices. A universal data link is operatively connected to each of the device interface modules. The device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital media data and control data between the devices.

Claims

1. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a. a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

b. a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

c. the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices; and

d. at least one of the audio devices is configured as a system timing master and at least one of the other audio devices is configured as a slave device, wherein the system timing master is operative to provide synchronization data to the slave devices.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each data link comprises a single cable connecting a pair of the devices.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a network hub and wherein at least some of the data links comprise network cables connecting the device interface modules to the hub in a network topology whereby the digital audio data and control data that are communicated over the data links are accessible by each of the devices linked to the hub without having a direct connection between devices.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein each of the network cables comprises a conventional CAT5 network cable terminated by conventional RJ-45 connectors.

6. The system of either of claims 1, 3, or 5 wherein the audio devices comprise audio transducer devices, the transducer devices including one or more devices selected from a group comprising musical instruments, microphones, headphones, audio speakers, and audio recording devices.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the audio devices further comprise audio controller devices, the controller devices including one or more devices selected from a group comprising audio amplifiers and system control devices.

30. The system of claim 3 wherein the device interface modules are operative to direct digital audio signals and control signal generated by a source audio device to one or more target audio devices connected to the system.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the target devices are changeable by a user while the source and target audio devices are actively connected to the system.

32. The system of claim 1 wherein functions performed by one of the audio devices can be shared by more than one of the other devices connected to the system.

48. The system of claim 1 wherein the audio and control data are in big endian order.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the control data includes Message in Progress (MIP) and Clear To Send (CTS) bits to allow the audio devices receiving the data to manage control packet buffer space.

4. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices; and

wherein the data link includes a cable having means for providing phantom power to the devices.

8. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a. a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

b. a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

c. the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices; and

d. wherein the control data includes device identification data that identifies each of the devices to other of the devices connected to the system.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the device identification data includes a device name selected by a user of the device.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the device interface modules and data links are adapted to allow the audio devices to be connected and identified to the system while the system is active.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the control data includes device control data whereby one of the devices can control one or more of other devices connected to the system.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the control data further includes system configuration data.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the control data further includes device status data.

14. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices; and

wherein the audio devices are operative to generate user data associated with a specific user of that device and the device interface modules and data links are operative to communicate the user data to other devices connected to the system.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the audio data communicated between the devices is packed in system data packets.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the system data packets also contain the control data.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein each of the system data packets comprises a plurality of data channels including a header, a plurality of audio data channels containing the digital audio data, a user data channel containing the user data, and a control data channel containing the control data.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the system data packets further comprise a CRC field for providing cyclic redundancy checking of the system data packet.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the data packet comprises 32 audio data channels.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the audio channels contain the digital audio data in 16, 24, 28, or 32-bit format.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein one or more of the audio channels can be dynamically reassigned by the system to carry data other than audio data.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the control data channel can contain non-system control data.

22. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices

wherein the audio data communicated between the devices is packed in system data packets and

wherein the data frames are continuously transmitted between devices in accordance with a packet timing signal that is synchronized to an audio sampling rate associated with the digital audio data.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the audio sampling rate is selected from a group comprising 32 k, 44.1 k, 48 k, 96 k, and 192 k.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein each of the audio devices can operate at a different one of the sampling rates whereby a system can have data links operating at different sampling rates.

25. The system of claim 22 wherein the packet timing signal is generated by one of the device interface modules.

27. A digital media communications and control system comprising:

a plurality of audio devices, each of the devices including a device interface module for communication of digital audio data and control data from at least one of the devices to at least one other of the devices;

a universal data link operatively connected to each of the device interface modules;

the device interface modules and universal data links are operative in combination to connect the devices together in the system and provide full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data between the devices;

wherein the audio data communicated between the devices is packed in system data packets;

wherein each of the system data packets comprises a plurality of data channels including a header, a plurality of audio data channels containing the digital audio data, a user data channel containing the user data, and a control data channel containing the control data;

wherein the control data channel can contain non-system control data;

wherein the audio devices are operative to generate user data associated with a specific user of that device and the device interface modules and data links are operative to communicate the user data to other devices connected to the system; and

wherein the non-system control data comprises MIDI control data.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the plurality of data channels in each system data packet can be reassigned by the system for carrying different types of data in accordance with the requirements of a specific device connected to the system.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein certain of the data channels in the system data packets are assigned by default to carry certain types of the data when a pre-determined type of audio device is connected to the system.

33. A method of arranging a plurality of electronic audio devices in an audio system comprising:

a. providing each of the audio devices with a device interface module adapted for communication of digital audio data generated by one or more of the devices connected to the system and for storage and communication of control data associated with that audio device;

b. operatively connecting the device interface modules over one or more data links, the data links adapted for full duplex communication of the digital audio data and control data to and from each device; and

c. directing the digital audio data for use by one or more specified devices connected to the system.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising communicating the digital audio data and control data across the data links in discrete data packets.

35. The system of claim 34 further comprising synchronizing the communication of the data packets to an audio sampling rate.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising varying the audio sampling rate among the different data links in accordance with requirements of specific audio devices connected to the data links.

37. The method of claim 34 further comprising providing 16 channels of up to 32-bit audio data in each data packet.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising providing user data in each data packet.

39. The method of claim 37 further comprising connecting a plurality of the data links using network cables connected to a network hub.

40. A device interface module for providing a universal data link to connect an audio device in an audio communications and control network to other audio devices connected to the network, the device interface module comprising:

a device connector adapted to connect the audio device to a single network cable;

data communications means to provide full duplex communication of multi-channel digital audio data and control data between the audio devices across the single network cable; and

wherein the device interface module is operative to send device identification data that identifies each of the audio devices to other of the audio devices connected to the network.

41. The device interface module of claim 40 wherein the data communications means is adapted to provide at least 16 channels of audio data.

42. The device interface module of claim 41 wherein the data communications means and device connector comprise an Ethernet physical data connection between the devices.

43. The device interface module of claim 42 wherein the device connector is a CAT-5 data network connector.

44. The device interface module of claim 43 wherein the data communications means is operative to send and receive the audio and control data through separate audio and control data channels.

45. The device interface module of claim 44 further comprising means to send and receive device synchronization data to and from the audio devices.

46. The device interface module of claim 45 wherein the data communications means is operative to communicate the audio and control data in packets and further comprises means to provide redundant error checking of the data in the packets.

47. The device interface module of claim 40 wherein the data communications means and device connector are adapted to allow the audio devices to be connected and identified to the network while the network is active.