Audio-related system node instantiation

• US 7,725,826 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• 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: Werf, Bruce Vander, Lee, John, Stevenson, Andrew, Kreifeldt, Richard Allen, Shuttleworth, Timothy J., Plunkett, William A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ulrich; Nicholas S
• Application Number:
  US11/090,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20050226595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,887 Days
• Field of Search: 715/717, 715/762, 715/771, 715/716
• US Class Current: 715/716
• 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 may instantiate a control panel view that is useable to monitor and control an audio-related device operable in an audio system. A product plugin that corresponds to an audio-related device may receive and analyze the components of an audio node structure received from the audio-related device. The product plugin is configured to store one or more predefined control panel views that are associated with one or more of the components. The product plugin is also configured to instantiate the predefined control panel views that correspond to the components. If the product plugin determines that all of the components are not represented, one or more user interface aspects can be integrated into one or more of the control panel views prior to instantiation. Alternatively, a generic control panel view can be generated.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device in a computing system having a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

the computing system retrieving a stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view from a control panel library of the audio-related device, the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprising a plurality of pre-defined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the audio-related device, at least one of the graphical user interface components corresponding to a first component in an audio node structure, where the first component in the audio node structure comprises a first changeable control value and a first changeable indication value indicative of functionality of the audio-related device;

the computing system retrieving a graphical user interface aspect representative of a second component of the audio node structure when at least a portion of the audio node structure is unrepresented with the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view in the control panel library, the second component of the audio node structure comprises a second changeable control value and a second changeable indication value indicative of functionality of the audio-related device;

the computing system integrating the graphical user interface aspect into the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view to interrelate the graphical user interface aspect with the pre-defined graphical user interface components

within the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view so that the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view is configured to receive and display to a user an actual value of the first changeable indication value and the second changeable indication value, and receive from the user an update to the first changeable control value and the second changeable control value for application to the audio node structure; and

the computing system storing the graphical user interface control panel view that includes the integrated graphical user interface aspect to be instantiated on a display as a new graphical user interface control panel view associated with the audio-related device.

2. The method of claim 1, where retrieving a stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprises modifying the complexity of the graphical user interface control panel view based on at least one of the computing power and the display capabilities of a device where the graphical user interface control panel view is to be displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, where retrieving a graphical user interface aspect comprises retrieving a stored pre-defined graphical user interface aspect from the control panel library.

4. The method of claim 1, where the audio-related device is a first audio-related device, and the control panel library of the first audio-related device is a first control panel library, and the act of retrieving a graphical user interface aspect comprises retrieving a stored pre-defined graphical user interface aspect from a second control panel library of a second audio-related device.

5. The method of claim 1, where retrieving a graphical user interface aspect comprises building a graphical user interface aspect based on attributes descriptive of the at least a portion of the audio node structure that are associated with components included in the audio node structure.

6. The method of claim 1, where integrating the graphical user interface aspect comprises selectively interrelating the graphical user interface aspect with graphical user interface components included in the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view, where the interrelation is based on attributes descriptive of the audio node structure that are associated with the first and second components included in the audio node structure.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computing system subscribing the new graphical user interface control panel view to the first changeable indication value and the second changeable indication value so that the new graphical user interface control panel view receives updated values in response to changes in the first changeable indication value and the second changeable indication value in the audio node structure of the audio-related device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computing system setting up a subscribe message for the integrated graphical user interface aspect to receive updates to an actual value of the changeable indication value as the changeable indication value changes at the audio-related device.

9. A method for displaying with the display a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device in a computing system having a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

retrieving with the computing system a stored predefined control panel view comprising a plurality of pre-defined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the audio-related device and are associated with an audio node structure of the audio-related device;

the computing system identifying components of the audio node structure that are unassociated with the retrieved stored predefined control panel view, at least some of the components comprising a changeable control value and a changeable indication value;

the computing system querying the audio-related device for attributes of the identified components and attributes of the audio node structure, at least some of the attributes comprising information related to formation of the control panel view, and characteristics of the changeable control value and the changeable indication value;

the computing system providing a graphical user interface aspect for association with the identified components based on the; and

the computing system manipulating, configuring and combining the stored predefined control panel view and the formed graphical user interface aspect based on the attributes to form the control panel view.

10. The method of claim 9, where providing a graphical user interface aspect comprises selecting a virtual device from a list of virtual devices based on the attributes and identifying a stored predefined graphical user interface aspect that is associated with the virtual device.

11. The method of claim 9, where providing a graphical user interface aspect comprises searching a control panel library of a product plugin associated with the audio-related device to identify corresponding graphical user interface aspects and searching other product plugins associated with other audio-related devices when the search of the product plugin is unsuccessful.

12. The method of claim 9, where identifying components of the audio node structure comprises comparing the stored predefined control panel view with the components of the audio node structure.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the computing system setting up a subscribe message for the graphical user interface aspect included in the control panel view to receive updates to an actual value of the changeable indication value as the changeable indication value changes at the audio-related device.

14. A system for displaying a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device, the system comprising:

a memory device configured to store data and instructions executable with a processor;

a node structure storage included in the memory device, the node structure storage configured to store components of an audio node structure that are representative of the functionality of the audio-related device, the components having attributes comprising information related to formation of the control panel view;

a control panel library included in the memory device, the control panel library configured to store a predefined graphical user interface control panel view that is associated with at least one of the components, the at least one of the components comprising a changeable control value and a changeable indication value and the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprising a plurality of pre-defined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the audio-related device; and

a node instantiation engine included in the memory device and executable with the processor, the node instantiation engine configured to determine if the functionality of the at least one of the components is fully represented with the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view,

where the node instantiation engine is further configured to integrate a graphical user interface aspect supportive of the changeable control value and the changeable indication value of the at least one of the components into the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view prior to instantiation by manipulation and configuration of the graphical user interface aspect within the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view based on the attributes.

15. The system of claim 14, where the node instantiation engine is further configured to search the control panel library for a graphical user interface aspect supportive of the unrepresented functionality.

16. The system of claim 14, where the control panel library comprises a plurality of control panel libraries each associated with a different product plugin, and the node instantiation engine is further configured to enable a search of each of the control panel libraries for a graphical user interface aspect supportive of the unrepresented functionality.

17. The system of claim 14, where the node instantiation engine is further configured to enable the generation of a generic graphical user interface aspect supportive of the unrepresented functionality.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising a control panel view buffer included in the memory device, the control panel view buffer configured to temporarily store the instantiated predefined graphical user interface control panel view that includes the integrated graphical user interface aspect.

19. The system of claim 14, further comprising a discovery engine included in the memory device and executable with the processor, the discovery engine configured to retrieve additional information related to the unrepresented functionality from the audio-related device, where the information is useable to generate the generic graphical user interface aspect.

20. The system of claim 14, where the node instantiation engine is configured to integrate the graphical user interface aspect based on attributes of the unrepresented functionality that are retrieved from the audio-related device.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the stored predefined graphical user interface control panel view and the graphical user interface aspect integrated therein are stored in the control panel library as a new predefined graphical user interface control panel view with an association to the audio-related device.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the node instantiation engine is further configured to set up a subscribe message for the graphical user interface aspect to receive updates to an actual value of the changeable indication value as the changeable indication value changes at the audio-related device.

23. A performance equipment manager configured to operate in an audio system to display a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device, the performance equipment manager comprising:

a memory device;

instructions stored in the memory device to receive an audio node structure from the audio-related device, where the audio node structure comprises a plurality of components that are each indicative of a portion of the functionality of the audio-related device, each of the components including attributes providing information related to formation of the control panel view;

instructions stored in the memory device to retrieve a stored predefined control panel view representative of at least a portion of the audio node structure, the stored predefined control panel view comprising a plurality of pre-defined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the audio-related device;

instructions stored in the memory device to generate a generic control panel aspect representative of components included in the audio node structure that are not represented in the stored predefined control panel view, the generic control panel aspect generated in accordance with the attributes of the corresponding components; and

instructions stored in the memory device to interrelate the generic control panel aspect with the plurality of pre-defined graphical user interface components based on the attributes of corresponding components included in the audio node structure.

24. The performance equipment manager of claim 23, where instructions stored in the memory device to retrieve a stored predefined control panel view comprise:

instructions stored in the memory device to identify unrepresented components of the audio node structure.

25. The performance equipment manager of claim 24, where instructions stored in the memory device to identify unrepresented components comprise instructions stored in the memory device to check a component that is represented in the stored predefined control panel view for additional components associated with the represented component that are unsupported with the stored predefined control panel view.

26. The performance equipment manager of claim 23, where instructions stored in the memory device to retrieve a stored predefined control panel view comprise instructions to identify the stored predefined control panel view that is associated with at least one component of the audio node structure.

27. The performance equipment manager of claim 23, where instructions stored in the memory device to receive an audio node structure comprise instructions stored in the memory device to receive a list of virtual devices indicative of functional units of the audio-related device.

28. A system for displaying a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device, the system comprising:

a memory device configured to store data and instructions executable with a processor;

a first product plugin included in the memory device, the first product plugin configured to store a first predefined graphical user interface control panel view that corresponds to functionality of a first audio-related device the first predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprising a plurality of first predefined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the first stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the first audio-related device;

a second product plugin included in the memory device, the second product plugin configured to store a second predefined graphical user interface control panel view that corresponds to functionality of a second audio-related device and a second predefined node structure of the second audio-related device, the second predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprising a plurality of second pre-defined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in the second stored predefined control panel view to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the second audio-related device;

the first product plugin further configured to check the second product plugin to identify and integrate into the first predefined graphical user interface control panel view any of the second pre-defined graphical user interface components that support functionality of the first audio-related device that are otherwise unsupported with the first predefined graphical user interface control panel view; and

a generic plugin included in the memory device, the generic product plugin configured to form a generic graphical user interface aspect based on the functionality of the first or the second audio-related device when the functionality of the first or the second audio-related device does not correspond to the first or the second predefined graphical user interface control panel views.

29. The system of claim 28, where the functionality of the first audio-related device is provided to the first product plugin with a first audio node structure comprising a plurality of components that correspond to at least some of the first predefined graphical user interface control panel view.

30. The system of claim 28, where the first and second product plugins are configured to modify the respective first and second stored pre-defined graphical user interface control panel views to be compatible with the processing power of the displaying device.

31. The system of claim 28, where the generic graphical user interface aspect is integrated into the stored first or second predefined graphical user interface control panel view and is associated with the unsupported functionality.

32. The system of claim 28, where the first predefined graphical user interface control panel view comprises a plurality of first predefined graphical user interface control panel views that correspond to the functionality of a plurality of different first audio-related devices.

33. A method of displaying a control panel view useable to monitor and control an audio-related device, the method comprising:

building a set of graphical user interface control panel views representative of an entire audio node structure of an audio-related device when sufficient computing power capability is present in a displaying device;

storing the set of graphical user interface control panel views to be available for display on a display screen of the displaying device, the set of graphical user interface control panel views comprising a plurality of predefined graphical user interface components that have been visually placed and interrelated in one or more respective graphical user interface control panel views to enable monitoring, configuration, and control of the audio-related device;

building a subset of the set of graphical user interface control panel views when limited computing power capability is present, where the computing power capability comprises at least one of processing capabilities or display capabilities of the displaying device;

identifying from within the subset of the set of control panel views a control panel view that is absent a graphical user interface aspect representative of part of the audio node structure, the graphical user interface aspect comprising at least one of a changeable control value and a changeable indication value indicative of functionality of the audio-related device;

locating and retrieving the graphical user interface aspect;

integrating the retrieved graphical user interface aspect into the control panel view to interrelate the at least one of the changeable control value and the changeable indication value with at least one of the predefined graphical user interface components; and

storing the control panel view to include the retrieved and integrated graphical user interface aspect.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

discarding a currently displayed single graphical user interface control panel view; and

building another single graphical user interface single control panel view when said another single graphical user interface control panel view is requested.

35. The method of claim 33, where building a set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises retrieving a stored pre-defined graphical user interface control panel view that corresponds to a portion of the audio node structure and populating the stored pre-defined graphical user interface control panel view with actual values retrieved from the audio-related device.

36. The method of claim 33, where building a set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises instantiating each of the graphical user interface control panel views to include a plurality of actual values of state variables included in the audio node structure.

37. The method of claim 33, where building a set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises identifying graphical user interface control panel views that correspond to a list of virtual devices receivable from an audio-related device, where the virtual devices are each representative of functional units of the audio-related device.

38. The method of claim 33, where storing the set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises buffering for retrieval and display instantiated graphical user interface control panel views that include actual values.

39. The method of claim 38, where buffering instantiated control panel views comprises updating the actual values in the instantiated control panel views as the actual values in the audio-related device change.

40. The method of claim 33, where building a subset of the set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises instantiating a single graphical user interface control panel view that is a current display.

41. The method of claim 33, where building a set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises retrieving from the audio-related device and storing in the control panel data storage a plurality of actual values of setpoint variables configured for display in the set of graphical user interface control panel views.

42. The method of claim 33, where building a subset of the set of graphical user interface control panel views comprises retrieving from the audio-related device and storing in the control panel data storage a plurality of actual values of setpoint variables configured for display in the subset of the set of graphical user interface control panel views.