System for audio related equipment management

• US 7,742,606 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• 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: Stevenson, Andrew, Kreifeldt, Richard Allen, Vander Werf, Bruce, Zollinger, Howard Scott, Plunkett, William A., Lee, John, Shuttleworth, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dean; Raymond S
• Application Number:
  US11/090,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20050239397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,915 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.06, 381/56, 381/58, 381/59, 381/77, 381 79- 81, 381/123, 381/104, 381/105, 381/107, 381/118, 381/119, 381/108, 700/94, 369/1, 369/2, 369/4
• US Class Current: 381/58
• 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 is a common architecture that provides the capability to manage, monitor and control all of the audio-related equipment in an audio system. To facilitate messaging between audio-related devices, each of the audio-related devices may be assigned a node ID a sequential manner as each audio-related device powers up. The system may also include a method for discovery of audio-related devices on an audio network. In some examples, a PEM may be located geographically remote from the audio-related devices. Accordingly, error logging, alarming and system operation may be monitored to provide troubleshooting from a remote location.

Claims

1. An audio-related system comprising:

a first audio-related device;

a second audio-related device;

a switch adapted to communicate on a network including a first port and a second port, the first port associated with a first node identification and the second port associated with a second node identification; and

where the first audio-related device is assigned the first node identification by being coupled to the first port and the second audio-related device is assigned the second node identification by being coupled to the second port;

the switch configured to receive first predetermined audio settings transmitted in association with the first node identification, the first predetermined audio settings comprising a first equalization setting, the first audio-related device configured with the first predetermined audio settings based on being coupled to the first port; and

the switch further configured to receive second predetermined audio settings transmitted in association with the second node identification, the second predetermined audio settings comprising a second equalization setting, the second audio-related device configured with the second predetermined audio settings based on being coupled to the second port.

2. The audio-related system of claim 1, further comprising a performance equipment manager coupled to the network, the performance equipment manager configured to communicate with the first audio-related device based upon a predetermined association between the first port and the first audio-related device.

3. The audio-related system of claim 2, where the performance equipment manager is configured to communicate with the second audio-related device based upon a predetermined association between the second port and the second audio-related device.

4. The audio-related system of claim 3, where the performance equipment manager is configured to communicate the predetermined audio settings to the first audio-related device.

5. The audio-related system of claim 4, where the performance equipment manager is configured to communicate the predetermined audio settings to the second audio-related device.

6. The audio-related system of claim 5, where the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device are loudspeakers in an array of loudspeakers.

7. A method for discovering audio-related devices coupled to a network comprising:

a switch communicating over the network using a first network address, the switch comprising a plurality of ports;

providing a first audio-related device coupled to a first port included on the switch;

providing a second audio-related device coupled to a second port included on the switch;

a performance equipment manager communicating over the network using a second network address;

the performance equipment manager communicating over the network with the switch, the performance equipment manager accessing stored predetermined settings indicating that the first port is associated with a first node identification and the second port is associated with a second node identification, where the first node identification and the second node identification are independent of the first network address and the second network address; and

the performance equipment manager communicating first audio settings that include a first audio gain parameter and the first node identification to the switch, the first audio settings applied to the first audio related device as a result of the first audio related device being coupled to the first port, and the performance equipment manager communicating second audio settings that include a second audio gain parameter and the second node identification to the switch, the second audio settings applied to the second audio related device as a result of the second audio-related device being coupled to the second port.

8. The method of claim 7, where communicating first audio settings to the first audio-related device comprises communicating a first equalization parameter setting of the first audio-related device and the first node identification to the switch.

9. The method of claim 8, where communicating second audio settings to the second audio-related device comprises communicating a second equalization parameter setting of the second audio-related device and the second node identification to the switch.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising the performance, equipment manager broadcasting a discovery message for receipt by the switch, the discovery message including the first network address of the switch, the first node identification of the first audio-related device, and information about the performance equipment manager, the information about the performance equipment manager comprising the second network address and a third node identification of the performance equipment manager.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the first audio-related device receiving the discovery message from the switch based on the first node identification, and the first audio-related device saving the second network address and the third node identification of the performance equipment manager in a routing table included in the first audio-related device.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising the performance equipment manager accessing stored predetermined settings of the switch, the stored predetermined settings of the switch including the stored predetermined settings indicating that the first port is associated with a first node identification and the second port is associated with a second node identification.

13. The method of claim 7, where the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device are respective first and second loudspeakers forming at least a portion of a loudspeaker array, and the first port corresponds to a first predetermined position of the first loudspeaker in the loudspeaker array, and the second port corresponds to a second predetermined position of the second loudspeaker in the loudspeaker array.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising the performance equipment manager accessing a stored routing table to identify routes of communication between the first and second audio-related devices and the performance equipment manager.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the performance equipment manager confirming a route to one of the first audio-related device, or the second audio-related device, is not included in the routing table, and broadcasting a message over the network specifying a requested route to one of the first audio-related device or the second audio-related device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the performance equipment manager receiving a response to the message specifying the requested route, and storing a new entry in the stored routing table corresponding to the response in association with the first node identification of the first audio-related device.

17. An audio-related system comprising:

a first audio-related device;

a second audio-related device;

a switch adapted to communicate on a network with a network connection using a first network address, the switch including a first port and a second port; and

a performance equipment manager in communication over the network with the switch using a second network address, the performance equipment manager including stored predetermined settings for the switch indicating that the first port is associated with a first node identification and the second port is associated with a second node identification; and

the performance equipment manager configured to communicate first audio settings that include a first audio gain parameter and the first node identification, the first audio settings applied to the first audio-related device due to the first audio-related device being coupled to the first port, and communicate second audio settings that include a second audio gain parameter and the second node identification, the second audio settings applied to the second audio-related device due to the second audio-related device being coupled to the second port, where the first node identification and the second node identification are independent of the first network address of the switch and the second network address of the performance equipment manager.

18. The audio-related system of claim 17, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to communicate the first audio settings in a first device settings message to the switch using the first network address, the message comprising the first audio gain parameter a first equalization parameter setting of the first audio-related device and the first node identification of the first audio-related device.

19. The audio-related system of claim 18, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to communicate the predetermined second audio settings in a second device settings message to the switch using the first network address, the message comprising the second audio gain parameter a second equalization parameter setting of the second audio-related device and the second node identification of the second audio-related device.

20. The audio-related system of claim 17, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to broadcast a discovery message for receipt by the switch, the discovery message including the first network address of the switch, the first node identification of the first audio-related device, and information about the performance equipment manager, the information about the performance equipment manager comprising the second network address and a third node identification of the performance equipment manager.

21. The audio-related system of claim 20, further comprising the first audio-related device configured to receive the discovery message from the switch based on the first node identification, and the first audio-related device further configured to save the second network address and the third node identification of the performance equipment manager in a routing table included in the first audio-related device.

22. The audio-related system of claim 17, where the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device are loudspeakers included in an array of loudspeakers.

23. The audio-related system of claim 22, where the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device are respective first and second loudspeakers forming at least a portion of the loudspeaker array, and the first port corresponds to a predetermined position of the first loudspeaker in the loudspeaker array, and the second port corresponds to a predetermined position of the second loudspeaker in the loudspeaker array.

24. The audio-related system of claim 17, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to set, via the switch, a first equalization setting of the first audio-related device using the first node identification and set a second equalization setting of the second audio-related device using the second node identification.

25. The audio-related system of claim 17, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to access a pre-stored routing table, the routing table comprising stored routes between the first and second audio-related devices and the performance equipment manager.

26. The audio-related system of claim 25, where the routing table includes a node address field that represents a node identification of a destination device corresponding to a route.

27. The audio-related system of claim 26, where the routing table includes a serial number field that represents a unique identification of the destination device corresponding to the node identification.

28. The audio-related system of claim 27, where the routing table includes a maximum message field that represents a maximum size of a message that is permitted to pass through the destination device corresponding to the node identification.

29. The audio-related system of claim 28, where the routing table includes a network interface field that represents the communication interface of the designation device corresponding to the node identification.

30. The audio-related system of claim 29, where the routing table includes a cost field that represents a relative cost of the route to the designation device corresponding to the node identification.

31. The audio-related system of claim 25, where the routing table includes multiple routes between the first and second audio-related devices and the performance equipment manager, when the performance equipment manager and the switch include multiple network interfaces.

32. The audio-related system of claim 31, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to select one of the routes stored in the routing table based on the shortest transit time between first and second audio-related devices and the performance equipment manager.

33. The audio-related system of claim 31, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to select one of the routes stored in the routing table based on a communication bandwidth between the first and second audio-related devices and the performance equipment manager.

34. The audio-related system of claim 31, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to select one of the routes stored in the routing table based on a hop count stored in the routing table.

35. The audio-related system of claim 31, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to select one of the routes stored in the routing table based on a size of data to be transmitted to the first and second audio-related devices coupled to the switch.

36. The audio-related system of claim 31, where a network interface of each of the performance equipment manager and the switch includes a communication link selected from the group consisting of Ethernet, Fire Wire, USB, RS232 and RS285.

37. A computer readable medium configured to store instructions executable by a processor, the computer readable medium comprising:

instructions to connect a performance equipment manager with a network using a first network address assigned to the performance equipment manager;

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to communicate with a switch over the network using a second network address assigned to the switch, the switch comprising a plurality of ports;

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to access stored predetermined settings indicating that a first one of the ports is associated with a first node identification and a second one of the ports is associated with a second node identification, where the first node identification and the second node identification are independent of the first network address and the second network address;

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to access stored predetermined first audio settings of a first audio-related device stored in association with the first node identification, the first audio settings comprising a first equalization setting;

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to access stored predetermined second audio settings of a second audio-related device stored in association with the second node identification, the second audio settings comprising a second equalization setting;

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to communicate the first audio settings to the first audio-related device via the switch using the first network address and the first node identification, the first audio-related device configured with the first audio settings because the first audio-related device is coupled to the first one of the ports; and

instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to communicate the second audio settings to the second audio-related device via the switch using the first network address and the second node identification, the second audio-related device configured with the second audio settings because the second audio-related device is coupled with the second one of the ports.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to assign the first audio-related device to the first node identification as a result of being coupled to the first one of the ports and instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to assign the second audio-related device to the second node identification as a insult of being coupled to the second one of the ports.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to generate and transmit a discovery message over the network to the switch to discover a route to the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions to enable the performance equipment manager to access a routing table to search for a route to the first audio-related device and the second audio-related device, the route being associated with the first node identification or the second node identification.