System for audio-related device communication

• US 20050239396A1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• 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 7,689,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.10
• 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 communication among audio-related devices in an audio system includes a performance equipment manager that communicates with audio-related devices to monitor and control changeable parameters of a corresponding audio-related device. Each of the audio-related devices includes an audio node structure having components that are representative of the functionality of the respective audio-related device. Some of the components are representative of changeable parameters in the audio-related device. The performance equipment manager is configured to be selectively subscribed to one or more of the changeable parameters so that when a predefined condition occurs, the audio-related device is configured to automatically provide the current value of the changeable parameter(s) to the performance equipment manager.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

an audio-related device that includes a hierarchical audio node structure indicative of the functionality of the audio-related device, where the hierarchical audio node structure includes components representative of changeable parameters in the audio-related device;

a performance equipment manager configured to communicate with the audio-related device and provide a user interface to monitor and control the changeable parameters of the audio-related device based on the hierarchal node structure; and

where the performance equipment manager is further configured to be selectively subscribed to one or more of the changeable parameters in the audio-related device so that when a value of any one of the changeable parameters changes, the audio-related device is configured to provide the changed value to the performance equipment manager.

2. The audio system of claim 1, where the audio-related device includes a venue table that comprises a plurality of groups of stored changeable parameters that represent settings for the audio-related device, and where the performance equipment manager is configured to direct the audio-related device to select and implement one of the groups of settings from the venue table based on a user selected operation of the audio system.

3. The audio system of claim 1, where the audio-related device is configured to transmit a pre-requested set of changeable parameters included in the audio-related device to the performance equipment manager when any one of the changeable parameters in the set changes.

4. The audio system of claim 3, where the performance equipment manager is configured to query the audio-related device for a value indicative of whether the values of the changeable parameters have changed since the last query, and query again if the values have changed.

5. The audio system of claim 1, where the audio-related device is configured to transmit a new value of a changeable parameter in a human readable format that is capable of display without further processing by the performance equipment manager.

6. The audio system of claim 1, where the performance equipment manager is configured to direct the audio-related device to set one of the changeable parameters to a value having a datatype known by the performance equipment manager based on the audio node structure.

7. The audio system of claim 1, where the performance equipment manager is configured to direct the audio-related device to set one of the changeable parameters to a value based on communication of a percentage of the value to the audio-related device.

8. An audio system comprising:

a first audio-related device that includes a first audio node structure representative of functionality of the first audio-related device;

a second audio-related device in communication with the first audio-related device, where the second audio-related device includes a second audio node structure representative of functionality of the second audio-related device;

where the first and second audio node structures each include a plurality of components representative of changeable parameters in the respective first and second audio-related devices; and

where a first changeable parameter included in the first audio-related device is configurable with a subscription request to be mapped to a second changeable parameter included in the second audio-related device so that a value of the second changeable parameter is communicated to the first changeable parameter in the first audio-related device.

9. The audio system of claim 8, where the second changeable parameter comprises a setpoint control input and the first changeable parameter comprises a setpoint configured to adjust an audio parameter in the first audio-related device.

10. The audio system of claim 8, where the second changeable parameter comprises an operational parameter of the second audio-related device and the first changeable parameter comprises a monitor value configured to be displayed with the first audio-related device to indicate the operational parameter of the second audio-related device.

11. The audio system of claim 9, where a third changeable parameter included in the first audio-related device is an output responsive to the first changeable parameter, where the third changeable parameter is configurable with the subscription request to be mapped to a fourth changeable parameter in the second audio-related device so that a value of the third changeable parameter is communicated to the fourth changeable parameter for display with the second audio-related device of the output of the second audio-related device.

12. The audio system of claim 8, where the value of the second changeable parameter is communicated in response to a predetermined condition that is identified in the subscription request.

13. The audio system of claim 8, where the subscription request includes a component from the audio node structure of the first audio-related device to indicate a location of the first changeable parameter.

14. The audio system of claim 8, where the components of the audio node structure of the first and second audio-related devices are arranged in a three tier hierarchical structure comprising a state variable, and where the first changeable parameter and the second changeable parameter are each a respective state variable.

15. The audio system of claim 8, where the components of the audio node structure of the first and second audio-related devices are arranged in a three tier hierarchal structure comprising a virtual device in a first tier and a plurality of state variables that are each a changeable parameter in a third tier, and where the subscription request is mapped to all of the state variables when the virtual device is included in the subscription request.

16. The audio system of claim 8, where the first changeable parameter location is set to the value of the second changeable parameter in response to a pre-determined condition.

17. The audio system of claim 16, where the pre-determined condition is a change in the value.

18. The audio system of claim 16, where the pre-determined condition is expiration of a period of time.

19. The audio system of claim 16, where the pre-determined condition is communicated with a data type that is indicated in the subscription request.

20. The audio system of claim 8, where the value of the second changeable parameter is a percentage, and the first changeable parameter is adjusted by the percentage.

21. The audio system of claim 8, further comprising a third audio-related device that includes a plurality of components representative of changeable parameters, where the second changeable parameter included in the second audio-related device is also configurable with a subscription request to be mapped to a third changeable parameter included in the third audio-related device so that the value of the second changeable parameter is also communicated to the third changeable parameter in the third audio-related device.

22. The audio system of claim 21, where the value of the second changeable parameter is mapped as a percentage to the first changeable parameter, and is mapped as a pre-determined data type to the third changeable parameter.

23. An audio system comprising:

a first audio-related device that includes an interface module that comprises an audio stream module and an audio services module; and

a second audio-related device in communication with the first audio-related device, where the second audio-related device includes an interface module that comprises an audio stream module and an audio services module;

where streaming audio is communicable between the interface modules of the respective first and second audio-related devices based on configuration settings of the respective audio stream modules that consist essentially of a channel count, a bit depth, a sample frequency and a latency, and

where the audio services modules of the first and second audio-related devices are configured to automatically determine identical configuration settings for the first and second audio-related devices.

24. The audio system of claim 23, where one of the audio stream modules is configured to receive an audio signal and transmit the audio signal as streaming audio to another audio stream module.

25. The audio system of claim 23, where the audio services modules are configured to negotiate with each other to identify configuration settings of the audio stream modules.

26. The audio system of claim 23, where the identical configuration settings are determinable based on the audio-related device with the most limited communication capabilities.

27. An audio system comprising:

a performance equipment manager; and

an audio-related device configured to communicate with the performance equipment manager;

where the audio-related device includes a plurality of audio-related settings represented with an audio node structure; and

where the performance equipment manager is configured to be selectively subscribed to at least one of the audio-related settings with a subscription message indicative of the portion of the audio node structure that represents the at least one of the audio-related settings, and the audio-related device is configured to maintain a list of audio-related settings to which the performance equipment manager is subscribed.

28. The audio system of claim 27, where the audio-related device is further configured to communicate each of the audio-related settings in the list to the performance equipment manager when a predetermined condition is met.

29. The audio system of claim 28, where the predetermined condition is one of a change in the at least one audio-related settings and a predetermined period of time.

30. The audio system of claim 27, where the audio-related device is configured to prioritize the list of audio-related settings so that communication of more important audio-related settings occurs ahead of lower priority audio-related settings.

31. The audio system of claim 27, where a new value of one of the audio-related settings is provided to the performance equipment manager in the form of a percentage that is useable by the performance equipment manager to adjust an existing value of said one of the audio-related settings.

32. The audio system of claim 31, where the performance equipment manager is further configured to set one of the audio-related settings in the audio-related device with a feedback value in response to adjustment of the existing value.

33. The audio system of claim 27, where the subscribe message configures the audio-related device to communicate the at least one of the audio-related settings to the performance equipment manager and further configures the performance equipment manager to store the at least one of the audio-related settings.

34. The audio system of claim 27, where the at least one of the audio-related settings is a changeable value and the performance equipment manager includes a storage location of the changeable value.

35. The audio system of claim 34, where the performance equipment manager is configured generate the subscribe message to include identification of the changeable value and the storage location, the subscribe message transmittable to the audio-related device.

36. The audio system of claim 27, where the performance equipment manager is configured to generate the subscribe message to include identification of a storage location where the at least one of the audio-related settings is storable upon receipt by the performance equipment manager.

37. The audio system of claim 27, where in response to the subscribe message, the at least one of the audio-related settings is communicable from the audio-related device to the performance equipment manager when a pre-defined condition occurs.

38. The audio system of claim 27, where the performance equipment manager is configured to determine a data type of the at least one of the audio-related settings by querying the audio-related device.

39. The audio system of claim 27, where the performance equipment manager is configured to receive percentages representative of the respective at least one of the audio-related settings.

40. A method of audio-related device communication in an audio system, the method comprising:

identifying a pre-determined condition;

identifying a component in a first audio node structure of a first audio-related device that is a storage location of a changeable value;

subscribing with a subscription message to a changeable parameter in a second audio node structure in a second audio-related device to obtain a value of the changeable parameter when the pre-determined condition is present;

receiving the value of the changeable parameter and indication of the component when the predetermined condition is met;

storing the value of the changeable parameter in the storage location; and

displaying the value on a display of the first audio-related device.

41. The method of claim 40, where receiving the value comprises:

receiving a subscribe string that is in a human readable format, and displaying the value comprises displaying the subscribe string in the format it was received.

42. The method of claim 40, where the changeable parameter comprises a first changeable parameter that is an output of the first audio-related device, the method further comprising:

subscribing with the subscription message to a second changeable parameter in the second audio node structure that comprises the predetermined condition; and

setting a value of the second changeable parameter to control the output.

43. The method of claim 40, where receiving the value comprises:

receiving a percentage of the value and storing the value comprises changing a preexisting value stored in the storage location by the percentage and storing the changed value in the storage location.

44. The method of claim 40, where subscribing with a subscription message to a changeable parameter comprises specifying a data type of the changeable parameter in the subscription message and receiving the value comprises receiving the value of the changeable parameter in the specified data type.

45. The method of claim 40, where the changeable parameter is an audio gain setting.

46. The method of claim 40, where the first audio-related device is an audio amplifier and the second audio-related device is an audio mixer.

47. A method of audio-related device communication in an audio system, the method comprising:

storing a venue table that comprises a plurality of different groups of settings for a plurality of changeable parameters included in an audio-related device, where each of the changeable parameters are identified by components included in an audio node structure that is indicative of functionality of the audio-related device;

receiving a venue setting message that is indicative of one of the groups of settings;

automatically retrieving the indicated one of the groups of settings from the venue table; and

automatically updating the current values of the changeable parameters with the groups of settings based on correspondence between the components included in the audio node structure and each of the settings.

48. The method of claim 47, where storing comprises storing the venue table in the audio-related device.

49. The method of claim 47, where the groups of settings comprise parameters related to sound equalization and automatically updating comprises changing the sound equalization of the audio-related device.

50. An audio system comprising:

a first audio-related device that includes a first audio node structure representative of functionality of the first audio-related device, where the first audio node structure includes a first state variable;

a second audio-related device in communication with the first audio-related device, where the second audio-related device includes a second audio node structure representative of functionality of the second audio-related device, where the second audio node structure includes a second state variable with a data type unknown to the first audio related device;

where, based on a subscription message, the first audio related device is configured to set the second state variable, and the second audio-related device is configured to output a value of the second state variable responsive to the second state variable being set, and where the value is a human readable string.

51. The audio system of claim 50, where the second state variable is set with a percentage since the data type of the second state variable is unknown by the first audio-related device.

52. The audio system of claim 50, where the second state variable is set with a predetermined data type since the data type of the second state variable is known by the first audio-related device.

53. The audio system of claim 50, where the first audio related device is configured to query the second audio related device to determine the data type of the second state variable, and then set the second state variable with the predetermined data type.