Unification of multimedia devices
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for providing a multimedia system including a plurality of networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:
- discovering the plurality of devices on a computer network;
defining at least two groups, each group being representative of a networked multimedia system including two or more devices;
providing, for each group, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group, wherein each group has a relative group leader configured to;
(i) receive the system control signal; and
(ii) in response to the system control signal, define respective corresponding device control signals, and provide those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the group;
defining at least one zone, the zone being representative of a networked multimedia system including two or more groups;
providing, for the zone, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a zone control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone, wherein the zone has a relative zone leader configured to;
(i) receive the zone control signal; and
(ii) in response to the zone control signal, define respective corresponding device control signals, and provide those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the zone.
11 Assignments
Litigations
2 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
1166 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for providing a multimedia system including a plurality of networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:
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discovering the plurality of devices on a computer network; defining at least two groups, each group being representative of a networked multimedia system including two or more devices; providing, for each group, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group, wherein each group has a relative group leader configured to; (i) receive the system control signal; and (ii) in response to the system control signal, define respective corresponding device control signals, and provide those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the group; defining at least one zone, the zone being representative of a networked multimedia system including two or more groups; providing, for the zone, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a zone control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone, wherein the zone has a relative zone leader configured to; (i) receive the zone control signal; and (ii) in response to the zone control signal, define respective corresponding device control signals, and provide those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the zone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17)
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13. A method performed by a networked multimedia device for providing a multimedia system including the device and one or more complementary networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:
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connecting to a computer network; undergoing a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, and the one or more complementary devices; determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the one or more complementary devices; 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 one or more complementary devices; providing, for the group, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group; receiving the system control signal; and being responsive to the system control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals and providing those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the group; determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the one or more complementary devices and one or more further groups of complementary devices; and in the case that the device is the zone leader; defining a zone representative of a plurality of networked multimedia systems, wherein one of the networked multimedia systems includes the device and the one or more complementary devices, and wherein another of the networked multimedia systems includes a further set of complementary devices; providing, for the zone, a zone control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; receiving the zone control signal; and being responsive to the zone control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals for the individual devices in the zone, and providing those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the zone. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 27)
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18. A non-transitory 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 including the device, and one or more complementary wireless multimedia devices the method comprising the steps of:
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connecting to a computer network; undergoing a discovery process on the computer network for allowing mutual discovery of the device, and the one or more complementary devices; determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the one or more complementary devices; and in the case the device is a group leader; defining a group representative of a networked multimedia system including the device and the one or more complementary devices; providing, for the group, system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group; receiving the system control signal; and being responsive to the system control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals and providing those signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the group; determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the one or more complementary devices and one or more further groups of complementary devices; and in the case that the device is the zone leader; defining a zone representative of a plurality of networked multimedia systems, wherein one of the networked multimedia systems includes the device and the one or more complementary devices, and wherein another of the networked multimedia systems includes a further set of complementary devices; providing, for the zone, a zone control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; receiving the zone control signal; and being responsive to the zone control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals for the individual devices in the zone, and providing those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the zone. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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19. A non-transitory 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 a multimedia system including two or more networked multimedia devices, the method including the steps of:
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discovering the devices on a computer network; defining a group, the group being representative of a networked multimedia system including the devices; providing, as a relative group leader for the group, a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the group; receiving the system control signal; 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; defining a zone, the zone being representative of two or more networked multimedia systems, one of the networked multimedia systems being that in respect of which the group is representative; providing, as a relative zone leader for the zone, a zone control interface for receiving, from a control device, a zone control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; receiving the zone control signal; and being responsive to the zone control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to the devices to implement the operational change across the zone.
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21. A multimedia playback unit including:
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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, and one or more complementary devices; a second processor for determining whether the device is a group leader relative to the one 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 one or more complementary devices; providing, for the group, a system control interface for receiving a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the multimedia system; receiving the system control signal; and being responsive to the system control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals, and providing those signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the multimedia system; a third processor for determining whether the device is a zone leader relative to the one or more complementary devices and one or more further groups of complementary devices and, where the device is the zone leader; defining a zone representative of a plurality of networked multimedia systems, wherein one of the networked multimedia systems includes the device and the one or more complementary devices, and wherein another of the networked multimedia systems includes a further set of complementary devices; providing, for the zone, a zone control interface for receiving, from a control device, a system control signal indicative of an operational change to the zone; receiving the zone control signal; and being responsive to the zone control signal for defining respective corresponding device control signals for the individual devices in the zone, and providing those device control signals to the devices thereby to implement the operational change across the zone. - View Dependent Claims (22, 24)
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23. A multimedia playback unit including:
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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, and the one or more complementary devices; a second processor for identifying a group leader among the device and the one or more complementary devices, and a zone leader among the one or more complementary devices; an infrared input for receiving, from a control device, a group control signal and a zone control signal; a fourth processor responsive to the control signal where the device is not the group leader for providing data over the network indicative of the group control signal to the group leader, wherein the group leader is responsive to the group control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals group control signal across the group; and a fifth processor responsive to the zone control signal where the device is not the zone leader for providing data over the network indicative of the zone control signal to the zone leader, wherein the zone leader is responsive to the zone control signal for providing respective corresponding device control signals to implement zone control signal across the zone.
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25. A set of networked multimedia systems, each networked multimedia system including:
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a plurality of networked multimedia playback devices including a relative group leader, the group leader providing a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, 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; wherein the set of networked multimedia systems include a relative zone leader, the zone leader providing a system control interface for receiving, from a control device, a zone control signal indicative of an operational change to the plurality of multimedia systems, wherein the zone leader is responsive to the zone 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. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification