[ Check
Contents
1. eaes Aeq Alen3 SpusyS8M sulugp uj6ue wey sAepyaem Aouanbaly GSI AE d dneyem OISNIN seuoz Daul WOO4P3g JI SEIN eucz oui uo uuely 007 uue y M N 5 oged je Lev soup punos uue v eu PINOUS MOH P OI um gm VE Sls 500 wooy wooy Awe Aug wooy Buiuiq ausasyuone nbyuoJ euoz u q wa R man ene wooujeg EJ woolujeg wooupag J SEW US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 6 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent ge Old wooy Alwe wooy Buiuig uioo1ujeg wooy Awe wooy Duug woolujeg A US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 7 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent VG 014 wooy sang fi USPIES Ge te JeKoJ B wooy Ajiwey de wooy Bululq 2 usad Q sounjoA WO0JP94 e u s seuoz wooy epan B UOO0Jpog 1a jse W amp wooy bun UJUI amp s uoz JnOA US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 8 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent gs 01 yo uq un oed 92140 wooy GuiAN USUYIJIY dno B siy ui seuoz ay 3 s US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 9 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent 9S Ol ge jefo4 f wooy Aiwey wooy Sululq X u q Q wooJpog Seuin oA eu Jsnipy Q pojnw ae yeu dnou6 ay ul sauo7 Aue2. In addition there are three soft buttons 266 that can be activated in accordance with the labels 268 on the screen 242 It can be understood that in a multi zone system there may be multiple audio sources being played respectively in more than one zone players The music transport functions described herein shall apply selectively to one of the sources when a corresponding one of the zone players or zone groups is selected FIG 2C illustrates an internal functional block diagram of an exemplary controller 270 which may correspond to the US 8 483 853 BI 7 controller 240 of FIG 2B The screen 272 on the controller 270 may be a LCD screen The screen 272 communicates with and is commanded by a screen driver 274 that is con trolled by a microcontroller e g a processor 276 The memory 282 may be loaded with one or more application modules 284 that can be executed by the microcontroller 276 with or without a user input via the user interface 278 to achieve desired tasks In one embodiment an application module is configured to facilitate grouping a number of selected zone players into a zone group and synchronizing the zone players for one audio source In another embodiment an application module is configured to control together the audio volumes of the zone players in a zone group In operation when the microcontroller 276 executes one of the application modules 284 the screen driver 274 generates control signals to drive the scre
3. 19 wherein the zone group configuration includes activation of the zone group responsive to a single user command 31 The multimedia controller of claim 3 wherein the one or more attributes is selected by a user via the display inter face 32 The method of claim 12 wherein the one or more attributes is selected by a user via the display interface 33 The multimedia controller of claim 21 wherein the one or more attributes is selected by a user via the display inter face
4. as well The network 108 may be a wired network a wireless net work or a combination of both In one example all devices including the zone players 102 104 and 106 are coupled to the network 108 by wireless means based on an industry standard such as IEEE 802 11 In yet another example all devices including the zone players 102 104 and 106 are part of a local area network that communicates with a wide area network e g the Internet Many devices on the network 108 are configured to down load and store audio sources For example the computing device 110 can download audio sources from the Internet and store the downloaded sources locally for sharing with other devices on the Internet or the network 108 The computing device 110 or any of the zone players can also be configured to receive streaming audio Shown as a stereo system the device 112 is configured to receive an analog audio source e g from broadcasting or retrieve a digital audio source e g from a compact disk The analog audio sources can be converted to digital audio sources In accordance with the present invention the audio source may be shared among the devices on the network 108 Two or more zone players may be grouped together to form a new zone group Any combinations of zone players and an existing zone group may be grouped together In one instance a new zone group is formed by adding one zone player to another zone player or an existing zone group US
5. be saved in any one of the members in the scene In the example of FIG 1 the scene is saved in one ofthe zone players and displayed on the controller 142 In operation a set of data pertaining to the scene includes a plurality of parameters In one embodiment the parameters include but may not be limited to identifiers e g IP address of the associated players and a playlist The parameters may also include volume tone settings for the associated players in the scene The user may go back to 602 to configure another scene if desired Given a saved scene a user may activate the scene at any time or set up a timer to activate the scene at 610 The process 600 can continue when a saved scene is activated at 610 At 612 upon the activation of a saved scene the process 600 checks the status ofthe players associated with the scene The status of the players means that each of the players shall be in condition to react in a synchronized manner In one embodi ment the interconnections ofthe players are checked to make sure that the players communicate among themselves and or with a controller if there is such a controller in the scene It is assumed that all players associated with the scene are in good condition At 614 commands are executed with the parameters e g pertaining to a playlist and volumes In one embodiment data including the parameters is transported from a member e g a controller to other members in the scene so that
6. clock function For instance the zone scene is set to apply at 8 00 am It could link appropriate zones automatically set specific music to play and then stop the music after a defined duration US 8 483 853 BI 9 Although a single zone may be assigned to an alarm a scene set as an alarm clock provides a synchronized alarm allowing any zones linked in the scene to play a predefined audio e g a favorable song a predefined playlist at a specific time or for a specific duration If for any reason the scheduled music failed to be played e g an empty playlist no connection to a share failed UPnP no Internet connection for an Internet Radio sta tion a backup buzzer will sound This buzzer will be a sound file that is stored in a zone player FIG 4 shows an exemplary user interface 400 that may be displayed on a controller 142 ora computer 110 of FIG 1 The interface 400 shows a list of items that may be set up by a user to cause a scene to function at a specific time In the embodi ment shown in FIG 4 the list of items includes Alarm Time Zone Music Frequency and Alarm length Alarm can be set on or off VVhen Alarm is set on Time is a specific time to set off the alarm Zone shows which zone players are being set to play a specified audio at the specific time Music shovvs what to be played when the specific time arrives Frequency allows the user to defi
7. her own music selections in a kitchen This is all at the same time while a teenager catches a ballgame in a family room and another one blasts pop in a bedroom And the best part of such audio system is that each family member does not need his or her own stereo system one system gives everyone access to all the music sources Currently one of the systems that can meet part of such demand is a conventional multi zone audio system that usu ally includes a number of audio players Each of the audio players has its own amplifier s and a set of speakers and typically installed in one place e g a room In order to play an audio source at one location the audio source must be provided locally or from a centralized location When the audio source is provided locally the multi zone audio system functions as a collection of many stereo systems making source sharing difficult When the audio source is provided centrally the centralized location may include a juke box many compact discs an AM or FM radio tapes or others To send an audio source to an audio player demanding such source a cross bar type of device is used to prevent the audio source from going to other audio players that may be playing other audio sources In order to achieve playing different audio sources in dif ferent audio players the traditional multi zone audio system is generally either hard wired or controlled by a pre config ured and pre programmed controller Wh
8. multimedia controller of claim 1 further comprising a volume control for individual zones or collectively for the zone group 9 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the zone group corresponds to a zone scene provided for user selec tion 10 A method of establishing a zone group the method comprising displaying using a controller a plurality of zone names for user selection via a display interface each zone name of the plurality of zone names representing a particular zone that contains at least one player configured for multimedia playback in the particular zone the plurality of zones including at least a player configured to retrieve a first multimedia output from a first multimedia source or to retrieve a second multimedia output from a second multimedia source and wherein each player is coupled to a first local area network facilitating using the controller formation of a zone group by associating at least two of the plurality of zones the zone group associated with a zone group configuration characterizing the zone group the zone group configu ration identifying players of the zone group and 0 5 25 35 40 45 50 65 12 transmitting using the controller the zone group configu ration to a first player of a zone in the zone group to facilitate synchronized playback of multimedia content in accordance with the zone group configuration the zone group configuration identifying a
9. sl uoz eui jo s um s aunjon Bunsixe ay osm 9 9ujos uoZ ay ui SauoZ ayi 40 seuinjoA ay 195 ors US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 10 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent 9 H sisAe d euoz y 19 SZIUOJUOU S 0 spueululoo eueos ou ui sie e d euoz jo snje s 09U9 219 u s uoz e ayonul SIe 8LUEJEd ujiw 9U99S JU SARS 909 U S eu UJIM pejeroosse 9 eq o si9oAe d 2 uoiuM 9p 99p susos suoz e ejnByuoo 209 009 US 8 483 853 BI 1 CONTROLLING AND MANIPULATING GROUPINGS IN A MULTI ZONE MEDIA SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefits of the provisional application No 60 825 407 entitled Controlling and manipulating groupings in a multi zone music or media sys tem filed Sep 12 2006 which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The invention is generally related to the area of consumer electronics and human computer interaction In particular the invention is related to method and apparatus for control ling or manipulating a plurality of multimedia players in a multi zone system An enduring passion for quality audio reproduction or system is continuing to drive demands from users One ofthe demands includes an audio system in a house in which for example one could grill to classic rock on a patio while another one may cook up his
10. the players are caused to synchronize an opera tion configured in the scene The operation may cause all players to play back a song in identical or different volumes or to play back a pre stored file One of the features benefits and advantages in the present invention is to allow sets of related devices controllers and operating components to exist as a group without interfering with other components that are potentially visible on the same wired or wireless network Each ofthe sets is configured to a theme or a scene The present invention has been described in sufficient detail with a certain degree of particularity It is understood to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure of embodi ments has been made by way of examples only and that numerous changes in the arrangement and combination of parts may be resorted without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed While the embodiments discussed herein may appear to include some limitations as to the presentation of the information units in terms of the format and arrangement the invention has applicability well beyond such embodiment which can be appreciated by those skilled in the art Accordingly the scope of the present inven tion is defined by the appended claims rather than the forgo ing description of embodiments I claim 1 A multimedia controller including a processor the con troller configured to display a plurality of zone names f
11. 2 11b or 802 11g The wired interface 217 provides network interface functions by a wired means e g an Ethernet cable In one embodiment a zone player includes both of the interfaces 216 and 217 and other zone players include only a RF or wired interface Thus these other zone players communicate with other devices on a network or retrieve audio sources via the zone player The processor 204 is configured to control the operation of other parts in the zone player 200 The memory 206 may be loaded with one or more software modules that can be executed by the processor 204 to achieve desired tasks According to one aspect of the present invention a software module implementing one embodiment of the present invention is executed the proces sor 204 operates in accordance with the software module in reference to a saved zone group configuration characterizing a zone group created by a user the zone player 200 is caused to retrieve an audio source from another zone player or a device on the network According to one embodiment ofthe present invention the memory 206 is used to save one or more saved zone configu ration files that may be retrieved for modification at any time Typically a saved zone group configuration file is transmitted to a controller e g the controlling device 140 or 142 of FIG 1 a computer a portable device or a TV when a user oper ates the controlling device The zone group configuration provides an interactive u
12. 6 381 107 381 120 where each ofthe players is located in a zone When the scene 381 123 715 716 715 727 715 734 715 735 is activated the players in the scene react in a synchronized 709 217 709 218 709 220 709 221 709 230 manner For example the players in the scene are all caused to 709 231 play a multimedia source or music in a playlist wherein the 58 Field of Classification Search multimedia source may be located anywhere on a network USPC E 700 94 See application file for complete search history Bedroom 4 Kitchen v Living Room Office v Patio Select the zones in this group Uncheck 33 Claims 10 Drawing Sheets U S Patent Jul 9 2013 Sheet 1 of 10 US 8 483 853 B1 142 140 102 on Es Audio source 100 O e US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 2 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent vic Jeyijduy oipny Ve 2014 che yoo Ole BuisseooJg olpny 902 LLC 7 ss l li m i ssemim SOBEJISIU 202 002 US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 3 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent Orc 892 gc SIA US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 4 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent JC EI edepaju x10 9N eoejeju JY 087 uoneoljddy Je 0 U09 OJOI N eoejeju ndul c8c 812 JeAug u9819S LZ KA 222 012 US 8 483 853 B1 Sheet 5 of 10 Jul 9 2013 U S Patent MON Aleid
13. 8 483 853 BI 5 Referring now to FIG 2A there is shown an exemplary functional block diagram of a zone player 200 in accordance with the present invention The zone player 200 includes a network interface 202 a processor 204 a memory 206 an audio processing circuit 210 a module 212 and optionally an audio amplifier 214 that may be internal or external The network interface 202 facilitates a data flow between a data network i e the data network 108 of FIG 1 and the zone player 200 and typically executes a special set of rules i e a protocol to send data back and forth One of the common protocols used in the Internet is TCP IP Transmission Con trol Protocol Internet Protocol In general a network inter face manages the assembling of an audio source or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the data network or reassembles received packets into the original source or file In addition the network interface 202 handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination or intercepts packets destined for the zone player 200 The network interface 202 may include one or both of a wireless interface 216 and a wired interface 217 The wireless interface 216 also referred to as a RF interface provides network interface functions by a wireless means for the zone player 200 to communicate with other devices in accordance with a communication protocol such as the wireless standard IEEE 802 11a 80
14. US008483853B1 a United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 483 853 B1 Lambourne 45 Date of Patent Jul 9 2013 54 CONTROLLING AND MANIPULATING 56 References Cited GROUPINGS IN A MULTI ZONE MEDIA SYSTEM U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 7 218 708 B2 5 2007 Berezowski et al 379 37 75 Inventor Robert A Lambourne Santa Barbara 7 668 990 B2 2 2010 Krzyzanowski et al 710 72 CA US 2002 0003548 Al 1 2002 Krusche et al 345 736 2005 0289244 1 12 2005 Sahu et al 709 249 73 Assignee Sonos Inc Santa Barbara CA US 2007 0142022 Al 6 2007 Madonna et al 455 352 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this WO WO 2005013047 A2 2 2005 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 1443 days OTHER PUBLICATIONS 3 lt ak 21 Appl No 11 853 790 Yamaha DME 32 user manual copyright 2000 cited b i 22 Filed 11 2007 RE rimary Examiner Paul Met or Primary E Paul McCord Related U S Application Data 755 777 or Firm Hanley Flight and 60 Provisional application No 60 825 407 filed on Sep 12 2006 57 ABSTRACT In general techniques ofcontrolling a plurality of multimedia players in groups are disclosed According to one aspect of GO6F 17 00 2006 01 the present invention a mechanism is provided to allow a user 52 U S CI to group some of the players according to a theme or scene USPC ss 700 94 381 5
15. a multimedia file when the scene is activated According to another embodiment the present invention is directed to an entertainment system for grouping players the system comprises a plurality of players each located in one US 8 483 853 BI 3 zone and a controller providing a mechanism to allow a user to select which of the players to be associated with a theme representing a group and configure the theme with param eters pertaining to the selected players wherein the theme is activated at anytime or a specific time so that the selected players react in a synchronized manner As a result the selected players are synchronized to play a multimedia that is in a digital format andretrieved from a source over a network One of the objects features and advantages of the present invention is to remotely control a plurality of multimedia players in a multi zone system playing and controlling the audio source synchronously if the players are grouped together or playing and controlling the audio source indi vidually if the players are disassociated with each other Other objects features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon examining the follow ing detailed description of an embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the attached drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the fo
16. activate the one or more additional zone groups along with the first zone group in accordance with a zone scene associated with the plurality of zone groups 23 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the controller is configured to activate the zone group when at least one of the zones in the zone group is associated with a different zone group 24 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the controller is configured to provide a backup buzzer to be played in event of an audio alarm failure as part of the zone group configuration 20 25 14 25 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the controller is to facilitate user creation of a zone scene by selecting via a user interface one or more of the displayed plurality of zones each ofthe one or more displayed plurality of zones graphically represented via the user interface 26 The multimedia controller of claim 19 further com prising a volume control for individual zones or collectively for the zone group 27 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the zone group corresponds to a zone scene provided for user selection 28 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the zone group configuration includes activation of the zone group responsive to a single user command 29 The method of claim 10 wherein the zone group con figuration includes activation of the zone group responsive to a single user command 30 The multimedia control of claim
17. ailed description of the invention is presented largely in terms of procedures in terms of procedures steps logic blocks processing and other symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble the operations of data processing devices coupled to networks These process descriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art Numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understand ing of the present invention However it will become obvious 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details In other instances well known methods procedures components and circuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present invention Reference herein to one embodiment or an embodi ment means that a particular feature structure or character istic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention The appearances of the phrase in one embodiment in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment nor are separate or alternative embodi ments mutually exclusive of other embodiments Further the order of blocks in process flowcharts or diagra
18. en 272 to display an application specific user interface accordingly more ofwhich will be described below The controller 270 includes a network interface 280 referred to as a RF interface 280 that facilitates wireless communication with a zone player via a corresponding RF interface thereof In one embodiment the commands such as volume control and audio playback synchronization are sent via the RF interfaces In another embodiment a saved zone group configuration is transmitted between a zone player and a controller via the RF interfaces The controller 270 may control one or more zone players such as 102 104 and 106 of FIG 1 Nevertheless there may be more than one controllers each preferably in a zone e g a room and configured to control any one and all of the zone players In one embodiment a user creates a zone group including at least two zone players from the controller 240 that sends signals or data to one of the zone players As all the zone players are coupled on a network the received signals in one zone player can cause other zone players in the group to be synchronized so that all the zone players in the group play back an identical audio source or a list of identical audio sources in a timely synchronized manner Similarly when a user increases the audio volume of the group from the con troller the signals or data of increasing the audio volume for the group are sent to one of the zone players and causes other zone p
19. ile the pre pro grammed configuration may be satisfactory in one situation it may not be suitable for another situation For example a person would like to listen to broadcast news from his her favorite radio station in a bedroom a bathroom and a den while preparing to go to work in the morning The same person may wish to listen in the den and the living room to music from a compact disc in the evening In order to satisfy such reguirements two groups of audio players must be established In the morning the audio players in the bedroom the bathroom and the den need to be grouped for the broadcast news In the evening the audio players in the den and the living room are grouped for the music Over the weekend the audio players in the den the living room and a kitchen are grouped for party music Because the morning group the evening group and the weekend group contain the den it can 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 be difficult for the traditional system to accommodate the reguirement of dynamically managing the ad hoc creation and deletion of groups There is a need for dynamic control of the audio players as a group With a minimum manipulation the audio players may be readily grouped In a traditional multi zone audio system the audio players have to be adjusted one at a time resulting in an inconvenient and non homogenous audio environment Further there is a need to individually or sys tematica
20. in the zones to be associated with the scene FIG 5C shows a user interface 510 to allow a user to adjust a volume level ofthe zone players in a zone scene individually or collectively As shown in the user interface 510 the Vol umes button shown as sliders other forms are possible allows the user to affect the volumes of the associated zone players when a zone scene is invoked In one embodiment the zone players can be set to retain whatever volume that they currently have when the scene is invoked Additionally the user can decide if the volumes should be unmuted or muted when the scene is invoked FIG 6 shows a flowchart or process 600 of providing a player theme or a zone scene for a plurality of players where one or more of the players are placed in a zone The process 600 is presented in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention and may be implemented in a module to be located in the memory 282 of FIG 2C The process 600 is initiated only when a user decides to proceed with a zone scene at 602 The process 600 then moves to 604 where it allows a user to decide which zone players to 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 be associated with the scene For example there are ten players in a household and the scene is named after Morn ing The user may be given an interface to select four of the ten players to be associated with the scene At 606 the scene is saved The scene may
21. layers in the group to be increased together in volume and in scale According to one implementation an application module is loaded in memory 282 for zone group management When a predetermined key e g the zones button 244 is activated on the controller 240 the application module is executed in the microcontroller 276 The input interface 278 coupled to and controlled by the microcontroller 276 receives inputs from a user A Zone Menu is then displayed on the screen 272 The user may start grouping zone players into a zone group by activating a Link Zones or Add Zone soft but ton or de grouping a zone group by activating an Unlink Zones or Drop Zone button The detail of the zone group manipulation will be further discussed below As described above the input interface 278 includes a number of function buttons as well as a screen graphical user interface It should be pointed out that the controller 240 in FIG 2B is not the only controlling device that may practice the present invention Other devices that provide the equiva lent control functions e g a computing device a hand held device may also be configured to practice the present inven tion In the above description unless otherwise specifically described it is clear that keys or buttons are generally referred to as either the physical buttons or soft buttons enabling a user to enter a command or data One mechanism for joining zone p
22. layers together for music playback is to link a number of zone players together to 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 form a group To link a number of zone players together a user may manually link each zone player or room one after the other For example there is a multi zone system that includes the following zones Bathroom Bedroom Den Dining Room Family Room Foyer If the user wishes to link 5 ofthe 6 zone players using the current mechanism he she must start with a single zone and then manually link each zone to that zone This mechanism may be sometimes quite time consuming According to one embodiment a set of zones can be dynamically linked together using one command Using what is referred to herein as a theme or a zone scene zones can be configured in a particular scene e g morning afternoon or garden where a predefined zone grouping and setting of attributes for the grouping are automatically effectuated For instance a Morning zone scene configuration com mand would link the Bedroom Den and Dining Room together in one action Without this single command the user would need to manually and individually link each zone FIG 3A provides an illustration of one zone scene where the left column shows the starting zone grouping all zones are sepa rate the column on the right shows the effects of grouping the zones to make a group of 3 zones named after Morning E
23. llowing description appended claims and accompa nying drawings where FIG 1 shows an exemplary configuration in which the present invention may be practiced FIG 2A shows an exemplary functional block diagram of a player in accordance with the present invention FIG 2B shows an example ofa controller that may be used to remotely control one of more players of FIG 2A FIG 2C shows an exemplary internal functional block diagram of a controller in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 3A provides an illustration of one zone scene where the left column shows the starting zone grouping all zones are separate the column on the right shows the effects of grouping the zones to make a group of 3 zones named after Morning FIG 3B shows that a user defines multiple groups to be gathered at the same time FIG 4 shovvs an exemplary user interface that may be displayed on a controller or a computer of FIG 1 FIG 5A shows a user interface to allow a user to form a scene FIG 5B shows another user interface 520 to allow a user to form a scene FIG 5C shows a user interface to allow a user to adjust a volume level of the zone players in a zone scene individually or collectively and FIG 6 shows a flowchart or process of providing a player theme or a zone scene for a plurality of players where one or more of the players are placed in a zone DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The det
24. lly adjust the audio volume of the audio players SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This section is for the purpose of summarizing some aspects of the present invention and to briefly introduce some preferred embodiments Simplifications or omissions in this section as well as in the abstract or the title ofthis description may be made to avoid obscuring the purpose of this section the abstract and the title Such simplifications or omissions are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention In general the present invention pertains to controlling a plurality of multimedia players or simply players in groups According to one aspect of the present invention a mecha nism is provided to allow a user to group some ofthe players according to a theme or scene where each of the players is located in a zone When the scene is activated the players in the scene react in a synchronized manner For example the players in the scene are all caused to play an audio source or music in a playlist wherein the audio source may be located anywhere on a network According to another aspect of the present invention the scene may be activated at any time or a specific time A user may activate the scene at any time so that only some selected zones in an entertainment system facilitate a playback of an audio source When the scene is activated at a specific time the scene may be used as an alarm or buzzer According to still another aspect ofthe prese
25. ms represent ing one or more embodiments of the invention do not inher ently indicate any particular order nor imply any limitations in the invention Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views FIG 1 shows an exemplary configuration 100 in which the present inven tion may be practiced The configuration may represent but not be limited to a part of a residential home a business building or a complex with multiple zones There are a num ber of multimedia players of which three examples 102 104 and 106 are shown as audio devices Each ofthe audio devices may be installed or provided in one particular area or zone and hence referred to as a zone player herein As used herein unless explicitly stated otherwise an audio source or audio sources are in digital format and can be transported or streamed over a data network To facilitate the understanding of the present invention it is assumed that the configuration 100 represents a home Thus the zone player 102 and 104 may be located in two of the bedrooms respec tively while the zone player 106 may be installed in a living room All of the zone players 102 104 and 106 are coupled directly or indirectly to a data network 108 In addition a computing device 110 is shown to be coupled on the network 108 In reality any other devices such as a home gateway device a storage device or an MP3 player may be coupled to the network 108
26. ne a frequency of the alarm Alarm length defines how long the audio is to be played It should be noted that the user interface 400 is provided herein to show some of the functions associ ated with setting up an alarm Depending on an exact imple mentation other functions such as time zone daylight sav ings time synchronization and time date format for display may also be provided without departing from the present invention According to one embodiment each zone player in a scene may be set up for different alarms For example a Morning scene includes three zone players each in a bedroom a den and a dining room After selecting the scene the user may set up an alarm for the scene as whole As a result each of the zone players will be activated at a specific time FIG 5A shows a user interface 500 to allow a user to form a scene The panel on the left shows the available zones in a household The panel on the right shows the zones that have been selected and be grouped as part ofthis scene Depending on an exact implementation of a user interface Add Remove buttons may be provided to move zones between the panels or zones may be dragged along between panels FIG 5B shows another user interface 520 to allow a user to forma scene The user interface 520 that may be displayed on a controller or a computing device lists available zones in a system A checkbox is provide next to each of the zones so that a user may check
27. nt invention a controlling device also referred to herein as controller is provided to facilitate a user to select any of the players in the system to form respective groups each of which is set up per a scene Although various scenes may be saved in any ofthe members in a group commands are preferably sent from the controller to the rest of the members when one of the scenes is executed Depending on implementation the commands include parameters pertaining to identifiers of the players volumes settings audio source and etc According to yet another aspect of the present invention a configurable module is implemented in the controlling device that provides interactive graphic user interface for forming managing and controlling groups in the system de grouping a group or adjusting audio volume of individual players or a group of players The present invention may be implemented in many forms including software hardware or a combination of both According to one embodiment the present invention is directed to a method for groupings in a multi zone media system the method comprises providing a mechanism to allow a user to determine which players in the system to be associated with a theme representing a group and configur ing the theme with parameters pertaining to the players wherein the theme is activated at anytime or a specific time so thatthe players react in a synchronized manner The players in a scene are synchronized to play
28. nt screen or Zone Menu which is described in more details below The back button 246 may lead to different actions depending on the current screen In one embodiment the back button triggers the current screen display to go back to a previous one In another embodiment the back button negates the user s erroneous selection The music button 248 activates a music menu which allows the selection of an audio source e g a song to be added to a zone player s music queue for playback The scroll wheel 250 is used for selecting an item within a list whenever a list is presented on the screen 242 When the items in the list are too many to be accommodated in one screen display a scroll indicator such as a scroll bar or a scroll arrow is displayed beside the list When the scroll indicator is displayed a user may rotate the scroll wheel 250 to either choose a displayed item or display a hidden item in the list The ok button 252 is used to confirm the user selection on the screen 242 There are three transport buttons 254 which are used to control the effect of the currently playing song For example the functions ofthe transport buttons may include play pause and forward rewind a song move forward to a next song track or move backward to a previous track According to one embodiment pressing one ofthe volume control buttons such as the mute button 262 or the volume up down button 264 activates a volume panel
29. or user selection via a display interface each zone name of the plurality of zone names representing a particular zone that contains at least one player configured for multimedia playback in that zone the plurality of zones including at least a player configured to retrieve a first multimedia output from a first multimedia source or to retrieve a second multimedia output from a second multimedia source and wherein each player is coupled to a first local area network US 8 483 853 BI 11 facilitate formation of a zone group by associating at least two of the plurality of zones the zone group associated with a zone group configuration characterizing the zone group the zone group configuration identifying players ofthe zone group and transmit the zone group configuration to a first player of a zone in the zone group to facilitate synchronized play back of multimedia content in accordance with the zone group configuration the zone group configuration iden tifying atleastthe first multimedia source and the second multimedia source and the zone group configuration to include activation ofthe synchronized playback by play ers of the zone group automatically at a specified time the first player determining playback of either the first multimedia source or the second multimedia source in accordance with the zone group configuration 2 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the con trolleris configured to apply oneor more attrib
30. ration characterizing the zone group the zone group configuration identifying players of the zone group and transmit the zone group configuration to a first player of a zone in the zone group to facilitate synchronized play back of multimedia content in accordance with the zone group configuration the zone group configuration iden US 8 483 853 BI 13 tifying at least the first multimedia source and the second multimedia source and the zone group configuration to include activation of the synchronized playback by play ers of the zone group automatically at a specified time the first player determining playback of either the first multimedia source or the second multimedia source in accordance with the zone group configuration 20 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the controller is configured to apply one or more attributes to the zone group as part of the zone group configuration 21 The multimedia controller of claim 20 wherein the one or more attributes comprises one or more of a a volume level for audio playback for each zone in the zone group b a mute or unmute setting for audio playback c a selection and play of specific music d a play mode setting e an equalization setting for audio playback and f an audio alarm 22 The multimedia controller of claim 19 wherein the zone group comprises a first zone group and wherein the controller is configured to establish one or more additional zone groups and
31. ser interface so that various manipu lations or control of the zone players may be performed The audio processing circuit 210 resembles most of the circuitry in an audio playback device and includes one or more digital to analog converters DAC an audio prepro cessing part an audio enhancement part or a digital signal processor and others In operation when an audio source is retrieved via the network interface 202 the audio source is processed in the audio processing circuit 210 to produce analog audio signals The processed analog audio signals are then provided to the audio amplifier 214 for playback on speakers In addition the audio processing circuit 210 may include necessary circuitry to process analog signals as inputs to produce digital signals for sharing with other devices on a network Depending on an exact implementation the module 212 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and soft ware In one embodiment the module 212 is used to save a 20 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 scene The audio amplifier 214 is typically an analog circuit that powers the provided analog audio signals to drive one or more speakers Referring now to FIG 2B there is shown an exemplary controller 240 which may correspond to the controlling device 140 or 142 of FIG 1 The controller 240 may be used to facilitate the control of multi media applications automa tion and others in a complex In particular the con
32. t least the first multimedia source and the second multimedia source and the zone group configuration to include activation of the synchronized playback by players of the zone group automatically at a specified time the first player deter mining playback of either the first multimedia source or the second multimedia source in accordance with the zone group configuration 11 The method of claim 10 further comprising applying using the controller one or more attributes to the zone group as part of the zone group configuration 12 The method of claim 11 wherein the one or more attributes comprises one or more of a a volume level for audio playback for each zone in the zone group b a mute or unmute setting for audio playback c a selection and play of specific music d a play mode setting e an equalization setting for audio playback and f an audio alarm 13 The method of claim 10 wherein the zone group com prises a first zone group and wherein the controller is con figured to establish one or more additional zone groups and activate the one or more additional zone groups along with the first zone group in accordance with a zone scene associated with the plurality of zone groups 14 The method of claim 10 wherein the controller is configured to activate the zone group when at least one ofthe zones in the zone group is associated with a different zone group 15 The method of claim 10 further comprising providing abackup bu
33. troller 240 is configured to facilitate a selection of a plurality of audio sources available on the network controlling operations of one or more zone players e g the zone player 200 through a RF interface corresponding to the RF interface 216 of FIG 2A According to one embodiment the wireless means is based on an industry standard e g infrared radio wireless standard IEEE 802 11a 802 11b or 802 11g When a par ticular audio source is being played in the zone player 200 a picture if there is any associated with the audio source may be transmitted from the zone player 200 to the controller 240 for display In one embodiment the controller 240 is used to synchronize more than one zone players by grouping the zone players in a group In another embodiment the controller 240 is used to control the volume of each of the zone players in a zone group individually or together The user interface for the controller 240 includes a screen 242 e g a LCD screen and a set of functional buttons as follows a zones button 244 a back button 246 a music button 248 a scroll wheel 250 ok button 252 a set of transport control buttons 254 a mute button 262 a volume up down button 264 a set of soft buttons 266 corresponding to the labels 268 displayed on the screen 242 The screen 242 displays various screen menus in response to a user s selection In one embodiment the zones button 244 activates a zone manageme
34. utes to the zone group as part of the zone group configuration 3 The multimedia controller of claim 2 wherein the one or more attributes comprises one or more ofa a volume level for audio playback for each zone in the zone group b a mute or unmute setting for audio playback c a selection and play of specific music d a play mode setting e an equalization setting for audio playback and f an audio alarm 4 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the zone group comprises a first zone group and wherein the controller is configured to establish one or more additional zone groups and activate the one or more additional zone groups along with the first zone group in accordance with a zone scene associated with the plurality of zone groups 5 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the con troller is configured to activate the zone group when at least one of the zones in the zone group is associated with a differ ent zone group 6 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the con troller is configured to provide a backup buzzer to be played in event of an audio alarm failure as part of the zone group configuration 7 The multimedia controller of claim 1 wherein the con troller is to facilitate user creation of a zone scene by select ing via a user interface one or more ofthe displayed plurality of zones each of the one or more displayed plurality of zones graphically represented via the user interface 8 The
35. xpanding this idea further a Zone Scene can be set to create multiple sets of linked zones For example a scene creates 3 separate groups of zones the downstairs zones would be linked together the upstairs zones would be linked together in their own group and the outside zones in this case the patio would move into a group of its own In one embodiment as shown in FIG 3B a user defines multiple groups to be gathered at the same time For example an Evening Scene is desired to link the following zones Group 1 Bedroom Den Dining Room Group 2 Garage Garden where Bathroom Family Room and Foyer should be sepa rated from any group if they were part of a group before the Zone Scene was invoked One important of the features benefits and objects in the present invention is that that zones do not need to be separated before a zone scene is invoked In one embodiment a com mand is provided and links all zones in one step if invoked The command is in a form of a zone scene After linking the appropriate zones a zone scene command could apply the following attributes Set volumes levels in each zones each zone can have a different volume Mute Unmute zones Select and play specific music in the zones Set the play mode of the music Shuffle Repeat Shuffle repeat Set the music playback equalization of each zone e g bass treble A further extension of this embodiment is to trigger a zone scene command as an alarm
36. zzerto be played in event ofan audio alarm failure as part of the zone group configuration 16 The method of claim 10 further comprising facilitating user creation ofa zone scene by selecting via a user interface one or more of the displayed plurality of zones each of the one or more displayed plurality of zones graphically repre sented via the user interface 17 The method of claim 10 further comprising setting a volume control for individual zones or collectively for the zone group 18 The method of claim 10 wherein the zone group cor responds to a zone scene provided for user selection 19 A tangible computer readable storage medium includ ing a set of instructions for execution by a processor the set of instructions when executed implement a controller config ured to display a plurality of zone names for user selection via a display interface each zone name of the plurality of zones names representing a particular zone that contains at least one player configured for multimedia playback in the particular zone the plurality of zones including at least a player configured to retrieve a first multimedia output from a first multimedia source or to retrieve a second multimedia output from a second multimedia source and wherein each player is coupled to a first local area network facilitate formation of a zone group by associating at least two of the plurality of zones the zone group associated with a zone group configu
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search