Harman International Industries, Inc.

Levi Gene Pearson

Craig Gunther

David Olsen

Dong He

A system and method for measuring and calibrating a time-synchronized network of loudspeaker participants. Each loudspeaker participant has a plurality of microphone arrays. The system and method generates a stimulus signal at each network participant and records precise sensor data including start and end timestamps of the stimulus signal. The sensor data is compiled to estimate locations of loudspeaker participants within the time-synchronized network to establish a global frame of reference for all of the loudspeaker components in the network.

Measurement and calibration of a networked loudspeaker system

A method for creating a model of reflective surfaces in a listening environment that may be applied to noise cancellation for a network of AVB/TSN loudspeaker components. A coordinator determines co-planarity and estimates orientation of all echoes of a stimulus by using recorded precise times of arrival, determined angles of arrival and the known, or estimated, locations of each loudspeaker component. The coordinator groups reflection points into planar regions based on co-planarity and estimated orientations to determine a location of each reflective surface in the listening environment thereby creating a model of all of the reflective surfaces in the listening environment.

Environment discovery via time-synchronized networked loudspeakers

A media apparatus for selecting a media source to provide media content to a playback device that plays back the media content as at least one of audio and video content may include a controller programmed to detect a media zone that includes a playback device, detect a presence of a portable user device that provides media content, determine a number of media sources that are available in the media zone, select a first media source of the number of media sources as a preferred media source based on a hierarchy table, determine whether the preferred media source includes the media content that is provided by the portable user device, and control the preferred media source to provide the media content to the playback device.

Media content playback system and method

An apparatus for switching media content playback from a first playback device to a second playback device across a plurality of playback devices may include a controller programmed to detect a change in location of a portable device from a first media zone including a first playback device to a second media zone including a second playback device, determining a playback position of currently played media content provided from a first media source to the first playback device, identify a second media source that is available at the second media zone, and control the second media source to transmit the currently played media content to the second playback device to switch playback from the first playback device to the second playback device at the playback position.

A network communication system includes a network address management and functional object discovery system. The network address management and functional object discovery system includes a network manager that manages network addresses for functional objects of electronic devices that communicate with each other over a network. The network manager may maintain a database that maps or associates unique IDs of the functional objects with associated network addresses. The network manager may provide non-conflicting instance IDs and network addresses to the electronic devices. The network manager may also provide instance IDs and/or network addresses for other electronic devices so that the electronic devices may communicate with each other over the network.

Network address management and functional object discovery system

A system that includes a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus may communicate over an Ethernet Audio/Video Bridging network. The transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus may each include an application layer module in communication with an application interface module. The application layer module of the transmitting apparatus may interface with the application interface module to send a control message over the network to control flow of a data stream over the network. The application layer module of the receiving apparatus may interface with the application to interface module to receive the control message.

System for communicating control messages in an AVB network

A system that includes a talker, a listener, and a controller may communicate over an Ethernet Audio/Video Bridging network. The controller may communicate control messages to manage data streams between the talker and the listener through one or more application layer interfaces of the talker and the listener. Based on the control messages, the talker and the listener may communicate using a Stream Reservation Protocol to reserve connection for, or remove connection from, the data streams. The talker and listener may communicate the success of reserving or removing the connections to the controller through the application layer interfaces.

System for managing audio/video streams using non-avb application layer structures in listener devices of an avb network

Media Clock Negotiation (MCN) Advertise packets may advertise one or more media clock streams. Each media clock stream may include values of a real-time clock sampled according to a first media clock. A second media clock may be recoverable from the media clock stream such that the second media clock is synchronized with the first media clock. One or more transmitters that receive the packets may determine whether the advertised media clock stream meets a set of media clock conditions. If the advertised media clock stream meets the set of media clock conditions, then the transmitter may add the advertised media clock stream to a set of qualified streams. Each transmitter may select a reference media clock stream from the set of qualified streams. By selecting the same reference media clock stream, media clocks at two or more transmitters may be synchronized.

Media clock negotiation

A listener system, or listener, may be used with an Ethernet Audio-Video Bridging ('AVB') network. The listener may include various components, such as an upper layer application and a stream reservation protocol stack. The upper layer application and stream reservation protocol stack may be in communication with each other. The stream reservation protocol stack may receive stream advertisements on or across the Ethernet AVB network. The stream reservation protocol stack may operate in a sparse mode and may operate in a full mode. When operating in a sparse mode, the stream reservation protocol stack may transmit one subset of the received stream advertisements to the upper layer application, and may not transmit another subset of the received stream advertisements to the upper layer application.

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Lehi, UT, United States of America

Levi Gene Pearson