<p>A SYSTEM OF REMOTE CONTROL</p>
<p>BACKGROUND</p>
<p>The present invention relates to user interfaces and data communication for the remote control of equipment A personal live performance audio mixing system (the System) for musicians and audio engineers, using pocket size computing devices and proprietary user interface, is described here as an embodiment.</p>
<p>Problems solved by the present invention 1) The relative volumes of sound, produced by audio equipment need to be adjusted so that the desired mix' is achieved. This is done both so the audience hears the desired audio mix and the performers can monitor their audio performance. Traditionally, this has been done by an audio engineer changing the relative levels of instruments on a mixer and another party listening to these changes and advising the engineer. This communication between the engineer and the other party may be a problem Because of this, there is a need for a personal system for remote controlling audio equipment, such as mixers, that may be used by performers before and/or during a performance, with or without supervision of an audio engineer. Furthermore, audio engineers currently use portable wireless computing equipment such as Laptop or Tablet computers, for achieving a desired audio mix remote to the audio equipment Laptop and tablet PCs may have several drawbacks, such as being too bulky to carry around all the time, too fragile and too expensive As a result, these computers may be impracticable to be used as personal remote controls for self-monitoring purposes by musicians or for remote monitoring of the mix by engineers. The use of smaller personal pocket sized computing equipment, such as PDAs or mobile phones, which are portable, rugged and cheap, may therefore be employed. In order for this to be possible, there is a need to create a user interface for these smaller screens and methods of navigating this interface to allow the control of a variety of audio equipment with full support of all features necessary to remotely mix audio 2) Large amounts of telecommunication data may cause many problems communication lines jam up, data processing equipment overheats and slows down while working hard to process the data, waiting time increases, users loose patience, reliability of systems decreases and battery life for mobile wireless data processing devices shortens The amount of telecommunication data may therefore need to be reduced by prioritising data.</p>
<p>INTRODUCTION TO DRAWINGS</p>
<p>Fig 1 illustrates a typical arrangement of components for the remote control system Fig 2 illustrates another typical arrangement of components for the remote control system.</p>
<p>Fig. 3 illustrates another typical arrangement of components for the remote control system, using multiple remote controls Fig 4 illustrates another typical arrangement of components for the remote control system, using multiple remote controls and parts of another network Fig 5 illustrates how the user interface adapts to various sizes and shapes of screens of pocket size computing equipment Fig 6 illustrates another means by which the user interface adapts to various sizes and shapes of screens of pocket size computing equipment Fig 7 illustrates the Main view of the user interface for a pocket size computing device for remote controlling audio equipment, such as audio mixing desks Fig. 8 illustrates a method of navigation comprising a Van-navigator, employed in the user interface.</p>
<p>Fig 9 illustrates the channel volume Big Fader' view.</p>
<p>Fig 10 illustrates the signal flow Fig 11 illustrates the method of arranging and adjusting multiple parameters Fig 12 illustrates the method of representing and adjusting the devices and the order of the signal flow Fig. 13 illustrates the Channel Pan' view Fig 14 illustrates the Parametric Equaliser' part of the Channel Edit' view.</p>
<p>Fig 15 illustrates the Compressor/Gate' part of the Channel Edit' view Fig. 16 illustrates the Gate Volume Envelope' view in the Compressor/Gate' part of the Channel Edit' view Fig 17 illustrates the Compressor Level' view in the Compressor/Gate' part of the Channel Edit' view Fig. 18 illustrates the Compressor Envelope' view in the Compressor/Gate' part of the Channel Edit' view Fig. 19 illustrates the Graphic Equaliser' part of Channel Edit' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 20 illustrates the Device Input and Output' view.</p>
<p>Fig 21 illustrates the FX' folder in Channel Edit' view Fig 22 illustrates the Matrix' view Fig 23 illustrates the Dial-To-Matrix' folder of the Matrix' Channel Edit' view Fig. 24 illustrates the Bus' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 25 illustrates the Bus-To-Stereo' view Fig. 26 illustrates the Channel-To-Bus Assign' view Fig. 27 illustrates the Mute' view Fig 28 illustrates the Mute Group Assign' view Fig. 29 illustrates the Aux' view Fig 30 illustrates the Input Patching' of the Patching' view with onboard' input selected.</p>
<p>Fig. 31 illustrates the Input Patching' of the Patching' view with slot 1' input selected Fig 32 illustrates the Input Patching' of the Patching' view with a different channel selected.</p>
<p>Fig. 33 illustrates the Output Patching' of the Patching' view with Main' output selected when it is patched to the two physical outs within the same coarse range Fig 34 illustrates the Output Patching' of the Patching' view with Main' output selected when it is patched to the two physical outs within different coarse ranges Fig 35 illustrates the Output Patching' of the Patching' view with Aux' output selected Fig. 36 illustrates the Output Patching' of the Patching' view with Matrix' outputs selected Fig 37 illustrates the Output Patching of the Patching view with Bus outputs selected.</p>
<p>Fig 38 illustrates the Insert Send' of the Patching' view for channel Kick' Fig 39 illustrates the Insert Return' of the Patching' view for channel Kick'.</p>
<p>Fig 40 illustrates the Direct Output' Patching of the Patching' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 41 illustrates a method of configuring the signal flow chain for a channel strip.</p>
<p>Fig 42 illustrates current signal flow chain for Kick' channel Fig. 43 illustrates current signal flow chain for Tomi' channel Fig. 44 illustrates the Disallow' part of the Access' view Fig 45 illustrates the Master part of the Login' view.</p>
<p>Fig 46 illustrates the Servant' part of the Login' view Fig 47 illustrates the Master View' of the Disallow' part of the Access' view.</p>
<p>Fig 48 illustrates the Servant Management' window Fig. 49 illustrates the Disallow' mode.</p>
<p>Fig 50 illustrates the Set-Safe' mode Fig. 51 illustrates the What's-Up' part of the Access' view Fig. 52 illustrates the History' menu in the What's-Up' part of the Access' view.</p>
<p>Fig 53 illustrates the Disconnected-By' warning in the Main' view Fig. 54 illustrates methods of indicating the difference in positions set by the master and a servant for the elements of the user interface Fig. 55 illustrates the Labels' part of the Preferences' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 56 illustrates the Visibility' part of the Preferences' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 57 illustrates the Network' part of the Preferences' view Fig. 58 illustrates the Add Host' menu of the Network' part of the Preferences' view.</p>
<p>Fig 59 illustrates the User-Define' folder of the Preferences' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 60 illustrates the Configuration' view of the User-Define' folder of the Preferences' view.</p>
<p>Fig 61 illustrates the Scene Selection' view.</p>
<p>Fig. 62 illustrates the copying of channel strips using the Audio Clipboard Fig. 63 illustrates the pasting of channel strips using the Audio Clipboard.</p>
<p>Fig. 64 illustrates the copying of volumes of selected channels or all channels of the mix using the Audio Clipboard.</p>
<p>Fig. 65 illustrates the pasting of volumes of selected channels using the Audio Clipboard.</p>
<p>Fig. 66 illustrates the pasting of volumes of all channels of the mix using the Audio Clipboard Fig 67 illustrates a conventional way creating a limited size hardware user interface Fig. 68 illustrates the replacement of buttons with wheels for the navigation element 306 Fig. 69 illustrates the Van-navigator'.</p>
<p>Fig 70 illustrates a variation of the Van-Navigator Fig. 71 illustrates a variation of the Van-Navigator'.</p>
<p>Fig 72 illustrates a variation of the Vari-Navigator.</p>
<p>Fig 73 illustrates a variation of the Van-Navigator' Fig. 74 illustrates the traditional way of displaying a 2-dimensional matrix.</p>
<p>Fig 75 illustrates the space-saving method of displaying a 2-dimensional matrix.</p>
<p>Fig. 76 illustrates space-saving methods of displaying a 2-dimensional matrix.</p>
<p>Fig. 77 illustrates data flows between generic equipment and a remote control unit.</p>
<p>Fig. 78 illustrates the lack of the need for bulk dump' in the telecommunication data reduction method Fig 79 is a flowchart explaining the telecommunication data reduction method.</p>
<p>Fig. 80 illustrates the array configuration of the second telecommunication data reduction method Fig 81 is a flowchart explaining the second telecommunication data reduction method.</p>
<p>Fig. 82 is a table comparing the two telecommunication data reduction methods.</p>
<p>DESCRIPTION</p>
<p>THE SYSTEM</p>
<p>The typical configuration of audio equipment remote control system is illustrated in Fig 1 and Fig. 2, comprising a remote control device 1 with a user interface 192, such as a pocket size computing device utilising wireless data transfer, and various pieces of interconnected audio equipment 4 exchanging 2-way communication data 3 between each other The System illustrated in Fig. 3 comprises multiple remote controls 1, such as multiple pocket size computing devices utilising wireless data transfer running the user interface 2 and exchanging 2-way communication data 3 between each other and various pieces audio equipment 4 via a network 5 This network may be directly from device to device or created using special networking means if necessary The 2-way MIDI (Music Instrument Digital Interface) System Exclusive Parameter Change and Parameter Change Request messages of the protocol are used in an embodiment of present invention. Each Sysex message has specific bytes describing which specific device the data in the message is for.</p>
<p>This way MlDl data can travel down the network 5, which may have unlimited number of remote control devices 1 and audio equipment 4. The Parameter Change or Parameter Change Request messages, being sent from any remote control device 1, will reach particular the audio equipment 4 they are for; the Parameter Change messages, coming out of any audio equipment 4 will reach all remote control devices 1. This way more than one remote control device may be used in the System Network 5 may use its own networking means or be a part of a larger network illustrated in Fig. 4, such as LAN (Local Area Network), communicating through the hubs 194, channels 195 or Internet 196. Remote controls 1 and various pieces of audio equipment 4 may exchange 2-way data using the networking protocol of another network where necessary.</p>
<p>THE USER INTERFACE</p>
<p>The goal of the layout of the graphical user interface is to adapt to various sizes of screens of pocket size computing equipment and to reduce the screen size necessary for operation The views are laid out and navigation elements function so that no space is wasted if the size of the screen varies from one machine to another Many different methods are used to achieve this The arrangement of the graphical interface employed is to put several input channel strips of the mix on the left side of the screen, an output channel strip, as the result of the mix, on the right side of the screen, and fit other elements of the interface, such as navigation elements consisting of buttons with functions, in an area separating the input channel strips from the output ones. The precise arrangement, whether inputs are on the left or on the right, may vary In order to adapt to various screen sizes, input channel strips may be added or deleted, depending on the screen size (Fig 5) and the Channel Edit view may expand (Fig 6) The interface is designed to have parts of it selected and manipulated by means of a stylus, mouse, joystick or similar.</p>
<p>The Main view of the user interface, illustrated in Fig 7, consists of: a) Several input channel strips in the left part of the view, where each consists of a label 5, Volume Control' fader 6 with buttons 197, moving the fader in one step, Volume' fader position alphanumeric indicator 7, Mute' button 8, Channel Edit' button 9, Channel Solo' button 10, Pan' knob 11, signal level meter 12, Gate State' indicator 13, Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 14, b) Mix Output' channel strip on the right part of the view, consisting of Volume Control' fader 72 with buttons 198 moving the fader in one step, Volume' fader position alphanumeric indicator 73, Mute' button 74, Channel Edit' button 75, Pan' knob 76, Mix Output' signal level meter 77, Mix Output' channel Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 78; c) A button displaying the number of current scene 18, d) An indicator displaying the current view 19, e) A button displaying data activity 20, f) User-defined Buttons 21, 22 and 23 changing the view to the view specified in each button; g) A scrollable element 26, containing several buttons, each button having a user assignable label, changing the view to the view specified in each button; and navigation buttons 24 and 25, where button 24 scrolls the element 26 one step up and button 25 scrolls the element one step down A primary method of the user interface is a method of navigation comprising the Van-Navigator' 15, which may be used to navigate in a stepwise manner through different functions of specified elements of the user interface The Van-navigator' 15 is implemented in a form of a slider 15 with helping navigation elements 16 and 17, moving the Van-Navigator' 15 by one step to the left and to the right respectively.</p>
<p>The Van-Navigator' always remains visible except Preferences and Access view, which are exceptional, as they do not provide direct control over the audio mixing process.</p>
<p>In Fig. 7 the Van-Navigator' 15 provides navigation over displayed channels. The specified elements of the user interface, which are navigated by the Van-Navigator', depend on the current view, selected by buttons 21 -23, 28 and the buttons of scrollable element 26.</p>
<p>In Fig 8 the Van-Navigator' when adjusted by the user (denoted by arrow) changes the functions of the elements forming channel strips in a number of steps. This is illustrated for the Main' view (the upper two diagrams) and for the Matrix' view (the lower two diagrams) In Fig. 7 a user assignable label 5, marks up the name of a channel strip Volume Control' fader 6 controls volume of the channel in the mix. The indicator 7 indicates the position of the Volume Control' fader 6 alphanumerically Mute' button 8 mutes the channel, changing its colour depending whether the channel is muted or not Channel Edit' button 9 brings up a Channel Edit' view, illustrated in part in Fig 14. Channel Edit' button 9 changes its colour depending on whether the Parametric Equaliser' of the channel is on of off Channel Solo' button 10 solos the channel allowing an operator to listen to the signal of the channel without being mixed with other channels Channel Solo' button 10 changes its colour depending whether the Solo' is on or off. Pan' knob 11 indicates the position of the channel's signal in stereo field When the Pan' knob 11 is selected, it brings up the Pan' view, illustrated in Fig 13 and allows adjustment of the Pan' of the channel.</p>
<p>Signal Level' meter 12 consists of vertically arranged coloured dots, where each dot corresponds to certain signal level As the level grows, the dots light starting from the bottom up The three-dot indicator 13 displays the state of the Gate': the dot of one colour in the bottom is on when the gate is closed, the dot of another colour in the middle is on when the Gate' is being opened, and the dot of yet another colour on the top is on when the gate is open The Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 14, containing several vertically arranged dots of the same colour, displays gain reduction of the Compressor': as gain reduction grows, the dots light starting from the top of the meter Main Mix Volume Control' fader 72 controls the volume of the output of the mix. The indicator 73 indicates the position of the Main Mix Volume Control' fader 72 alphanumerically Mute' button 74 mutes the output channel, changing its colour depending whether the channel is muted or not. Output Channel Edit' button 75 brings up a Channel Edit' view, illustrated in part in Fig. 14. Output Channel Edit' button changes its colour depending on whether the Parametric Equaliser' of the output channel is on or off.</p>
<p>Pan' knob 76 indicates the Balance' of the output stereo channel. When the Pan' knob 76 is selected, it brings up the Pan' view illustrated in Fig. 13 and allows adjustment of the Pan' of the output stereo channel.</p>
<p>Main Mix Output Signal Level' meter 77 is split into two corresponding to each of the two channels of the stereo output mix. Main Mix Output Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 78 is split in two corresponding to each of the two Compressors' for the two channels of the stereo output mix.</p>
<p>The navigation button labelled main' 21 brings up the Main' view, the button labelled mute' 27 brings up the Mute' menu, the button labelled ptch' 28 brings up the Patching' view, the button labelled pref' 30 brings up the Preferences' view. The button labelled sod' 29 brings up the Solo Clear' function of a mixing desk, clearing any soloed' channel The functions of buttons 21-23 and 28 and element 26 may be configured by the user in the User-Define' folder of the Preferences' view (Fig 46) The colour of the buttons changes depending on the whether the button has been selected, or the view currently viewed.</p>
<p>Selecting the Current Scene' button 18 brings up the Scene Selection' view illustrated in Fig 48 Selecting the Data Activity' button 20 brings up the Access' view illustrated in part in Fig. 34.</p>
<p>The channel volume Big Fader' view, illustrated in Fig. 9, appears when a fader is selected. It contains the label 5, Volume Control' fader 6, Volume Control' fader position alphanumeric indicator 7, signal level' meter 12, Gate State' indicator 13, Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 14 and a navigation element 31 which may be used to change the function of the fader 6.</p>
<p>Throughout the graphical user interface the same principle applies, that when a fader, knob or similar is selected, a larger fader appears allowing convenient adjustment.</p>
<p>Big Fader' view uses the method of arranging and adjusting multiple parameters, illustrated in Fig 11, which allows the representation and navigation of signal flow on a pocket size user interface A schematic representation of the signal flow chain is illustrated in Fig. 10. A signal received from point A flows through a potentiometer 249 labelled Gain', then it flows through a Gate 250, then it flows through a potentiometer 251 labelled pre-ins', then it flows through an Insert 252, then it flows through a potentiometer 253 labelled pre-eq', then it flows through an Eq 254, then it flows through a potentiometer 255 labelled "volume", and then the signal is sent to point B In Fig. lithe navigation element 257 consists of buttons, the selection of each button allows the adjustment of that parameter using the fader 256. The selected button indicates the parameter currently adjusted by the fader. An example of this is in the Big Fader' view (Fig. 9) where fader 256 (Fig. ii) corresponds to fader 6 (Fig. 9) and the navigation element representing the choice of potentiometers 257 (Fig. ii) corresponds to 31 (Fig. 9) In Fig. lithe order of the buttons in navigation element 257, reading from the top to the bottom, indicates the order that the potentiometers take in the signal flow chain. The order of the buttons can be arranged in a different order, for example, by dragging them to the desired positions, this new order of buttons represents the new order the potentiometers take in the signal flow chain Fig. 12 illustrates a method of representing the devices with multiple controls and setting the order of the devices in the signal flow The currently selected folder 258 displays controls for the device in the signal flow chain Each device is represented by a folder. Each folder is selected by choosing the tab 259 The order in which the tabs are displayed from left to right represents the order of the devices in the signal flow chain The order of the folders may be changed. This may be done by dragging a tab of a folder past the other tabs and put into the desired position.</p>
<p>The Pan' view in Fig 13 appears when a Pan' knob on the Main' screen is selected and contains label 5, the horizontal slider adjusting the Pan' 32 and a button 33, returning the slider to the centre position.</p>
<p>The Channel Edit' view displays the different devices in the signal flow chain. In Fig 14 the signal flow travels first through the parametric equaliser and then through Compressor/Gate' The Parametric Equaliser' folder of the Channel Edit' view, selected by selecting the tab 34 and illustrated in Fig. 14, and consists of.</p>
<p>a) a row of buttons 36, 37, 38, 40 and a label 39, b) a graph area, c) a horizontal scrolibar 41; d) the Close button 42, e) Parametric Equaliser' filter parameter blocks 268, f) A grid 149 with a legend 150.</p>
<p>Button 36 turns the parametric equaliser on and off, changing its colour depending on its state. Button 37 has three states -off, High Pass Filter' and Low Shelf Button 38 has three states -off, Low Pass Filter' and High Shelf'. Button 40 brings up Settings Selection' view, allowing recalling or saving settings of the parametric equaliser as a program Indicator 39 displays currently selected settings of the parametric equaliser. The graph area consists of a parametric equaliser curve 47, small square dots 48 representing states of equaliser filters The graph area has a grid 149 with a legend 150, providing the user with co-ordinates. The vertical axis of the grid 149 represents the parametric equaliser filter gain and the horizontal axis of the grid 149 represents the parametric equaliser filter frequency. Moving a square dot up or down, left or right on the graph area allows the gain or frequency of the parametric equaliser filter to be adjusted Each dot corresponds to a particular block (for example, dot 48 corresponding to block 43, 44, 45, 46). When the dot is moved, the elements that may change in the block are the filter Gain' knob 43, the alphanumeric Gain' indicator 44 and the alphanumeric Frequency' indicator 45. The 0' of the filter is adjusted separately by selecting the 0' alphanumeric indicator 46 bringing up the Q' view, consisting of a fader and an alphanumeric indicator. The view of the graph is adjusted by moving a scrollbar 41. For the parametric equaliser with four filters, illustrated in Fig 14, only two filter dots 48 are displayed, because the other dots are out view. The button 42 closes Channel Edit' view.</p>
<p>Each square dot 48 and each filter block (such as 43, 44, 45, 46) is colour-coded dots and blocks of the same colour correspond to each other If a block is selected corresponding to a dot, which is out of the view on the graph area, upon selection the graph is automatically adjusted in order to display the corresponding dot.</p>
<p>Gain, frequency and the Q' of parametric equaliser filters may be adjusted using manual tactile navigators, such as buttons and 5-way navigators on PDAs. When the Parametric Equaliser' view is opened, the navigation buttons may be filter selectors A 5-way navigator may adjust filter gain or Q' using the up' and down' buttons and frequency by left and right buttons, or using the centre' button as a selector to switch the up' and down' buttons from gain to 0'.</p>
<p>Fig 15 illustrates the Compressor/Gate' part of the Channel Edit' view, which has been selected using the tab 35 and consists of an upper Gate' part and a lower Compressor' part.</p>
<p>Buttons 65 and 66 bring up Settings Selection' view, allowing recalling or saving settings of the Gate' and Compressor' respectively 67 and 68 are indicators displaying currently selected settings of the Gate' and Compressor' respectively.</p>
<p>The upper Gate' part contains button 48, an indicator 49 and a row of knobs 50 -54 with labels and alphanumeric indicators above and below the knobs respectively. Button 48 turns the gate on or off, changing its colour depending on its state The three-dot indicator 49 displays the state of the gate: the one colour dot on the left is on when the gate is closed, another colour dot in the middle is on when the gate is being opened, and yet another colour dot on the right is on when the gate is open. Knob 50 controls threshold, knob 51 controls attack, knob 52 controls hold, knob 53 controls decay, knob 54 controls range of the gate The alphanumeric indicators below the knobs display values of the controls A label above marks up each knob. The functions of the knobs may vary depending on the current settings.</p>
<p>When knobs 50 or 54 are selected a fader appears to allow adjustment.</p>
<p>When any of the knobs 51, 52, 53 are selected, they bring up the Gate Volume Envelope' view 68 (Fig 16), displaying the three controls in the shape of faders 269, 270, 271 which correspond to the knobs 51, 52, 53 respectively. The faders allow adjustment of the parameters of the Gate Volume Envelope' of the gate represented by the curve 272 To return from the Gate Volume Envelope' view an area of the screen that is not part of the view may be selected.</p>
<p>In Fig. 15 the lower part contains the compressor consisting of button 55, meters 56 and 57, and a row of knobs with labels and alphanumeric indicators above and below the knobs respectively. Button 55 turns the compressor on or off, changing its colour depending on its state The meter 56 contains several dots of the same colour in a horizontal row This meter 56 displays the gain reduction of the compressor as the gain reduction grows, the dots light starting from the right side of the meter. The meter 57 contains several dots in three colours in a horizontal row, displaying the level of the compressor input signal: as the level grows, the dots light starting from the left side of the meter. Knob 58 controls threshold, knob 59 controls ratio, knob 60 controls attack, knob 61 controls release, knob 62 controls knee, knob 63 controls output The alphanumeric indicators below the knobs display the value of the controls. A label above marks up each knob When knobs 58 or 63 are selected it brings up Compressor Level' view 70 (Fig. 17).</p>
<p>This displays a view with a legend 151 marking up the vertical and horizontal axis, containing a vertically and horizontally adjustable dot, where threshold corresponds to vertical axis and horizontal axis corresponds to output of the compressor. When either of the knobs 60 and 61 is selected, the Compressor Volume Envelope' view 71 (Fig. 18) appears, displaying faders 273, 274 which correspond to knobs 60 and 61 respectively The faders allow adjustment of the parameters of the volume envelope of the compressor represented by the curve 275 When knobs 59 or 62 are selected a fader appears to allow adjustment The functions of the knobs may vary depending on the current settings.</p>
<p>Further devices may be added into the signal flow chain (Fig 41).</p>
<p>In Fig. 19 a graphic equaliser has been added. The Graphic Equaliser' part of the Channel Edit' view contains: a) a row of buttons 116, 117, 118, 120 and an indicator 119; b) a graph area comprising grid 152 with the legend 153 and multiple faders 121; c) a scrollbar 123 for adjusting the view of the graph area.</p> <p>Button 116 turns the graphic equaliser on or off, changing its colour
depending on its state. 117 is a drop-down menu where the operating range for the gain of the faders 121 is specified 118 is a button resetting the gain of the graphic equaliser to zero gain position. 119 is an indicator of current settings, which can be saved or recalled using the Settings Selection' view 120. The graph area has a grid 152 with a legend 153, where the vertical axis corresponds to the graphic equaliser gain, and horizontal axis corresponds to graphic equaliser frequency. Each fader 121 corresponds to a specific frequency and adjusting the fader adjusts the gain of the graphic equaliser at that frequency The graphic equaliser curve 122 is displayed on the graph area The view of the graph area is adjusted using scrollbar 123.</p>
<p>Each graphical view of the user interface may be referred to as a layer, which may have semi-transparent areas, allowing viewing other layers under. The layers under may be accessed in various ways such as or double clicking on the semi-transparent areas of the layers above.</p>
<p>The semi-transparent area 234 comprising two indicators 235 and 236 displays levels of input and output signals respectively of the Device' in the signal flow chain Selecting the area 234 brings up Device Input and Output' view 237 (Fig 20), comprising the indicators 235 and 236, labels 238 and 239 marking up the input and the output respectively, knobs 240 and 241 controlling the level of input and output and alphanumeric indicators 242 and 243 displaying their values When knobs 240 or 241 are selected a fader appears to allow adjustment. The labels 238 and 239 may vary depending on the current settings.</p>
<p>In Fig 21 a device adding time domain effects has been added to the signal flow chain The FX' folder consists of on/off button 230, bypass button 231, an indicator of currently selected settings 232 and a button 233 bringing up Settings Selection' view, allowing recalling or saving of settings of the FX' unit, and the area 244 allocated for elements of the user interface controlling an FX' unit, which may vary depending on current settings.</p>
<p>Selecting the button labelled mtx' 22 brings up the Matrix' view (Fig. 22), consisting of: a) Several matrix channel strips each formed of user-assignable label 79 (Fig. 55), Matrix Volume Control' fader 80 with buttons 199 moving the fader in one step, alphanumeric indicator of Matrix Volume Control' fader position 81, Mute' button 82, Channel Edit' button 83, Solo' button 84, Balance' knob 85, Matrix Level Signal' meter 86 and Matrix Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 87, b) Elements of the interface 15 -30, 72-78 and 198 Label 79 is a user assignable label, marking up the function of matrix channel strip. Volume Control' fader 80 controls the volume of the matrix channel. The indicator 81 indicates the position of the Volume Control' fader 80 alphanumerically Mute' button 82 mutes the matrix channel, changing its colour depending whether the channel is muted or not Channel Edit' button 83 brings up Channel Edit' view (Fig 23). Channel Edit' button 83 changes its colour depending on whether the Parametric Equaliser' of the matrix channel is on or off Channel Solo' button 84 solos the channel allowing an operator to listen to the signal of the channel. Channel Solo' button 84 changes its colour depending whether the solo is on or off. Balance' knob 85 indicates the balance between the volumes of the two mono channels of the stereo matrix output. When the Balance' knob 85 is selected, it brings up the Pan' view illustrated in Fig. 13, allowing adjustment of the balance of the matrix channel Matrix Signal Level' meter 86 contains two signal level meters 12, corresponding to each of the two channels of the matrix output Matrix Channel Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 87 contains two compressor gain reduction meters 14, corresponding to each of the two channels of the matrix output.</p>
<p>Channel Edit' view for matrix channel, among other folders has Dial-To-Matrix' folder, illustrated in Fig 23.</p>
<p>The Dial-To-Matrix' folder illustrated in Fig 23 consists of.</p>
<p>a) A Van-navigator' 88 in the top part of the folder: b) Several channel strips displaying the choice of various signals which may be sent to specified matrix channel. Each strip formed of label 89, fader 90 with buttons 200 moving the fader in one step, alphanumeric indicator 91 and pan knob 92.</p>
<p>Label 89 marks up the function the fader 90, controlling the level of the signal sent to the specified matrix channel. The indicator 91 indicates the position of the volume control alphanumerically. Fader 90 and Pan knob 92 function in the same manner previously described.</p>
<p>Bus' button 23 when selected switches between displaying three views Bus' view (Fig 24), Bus-To-Stereo' view (Fig 25) and Channel-To-Bus-Assign' view (Fig. 26). For each view, Bus' button 23 has a unique colour Channels are assigned to buses using the Channel-To-Bus-Assign' view and then may be mixed and routed using the other two views The Bus' view (Fig 24) consists of a) Several bus channel strips formed of user-assignable label 89, Bus Volume' fader 93 with buttons 201 moving the fader in one step, alphanumeric indicator 94, Mute' button 95, Channel Edit' button 96, Solo' button 97, Bus Level' signal meter 98, Bus Compressor Gain Reduction Meter' 99: b) Elements of the interface 15 -30, 72 -78 and 198.</p>
<p>Label 89 is a user assignable label, marking up the function of bus channel strip. Bus Volume Control Fader' 93 controls the volume of the bus channel The indicator 94 indicates the position of the Bus Volume Control Fader' 93 alphanumerically Mute' button 95 mutes the bus channel, changing its colour depending whether the channel is muted or not. Bus Channel Edit' button 96 brings up a Channel Edit' view, illustrated in Fig. 14 Bus Channel Edit' button 96 changes its colour depending on whether the equaliser of the bus channel is on or off. Channel Solo' button 97 cues the channel allowing an operator to listen to the signal of the channel without being mixed with other channels Channel Solo' button 97 changes its colour depending whether the solo is on or off Bus Signal Level' meter 98 works the same way as signal meter 12, indicating the signal level of the bus channel Bus Channel Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 99 works the same way is gain reduction meters 14, indicating the gain reduction level of bus channel compressor.</p>
<p>Bus-To-Stereo' view (Fig 25) consists of: a) Several Bus-To-Stereo' channel strips formed of user-assignable label 89, volume fader 100 with buttons 202 moving the fader in one step, alphanumeric indicator 101, Pan' knob 102 and To-Stereo' button 103: b) Elements of the interface 15 -30, 72 -78 and 198 Label 89 is a user assignable label, marking up the function of bus channel strip Fader 100 controls the level of bus channel sent to main stereo mix. The indicator 101 indicates the position of the fader 100 alphanumerically. Pan' knob 102 controls the position of the bus signal in the stereo field of main stereo mix To-Stereo' button 103 mutes the Bus-To-Stereo' send, changing its colour depending whether the send is muted or not Channel-To-Bus-Assign' view (Fig. 26) consists of a) Several channel strips formed label 5, selector 104, Mute' button 8, Channel Edit' button 9, Channel Solo' button 10, Pan' knob 11: b) Elements of the interface 15-30, 72-78 and 198.</p>
<p>A channel is assigned to a bus by using the selector 104, which allows the selection of buses using buttons (labelled 1, 2, etc), changing their colour when selected.</p>
<p>Selecting the button labelled mute' 27 brings up the Mute' view (Fig. 27) If any mute group 246 or output 74, 82, 95, 110 is muted then the mute' button 27 changes colour Mute' view (Fig 27) consists of mute group selector 246, mute all' button 247 and Assign' button 248 Selecting the relevant mute group 246 mutes mute groups Selecting main' button 21 mutes main mix output, all matrixes are muted by selecting mtx' button 22, all buses are muted by selecting bus' button 23, aux outputs are muted by selecting the relevant button 26. If these channels are muted, then the relevant button changes colour in this view. Selecting mute all' button 247 mutes all inputs and outputs In order to assign input channels to mute groups the Assign' button 248 should be pressed This brings up Mute Group Assign' view (Fig 28), consisting of.</p>
<p>a) Several channel strips formed of label 5, selector 245, Mute' button 8, Channel Edit' button 9, Channel Solo' button 10, Pan' knob 11 and close' button 283, b) Elements of the interface 15 -30, 72 -78 and 198 A channel is assigned to a mute group using the selector 245, which allows the selection of mute groups in the shape of buttons (labelled 1, 2 etc), changing their colour when selected. close' button 283 returns to the Mute' view.</p>
<p>Selecting one of the buttons labelled Aux 26 brings up the Aux' view (Fig 29), consisting of a) Several channel strips formed of label 5, fader 105 with buttons 203 moving the fader in one step, indicator 106, Mute' button 8, Channel Edit' button 9, Channel Solo' button 10 and Pre/Post' button 107, b) Elements of the interface 15 -30; c) Aux output channel strip formed of fader 108 with buttons 204 moving the fader in one step, indicator 109, Mute' button 110, Channel Edit' button 111, Channel Solo' button 112 and Pre/Post' button 113 Fader 105 controls the send of the channel sent to an aux mix. The indicator 106 indicates the position of the fader 105 alphanumerically. Pre/Post' button 107 switches the mode of the send, controlled by the fader 105, between Prefade' and Postfade'. Button 107 changes its colour depending on the mode of the send. Fader 108 controls the level of an output. The indicator 109 indicates the position of the fader 108 alphanumerically Mute' button 110 mutes an aux output, changing its colour depending whether an aux output is muted or not. Channel Edit' button 111 brings up Channel Edit' view for an aux output (Fig. 14).</p>
<p>Channel Edit' button 111 changes its colour depending on whether the equaliser of an aux output channel is on or off Channel Solo' button 112 solos an aux output Aux Output Channel Solo' button 112 changes its colour depending whether the solo of an aux output channel is on or off.</p>
<p>Aux output Pre/Post' button 113 switches the mode for sends of all channels of the mix. It has three modes all sends Prefade', all sends Postfade' or sends selected independently Button 113 changes its colour and label depending on the mode.</p>
<p>Aux Out Signal Level' meter 114 works the same way as signal meter 12, indicating the signal level of an aux out Aux Out Compressor Gain Reduction' meter 115 works the same way is gain reduction meters 14, indicating the gain reduction level of an aux output compressor.</p>
<p>Selecting the button labelled ptch' 28 brings up the Patching' view (Figs. 30-39), allowing configuration of the interface to the physical inputs and outputs and the signal flow Once in Patching' view the function of the buttons 2 1-26 is to define the sets of outputs to be patched. If main' 21 or aux' 26 are selected, both inputs and outputs may be patched, if bus' 23 or mtx' 22 are selected only outputs may be patched.</p>
<p>Patching' view, for example Fig 30 for Main' view, consists of.</p>
<p>a) Several channel strips formed of label 5, selector 124 consisting of several categories of patching, selector 125 consisting of several sets of patching positions for inputs, selector 285 consisting of several sets of patching positions for outputs (only main' or aux'), selector 127 consisting of individual patching positions, button 206 allowing saving and recalling patching configurations; b) Elements of the interface 15 -30, 73-76 and 42.</p>
<p>The selector 124 consists of a number of different categories, which may be configured. These are.</p>
<p>a) Inputs/outputs. When this is selected physical inputs or outputs may be patched to input or output channels, b) Inserts. When this is selected physical outputs may be patched as sends or physical inputs may be patched as returns, c) Direct Outputs When this is selected a direct out of a channel may be patched to a physical output; d) CEO. When this is selected graphic equalisers may be inserted into signal flows of channels; e) FX. When this is selected time domain effects may be inserted into signal flows of channels; f) Comp/Gate. When this is selected gates and compressors may be inserted into signal flows of channels.</p>
<p>The selector 125 consists of several buttons labelled onb', sli', s12', sl3' These refer to sets of patching positions (onboard, slot 1 etc In Figures 30-37 the input/output category is selected on selector 124 In Figures 30-34 patching in the Main' view is illustrated In Fig. 30 onb' 126 is selected, this brings up the individual patching positions in selector 127 (labelled 1- 52) In this example individual patching position 2128 within the onb' set is assigned to channel Kick'. In Fig. 31 sIl' 126 is selected, this brings up the individual patching positions in selector 127 (labelled 1-16).</p>
<p>In this example individual patching position 15' within the sli' set is assigned to channel Kick'. In Fig. 32 onb' 126 is selected, this brings up the individual patching positions in selector 127 (labelled 1-52). Ici this example individual patching position 21' within the onb' set is assigned to channel Snar' In Fig. 33 onb' 287 is selected, this brings up the individual patching positions in selector 127 (labelled 1-52). In this example individual patching position 21' and patching position 42' within the onb' set is assigned to the main mix stereo out Patching position 21' is assigned to the left (one colour), patching position 42' is assigned to the right (other colour). In Fig. 34 onb 287 is selected, this brings up the individual patching positions in selector 127 (labelled 1-52). In this example individual patching position 21' within the onb' set is assigned to the left stereo out. It can be seen that the right stereo out is assigned to a patching position within s12' 288.</p>
<p>Several different colours may be used in selectors 125, 285 and 127 For example, in Fig 30 one colour to indicate that nothing is being selected within a set 286, one colour 284 to indicate that something is selected within a set and one colour 126 to indicate the currently selected set. Furthermore, other colours indicate left and right assignments In Fig 33 and 34 labels 128 and 288 show this.</p>
<p>When an aux' 26 is selected in patching view inputs and outputs are assigned in the same way as main', however selector 285 is mono For example, in Fig 35 the output of auxi is assigned to onboard output 21' When mtx' 22 is selected in patching view (Fig 36) one stereo matrix out 5 occupies two channel strips The left channel strip of the stereo pair represents the left matrix output; the right channel strip of the stereo pair represents the right matrix channel. In the example in Fig. 36, the right channel of Matrix 1 is assigned onboard output 21'.</p>
<p>When bus' 23 is selected in patching view (Fig.37) each bus output is represented by channel strip 5 with selector 125 In the example in Fig. 37, the busi output is patched to onboard output 2'.</p>
<p>When insert is selected in selector 124 the tabs labelled 129, 130, 291 and 292 appear allowing assignment of insert sends and returns to inputs and outputs. By selecting tabs 129 or 292 signals may be sent to outputs (Fig 38). Selecting tabs 130 or 291 signals may be returned to inputs (Fig 39) This is applicable to the selection of main', mtx', bus' and aux' in the patching view When dirout' is selected in selector 124 the direct outputs of the input channels may be patched For example, in Fig 40 Channel Kick' is assigned to onboard output 2' Selecting GEQ', FX' or cmp/gt' in selector 124 and dragging a device to selector 125 or 35 may patch devices into channels In Fig 41 the selector 124 is set to CEO'. This displays area 127 showing the number of graphic equalisers available 52'. In this example a graphic equaliser is inserted into the signal flow of channel Kick' by dragging to selector 125. The resultant signal flow is shown in Fig 42. The devices in the signal flow chain of the channel flow can change places or can be put onto another channel by dragging a device into the desired place Devices are turned on and off by selecting them in selector 125, changing their colour depending on their state. In Fig 41 Channel Tom 1' has both FX' and GEQ' dragged into selector 293, this results in the signal flow illustrated in Fig. 43.</p>
<p>Selecting the desired output channel using user-defined buttons 2 1-23 and 26 forms the signal flow of output channels, such as main mix output. Devices may be dragged from area 127 to selector 35 to be inserted into the signal flow of the output channel.</p>
<p>A device may be added as a send effect by dragging it from area 127 on top of one of the buttons of element 26 If that aux output has a send effect added to it it's label will change.</p>
<p>To remove any device from the signal chain it may be dragged from selectors 125, 35 and 26 back to area 127.</p>
<p>The system of the invention allows it to be controlled by multiple operators. A hierarchy, allowing differentiating credentials of operators may be introduced: the operators are divided into masters and servants. A master may be given full access rights and view the actions of the servants, set safe limits of operation for servants, disallow access to certain parts of the system, disagree with servants' actions and disconnect servants from control over the system. Servants may help the master to control the system. A colour coding system may be used to differentiate one operator from another The Data Activity' button 20 can take different shapes, colours or be animated depending on incoming and outgoing data or activity on the network 5 in Fig. 3 or 194 in Fig 4 For example, the Data Activity' button 20 can take a shape of an arrow pointing different ways depending on whether data is coming in or coming out of the remote control 1; the arrow can also be pointing both directions if the data travels both ways at that moment. The Data Activity' 20 button may take different colours or be animated depending on the activity or the identity of the operators on the network Data Activity' button 20 when selected brings up the Access' view (Figs. 44-52), consisting of Disallow' part (Figs 44-50), and What's-Up' part (Fig. 51-52), which may be selected by pressing the relevant button 294 or 295 respectively.</p>
<p>The Disallow' part, in Fig. 44, consists of.</p>
<p>a) Buttons 208, 154 and 296 and the indicator 158. The Enter set safe mode' button 208 allows the master to set safe limits of operation for servants; The Enter disallow mode' button 154, enables the master to disallow other operators access to certain parts of the system; The Servants' button 296 allows managing servants; indicator 158 indicates the current credentials and name of the operator; b) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198.</p>
<p>When buttons 208, 154 or 296 are selected, they bring up the Master login' view (Fig. 45), consisting of pop-up window 159, hierarchy buttons 160 and 161 and the password field 162. A master may login by entering the password in the password field 162. A servant may login by pressing button 161 bringing up the Servant' part of the Login' view (Fig. 46). This consists of password field 162 and Servant selector' 164 The Servant selector' 164 allows selection of servants from a list Upon successful authentication as a master, the Master' view of the Disallow' part of the Access' view (Fig 47) appears, consisting of.</p>
<p>a) Buttons 294, 295, 208, 154, 296, and indicator 158, b) The Change master's name and password' button 155 and the Set as master' button 299; c) Elements of the interface 18 -30, 42, 70-77 and 198.</p>
<p>The button 155 allows the master to change it's name and password. Button 299 sets the remote control device 1 as the master Selecting servants' button 296 brings up the Servant Management' window (Fig. 48) consisting of a) Buttons 294, 295, 164 and indicator 158.</p>
<p>b) Servant name and password field 297, Add servant' button 157 and Set as servant' button 156 c) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 Servant name and password field 297 allows assignment of name and password to each servant. Add servant' button 157 adds a new servant to the system, when pressed a blank space appears in servant selector' 164 and in servant name and password field 297 for data input. Button 156 sets the remote control device 1 as a servant to the servant selected in servant selector' 164.</p>
<p>When the remote control device is set as a servant, whilst the master is logged in, the master may press the Enter disallow mode' button 154 in the Disallow' part of the Access' view, bringing up the Disallow' mode (Fig. 49). Elements of the system may be disallowed for the particular servant by selecting the particular elements to be disallowed. Selection is indicated with visual means, such as criss-cross' Button 163 exits Disallow' mode When the remote control device is set as a servant, whilst the master is logged in, the master may press the Enter safe set' mode button 208 in the Disallow' part of the Access' view, bringing up Set-Safe' mode (Fig. 50). The master can set safe limits of operation for a particular servant. In this mode, maximum values may be set for the elements of the interface Each servant may not exceed these safe limits Button 209 exits Set-Safe' mode On each remote control device 1 set as a servant the safe limits may be indicated in the same way as the Disagree' function (Fig 54) Whilst a master is logged in it may press the What'sUp' button 295 on the master view of the Disallow' part of the Access' view (Fig 47) This brings up the What's-Up' part of the Access' view (Fig. 51) consisting of: a) Buttons 294, 295 and 164, b) The disconnect all' button 168, the servant's currently accessed control indicator 165, the servant's currently accessed control value 166, Go-There' buttons 169, c) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 The What's-Up' part of the Access' view (Fig. 51) displays the current activity of the network, listing the servants and providing information about their activities, and also providing the master with controls over servants Disconnect all' button 168 disconnects or reconnects all servants from the network The servant's currently accessed control indicator 165 displays the controls currently accessed by the servants. The servant's currently accessed control value 166 displays the current value of the control currently accessed by the servant: The Go-There' buttons 169 allow the master to get access to the control being currently accessed by the servant.</p>
<p>Selecting a servant from the servant selector 164 in the What's-Up' part of the Access' view brings up a History' menu (Fig. 52), consisting of.</p>
<p>a) Buttons 294, 295, 165, 166 and 169: b) The indicator 167 displays the name of the selected servant, Disconnect' button 186, Disagree' buttons 171, and close' button 170, c) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 Selecting the Disconnect' button 186, disconnects or reconnects the servant from the network, this brings up the disconnected view (Fig. 53) on the servant's remote control device. Disagree' buttons 171 provide the master with Disagree' function, setting the current value of a control to a value specified by the master. Selecting button 170 returns to the What's-Up' part of the Access' view (Fig. 51) For the master to be able to maintain control over the system the difference between the master's current control settings and those of the servant may be displayed. The difference is illustrated for several types of control by a shaded area 176 (Fig. 54). If the master wants to return the control back to its value previously specified by the master the grey area is selected and disappears.</p>
<p>Selecting the Preferences' button 30 brings up the Preferences' view (Fig 55 -60) Selecting the Labels' button 300 brings up the Labels' folder of the Preferences' view (Fig 55) consisting of.</p>
<p>a) The labels button 300, the Visib' button 301, the Net' button 302, the User-def button 303, the scrollbars 177 and 178, the default labels 179 and 180 and the custom labels fields 181 and 182, b) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 Using scroll bars 177 and 178 the required default label (179) may be located and renamed using the</p>
<p>custom labels fields 181 and 182</p>
<p>In the Preferences' view selecting the Visib' button 301 brings up the Visibility' folder of the Preferences' view (Fig 56) consisting of a) Buttons 300-303, b) Visibility preset selector 183, channel range fields 184 and 185; c) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 By selecting the visibility preset selector 183 a user may specify the number and range of the input channel viewed by entering the desired ranges in the channel range fields 184 and 185. The currently set range of the remote control device is the currently selected preset 183.</p>
<p>In the Preferences' view a master may select the Net' button 302 bringing up the network folder of the Preferences' view (Fig. 57) consisting of.</p>
<p>a) Buttons 300-303; b) Add host' button 188, the host list 189, Use' buttons 190, the state of host indicators 191 and Remove' buttons 304; c) Elements of the interface 18 -30, 42, 70-77 and 198.</p>
<p>The network folder of the Preferences' view configures the network. Selecting button 188 brings up the Add Host' view (Fig. 58) The host list 189 displays the hosts of the network. The Use' buttons 190 are used to connect or disconnect each host, changing colour dependent on their state. The states of host indicators 191 display whether the host is online or offline The Remove' buttons 304 removes the host from the network.</p>
<p>Add Host' view (Fig 58) contains a browser 221 allowing selecting from a choice of hosts that could be added to the network by selecting the desired host to be added, it then appears in the host list 189.</p>
<p>In the Preferences' view a master may select the User-def button 303 bringing up user-define folder of the Preferences' view (Fig. 59) consisting of.</p>
<p>a) Buttons 300-303, b) Define' buttons 210-214, Configure' button 215, a space reserved for future use 216, c) Elements of the interface 18-30, 42, 70-77 and 198 This view allows the configuration of buttons 22, 23, 27-29 and element 26 Selecting Configure' button 215 brings up the Configuration' view 217 (Fig. 60) consisting of an element 218 which represents and modifies element 26, buttons 219 adding more buttons to the element 26, and button 220 allowing assignment of functions for each button in element 218.</p>
<p>When the Scene Selection' button 18 is selected, it brings up the Scene selection' window 305 (Fig 61) consisting of scene indicators 18 and 222, displaying the number and the name of the current scene respectively; a browser of scenes 223, navigated using scrollbar 224; buttons 225 -229, allowing recalling, storing, protecting, undoing changes and clearing scenes, respectively When a label for the channel strip is highlighted, a user is presented with the Copy channel' menu 260 (Fig. 62), where channel 276, labelled as Hhat' is selected. If Copy channel' is selected the settings of all elements of all devices of the signal flow chain of the selected channel are entered to the Audio Clipboard. If then a label of another channel is highlighted (Fig. 63), such as channel 277 labelled as Snar', the user is presented with the paste channel' menu 278 The settings of all elements of all parts of the signal flow chain may then be applied to the channel selected by selecting Paste channel'.</p>
<p>If two or more labels for channels are highlighted (Fig 64), such aschannels 279 labelled as Snar' and Hhat', user is presented with a menu 261 with two choices Copy selected' or Copy mix' If Copy selected' is selected, the volumes of the selected channels are entered to the Audio Clipboard. If, after that, as many or more different channels are selected (Fig 65), such as channels 280 labelled as Ftom' and OHSR', the user is presented with a one-choice menu 281 Paste selected'. If Paste selected' is selected, the volumes are applied to the currently selected channels, starting from the first channel in the selection If the choice Copy mix' is selected, the volumes of all the channels of the current mix are entered to the Audio Clipboard After that, if as many or more channels are selected (Fig. 66), such as channels 280 labelled as Ftom' and OHSR', the user is presented with a menu Paste mix' 282 If Paste mix' is selected, the positions of the volumes of all the channels of the previously selected mix are applied to all the volumes of the current mix</p>
<p>THE VARI-NAVIGATOR</p>
<p>In the user interface of the remote control, specific elements such as faders, knobs, buttons, etc. may be made to change function so that different parameters may be controlled and this method may be used to navigate throughout the user interface A conventional way of navigating through a user interface is to navigate the picture using a scrollbar. The method used here the Van-Navigator' 15 is different in that the functions of specific elements are changed during navigation whilst with a scrollbar only the view is being adjusted Another conventional way to navigate through a user interface with a number of elements less than the total number of parameters is to use a switch with a fixed number of steps, changing functions of the elements at each step This is illustrated in Fig 67 Fig 67 -69 illustrate a limited size user interface with 8 faders for a sound mixing desk comprising 100 inputs, 30 outputs, 20 buses and 15 matrixes Fig. 67 illustrates a conventional way of navigating through the different controllable parameters and consists of: eight faders 143, labels 144 and a navigation element with fixed number of steps 306 for accessing any range of controllable parameters, changing functions of the 8 faders. In this case the total number of required steps for each range of controllable parameters (inputs, outputs, buses and matrixes) is different. 307 is the currently selected step of the navigation element 306. This conventional arrangement of the buttons, corresponding to each step of the navigation element 306, fails, not allowing selection of steps for ranges further than 7-14' The buttons take up too much space.</p>
<p>Fig 68 illustrates a replacement of buttons with wheels for the navigation element 306, each wheel corresponding to a category of controllable parameters, such as inputs, outputs, buses, matrixes. The category being navigated is indicated by the highlighted label 308 Now, the wheels, comprising fixed number of steps, do allow selection of any range of controllable parameters of the desk. Labels of the faders 144 indicate selected range The number of ranges the wheels navigate may be unlimited -the wheels may be scrolled on and on.</p>
<p>Fig 69 illustrates a further means of reducing the size of the user interface. Instead of multiple wheels, comprising fixed number of steps and corresponding to each category of controllable parameters, only two wheels may be used one wheel 309 for selecting the range of controllable parameters within the category selected by another wheel 310 and indicated by an indicator 308. Changing the category may change the total number of steps of the wheel 309 This way both the range of controllable parameters and the number of categories are unlimited. It is possible to navigate an unlimited number of parameters of an unlimited number of categories in the size limited user interface.</p>
<p>The number of steps for wheel 309 varies, depending on the category it navigates. The name for a navigation element functioning this way is a Van-Navigator'. In the user interface of present invention the Van-Navigator' is the element 15, navigated categories are selected using buttons 21-23 and 26.</p>
<p>Fig 8 illustrates the Van-Navigator' for the user interface of the present invention. In Fig 8 the Van-Navigator' 15, which has the form of a slider selects the range of controllable parameters within the category selected by buttons 21, 22 The number of steps that the Van-Navigator' may navigate changes depending of the button selection The range of the controllable parameters is then varied by moving the slider indicated by the arrow The labels 141 indicate the current range and functions.</p>
<p>Other navigation elements can be added if necessary Because the size of the control surface is rather small and the number of channels is rather large the single element with variable steps 15 may become imprecise. Additional elements 16 and 17 have therefore been introduced to navigate one step to the left and to the right respectively.</p>
<p>Several other embodiments of the Van-Navigator' are illustrated in Figs 70 -73 The Van-Navigator' 142 takes various forms -a wheel on Fig 70, a slider on Fig. 71 and Fig 72. Labels 144 mark up functions of various elements of user interfaces 143. When the Van-Navigator' 142 is adjusted, various elements of user interfaces 143 change their functions Labels 144 indicate that Fig 73 illustrates an embodiment with two Van-Navigators' 145 and 146, providing coarse and fine precision of navigation respectively. 147 and 148 are elements of navigation adjusting coarse and fine navigation respectively by one step</p>
<p>A METHOD OF DISPLAYING A MATRIX</p>
<p>Traditional ways of displaying a matrix may exhibit drawbacks. One way is to display the whole structure, requiring a lot of space. Another way is to display a small part of the matrix leaving other parts out of the view and navigating throughout the structure (Fig.74). In this case for a large matrix much navigation may be required, and there is no visual representation of the whole structure. As a result this effectively makes users feel losing control over the situation, especially when the matrix is used to control an important real-time process Fig 74 illustrates a traditional way of displaying a 2-dimensional matrix of 100 horizontal elements 262 by vertical elements 263, through a limited size user interface that does not fit all of the elements of the matrix, but only a small part of eight horizontal by eight vertical elements. The rest of the elements are accessed by adjusting the view by two horizontal and vertical scrollbars 264.</p>
<p>In this example elements are assigned to specific positions within the matrix: 1) The horizontal element 1' is assigned to vertical element 14'; 2) The horizontal element 2' is assigned to vertical element 2', 3) The horizontal element 3' is assigned to vertical element 3', 4) The horizontal element 4' is assigned to vertical element 44'; 5) The horizontal element 5' is assigned to vertical element 30', 6) The horizontal element 6' is assigned to vertical element 81'; 7) The horizontal element 7' is assigned to vertical element 96', 8) The horizontal element 8' is assigned to vertical element 65'.</p>
<p>Here are the drawbacks of the traditional display.</p>
<p>1) There is no overview of the whole matrix -viewing other elements is possible only by re-adjusting the view and leaving other elements out of the view; 2) Lots of space on the area of user interface displaying the matrix is wasted providing no information To eliminate these drawbacks a different way of representing the matrix is employed. In Fig. 75 the scrollbar 264 navigates over the horizontal elements 262 in the same way as the scrollbar in Fig 74. Only eight out of 100 horizontal elements are currently displayed. Under each horizontal element are columns of coarse ranges 265. The digits are 1', 20', 40', 60', 80'. 1' represents a coarse range of elements from ito 19, 20' represents elements from 20 to 39, 40' represents elements from 40 to 59, 60' represents elements from 60 to 79, 80' represents elements from 80 to 100 This allows one hundred vertical elements of the matrix to be represented in five coarse ranges. Using the coarse ranges we can see roughly how the horizontal elements are positioned with respect to the vertical ones, with a precision of twenty vertical elements.</p>
<p>To see exactly how the vertical elements are positioned we may use detailed information view 266, which displays detailed information about the situation within the selected coarse range In Fig. 75 the selected coarse range 1' under horizontal element 1' is displayed in the detailed information view 266 showing the vertical element 14' is positioned in respect to horizontal element 1'.</p>
<p>In order to see the precise position of the vertical elements with respect to horizontal elements in the detailed information view 266 other coarse ranges need to be selected, illustrated by Fig 76 Where horizontal element 4' is assigned to vertical 56' and horizontal element 68' is assigned to vertical element 1' In this way it is possible to conveniently view a large matrix as a scrollable number of elements and a set of course ranges. This is seen in the Patching view of the current device.</p>
<p>TELECOMMUNICATION DATA REDUCTION</p>
<p>In conventional remote control systems a synchronisation procedure needs to be run prior to use to allow the remote control to learn the state of the device. There are several disadvantages in this a) Device can't be controlled until the synchronisation procedure finishes; in other words, there is total loss of control over the device at the time of the procedure, b) The state of the device might be changing at the time of a synchronisation procedure and the remote control would be getting no information about this change; c) The procedure consumes the more time the more controllable parameters the device has; in case of controlling more than one device the procedure may need to be run for every device, taking even more time, d) Large amounts of continuous data about the state of device(s) may jam up communication lines; in the case of multiple device(s) interconnected to a network this data may slow down the network and disturb all the network participants, e) The procedure is time sensitive to the communication between the remote control and the controllable device, making the remote controls and the devices wait for each other's responses which may lead to freezing up or crashing, f) In case of loss of connection at the time of synchronisation the procedure needs to be run again, g) At present the configuration of multiple networked computers remote controlling electronic musical equipment using 2-way MIDI protocol, used by the system of present invention, isn't practicable because of problems the synchronisation procedure creates These problems may be solved using a different approach. To take advantage of it, the communication protocol used for the remote control needs to support two-way communication and be able to get information about single parameters of the controllable device upon request The two-way protocol can useS a) A Parameter Change message that changes parameter memory (the stored value of a parameter) writing the newly received value.</p>
<p>b) A Parameter Change Request message that retrieves the current value of the desired parameter from the parameter memory of the remote device in the form of a Parameter Change message.</p>
<p>If two devices are being synchronised a particular Parameter Change Request message is used to retrieve the values of all parameter memories This is referred to as bulk dump' The data exchange between generic equipment 131 and a remote control unit for it 132 is illustrated in Fig 77 The parameter memory values of generic equipment 131 is organised in an array 133 The remote control unit 132 also has its data organised in an internal array 134, usually implemented by allocating memory area of the remote control unit 132. The array 134 is equal or larger than the array 133. The data exchange between the two arrays 133 and 134 uses the protocol supporting 2-way communication using Parameter Change and Parameter Change Request messages.</p>
<p>The remote control unit 132 has a user interface 135, which gives access only to a limited number of parameters of the internal array of the remote control unit 134 at any one time The bulk dump data 136 is sent out by generic equipment 131 as a result of bulk dump requests 137 each time a new connection between the generic equipment 131 and remote control unit 132 is established or re-established. The bulk dump data 136 is needed for the remote control unit 132 to learn states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131. This is referred to as Synchronisation Procedure'.</p>
<p>The character of bulk dump' as such is that it's a long data protocol message, containing lots of data It can't be split in smaller parts Being long means longer time to be transferred over communication lines, leading to the problems described above. In order to solve the problems bulk dump' needs to be replaced with something else.</p>
<p>The solution is to use short protocol messages, such as Parameter Change ones which contain data about only one or a few parameters. If such a message is received, the parameters, relevant to the message, change to the state specified in the message.</p>
<p>On Fig 77 a big arrow illustrates dump data 136, representing the large amount of data. Parameter Change messages 138 and 139 and Parameter Change Request messages 137 are illustrated by plurality of small arrows, representing the small size of data and the fact that many messages are used in data communication, where the bulk dump is only one message, containing information about everything.</p>
<p>Equipment generates Parameter Change messages either as the result of a change of state of relevant parameters or as the result of Parameter Change Requests, making the equipment to send Parameter Change messages about the parameters requested In Fig 77 Parameter Change messages 138 sent out by generic equipment 131 are received by the remote control unit 132 making values of its internal array 134 change, Parameter Change messages 139 sent out by the remote control unit 132 are received by the generic equipment 131 making values of its internal array 133 change.</p>
<p>The remote control unit 132 only requests states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 if they are being viewed on the interface 135. Fig. 78 demonstrates this. The remote control unit 132 learns states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 only if they are being accessed via user interface 135, which gives the access only to a limited number of parameters of the internal array of the remote control unit 134 at any one moment. The fact that the user interface 135 is limited in accessing the internal array 134 of the remote control unit 132 allows us to limit the data communication between generic equipment 131 and remote control unit 132.</p>
<p>The learned states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 are stored by being written to internal array 134 of the remote control unit 132. This way data communication between generic equipment 131 and remote control unit 132 is limited further more: if the same controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 are accessed again using user interface 135 of remote control unit 132 -they are not requested because they are already known. Instead, they are recalled from the internal array 134 of the remote control unit 132. This method of reducing telecommunication data is also explained as a flowchart, illustrated in Fig. 79 If the connection between the remote control and the devices is broken, all learned states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 might be set to zero. When the connection is re-established the values of all the viewed parameters may be requested again Fig. 80 explains another method of reducing telecommunication data. The array of the remote control unit 134 may be made as small as the number of parameters the user interface 135 of the remote control unit 132 In this configuration the array of the remote control unit 134 only stores controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 at the time they are being accessed. In this case, the amount of Parameter Change Request messages 137 in communication between the generic equipment 131 and remote control unit 132 increases, because the remote control unit 132 needs to learn states of controllable parameters of generic equipment 131 being accessed via user interface 135 every time it changes to access different controllable parameters of generic equipment 131. This is also explained as a flowchart, illustrated in Fig. 81.</p>
<p>Fig. 82 is an analysis table of the two methods, helping to find better applications for them. The method illustrated in Fig 78 is chosen as the most efficient for battery powered wireless applications, as there transmission is minimal (it is known that radio transmission of one byte of data takes incomparably more power than memory read/write operation for it). The method illustrated in Fig. 80 is chosen for cheap remote controls with limited memory, but it is battery life inefficient, so maybe more suitable for non-battery powered wireless of battery powered wired applications.</p>