US20200186612A1 - System and method for automating the management, routing, and control of multiple devices and inter-device connections - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for managing, routing and controlling devices and inter-device connections located within an environment to manage and control the environment using a control client is presented. A user configures a presentation environment into one or more sub-environments, restricts access to one or more devices of a presentation sub-environment, or schedules one or more resources within a presentation sub-environment.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD
• The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling, managing and routing data among multiple devices that are sources or consumers of streaming data and control devices present in a given environment in a hardware independent manner. In one embodiment, audiovisual data streams and other controllable devices in a presentation environment are controlled by the present system and method. Other embodiments allow users to reconfigure the controllable devices across multiple spaces within an environment and distribute and allocate shared resources within a given environment to specified sub-environments as requested. In still other embodiments, the system and method reconfigures itself based on specific user credentials to provide a customized user interface and performs specified configuration and operational tasks for the control, management, and routing of data between devices within an environment based on the user credentials. The present invention comprises a server adapted to communicate with and command devices in an environment to establish interconnections or links between the devices as well as a means for a user to command and control the devices in order to have a tangible change in the environment.
SUMMARY DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
• A system and method for managing and routing interconnections between devices connected via controllable switching devices and controlling the operation of the devices in a given user environment for the purpose of controlling and coordinating the operation of the user environment is presented. One embodiment of the present system and method is directed to the control of audio visual (A/V) and presentation environment control and sensing devices, and the routing and management of A/V information between generator or source devices and consumer or output devices. Source devices generate A/V data, A/V data streams, or more generally a signal that is delivered to consumer or output devices. The output devices receive the A/V data and in many cases render the A/V data in a form that is perceptible in the environment, for example one output device is a projector that would render the A/V data in a form that is visible to persons in the portion of the environment that is in proximity to the projector. The output devices are also referred to in some circumstances as consumer devices meaning that they accept information or other flows from the interconnection established with the source devices and in the case of an A/V environment they consume the A/V data.
• The environment where the devices, connections and other controllable devices are located is referred to generically as a user environment. A type of user environment for A/V facilities is commonly referred to as a presentation environment. The presentation environment may span several physical rooms, buildings, or even multiple locations in geographically disparate locations depending on the circumstances and use of the system. The presentation environment in some embodiments comprises multiple spaces or sub-environments, each of which are individually configurable, and one or more devices that span the multiple spaces that can be accessed from within one of such multiple spaces.
• It is clear to one of ordinary skill in the art that a system for managing, routing, and controlling multiple streams of A/V data and other device communication and control signals is applicable to any system associated with an environment that requires the management, routing, and control of interconnections by and between different source devices and consumer devices as well as communication and control of a variety of devices in such environment. A non-exhaustive example of an alternative use for an embodiment of the present system and method is for a distributed data acquisition and control system whereby multiple sensors are distributed through a given facility or vehicle. The information from these sensors, such as accelerometers, are streams of data, similar in nature to a stream of A/V data. The consumers of the information generated by the sensors can be recording instruments and local feedback controllers that then actuate control lines to activate actuators that change the characteristics or states of the facility or vehicle.
• One embodiment of the present system and method is used to manage, route and control these streams of information generated by sensors and consumed by recording instruments and local feedback controllers as well as other control signals. In another embodiment, the present system and method is used to manage, route and control integrated building systems to provide a full spectrum of building services ranging from heating, ventilating and air conditioning through radiation management, security and fire and safety systems. In still another embodiment the system is used to route, manage interconnections and control devices in a manufacturing or chemical process facility to coordinate and control the production of various products.
• Although a majority of this disclosure is written in context of A/V systems and establishing connections by and between A/V devices and other discrete controllable devices to effect an A/V presentation environment, as these non-exhaustive examples show, one of ordinary skill in the art can use the present system and method for managing, routing, and controlling a variety of different types of devices and establishing connections between those devices for many different streams, including streams of A/V data, other types of signals, flows of fluids or movement of objects or products.
• Multiple embodiments of a system and method for controlling multiple sources and sinks of A/V data streams and controlling specific devices is presented herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art can readily use this disclosure to create alternative embodiments using the teaching contained herein. The system and method of the present invention further solves the problems associated with the configuration of multiple devices present in an arbitrary environment whereby routes or paths must be configured by and between the devices to allow information to flow from device to device through the environment while simultaneously controlling the operation of selected devices within the environment, including without limitation the operation of detached devices that effect the environment, but are otherwise not directly connected to other devices in the environment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The accompanying figures depict multiple embodiments of the system and method for routing, controlling, and managing streams of data and more particularly streams of audio visual information. A brief description of each figure is provided below. Elements with the same reference numbers in each figure indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawings in which the reference number first appears.
• FIG. 1ais a block diagram outlining the physical architecture of an embodiment of the present system and method for audio visual (“A/V”) control and integration.
• FIG. 1bis diagram depicting a signal level diagram of an embodiment of an A/V system.
• FIG. 1cis a depiction of a control or command level diagram of an embodiment of an A/V system.
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram highlighting the logical components of an embodiment directed to the management, routing and control of audio visual and presentation environment control devices.
• FIG. 3 is a component diagram of an embodiment of the server architecture.
• FIG. 4 is a component diagram of an embodiment of the control client architecture.
• FIG. 5 is an embodiment of a first logical arrangement of a control client user interface for editing scenes.
• FIG. 6 is an embodiment of a second logical arrangement of a control client user interface for playing a predefined presentation.
• FIG. 7 is an embodiment of a third logical arrangement of a control client user interface for controlling a presentation.
• FIG. 8 is a rendered embodiment of a control client user interface showing the second logical arrangement.
• FIGS. 9A and 9B are a data model of an embodiment of the system.
• FIG. 10 is a depiction of a control or command level diagram of a second exemplary environment.
• FIG. 11 is a depiction of a signal level diagram of the second exemplary environment shown inFIG. 10.
• FIG. 12 is a flow diagram detailing the configuration process for the system upon installation of devices in the environment or other additions of equipment to the environment.
• FIG. 13 is a first portion of an exemplary route map.
• FIG. 14 is a depiction of multiple presentation sub-environments within a given presentation environment.
• FIG. 15 is a rendered embodiment of a control client user interface showing one embodiment of a quick control.
• FIG. 16 is a rendered embodiment of a group definition user interface.
• FIG. 17 is a rendered embodiment of a user interface for selecting a desired device from a logical pooled device group.
• FIG. 18 is a rendered embodiment of an access control user interface.
MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTIONAudio Visual Control System Architecture
• FIG. 1adepicts multiple representations of an embodiment of the present system and method for audio visual control and integration in one embodiment of an exemplary physical configuration of apresentation environment110, as shown inFIG. 1a. In this exemplary configuration, theserver100 comprises a first communication interface adapted to communicate with a remotely connectedcontrol client102. Thecontrol client102 is adapted to accept information from theserver100 to render or create on the control client102 a user interface. The user interface enables a user to manage, route and control the flow of A/V data betweendifferent sources120,output devices130, and control orswitch devices140, and the communication and control of other detached devices orenvironment devices142, not present in the routing and control of the flow of A/V data such as environment sensors and actuators that are associated with the presentation environment110 (all collectively referred to herein as “devices”270) located within or associated with thepresentation environment110. Although the server is shown external to thepresentation environment110 inFIG. 1a, in other embodiments theserver100 is physically located within thepresentation environment110 or provided as an integral element of one of thedevices270.
• Specifically, in the case of the embodiment depicted inFIG. 1a, theserver100 and thecontrol client102 are connected via anetwork118. Anetwork118 as defined in this specification is any transmission medium that supports a protocol allowing communication by and between devices connected to the network as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. One example of anetwork118 is the Internet which utilizes the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol, but theterm network118 as defined is also meant to include local access networks (LANs), wireless LANs, a multi-device serial network, and any other computer communication network, including various forms of powerline networking and X10 type networks. In still another embodiment, a first communication interface allows point-to-point communication between theserver100 and thecontrol client102 using a serial interface, point-to-point modem, or similar types of point-to-point communication devices and protocols known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• Theserver100 in this embodiment is connected via thenetwork118 to acommunication transceiver114, for example a terminal server. Thecommunication transceiver114 converts physical communication mediums and logical protocols without altering the message being carried, thereby allowing commands sent in one communications format which is suitable to the sender to be converted into another communication format suitable for the receiver. In this case a command issued by theserver100 via TCP/IP over anEthernet network118 is converted to the same command sent over a point-to-point RS-232/RS-485 serial link, which becomes acontrol signal116 that is input to adevice270. Any communication sent from adevice270, for example an acknowledgement sent by thedevice270 back to theserver110, is similarly reconverted by thecommunication transceiver114. Thecommunication transceiver114 thus provides a second communication interface for theserver100 allowing commands and information to be exchanged between theserver100 anddevices270 associated with thepresentation environment110.
• In alternative embodiments, thecommunication transceiver114 is eliminated and a direct communication linkage, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) link, is established from theserver100 to adevice270 to be controlled. In another embodiment, theserver100 communicates directly with networkcapable devices270 over thecomputer network118. In another embodiment, theserver100 communicates with a variety ofdevices270 using acommunication transceiver114 for a subset ofdevices270, direct communication for another subset ofdevices270, and communication over anetwork118 to yet another subset ofdevices270. In still another embodiment, theserver100 communicates with thedevices270 using a wireless communication protocol, for example, infrared or visual/near-visual optical communication or radio frequency wireless protocols such as RF, Bluetooth, WiFi/802.11x, WiMax, and Zigbee and others known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• In the embodiment ofFIG. 1a, the control signals116 output from thecommunication transceiver114 are used to controlmultiple devices270 including aswitch170 andsecond switch158. The control signals116 select streams of audio video data coming from a variety ofsources120 and route them to a variety ofoutput devices130. Theswitch170 functions as an electronic patch panel that allows inputs to theswitch170 to be selectively routed or directed to selected outputs from theswitch170. In this embodiment theswitch170 supports a single type of video input, namely RGB (Red-Green-Blue color) signals, and an audio input.Source devices120 that have RGB outputs, such aslaptop computers150, can be directly connected to theswitch170.Non-RGB sources120 are input instead to thesecond switch158. The use of asecond switch158 in this embodiment supports the various types of non-RGB signals, for example S-Video, Composite, or Component video signals fromsources120 such as aDVD154 and aVCR156. The outputs from thesecond switch158 are then converted to RGB signals using anRGB converter160 before being input to theswitch170. TheRGB converter160 in other embodiments can be integrated into thesecond switch158. Any of thesesources120 of A/V information can be routed to any of the attachedoutput devices130 such as amonitor162 orprojector164 through appropriate commands issued by theserver100 to theswitch170 andsecond switch158.
• Other embodiments allow geographically or physically dispersed locations to be accessed and controlled from asingle server100. For example in one embodiment atransceiver114 located in one portion of apresentation environment110 is used to addressdevices270 located in that one portion of thepresentation environment110 while theserver100 is located at a geographically remote second location that is separated from the one portion of thepresentation environment110 and only accesses the one portion of thepresentation environment110 via thetransceiver114 or direct links to thedevices270 in that one portion of thepresentation environment110. In still another alternative embodiment, high-speed data connections between locations andadditional devices270 for compressing, decompressing, and forwarding audio video and control information between locations are used to allow the physical separation ofsource devices120 fromoutput devices130 across longer distances thus allowing geographically distributed management, routing and control of anintegrated presentation environment110 spread across a number of dispersed locations. Even in aunitary presentation environment110, for example apresentation environment110 comprising a number of rooms within a single building, it is common to include switching and converter equipment such as theRGB Converter160 to transform high definition (HD) video signal signals in either analog or digital formats such as the analog Component Y/Pb/Pr format and digital High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) into other standards suitable for display on non-HD devices for example. The reverse can be implemented to support old signal formats on new HD devices. Similarly, converters for playing audio on existingaudio systems144 can also be supplied for new analog and digital audio standards and associated interfaces, including but not limited to the AC-3, Dolby® Digital® 5.1 and 7.1 standards and S/PDIF interfaces.
• Each of the links drawn between specific elements of thepresentation environment110 represent static connections that exist in thepresentation environment110. The topology of these static connections are stored as part of the server's100 configuration for a givenpresentation environment110 as an environment model that represents thedevices270 and other details of thepresentation environment110. Theserver100 is configured with information regarding the types of connections that can be made and the equipment ordevices270 available in the presentation environment, such as one ormore switches170, that enables theserver100 to make those connections and route the information between the individual devices such as theDVD player154 and theprojector164. Theswitches170 create interconnections that associate or connect the various static connections, thereby creating a path or a linkage betweendevices270 allowing them to communication by and between each other. An interconnection in some embodiments possesses attributes associated with the type of static connections that are linked together. For example a static connection linking an RGB output port from asource device120 to aswitch170 is associated as carrying a video signal by virtue of the ports, or nodes on a givendevice270 that are linked together. The specific interconnections established betweendevices270 as well as the device control and the device state attributes, or device configuration, associated with aspecific presentation environment110 state are referred and stored in theserver100 as scenes. A scene thus creates a representation, or state model, of thedevices270 in theenvironment110. The use of scenes to define various device states allows a user to rapidly recreate a given environment state, representing specific device states and interconnections, by retrieving a specific scene.
• In the embodiments of the present system and method adapted for use managing and controlling A/V environments, the term scene is used to generically describe something that in other environments might be referred to as a macro. Effectively a scene represents a group of events or commands that are issued to thedevices270, including queries of device states, necessary to configure a specific user environment in a desired manner. Similarly, a presentation, which represents groups of scenes, can be considered a grouping of macros.
• In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1a, theserver100 issues control signals to thecommunication transceiver114 that manipulatespecific devices270 in thepresentation environment110 to create a specific room configuration or state. As part of a particular configuration of the state of thepresentation environment110, thedevices270 are manipulated to create specific routing betweendifferent source devices120 andoutput device130. Further, the control signals transferred through thecommunication transceiver114 can also be sent to specific sources orsource devices120 andoutput devices130 in order to configure, monitor, or control specific information associated with thosesource devices120 andoutput devices130. Further, control signals output from thecommunication transceiver114 can also be attached to other physical actuators, sensors, or other systems such as lighting control modules or motor controls associated with projection screens and windows coverings, generically referred to as, environmental controls, environmental sensors, orenvironment devices142. These environment devices are also referred to alternatively as detached devices, meaning that the devices sensor or influence the environment, but they are not a part of the routing of signals through the environment. Using theseenvironmental controls142, in the embodiment shown, theserver100 is capable to adjusting lighting and other aspects of thepresentation environment110. Thus, theserver100 is able to issue commands through thecommunication transceiver114 to manage, route and control the flow of A/V information and actuate environment controls142 located within specific rooms and other spaces located in thepresentation environment110 in a manner that allows the presentation environment to be readily reconfigured and controls in a variety of ways.
Types of Connections
• For an A/V system, there are typically three types of connections to be made:
• Video;
• Audio; and,
• Control.
• The first of two of these types are the signal levels and can be grouped together on the same diagram as shown inFIG. 1b. The control or command level can be depicted separately as shown inFIG. 1c. The architecture of the present system and method allows the separation of command communication from the data or signal communication links. This separation is useful in certain circumstances to ensure that command communications are not hindered or interrupted by the flow of data in the environment.
• In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1b, the audio and video signal level connections are made between the different sources of video and audio information such as awebcam180, asatellite receiver182, aDVD player154, a set-top box184, or audio video data from asecond switch158, and output devices, in thisFIG. 1b, there is a single consumer oroutput device130, avideo projector164. The connection between these multiple sources of A/V data and the output device is through aswitch170. The control or command level schematic shown inFIG. 1cenables theserver100 to control the operation of theswitch170 and the plurality of A/V sources120 andoutput devices130 in thepresentation environment110 by passing commands through anetwork118 to acommunication transceiver114 that translates the commands issued by the server intospecific control signals116 output from thecommunication transceiver114 to thesources120,output devices130, and theswitch170. By use of acommunication transceiver114, theserver100 is abstracted from the actual physical medium or protocol used by thedevices270 for controlling the flow of signals through thepresentation environment110, such asswitches170,sources120 and sinks130 of information or for controlling the environment controls142. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1aandFIG. 1c, thecommunication transceiver114 converts commands from theserver100 to device specific control signals116. The types of control device connections can in alternative embodiments include a number of connections known to those of ordinary skill in the art including but not limited to the following exemplary connections: RS-232/RS-485 serial ports, Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Infrared such as IrDA, RF, and other wireless connections.
• Although the embodiments depicted inFIG. 1a,FIG. 1b, andFIG. 1cdepict asingle communication transceiver114,multiple communication transceivers114 can be spread throughout a facility, or even multiple physically disparate locations to enable theserver100 to control multiple A/V environments with only the need to connect to them via anIP network118 such as the Internet or company Intranet. In this manner it is possible for asingle server100, operated by asingle client102 to control a broad environment and effectively control multiple A/V presentation environments110 in physically isolated locations and manage the experiences of people in each of thosepresentation environments110.
Hardware System
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram highlighting the logical components of one embodiment of the present system and method adapted for audio visual device management, routing and control. Specifically the present system and method is structured as client/server control application. The server application, generally referred to as theserver100, operates on a general purpose computing platform, such as a Windows or Linux platform, maintains adatabase202 or other data store that stores details describing the control environment and its configuration, and issues the control commands in response to commands sent from thecontrol client102. Thecontrol client102, also known as a control panel provides a means for controlling the system through a user interface, a graphical user interface or other application to enable control ofdevices270 in thepresentation environment110. In some embodiments thecontrol client102 includes the ability to use of preset and saved system states, which are referred to as scenes and to enable groups of scenes to be presented in sequence, which are referred to as presentations.
Server
• Theserver100, provides a location for the control and storage of multiple components and elements of the present system and method. In the embodiments depicted, theserver100 is shown as a single unitary machine that can interface withmultiple control clients102 andpresentation environments110. In alternative embodiments, theserver100 can be a multiplicity of physical machines working redundantly enabling hot-swap or fail safe capabilities across anetwork118 or alternatively distributing computing and processing loads. In still another embodiment, the elements of theserver100 are distributed such that individual elements or components are distributed to different locations across anetwork118. In one alternative embodiment adedicated server100 can be used solely as a server for thedatabase202 that hosts theapplication data204 while one or moreadditional servers100 connect to thedatabase202 via thededicated server100.
Server Functions
• Some exemplary high-level functions of an embodiment of theserver100 include:
• • Manages users and user access.
  • Maintains lists of all devices and their configuration settings.
  • Maintains lists of presentation spaces or rooms and all devices available to each presentation space.
  • Maintains all information relating to scenes and presentations.
  • Provides control of all devices through classes and configuration information.
  • Maintains schedules of all presentations and prevents conflicts in scheduling for all devices.
• In the embodiment depicted inFIG. 2, theserver100 is a computer running the Linux operating system. Although this embodiment the server is operating in a Linux based environment, a variety of different operating systems such as Windows and others can be used by one of ordinary skill in the art. Theserver100 runs aweb server200 program to interface withcontrol clients102 to receive information and commands, provide feedback, implement the application rules necessary to run the system and perform the functions described herein, in addition to communicating with thepresentation environment110.
Web Server Component
• Theserver100 in the embodiment shown inFIG. 2 has aweb server200 for Java-based web applications, in this embodiment a Tomcat server. A Tomcat server is a Java-based web application container to run servlets and javaserver pages (JSP) for creating dynamic, web-enabled applications. Although theweb server200 shown in this embodiment is a Tomcat server, alternative methods of implementing the system and method disclosed herein are apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. In the embodiment depicted inFIG. 2, the means for implementing the control server, shown asatmospherics.war240 in the diagram, is deployed via the tomcat application orweb server200.
Database
• Thedatabase202 implements adata model900, an embodiment of which is depicted inFIG. 9. In the embodiment depicted inFIG. 2 andFIG. 9, thedatabase202 is a relational database, and more specifically a PostgresSQL relational database. In alternative embodiments, thedatabase202 can be implemented using a multiplicity of methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art including using object-oriented or associative databases or other data structures. Regardless of the type ofdatabase202 used, the embodiment of the data structure depicted inFIG. 9 will provide a guide as to types of information stored within thedatabase202.
• Many types of information are shown the embodiment of thedata model900 shown inFIG. 9 stored in thedatabase202. Some specific types of information are highlighted below:
• • User information902—that stores both individual user settings and preferences and works in conjunction with the accesscontrol level permissioning904 to enable users to access specific configuration options, capabilities and system rights.
  • User Interface Widgets906—defines the specific user interface widget proto-elements that are linked to a device configuration and are integrated to create a set of controls and other user interface objects to be rendered on thecontrol client102. For example, the volume up-downelement880 can be considered an example of a user interface widget. In some embodiments selectedUser Interface Widgets906 are selected by a user or administrator to be displayed on selected user interface screens to provide quick controls for manipulating selected attributes of adevice270 directly from a presentation screen as depicted inFIG. 15.
  • Device configuration908—handles information regarding thedevices270, including output devices and source devices and control devices to be controlled by the system and method. In another embodiment, thedevice configuration908 includes details of virtual devices ordevice270 characteristics to emulate devices that are not physically connected to thepresentation environment110 or shared devices that are not currently available within the presentation sub-environment.
  • Device groups910—in one embodiment maintainsinformation regarding devices270 located inpresentation environments110 and in another embodiment maintains information regarding shared or pooled devices1450 (seeFIG. 14) with common attributes or characteristics that are selectably assignable to presentation sub-environments.
  • Device connections and routing912—holds information regarding specific physical static connections betweendifferent devices270, and routing capabilities (e.g., available static connections that are physically capable in the room) that enable theserver100 to issue commands to control interconnections between source devices and output devices or issue other control device commands. Information contained within this data set is also used to restrict specific connections such as restricting the data sent to a speaker system to be only audio data or limiting the number of connections to or from a given device. The device connections androuting912 provide an environmental model for theserver100 of thepresentation environment110 and thevarious devices270 and other elements located within or associated with thepresentation environment110.
  • Scene andpresentation control914—Stores information pertinent to a specific scene configuration or a series of different changes in system state over time, such as that embodied in a presentation where thepresentation environment110 is commanded to change state by implementing moving from one scene to another at different times, or in response to specific triggers.
  • Event handling916—provides controls and information for theserver100 to handle different changes in the system state, including different reporting operations and failure recovery and fault trapping details.
Application Server Architecture
• An overview of theserver application architecture300 of theserver100 is depicted inFIG. 3. Theserver application architecture300 shown in the embodiment depicted provides an overview of the interactions between different software elements comprising one embodiment of theserver application architecture300 of the system and method. The depicted embodiment details only one possible, exemplary architecture available to one of ordinary skill in the art for implementing theserver application architecture300 of the present system and method. Theapplication service architecture300 of theserver100 in the embodiment of the system shown inFIG. 2, is implemented within theatmospherics.war240 component of the tomcat application server, orweb server200.
• Theserver application architecture300 comprises a number of discrete modules. A description of a selected number of the discrete modules is provided below.
Presentation Layer
• Thepresentation layer302 provides the primary user interfaces forcontrol clients102 connecting to theserver100. There are three primary user interface apps,320,322, and324 that generate a user interface for a givencontrol client102 based on the information provided by thatcontrol client102 including the user, permission levels,presentation environment110 and other factors. The first of the three user interface apps are asystem configuration webapp324 allowing a user to configure the system. The second is the systemcontrol flash app302 that enables acontrol client102 to control devices, and create and store scenes and presentations. The third is acontrol phone app320, that provides user interface specific information and controls to thecontrol client102 to enable it to control a phone, such as aVoIP Phone210 and to render a control panel on aVoIP Phone210 thereby enabling inputs by a user to aVoIP Phone210 are able to issue control commands to theserver100 that in turn reconfigures thepresentation environment110 based on the desired inputs. Thecontrol phone app320, although it specifically describes controlling a phone, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that other network or internet enabled devices could also be interfaced with the system via a user interface app similar in nature to thecontrol phone app320.
Remote Communication Layer
• Theremote communication layer304 supports a variety of high-level services for handling communication sessions with theserver100.
Application Service Layer and Others
• Theapplication service306 provides the back end processes and business logic necessary to operate the system and respond to specific system events and user inputs. Theapplication service layer306 works together with thecomponent service layer308, thedomain model310,persistence layer312, anddevice control layer314 to respond to user input provided from acontrol client102 and thus allows the system to manage, route, and control multiple A/V sources and output devices as well as other devices. Within theapplication service306, an event engine as described below, is used to generate, monitor and handle different actions, triggers, and changes in the system. Underlying theserver application architecture300 are multiple off-the-shelf and customized third party frameworks andlibraries316 that provide common functionality to theapplication service306.
Device Control Library
• Within thedevice control layer314, adevice control library340 is provided. Thedevice control library340 provides interface specifics and details needed by theserver100 to interpretspecific device270 attribute information received for a given type, make and model of adevice270 and also how to structure commands suitable for the given type, make and model of thedevice270 to be part of the controlled user environment. Thedevice control library340 in some embodiments also maintains specific details on how to communicate, monitor and respond to specific communications or responses provided by thedevice270 being controlled. For example, thedevice control library340 can provide details of how to structure instructions to a specific type ofaudio system144 to raise and lower the volume. The samedevice control library340 driver for thesame audio system144 in some embodiments also provides a monitoring function that communicates with theaudio system144 to detect faults or other problems and report the details of those respective fault events to the system for response. The contents of thedevice control library340 are updateable from time to time by the user upon demand and via query to remote license and driver servers.
• Some exemplary types of are detached devices found in adevice control library340 adapted for use with an A/V system includeenvironmental devices142.Environmental devices142 include control equipment that controls lighting in a room, including on/off switches, dimmable lighting and shades and other windows obscuring systems as well as temperature controls, power switches, and preset configuration controls. Other types ofenvironmental devices142 include sensors such as ambient light sensors, motion detectors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and switches or buttons present within thepresentation environment110.
Control Client
• The embodiment of thecontrol client102, as depicted inFIG. 2, is shown as a Windows® computer and thecontrol client102 is implemented using a standard internet orweb browser220 running on the computer. Although the embodiment shown depicts a Windows-based client interfacing with theserver100 through a web browser, multiple other embodiments include the use of a dedicated player, such as a standalone Adobe®/Macromedia® Flash® player or a Java® applet, or other method of accepting and interpreting the information provided by theserver100, receiving input from the user, and then transferring the command and control information back to theserver100. A number of other operating systems are readily supported as known to those of ordinary skill in the art such as Windows® Mobile, Windows® CE, Mac® OS, Linux, BSD and others. By abstracting the user interface from the specifics of thecontrol client102, the system is able to render a user interface on a variety of different platforms running a range of different software while providing as much information and details as possible on thecontrol client102 relative to the capabilities of thecontrol client102. For example, in one embodiment, theserver100 evaluates the capabilities of thecontrol client102 upon log-in and then provides a customized user interface based on the ability of thecontrol client102 to handle the interface. In one embodiment, if the user logs into theserver100 via a handheld personal data assistant with limited display capabilities, the user interface is rendered to thecontrol client102 is rendered based on the details and capabilities of the personal data assistant and has possesses less information to be presented to the user. Other methods of creating a dynamic user interface on thecontrol client102 through communication with aserver100 can be implemented and are apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• Thecontrol client102 in some embodiments is a thin-client such as a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)phone210 or another closed architecture device. Theserver100 communicates with the closed or proprietary architecture device local systemcontrol phone app212 through the systemcontrol phone app320. The user can then input commands via theVoIP phone210 that are supplied to theserver100 to change the state of theperformance environment110 and execute scenes and other programs. In some embodiments, thecontrol client102 is capable of providing a customizeduser interface102 for theVoIP phone210 that enables the user to access specific functionality on theserver100 using the menus and features of theVoIP phone210 using either a specialized sub-application running on theVoIP phone210 or using a generalized interface for to theVoIP phone210.
System Control Client Architecture
• Thecontrol client102 in the embodiment depicted inFIG. 2 can operate two client-side web applications, a clientsystem configuration webapp222 for configuring theserver100 and a client system control webapp224 for controlling a given presentation, scene orpresentation environment110. Access for a user to specific features and capabilities of the system through both the client system webapp222 and the clientsystem control webapp224 are limited based on the specific rights and privileges associated with a given user. Further, for some users they are unable to access the clientsystem configuration webapp222 at all since they have limited user privileges.
System Configuration Webapp
• The clientsystem configuration webapp222 local to thecontrol client102 and receives information from theserver100, and more specifically thesystem configuration webapp324 that it renders into a user interface for the user using a player resident on thecontrol client102. In the case of the embodiment depicted inFIG. 2, the player is embedded within aweb browser220. The clientsystem configuration webapp222 on thecontrol client102 renders the user interface sent from theserver100 via thesystem configuration webapp324 to allow the user to configure theserver100. Some exemplary configuration actions the user can take include defining elements ordevices270 in aspecific presentation environment110, including static connections within thepresentation environment110, creating and storingdevice270 and system state details, i.e. storing scenes for present or future use, or ordering multiple scenes together into a presentation, and managing users and user rights. In one example, a user who logs into the server thesystem configuration webapp222 on thecontrol client102 who does not have sufficient privileges to modify user accounts is not presented any option to access any screens to modify user accounts by virtue of thesystem configuration webapp324 not transferring details of how to render the modify user account screens to thecontrol client102, thus the user interface only presents details and user interface objects to the user that the user has the ability to manipulate.
System Configuration Webapp Functionality
• Thesystem configuration webapp324 renders for the user on thecontrol client102 via the clientsystem configuration webapp222 and thus enabling the user to adjust several important parameters of theserver100 to effect the operation of the system. Specifically, thesystem configuration webapp324 allows a user with appropriate access privileges the ability to: add and removedevices270; provide additional details todevices270 including device names; serial numbers; asset tag numbers; purchase details and physical location information; associatevarious devices270 with specific sub-environments or rooms in thepresentation environment110; manage users; provide pointers tospecific device270 background information and details including links to external uniform resource locators (URLs) for additional documentation; and, trouble shoot problems withdevices270. Thus thesystem configuration webapp324 and the clientsystem configuration webapp222 provide the user with the ability to customize theserver100 and thus the operation of the system.
System Control Webapp
• The clientsystem control webapp224 is local to thecontrol client102. The architecture of the clientsystem control webapp224 is shown inFIG. 4, and it contains a plurality of different components that interact to provide a user of thecontrol client102 the ability to control devices, call-up scenes and presentations in aspecific presentation environment110. The clientsystem control webapp224 has multiple components to render the user interface on thecontrol client102. Acustom skin402 library provides visual coloring and effects to the baseline user interface control widgets that are defined by the device control user interface library,404, and the extended device controluser interface library405. The user interface control and information widgets are used to populate theuser interface framework406 that defines the overall layout, navigation and control widget features. These interface widgets interface with the customizedflash application410, which extends thestandard flash player412, and other elements of the client system control webapp224 to enable a user to receive feedback on system status from theserver100, and issue commands to the system. Sessions with theserver100 are handled by aserver communication framework416, while aflash remoting application414 facilitates transferring flash content between thecontrol client102 andserver100.
User Interface
• Multiple examples of a user interface on acontrol client102 are presented in schematic form inFIGS. 5-7 and a single rendered form inFIG. 8. Additional embodiments of rendered user interfaces are depicted inFIG. 15 throughFIG. 18.
Quick Controls
• In another implementation, the user interface further comprises quick controls or customizable controls that allow a user to customize some or all aspects of the user interface and associated user interface widgets presented to the user on acontrol client102. In one aspect, the quick control allows the user to specify specific options and or control options that are presented upon startup. For example, in the exemplary rendereduser interface1500 shown inFIG. 15, the user establishes a quick control, in the depicted embodiment a dialerquick control1502 that is associated with the scene and aparticular device270. The quick control widget in one embodiment is a standard user interface widget that is presented to the user when configuring thedevice270 using a device configuration screen. In another embodiment, a specialized user interface widget is provided for use within the desired screen that provides an alternative presentation specially adapted for use as a quick control. In the depicted embodiment, the dialerquick control1502 is provided to theuser client102 for rendering as part of theuser interface1500 when the user selects the “Audio Conferencing”scene selector1504. Thequick control1502 itself is associated with the scene by either the user who creates the scene initially or by an administrator who defines the default quick control for a given configuration within apresentation environment110.
• Thus, when the user is identified by the system and selects the desired scene using the scene selector drop down886 as shown inFIG. 8, or via the sceneselector list box1506 as shown inFIG. 15, the quick control associated with that particular scene is presented in the user's desired configuration. In yet another example, depicted inFIG. 8, the routing control870 tab active rather than the device control tab890. In this manner, the user is able to obtain direct access via the quick control to the desired user interface widgets to directly access either thedevice270 control or directly access a subset of thedevice270 controls, such as a dial pad or dialerquick control1502 for placing a call on avideo conferencing system262 or an alphanumeric pad for inputting specific commands.
• In another aspect, the quick controls are used by theserver100 to provide the user access to user interface widgets that allows the user to directly access desirable controls or configuration management interfaces that otherwise would not be available on the current user interface screen mode. In one exemplary embodiment, one or more quick controls are configured to present a device configuration user interface widget to the user directly on the presentationcontrol user interface600 without requiring the user to navigate away from the current mode and screen of the user interface. In this manner, the quick controls allow the user to access desired functionality, based on user or administrator preferences, to directly access configuration or user interface widgets that would otherwise require the user to navigate away from the current user interface screen to reach the control.
• In another embodiment, the use of quick controls allows the user to define specific customized user interface widgets or elements, such as buttons or selection boxes, that are rendered as part of the user interface presented to the user on acontrol client102. In one exemplary embodiment, a portion1510 of the user interface on acontrol client102 is customized to allow a set or series of specific user interface widgets to be presented to the user. This portion of the user interface in one instance is customized by the administrator to show specific user interface widgets associated withdevice270 that are present and in use in a given scene in thepresentation environment110. For example, in the embodiment depicted inFIG. 15, the administrator configures a subset of quick controls to be displayed to the user as part of the presentation environment, thereby allowing the user to use a quick control to adjustlighting1512, adjustvolume1514, mute all1516 and turn on and off1518 alldevices270 in thepresentation environment110. In another instance, the user is able to associate specific user interface widgets with a scene that the user defines. In one aspect, the quick control may represent a click-to-dial user interface widget to access avideo conferencing system262 present in thepresentation environment110 and configured as part of the scene. The use of quick controls in the user interface thus allows the user to define specific user interface widgets that enable access tospecific device270 functionality and or other tools and operations directly from a scene control interface.
• The quick controls in various embodiments are configured and stored for retrieval and use with specific users and scenes in thedatabase202 by theserver100. In one embodiment, specific quick controls are selected and presented to a user associated with specific scenes based on definitions by an administrator. For example, the administrator may configure a quick control that provides direct quick control access to a dialer for avideo conferencing system262 whenever the user uses a scene that includes that capability within thepresentation environment110. The administrator associates the desired quick control, in this case a dialerquick control1502 for accessing a dialer user interface widget, with thevideo conferencing system262 and the association is stored within thedatabase202. In this manner, when a user activates a scene that includes the associateddevice270, in this case thevideo conferencing system262, the quick control is rendered on the scene control panel on the user interface rendered on thecontrol client102. In another instance, the administrator associates one or more quick controls with a given scene definition so whenever a user loads that scene definition the quick control associated with the scene definition is retrieved and rendered for the user. In this manner, the administrator has the option to provide specified quick controls with any scene or associated with aspecific device270 that is accessed by a user in thepresentation environment110. In another instance, the user is able to access desired quick controls associated with a givendevice270 or a given scene in thepresentation environment110. These associations are also stored in thedatabase202 and associated with the combination of the individual user and the specifieddevice270 or scene, such that the desired quick control is identified and loaded whenever a scene ordevice270 associated with the quick control is accessed by the user. In this manner, the quick controls are defined and associated withspecific devices270, scenes, and users or classes of users in thedatabase202. The association information is requested by the client from theserver100 when rendering a scene and building the user interface for presentation to the user on thecontrol client102 such that the desired quick controls associated with the scene ordevices270 present in the scene are presented for use within theuser interface framework406.
Scene Editor
• FIG. 5 depicts a schematic view of an embodiment of thescene editor500 interface where a user can define a specific scene for aspecific room502 by defining the state ofdevices270, in this case the device underconfiguration506 is a display. Based on thespecific room502 selected by the user, a different series ofdevice selection buttons504 are presented to the user. For example, if aspecific room502 within thepresentation environment110, does not include any audio mixers, then the device configuration tab for audio mixers would not be rendered on a user interface, in contrast the ability to configure thatdevice270 provided in thescene editor500 interface embodiment shown.
• Overall room controls503 are also provided to the user so they can activate all of the systems in the room, e.g. power on and turn the volume up, down, or mute regardless of the specific devices being used. The overall room controls503 provide a means for controlling all of thedevices270 associated with a given portion of thepresentation environment110 at the same time. This zone control allows the user to control the operations of multiple devices using a single control input. In the case of on/off controls the zone control effectively tells theserver100 to turn all of thedevices270 associated with that zone control to power up or down respectively. In the case of a graduated control, e.g. volume, the zone control provides a generalized user interface control to the user, such as a control numbered from 0 to 10. Then the zone control translates the user input on the zone control into the equivalent experienced by thedevice270. For example, in one embodiment with two audio devices, one with a full scale volume input of 0-20 and the other with a full scale volume input of 0 to 100, the mapping from the single 0-10 input from the user into the others full scale range using a straightforward linear mapping. Other mapping functions can be created including logarithmic mappings or other customized mapping as required. These customized mapping functions, in some embodiments, are integrated into the device driver files and directly translate or map the user input to the device input when the configuration commands are issued to thedevice270.
Presentation Player
• FIG. 6 depicts a schematic view of an embodiment of the presentationcontrol user interface600. Thepresentation player602 provides a user interface on thecontrol client102 that enables a user to select aspecific presentation604, skip either forward606 or backward608 from scene to scene, and play610, pause612 or stop614 the presentation. The presentationcontrol user interface600 is showing the routingcontrol user interface620. The routingcontrol user interface620 allows a user to for a link or communication path for AN data or signals by selecting a sourcedevice node button622 to choose a specific asource device120 and then selecting the type of signal to transfer using the signalrouting type button624 and selecting via the outputdevice selection button626 the destination oroutput device130 for the A/V data. Once the user selects the type ofsource device120, the signalrouting type button624 and the availableoutput device buttons626 change to reflect the type of signal produced by the selected source and the ability to route the signal to theoutput device130 as well as the ability of the variousaccessible output devices130 to accept that type of signal, which includes anyconverters160 that are present in thepresentation environment110 to change the signal. The presentationcontrol user interface600 in some embodiments also restricts viewing of thedifferent source devices120 available to the user based on the type ofoutput device130 selected, for example when the user selects aspecific projector164,only source devices120 capable of being routed to the selected project and capable of producing a signal usable by theprojector164 are displayed as being available for routing.
• When defining these routes using therouting control620, the user is presented with thedevices270 that are available to the user based on thepresentation environment110 orroom502 they are using, their rights, and any other environment information. In one embodiment, after selecting aspecific source devices130 by selecting a sourcedevice node button622, theroute mode624 only presents route mode information that thesource device130 and thepresentation environment110 has been configured to accept or allow. In the embodiment displayed, the signal types capable of being routed from selected via the sourcedevice node button622 is both audio and visual data as shown in the type of available routingmode624 displayed in therouting control620. In this embodiment, after selecting therouting mode624, thedevices626 that information can be routed to, based on the configuration of theroom502 and the type of data to be routed, is presented to the user to enable them to complete the routing connection. In other embodiments, thepresentation environment110 may allow multiple routes to be formed, for example from asingle laptop150 video output selected as the selecteddevice node622 the signal can be routed to a splitter (not shown) that splits the signal into two discrete signals. Then output from the splitter can be routed to afirst projector164 and asecond projector164 placed in another portion of theroom502. In still other alternative embodiments the routing for different types of signals can be separated, meaning that the video output of aDVD player154 is routed to a video device such as amonitor162 while the audio output of theDVD player154 is routed to theaudio system144.
Presentation Selection and Editing
• FIG. 7 depicts a schematic view of an embodiment of apresentation definition control700 user interface. Thepresentation definition control700 user interface enables the user to select via the presentation selection interface702 a specific presentation to access.
Rendered User Interface—Presentation Player
• FIG. 8 depicts a rendereduser interface800 of the previously presentedcontrol user interface600. Shown inFIG. 8 is a generalvolume control interface880 that provides a zone control interface for all devices in the selectedroom502 of thepresentation environment110. The presentationcontrol user interface600 highlights the name of the selectedpresentation884 and details which scene within the presentation is currently playing via the scene selector drop down886. The scene selector drop down886 in this embodiment allows a user to quickly shift between different scenes within the sequence of scenes found within a presentation.
Exemplary Control for Devices
• The following examples detail some exemplary commands and attributes for a givendevice270 to be controlled by the system and stored within thedevice configuration908 located within thedatabase202. These command and information definitions are not intended to provide exemplary instruction to one of ordinary skill in the art necessary for one to adapt this information to other systems and provide insight into how commands and user interface widgets can be abstracted from the details of thedevices270 being controlled. The following styles are used to define the device commands and attributes provided below:
• • name=Attribute command
  • (D)=Device command
  • (ROA)=Read only attribute
Group/Room Control
• These are commands and attributes that are issued to a group of rooms, or a single room, effectively as a whole. For example, if there are multipleenvironmental devices142, such as light controls in a given room, thelights260 up or down command would be issued to all of the light control devices in the room. Similarly if there are otherenvironmental devices142 in the form ofcontrollable shades266 in theroom502, the group or room control can be configured such that lowering thelights260 in the room also draws theshades266 to darken the room. Or alternatively if there are multiple audio sources, then a mute command would be issued to all of theaudio devices258 in the room.
• • power=[true, false]
  • (D) volumeUp
  • (D) volumeDown
  • mute=[true, false]
  • (D) lightsUp
  • (D) lightsDown
Power
• Power is a command that enables the system to power anindividual device270 on or off. The power command can be issued either directly to thedevice270 or alternatively can be directed to a controllable power supply or distribution channel.
• • power=[true, false]
Shades266
• Shades266 represents a type ofenvironmental control142 that controls window coverings.
• • (D) Open
  • (D) Close
  • status=[% open]
Media Player268
• Amedia player268 is an arbitrary type of generalized A/V signal source orsource device120 that plays different types of media, including tape.
• • playStatus=[play, stop, pause]
  • (D) fastForward
  • (D) rewind
DVD Player154
• A DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) Player154 a type ofsource device120 adapted to play DVD discs and in some embodiments compact audio discs.
• • title=[numeric value of title]
  • chapter=[numeric value of chapter]
  • (ROA) numberOfTitles=contains total number of titles on disc
  • (ROA) numberOfChapters=contains total number of chapters on current title
  • (D) nextChapter
  • (D) previousChapter
  • (D) menu
  • (D) cursorUp
  • (D) cursorDown
  • (D) cursorLeft
  • (D) cursorRight
  • (D) select
Display162
• Representing a generalpurpose output device130 such as a television or monitor.
• • aspectRatio=[standard, widescreen, zoom]
• In the case of a generalpurpose output device130 as a projector, additional attributes include:
• • (ROA) bulb hours
  • (D) Video input select
• In some instances, the generalpurpose output device130 possesses the attributes of multiple devices, such as a projector and an audio output device, representing a projector with integrated audio output capabilities.
Audio258
• Anaudio output device130.
• • mute=[true, false]
  • volume=[numeric value of volume]
Windowing Box (RGB Spectrum)
• The windowing box is controlling an RGB rendering tool, such as the Video toRGB converter160 shown inFIG. 1.
• • (D) zoomIn1, zoomIn2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • (D) zoomOut1, zoomOut2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • (D) up1, up2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • (D) down1, down2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • (D) left1, left2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • (D) right1, right2 . . . (as many as there are windows, inputs)
  • preset=[(enum) either numbers or text labels]
  • label1, label2 (as many as there are windows)=[text field]
Lighting260
• Lighting260 represents a type ofenvironmental device142 or detached device present in thepresentation environment110 that effects the environment, but is detached from the signal flow established betweensource devices120 andoutput devices130 via anycontrol devices140.
• • (D) lightsUp
  • (D) lightsDown
Single Zone Control
• A zone is a logical grouping of nodes, elements or devices and can be large or small in number. A zone can encompass a number ofpresentation environments110 orrooms502, a set ofdevices270 within aroom502, or even a number of nodes within asingle device270.
• • (D) rampUp
  • (D) rampDown
  • (D) stopRamp
  • intensity=[numeric value of intensity (1-100)]
  • power=[true, false]
Multizone Control
• A multizone control is one that controls many zones per control unit, effectively aggregating multiple zones into a single user interface.
• • (D) rampUp1, rampUp2 (as many as there are zones)
  • (D) rampDown1, rampDown2 (as many as there are zones)
  • (D) stopRamp (will stop ramping of all zones)
  • intensity1, intensity2=[numeric value of intensity (1-100)] (as many attributes as there are zones)
  • preset=[numeric value of preset]
  • power=[true, false] (basically ramps all to max or all to 0)
  • (ROA) numberOfZones=number of zones on the configured control unit
Master Control Unit Control
• The master unit control provides a control suitable for alldevices270 or substantially alldevices270 present in apresentation environment110 enabling commands to be issued to alldevices270 associated with thepresentation environment110.
• • (D) rampUp
  • (D) rampDown
  • (D) stopRamp
  • preset=[numeric value of preset (1-16)]
  • Room temperature=[numeric value]
  • (D) maxCOOL
  • (D) maxHEAT
  • Motion=[true, false] (triggered based upon motion detector or RFID presence)
• Other devices depicted inFIG. 2 as being controlled includevideo conferencing systems262 that link multiple conference rooms together, acamera264 for live viewing or contemporaneous recording of the room, and a Keyboard, Video, Mouse (KVM)switch250 that can be enabled to provide a system administrator or presenter access to input devices located within a givenpresentation environment110 such as a keyboard or mouse.
• The total number and types ofdevices270 present in a givenpresentation environment110 can vary significantly with a variety of different mixtures ofsource devices120,output devices130, switches orcontrol devices140 and detached devices orenvironment devices142, including environmental sensors and actuators available for configuration, query, command and control. In the case ofenvironment devices142 that provide environmental information, such as ambient temperature sensors, humidity sensors, ambient light sensors, discrete input devices such as switches, and room occupancy sensors theserver100 maintains drivers capable of monitoring the information provided by theseenvironment device142 sensors and capturing specific events generated by these sensors for response by the system.
Device Pooling
• One embodiment of the present system and method is the ability to share asingle device270 across multiple sub-environments within a givenpresentation environment110. For example, referring toFIG. 14, a givenpresentation environment110 is depicted with a first presentation sub-environment1410, a second presentation sub-environment1412, and a third presentation sub-environment1414. Each of the three sub-environments (1410,1412, and1414) has a set ofdevices270 associated with that particular sub-environment. For example, in one exemplary embodiment, the first sub-environment1410 has aprojector164,audio output258, and microphone1420 physically located within the first sub-environment1410. A first video conferencing system1400 and second video conferencing system1402 are available within thepresentation environment110 and can be selectably interfaced to any of the three presentation sub-environments (1410,1412, and1414). The video conference systems1400 and1402 represent a shared device, or generally a pooled device1450. A pooled device1450 is anydevice270 that is adapted to be selectable or temporarily associated with one or more sub-presentation environments located within the overall presentation. In this manner, the first video conferencing system1400 and the second video conferencing system1402 are grouped in a logical pooled device1450 group. Thedevices270 in the logical pooled device1450 group are then selectably connected to the desired presentation sub-environment (1410,1412, and1414) via a selector1460.
• The logical pooled device1450 group represents a set ofdevices270 with common characteristics that are able to be temporarily associated and selectively used with a given presentation sub-environment (1410,1412, or1414). The logical pooled device1450 group is configured such that eachdevice270 within the logical pooled device1450 group is capable of being associated with a single presentation sub-environment (1410,1412, or1414) and locked.
• Referring now to the user interface of one embodiment shown inFIG. 16, a logical pooled device1450 group is defined using the groupdefinition user interface1600. A name for referring to the logical pooled device group1450 is provided in thename definition input1602. The type pull-down1604 identifies the selecteddevices270 in the device group as a logical pooled device1450 group and thedevice selection list1606 details the types of devices207 included in the logical pooled device1450 group.
• For example, the first video conferencing system1400 can be scheduled, locked and associated for use with the first presentation sub-environment1410. After the first video conferencing system1400 is scheduled for use with a particular sub-environment, other users cannot schedule thatdevice270 in the logical pooled device1450 group during the same period. After the first video conferencing system1400 is locked for use with a particular sub-environment, other users cannot access or use it until the current user either releases it or a timer associated with either the scheduling of the respective presentation sub-environment or a predefined duration has expired. An example of the timer is shown in greater detail below with respect toFIG. 17. A subsequent user who wishes to use a video conferencing system from the logical pooled device1450 group after the first video conferencing system1400 is locked for use, is then able to schedule, lock and access the second video conferencing system1402 for use with that user's presentation sub-environment. After all devices in a given logical pooled device1450 group are locked for use, subsequent users are queued until the desired device is released by the prior user.
• Theserver100 manages the pooled devices1450 associated with a logical pooled device1450 group. The characteristics of the logical pooleddevice270 group are defined during the initial system installation and configuration and those characteristics are stored and maintained in thedatabase202. During system initialization, theserver100 obtains information associated with the logical pooled device1450 group and establishes management control over the device group that enables the locking, release and management of the pooled devices1450. The relationships between the available pooleddevices270 of the logical pooled device1450 group and the presentation sub-environments that are capable of interfacing with the available pooled devices1450 are defined and stored within thedatabase202 using the same procedures are outlined herein.
• Theserver100, in one embodiment, maintains a resource allocation calendar system stored within thedatabase202 that allows pooled devices1450 from a given logical pooled device1450 group to be scheduled for use with specified presentation sub-environments. The resource allocation scheduling system maintains scheduling details for the pooled devices1450 and presentation sub-environments to avoid resource over allocation and provide users with details of available resources upon request. In one instance of this embodiment, theserver100 connects with an external enterprise calendaring and scheduling system to provide thedevices270 of the logical pooled device1450 group availability to the external calendaring system and to obtain details of scheduled resource use from the enterprise calendaring system. In still another embodiment, theserver100 directly calls the external calendaring system to determine which resources of a logical pooled device1450 group are scheduled for use or otherwise available at specific times and for setting timers for automatically releasing pooled devices1450 from a given presentation sub-environment. In this manner, theserver100 interfaces with thepresentation environment110 scheduling systems to allocate the pooled devices1450 resources to the desired presentation sub-environments as required by the scheduling requirements of the users. This also enables the use of additional business rules and checks to enable some users to override other users or for certain meetings and events to have established priority for accessing pooled devices1450 or pre-empting other users in some circumstances and otherwise avoiding over-subscription ofdevices270 prior to a user encountering the inability to access a pooled device1450 due to existing in-use locks for the devices.
Virtual Devices
• The user operating and accessing a given pooled device1450 implements a proxy device or virtual device within the user's presentation sub-environment that enables the scene controlling that sub-environment to setup, access, and control the pooled device1450. For instance, the user who has scheduled video conference system1400 in the logical pooled device1450 group creates a proxy device associated with the type ofdevices270 located within the logical pooled device1450 group. The proxy device controller is defined and stored within thedatabase202 as a virtual interface to the types of physical devices located within the logical pooled device1450 group during the initial definition and establishment of the logical group. The logical pooled device1450 group includes a proxy interface that allows the proxy device controller to interface and issue commands to the desireddevice270 selected from the pooled device1450 group. The proxy interface thus receives commands issued from the proxy device controller being used and operated by a user within a particular presentation sub-environment, translates and directs those commands to the pooled device1450 that is associated with that particular presentation sub-environment and passes any reporting or status messages back to the proxy device controller. In this manner, the proxy device controller associated with the presentation sub-environment is used by the user to establish a control linkage via the proxy interface to the controlled pooled device1450. Thus, a user in the third presentation sub-environment1412 is able to access and control the allocated second video conferencing system1402 via the proxy device controller.
• In defining and establishing a scene associated with a pooled device1450, the user defines thedevice270 and incorporates thedevice270 into the scene using the proxy device controller, orvirtual device270. In some instances, the room device group that contains information regarding the types of devices associated with a given presentation sub-environment is updated to include proxy device controllers that are able to be associated with that room device group. The proxy device controller is defined during system configuration to reflect the common controls associated with the types ofdevices270 present in the logical pooled device1450 group that are available to a user in a given room orpresentation environment110. For example, the first and second video conferencing systems (1400 and1402) in the embodiment depicted inFIG. 14 include outputs for video and audio signals, inputs for video and audio signals, and a set of controls for operating the conference and a dialer. All of these controls and inputs and outputs are established in the proxy device controller that is implemented by the user in a scene.
• The abstraction of theactual device270 allocated in the logical pooled device1450 group allows, in some embodiments,different devices270 of the same fundamental type to be implemented transparently to the user. For example, in the embodiment depicted inFIG. 14 the first video conferencing system1400 is manufactured by a different company from the second video conferencing system1402, wherein and the respective video conferencing systems have different control inputs and control formatting requirements although both have common control types (e.g., dialers, muting, blanking, making audio, and video connections). The proxy interface then manages and translates abstracted commands from the proxy device controller into signals required by the respective video conference system present in the logical pooled device1450 group. In this manner, the specific type or manufacturer of the pooled device1450 accessed by a user from time to time is abstracted and it is not necessary for a user to redefine different proxy device controllers for use with different pooled devices1450 that are assigned to a given user for a given presentation event.
• The proxy device controller or virtual device also provides additional functionality to the system by allowing the user to setup and operate a scene with the proxy device controller and mimicking the operation and connections of thedevice270 without having thedevice270 physically connected and/or operating. This virtual device capability enables a user to setup an environment, use the environment and practice and test scenes, configurations and presentations at times when the desired pooled devices1450 are not available. Then, when the pooled device1450 becomes available to the user, the proxy device controller establishes a connection to the proxy interface and creates the physical and logical linkages to the environment necessary for the assigned pooled device1450 to connect to theother devices270 present in the presentation sub-environment, thereby subsuming the functionality of the virtual device with the actual connections and operation of the shared device seamlessly. In another aspect, the use of the proxy device controller allows a scene to be prototyped and saved using one of the pooled devices1450, such as the first video conferencing system1400. Then, when the user logs back onto the system and recalls the scene, the proxy device controller allows the second video conferencing system1402 to be used in place of the first video conferencing system1400 transparently to the user since eachdevice270 has the same interface. The addressing, routing and resource allocation that allows the user to take control of pooled devices1450 is completed transparently.
• In still another embodiment of the present system and method, a proxy control interface is used to create a virtual interface independent of a logical pooled device1450 group. In this instance, the conceptual representation of aphysical device270 enables the operation of the system through specific equipment failures, facilitates implementation and debugging of system operation and installation, provides users with a mechanism for the debugging of complicated scenes and scene transitions, and facilitates the transfer of a device configuration from one presentation sub-environment to another presentation sub-environment where the set ofavailable devices270 are significantly different.
• In still another embodiment, the logical pooled device1450 group represents physical assets that are available for movement and/or allocation to different locations within a particular environments. In one exemplary embodiment relevant to an automated manufacturing environment controlled by the present system and method, a logical pooled device1450 group represents an automated transfer vehicle that is designed to move manufacturing jigs and parts from location to location within the manufacturing facility. A given manufacturing facility may contain large numbers of automated transfer vehicles that must be scheduled and controlled in order to transfer equipment and parts from location to location. Thus, the vehicles are capable of being represented as a logical pooled device1450 group with a proxy interface to transfer commands (e.g., go to location Y, interface with pickup tray, secure pickup tray, go to location Z, insert pickup tray into parts feeder, etc.) to the vehicles based on commands received from a proxy controller associated with a given sub-environment. In this manner, the proxy control interface is able to selectively take over control of an automated transfer vehicle, use it to meet its operational requirements, and then release it back into a common pool for use by another proxy control interface.
• For example, the embodiment of the user interface depicted inFIG. 17 details the reservation of asingle device270 from a logical pooled device1450 group. The deviceselection user interface1700 details theselection1702 of a virtual device, in this case a video conferencing system, also described by manufacturer type identification as a “Tandberg.” Upon selecting1702 the virtual device, a proxy queries the logical pooled device1450 group control widget associated with the appropriate type of video conferencing system, in this case a Tandberg, that is available for use in the selectedscene1704, in this case “Video Conference w/Podium”. After selecting the virtual device, a user interface widget fordevice scheduling1710 is rendered on thecontrol client102 to interface with the logical pooled device1450 group resource allocation scheduling system. The device schedulinguser interface widget1710 provides a logical pooled device1450 group selection drop down1712 that allows the user to select the desired logical pooled device1450, in the embodiment depicted, the first video conferencing system1400. The first video conferencing system1400 is shown as being reserved by the user (in this case the administrator is the user) until a specific time shown in thereservation horizon1714, in this case 1:02:06 PM. The device schedulinguser interface widget1710 also allows the user to adjust the reserved time via theduration dialog1716, and also allows the user to release the first video conferencing system1400 to other users via therelease button1718. The operation of theduration dialog1716 in the reserve in some embodiments is modulated by the resource allocation scheduling system. The user may in the embodiment depicted inFIG. 17 directly access a calendar view of the resource allocation scheduling system via theresource scheduling button1720. After the desireddevice270 is selected from the logical pooled device1450 group, in this case the first video conferencing system1400, theserver100 locks the reserved first video conferencing system1400 to the particular presentation sub-environment. The user interface provides device configuration interfaces, such as a pan andzoom interface1730 and a dialerquick control1502, that the user uses to control the selected first video conferencing system1400.
Scalable End User Licensing
• One aspect of one embodiment of the system and method for audio visual control and integration is the ability for the system to scale from a small installation to larger installations. The basic licensing structure is based a base fee that includes a fixed number ofservers100,logical rooms502, anddevices270 present within apresentation environment110. The fixed numbers are adjustable to and in addition to the total numbers ofdevices270 present the licensing and in some embodiments is keyed to the total number of specific types ofdevices270, such as a total number ofsource devices120, or switches/control devices140. Additional fees are charged based on theadditional rooms502, the number ofdevices270 per aroom502, and additional modules. All drivers for audio-visual hardware located in thepresentation environment110 are provided to the purchaser for a fixed period of time. After the initial period, the access to additional drivers to support the addition or substitute of other types of audio-visual hardware located in thepresentation environment110 are made available on a pay-per-installation basis or through a maintenance program.
Mechanism for Achieving End User Licensing
• In one embodiment of the licensing system, there are two processes for allowing a given user system to access or change additional licenses or features: generating private and public keystores to enable asymmetric key encryption and then generating an actual license. The generation of keystores only needs to occur once while generating the license occurs many times, possibly for every customer.
Generating License Key Stores
• In this one embodiment, private and public keystores are created as part of a given distribution of an embodiment of the system and method for audio visual control and integration. The keystores create both private key and public certificate files. The private key is held by the company distributing the embodiment of the system. The public certificates are used by third parties, nominally purchasers of an embodiment of the system and method for controlling, routing and managing data, who are communicating with the company to obtain additional licenses to expand, extend, or access the capabilities of the system.
Generating a License File
• During installation of this one embodiment of the system, a license for the software is generated. When an upgrade to the capabilities of a given installation is desired, the user communicates with the company to obtain a new license. The new license enables the user to unlock the additional capabilities of the system. The license is encrypted using the private keys held by the company, and decrypted using the public keys held by the user to provide access to the additional capabilities. In this manner, it is possible for a user to upgrade the capabilities of an embodiment of the present system and method in a transparent manner.
Driver Specific Licensing
• In addition to controlling the total quantities ofdevices270,rooms502, orservers100 supported by a given installation, the system also enables in some embodiments the control of individual device drivers via the same licensing system. In these embodiments the same process described above for generating and encrypting the license file necessary to enable the system to operate a different levels or install additional components is used to control the distribution of specific driver files. There are two specific embodiments for protecting the driver files in this embodiment of the system and method. In the first embodiment the driver files are either transferred unencrypted from a driver server to theserver100 along with a license key adapted specifically to the driver file. The license key is unencrypted and installed in theserver100 to enable theserver100 to access and install the driver file. Without the installed key, theserver100 is unable to access and install the driver file into thedevice control library340 for use by theserver100. In the second embodiment the driver files themselves are encrypted by the driver server using the driver server private key. Theserver100 then decrypts the file locally using a key transferred to theserver100 to install and access the driver file into thedevice control library340 for use by theserver100. In both of these embodiments, the system provides for controlled distribution of specific drivers toservers100, these controlled distribution of specific drivers can be integrated together with the other licensing schemes described herein and known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
Administration and Access Control
• Theserver100 in one embodiment includes a three tier access control system. In the first level of access control, the system configuration controls are dedicated to those with administrative rights only and enables administrators to view and edit access control to presentations and rooms. The system configuration controls are used to control the access levels available to users, and thereby limit selections to improve usability and reduce the potential for error.
• The second level of access control is room-based access control. Administrators grant access to users based on who the user is or what role, or task, the user is performing. The room-based access control limits the number of rooms that a user can access by limiting the rooms visible to the user. At the room level, Administrators may specify a non-deletable main presentation that provides default settings for all presentations run in a specific room. For example, the main presentation for a given room may linkmultiple projectors164 together to display the same video routed through aswitch170 from a givenpresentation laptop150 input, while simultaneously settingaudio258 levels in the room and dimming thelights260.
• The third level of access control in this one embodiment is presentation level access control. There are three fundamental logical access levels to presentations: none, meaning the presentation is inaccessible to a given user; read-only, meaning the presentation can be viewed or used by a given user, but cannot be modified by that user; and, full, enabling the user to modify and control the presentation in any way they wish, limited only by room-based access control prohibitions. Advanced users are able to create presentations and specify access to or share presentations with other users including the ability to provide full, or limited access to the presentations. Administrators have access to all presentations regardless of access level specified by advanced users.
• In still another embodiment, to seed or initialize access control levels for given users, the system communicates with an external name or user server to obtain default attributes for a given user. For example, in one embodiment, theserver100 communicates with an external name server such as a Microsoft® Exchange® server via a communication interface, such as the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Theserver100 retrieves base user details and attributes from the external name server via LDAP thereby allowing integration of the system with an overall enterprise architecture. Thus, theserver100 is able to update specific user customization features, such as full name, default security and access levels for the user by accessing enterprise resources, thereby simplifying maintenance of the system and providing uniformity and integration with enterprise wide information technology infrastructure.
Room and Device Lockouts
• Theserver100 allows a user or administrator to lockout resources and otherwise prevent other users, or other sets of users such as users with specific attributes (e.g., all junior users), or all users, from usingspecific devices270, specific types of devices270 (e.g., anyvideo conferencing systems262 regardless of location), or a room. The lockout is implemented on theserver100 and preventsdevices270 that would otherwise be available to a given user from being accessed, configured, or used. In some instances, the lockout is used to dedicate the resource to a specific user or to a specific room or sub-environment. In one embodiment, the lockout is implemented for an indefinite period of time. In other embodiments, a user specifies the lockout for a fixed period of time, e.g., until the user exits the room until the user logs into and configures another room, or based on other events that are triggered by the user in the environment or triggered using timers or other events that are captured by the event engine.
• The ability for a user to lockoutspecific devices270 is useful to control and restrict access to shared resources anddevices270, such as pooled devices1450, thereby preventing or limiting the ability for a subsequent user to ‘bump’ or preempt an ongoing event in another environment that is already using a particular shared resource. In another instance, the user may lockout or restrict access todevices270 within a room or other logical groupings ofdevices270. For example, in one scenario a user may wish to lock access to eitherindividual devices270 or to logical groups ofdevices270, such as a set ofdevices270 associated with a given room in thepresentation environment110 or a specific class of devices, such asvideo conferencing devices262 in situations where thepresentation environment110 must be restricted due to security or privacy concerns. Adevice270 is locked by placing a flag on theparticular device270 that indicates who locked thedevice270 or group ofdevices270, and the event triggers for unlocking thedevice270, such as the length of time locked or when the user logs out of the system. When a second user enters a room or otherwise attempts to configure adevice270 that is locked by implementing a scene, the second user is presented with a lock representation that indicates that some or all of thedevices270 that the second user is attempting to configure and use are locked and unavailable. The second user is presented with details of the user who locked thedevices270, and in some instances, is also provided details regarding when the lockout will be removed, e.g., ten minutes remaining in the lockout or when the user logs out of the system.
• In some embodiments, a lockout is automatically applied to alldevices270 within a givenpresentation environment110 that are being used by a given user as part of a presentation. By locking thedevices270 in the presentation environment there is greater assurance that no other users accessing thepresentation environment110 from other locations may inadvertently or purposefully disrupt the ongoing event.
Autosensing and Authenticating Users
• Theserver100 in some embodiments includes systems and methods for autosensing and identifying users within a givenpresentation environment110. Theserver100 in this embodiment is capable of interfacing with and communicating with an external datasource, such as an LDAP server, that stores details necessary for user authentication and allows the association of specific user settings with specified user identification within the system. In baseline operations, the user logs into theserver100 using acontrol client102 located within the room or presentation sub-environment. When the user logs into the system, theserver100 identifies the user as accessing aspecific control client102, or, alternatively, the user self identifies so the system is aware of which presentation sub-environment the user is in. In this manner, the client is able to request this information from theserver100 and is able to present to the user a pre-defined or customized set of controls, including in some instances quick controls, and load default configurations or scenes for the user to access and use. In this manner, theserver100 associates specified room configurations or scenes based on user preferences. This allows a user to be provided with a personalized experience and interface used to control particular rooms, or across theentire presentation environment110.
• For example, in one embodiment there is a first presentation sub-environment1410 that possesses a podium and a desk, either of which have ports for accepting a VGA signal from a computer. If a particular user has a preference for using the podium when using the first presentation sub-environment1410, when the user logs into theserver100 via acontrol client102 located or physically associated with the first presentation sub-environment1410, the system identifies that the user is present in that sub-environment and then loads the default scene and user interface preferences including in some instances quick controls that are associated with that user. The default scene may in some cases be unique for a given room or based on the device group being accessed by the user. In this manner the system takes advantage of the user log-on to configure the system and provide user customization.
• In still another embodiment, the system uses methods for autosensing the user entering thepresentation environment110 or moving from one location or presentation sub-environment to another within thepresentation environment110. For example, in one embodiment each of the rooms within the presentation environment is equipped with a magnetic or embedded chip reader or radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader. When the user enters the room, the system detects the event generated by the user entering a particular location within the presentation environment. Theserver100 handles the event triggered by the movement of a user into a presentation sub-environment, room or locale within thepresentation environment110 and determines if the user has a specific preference for configuring the space they are currently occupying. For example, in one instance when a user enters the second presentation sub-environment1412 using a card reader connected to the system, theserver100 generates an event tied to and possessing information about the user entering the room. Theserver100 uses the event handler to handle the event using a combination of default event handling and customizable elements selected by the user.
• For example, theserver100 may query the enterprise server to determine whether or not the user who entered the room has scheduled the room for use. If the user is not the presenter, then theserver100 may load a basic scene to prepare the room for participants who are arriving prior to the presenter. If the user is the scheduled presenter or owner of the event then theserver100 will load the user's default preferences for thecontrol client102 located with or associated with the room or update the user's portable control client102 (e.g., mobile digital assistant or smart phone) with the user's default scene configuration, presentations, and in some instances quick controls. Similarly when the user logs out of the room or leaves the room, theserver100 detects the event and will revert the room back to the default inactive scene, releasing shared resources as necessary and otherwise resetting the room to a default configuration.
• In still another embodiment, the use of an RFID, such as an embedded RFID tag within a user's name badge, allows the system to track the user as they move through thepresentation environment110. As the user moves through the environment, the system uses the movement of the user to trigger specific events. For example, as the user enters thepresentation environment110, theserver100 receives an event notice that the user has entered a specific region of thepresentation environment110. The event handler uses the event information to determine that a particular presentation sub-environment configuration or scene is desired, such as displaying a welcome screen or directions on a wall or ceiling display in front of the user. As the user moves away from that location towards the next location, theserver100 responds to the event by reverting the prior presentation sub-environment back to the default scene configuration and updating the next presentation sub-environment to the next desired scene. In this manner, theserver100 is able to render a customized experience for a given user as they progress through the environment.
• The movement or presence of a user at different locations within thepresentation environment110 is used by the system to generate events associated with the movement or presence of the user at different locations. An RFID or other device, such as a mobile phone or other mobile data device with a unique identifier is used in one embodiment to track or detect the user in thepresentation environment110. In still another instance, the user is tracked as they log into specific rooms or spaces, such as using a card key or pin to enter a room. In still other embodiments, the user is tracked using biometric identifiers that allow the system to monitor the users movement through thepresentation environment110. Regardless of tracking method used, theserver100 is able to monitor the presence of the user in the environment which allows events to be triggered from different user activities.
Resource Scheduling
• Theserver100 has also interfaces with enterprise level servers for the management and allocation of resource and meeting scheduling. These enterprise scheduling or groupware servers schedule and coordinate both personnel schedules and calendar schedules. Theserver100 interfaces with the enterprise level server to publish or otherwise provide visibility of all rooms or presentation sub-environments available within thepresentation environment110 for scheduling. Further,specific devices270 available within those rooms are also published to the enterprise level server thereby allowing users scheduling a particular room in thepresentation environment110 to select the presentation sub-environment with the desired capabilities, such as access to aparticular media player268 orvideo conferencing system262, at the desired time. In this manner, the configuration of conference rooms and sub-environments within thepresentation environment110 is provided to the enterprise server from theserver100 configuration for scheduling via normal scheduling parameters. A single update to the environment configuration on theserver100 causes automatic updates to the options available to users for scheduling through the enterprise server. This reduces the potential for mismatches between the actual capabilities of thepresentation environment110 and the desired capabilities. In one instance, whendevice270 failures or maintenance limit availability ofdevices270 or presentation sub-environments available for use by users, theserver100 is able to notify the enterprise scheduling server that, in turn, notifies meeting attendees of problems or changes in room configuration and also prevent users from inadvertently scheduling rooms, resources ordevices270 that are unavailable at their selected meeting time.
• In still another embodiment, theserver100 interfaces with the enterprise scheduling server to obtain information about which resources,devices270, and rooms or presentation sub-environments are currently scheduled or scheduled in the future. Theserver100 queries the enterprise server to obtain scheduling details for specified resources. The data obtained by theserver100 is reconfigured for presentation on thecontrol client102 and provided to the user. This data allows a person using thesystem100 or planning maintenance to determine when times are available for using the system. In another embodiment, theserver100 is able to take resource requests from the user via thecontrol client102, parse the requests and provide the requests to the enterprise scheduling server to allocate the room. In this manner, the user may use thecontrol client102 via theserver100 to schedule rooms,devices270, or resources on the fly without logging into a separate scheduling application.
• In yet another embodiment, the scheduling information obtained by theserver100 is used to preemptively lockout rooms, or presentation sub-environments based on upcoming schedules. For example, referring again toFIG. 14, the user schedules the second presentation sub-environment1412 at 10 AM. Theserver100 uses the schedule information to create an event trigger that in one instance is simply based on a clock, or in a second instance, is based on when the second presentation sub-environment1412 becomes available immediately prior to the meeting. The event trigger is used by theserver100 to establish a lockout on the second presentation sub-environment1412. When theserver100 handles the event trigger, it establishes a lockout on the second presentation sub-environment1412 holding it for the scheduled user who scheduled the environment. Once the lockout is established, the scheduled user may take over control of the second video conferencing system1412 and use it unimpeded. In this manner, room and presentation sub-environment scheduling via an enterprise scheduling server is used in conjunction with lockouts to ensure availability of facilities when necessary or desirable.
• In still another embodiment, the scheduling information obtained by theserver100 is used to preemptively lockout givendevices270, rooms, or presentation sub-environments based on upcoming schedules. For example, referring again toFIG. 14, one of the pooled devices1450 is scheduled for use by a first user in the second presentation sub-environment1412 at 10 AM. Theserver100 uses the schedule information to create an event trigger that in one instance is simply based on a clock or, in a second instance, is based on at least one of the pooled devices1450 becoming available immediately prior to the meeting to establish a lockout on at least one of the pooled devices1450, such as the second video conferencing system1402. When the second video conferencing system1402 becomes available, a lockout is automatically established by the system on the resource for the benefit of the scheduled user. Once the lockout is established, the scheduled user may take over control of the second video conferencing system1402 and use it unimpeded. In this manner,device270 group, and room scheduling via an enterprise scheduling server is used in conjunction with lockouts to ensure availability of equipment when necessary or desirable.
• With respect to the embodiment of the system adapted to communicate with the an Exchange server based enterprise server, the following steps are presented to demonstrate one option for configuring theserver100 and the system generally for use with an Exchange server environment.
• 1) Each presentation sub-environment or room is setup as a separate user account in the Active Directory services for the domain and within the Exchange server;
  2) Each presentation sub-environment account is setup for resource scheduling and configured to auto-accept invitations from users;
  3) One or more device groups are configured to be linked with the user account;
  4) Each device group is now capable of being queried to get the schedule through theserver100; and
  5) Each device group is now capable of being reserved via the Exchange server environment. These exemplary steps provide to one of ordinary skill in the art the necessary knowledge to adapt the present system and method to other enterprise servers.
Scene Control
• Thecontrol client102, in one embodiment, has the ability to edit the fine details of all devices associated with a specific scene. Thecontrol client102, presents the user with a listing of allpossible devices270 that can be saved in a particular scene. The user can selectspecific devices270, and theserver100 will save the state of thedevice270 corresponding to the operation of thatdevice270 in the specified scene, such as volume levels for anaudio device258, along with the details of the scene. In addition to saving specific device states, the user can also retain specific routing information betweendevices270 associated with a specific scene. The data corresponding tospecific device270 states and routing information is stored asapplication data204 in thedatabase202. In this manner the user, through thecontrol client102, can rapidly save and restore specific routing and device configuration for reuse at a later time.
Fine Grained Scene Control
• When specifying a scene, the user can also define events, such as when a specific action will occur, or how long a given scene is active. In this manner, the user can string multiple scenes together to form a presentation. For example in a simple case, a first scene can be used to create an opening, pre-presentation lighting and presentation environment where ambient music is piped into the room from amedia player268 and sent to anaudio device258, but there is no connection between apresentation laptop150 and themain projector164 enabling the presenter to ready materials and allow the audience to enter the room unhindered. When the presentation is ready to begin, a second scene is activated where thelights260 are lowered to enhance visibility, window shades266 are drawn, and thelaptop150 video output is connected to theprojector164 and themedia player268 is stopped.
• Using fine-grained scene control, a user is able to adapt a specific scene definition to only effect a subset ofdevices270 located in aspecific performance environment110 necessary to change state or adopt specific setting necessary to implement the scene relative to the prior scene. In this manner, when multiple scenes are activated sequentially, for example during a presentation, or by user command, the only actions and commands sent to thedevices270 by theserver100 are those necessary to change the state of thedevices270 and the configuration of thepresentation environment110 to achieve the desired new scene configuration. Thus allother device270 configurations and settings remaining from a prior scene that are unchanged in the new scene can be left constant. For example, at the end of a presentation a scene could be created for a question and answer period, whereby the only change from the presentation scene configuration to the question and answer configuration is to have thelights260 raised to a desired intensity level to enable the presenter to view the audience asking questions. Using fine-grained scene control, the question and answer scene following a presentation scene would only address a single set ofdevices270, namely lights260 and all other parameters would be left unchanged from the prior scene.
• Fine grained scene control enables the system to transition smoothly from scene to scene. For example, if a presentation requires first lowering the light260 and playing an introductory clip from aDVD player154 on theprojector164 in a first scene, and then proceeding to a user presentation from alaptop150 using the same resolution on theprojector164 with thelights260 at the same reduced level in the next scene, then the only change to anydevices270 necessary for that scene-to-scene transition would be to change the A/V source routing to theprojector164 from theDVD player154 to thelaptop150. Thelights260 andprojector164 would not have to be reconfigured. If thelights260 were reset back to full on or full off before being set again to the reduced level, or theprojector164 reset, viewers could perceive a momentary flicker. Similarly, unnecessary switching or resetting of A/V sources could cause unnecessary audible clicks or pops. Therefore, only changes that represent the differences from one scene to the next scene are made thus smoothing transitions.
• In one embodiment, transitions from one scene to another scene in a presentation are user driven. In another embodiment, the transitions are handled by an event engine in theserver100. The event engine has an event response handler that identifies events and then switches scenes or modifies the presentation environment based on the event. For example, the event engine may wait for a user prompt before transitioning from a first scene to a second scene. Additionally, the event handler could automatically trigger the configuring of a number ofpresentation environments110 at a specific time, for example to prepare a number ofrooms502 in different cities for a multi-party conference call. The event engine can also accept events triggered outside theserver100, for example a remote service call placed over anetwork118 to remotely test apresentation environment110 by a system administrator or service provider.
• In still another embodiment of scene control, theserver100, utilizes the current state of thedevices270 in thepresentation environment110 to determine whether or not a re-initialization or reconfiguration of the device is required based on a specified transition or change from a first configuration to a second configuration. Thus, when the event engine identifies a required transition, namely the need to configure or initialize adevice270 in thepresentation environment110 based on the detection of an event, the changes in state of thedevices270 associated with the required transition are checked against the stored state of thedevices270. The check determines if a givendevice270 is current in the proper state to enable thenew presentation environment110 configurations and then only provides commands to the givendevice270 when a change to the device is required. The scene control further evaluates the type of change to thedevice270 state requested as part of the transition. For example, a requested transition may only require asingle device270 state to be changed as a result. Rather than configuring thedevice270 state as a whole, only that sub-set of thedevice270 state that has been changed is controlled. The ability to configure only a sub-set of thedevice270 states is partially enabled by the controllability of the device itself, in some cases some commands are unavailable forspecific device270, in which case thedevice270 configuration definition specifies the states that can be independently manipulated during system operation. In this manner the states ofdevices270 present in thepresentation environment110 can be changed in-line during system operation without the need to issue configuration commands to the entire set ofdevices270 present in thepresentation environment110.
• In still yet another embodiment of scene control, an accesscontrol user interface1800 is shown inFIG. 18. The accesscontrol user interface1800 provides a user with the controls needed to select and/or change, i.e., adjust, the level of access available to certainsecurable objects1804. In one embodiment, the access types pull down1802 identifies what types of access, e.g., presentation, group, or features, can be selected. The securable objects pull down1804 identifies which objects for a selected access type are available to a user. In the embodiment depicted inFIG. 18,device270 control is selected for adjustment. In other embodiments, objects such as routing control, report viewer, presentation view, etc., can be selected for adjustment. The roles/users screen1806 identifies what roles are available for the selected secured object. In the embodiment depicted inFIG. 18, for example, users designated as “administrator” have access todevice270 control, as indicated by “available,” while users designated “guest users” do not, as indicated by “not available”. To activate a selected level of access control, permissions pull down1808 provides a summary of the level of access for the selected role/user, as well as, provides a user with the ability to activate the selected level of access via theuser selection box1810 in which, in this embodiment, the user may select “available” or “not available.” The accesscontrol user interface1800 allows specific access controls to be set for the different types of securable objects.
Event Engine
• A component of theapplication service306 is an event engine. The event engine comprises three principle components, event generators, an event monitor, and an event handler. These three components work in concert to identify specific occurrences in the environment or the system, including user inputs, and respond to those occurrences. The event engine enables the system to adapt to changes in or inputs from the environment, including the failure of specific components ordevices270.
• The system possesses event generators that generate internal events for the system based on specific requirements or desired occurrences. The event generators can reside and generate events from any internal service or sub-routine. Some examples of events include timers, alarms, other alerts that are generated during startup, configuration and implementation of the system and specific scenes, alerts that are triggered upon occurrence of a specific event such as a sensor exceeding a specified threshold value or another triggers that occur during operation. These internal events are passed to the event monitor for identification, recording and classification.
• The event monitor supervises the overall system to identify, record and classify the occurrence of specific events. These events are sequentially recorded as they emerge or are generated from the system during operation. Some events captured by the event monitor include internal events generated by the event generator, failures, errors or reporting messages received fromdevices270, inputs from environmental devices, other communications and user interface inputs. The event monitor thus captures specific events occurring on the system regardless of where they are generated and passes the events to the event handler for disposition. The event monitor thus logs and in some embodiments optionally maintains a record of specific events experienced by the system during operation.
• The event handler processes or handles a given event that has been captured by the event monitor. The event handler determines the type of event that has occurred, determines whether it falls into a specific class of events that has a pre-defined response or if there is a unique response specific to the type of event and then triggers the appropriate sub-functions or routines necessary to respond to the event. In some circumstances the responses to given events is to change a scene as described above, other responses include notifying the user, logging the event, or performing other functions. In this manner, the event engine enables the system is able to dynamically respond to multiple occurrences or triggers found in the system and the environment.
IP Phone Connectivity
• In one embodiment of the system and method for audio visual control and integration, there is a connection from the server to an internet protocol, orIP phone210, also referred to as a Voice over IP (VoIP)Phone210. TheVoIP phone210 is connected to either or both an internal and external network that can transmit voice communications and in some cases can also transmit video streams and other data. The interface to theIP Phone210 is provided by the IPPhone Interface Component212 that implements a logical interface withIP phones210. The IPPhone Interface Component212 implements an XML, based schema for interfacing with a given make andmodel IP Phone210, including routing information and feedback from the phone into theapplication service306 as well as providing commands to theIP phone210 itself.
• The flexibility of the IPPhone Interface Component212 is the ability for the phone interface to be customized by the type of hardware being interfaced and even the room being used. For example, in one embodiment, an IP Phone manufacturer using the standards defined above, can create a highly customized, rich user interface that is presented to a person using acontrol client102 that enables that person to effectively control the features and capabilities of that particularmanufacturers IP Phone210. Similarly, an administrator can control access to the features and capabilities of a givenIP Phone210 in order to achieve specific goals. For example, an administrator may restrict outgoing calls from anIP Phone210 connected to a secure conference room to only other internal phones in order to limit potential disclosure of information.
Second Exemplary Environment
• FIGS. 10 and 11 depict a secondexemplary environment1000 with multiple sources, outputs, switches, and detached devices. For the purposes ofFIGS. 10 and 11 only, the following naming conventions is used for the figures whereby all devices and their associated interface nodes or ports are described using the key [10a # n #] where a represents the type of device270 (s=source, o=output, i=switch or interface or flow control, and e=environment device or controls), followed by a unique number whereby s1 refers to thefirst source device120. The finally two letters and number indicate whether the node is a communication node “c” or an interface node “n” followed by a unique number identifying the that node for the given device. The sources are referred to collectively as sources 10s, outputs are collectively referred to as outputs 10o, switches are collectively referred to as switches 10i, and detached device or environmental controls as controls 10e.
• FIG. 10 depicts a command level view of the secondexemplary environment1000 that details the command interface connections between theserver100 and theother devices270, such as the sources 10S1-10S3, outputs 10o1-10o4, switches 10i1-10i3, and environmental controls 10e1-10e3 located within theexemplary environment1000.
• FIG. 11 depicts a signal level diagram of the secondexemplary environment1000 details the physical interface between the signal ports or nodes of the sources, outputs and switches located within theexemplary environment1000. Table I provide details of the various sources, outputs, switches and device controls in the second exemplary environment while Table II provides exemplary devices including the respective sources, outputs, switches, and device controls represent in two different applications.

• TABLE I
  Table ofSources 120,Outputs 130, Switches and
  Control Devices 140 Including Associated Nodes
  Depicted in the Second Exemplary Environment:

  			Associated	Associated
  	Device	Device	Communication	Interface
  	Name	ID	node ID	Node ID
  	Source Device	10s1	s1c1	s1n1
  	#1			s1n2
  				s1n3
  	Source Device	10s2	s2c1	s2n1
  	#2			s2n2
  	Source Device	10s3	s3c1	s3n1
  	#3			s3n2
  				s3n3
  	Interface Device	10I1	I1c1	I1n1
  	#
  1			I1n2
  				I1n3
  				I1n4
  	Interface Device	10I2	I2c1	I2n1
  	#
  2			I2n2
  				I2n3
  				I2n4
  	Interface Device	10I3	I3c1	I3n1
  	#
  3			I3n2
  				I3n3
  				I3n4
  				I3n5
  				I3n6
  				I3n7
  				I3n8
  	Output Device	10D1	d1c1	d1n1
  	#
  1
  	Output Device	10D2	d2c1	d2n1
  	#
  2			d2n2
  	Output Device	10D3	d3c1	d3n1
  	#
  3			d3n2
  				d3n3
  	Output Device	10D4	d4c1	d4n1
  	#
  4			d4n1
  	Environment	10e1	e1c1	—
  	Device #1
  	Environment	10e2	e2c1	—
  	Device #2
  	Environment	10e3	e3c1	—
  	Device #3

• TABLE II
  Exemplary Devices For Audio Visual Applications or
  Building Systems Corresponding to theRespective
  Sources
  120,Outputs 130, Switches andControl Devices
  140 Shown in the Second Exemplary Environment:

  Device	Device	Exemplary Audio	Exemplary Building
  Name	ID	Visual Devices	Systems Devices
  Source Device	10s1	DVD Player 154	Chilled Water
  #
  1			Supply
  Source Device	10s2	Satellite Receiver	FreshAir Supply
  #
  2		182
  SourceDevice	10s3	Computer	150	Conditioned Air
  #
  3			Supply
  InterfaceDevice	10I1	Switch	170	Heat Exchanger
  #
  1
  InterfaceDevice	10I2	Switch	170	Mixer #1
  #2
  InterfaceDevice	10I3	Switch	170	Mixer #2
  #3
  Output Device	10D1	Audio Amplifier	Water Supply
  #
  1		258
  OutputDevice	10D2	Monitor	162	Room Vent #1
  #2
  OutputDevice	10D3	Projector	164	Room Vent #2
  #3
  OutputDevice	10D4	Projector	164	Room Vent #3
  #4
  Environment	10e1	Light Control	LightControl
  Device #
  1		260
  Environment	10e2	Window Shade	Thermostat
  Device #
  2		Control 266
  Environment	10e3	Ambient Light	HumiditySensor
  Device #
  3		Sensor

Installer
• One embodiment of the installation system for the system and method for audio visual control and integration provides a system to enable an end user to rapidly install all of the required elements of the system for a given user installation in one single pass. The installer installs all components of the system, including, but not limited to the control language, theapplication server100, and thedatabase202. As part of the installation sequence, the installer will configure the system to support specifiedhardware devices270.
• Part of the installer system includes a tool or wizard interface for gathering information from the user about thepresentation environment110 to be controlled, namely providing a guided means for configuring theserver100 for the given presentation environment. In an exemplary installation, the user would define thephysical rooms502, or zones to be controlled. The user would provide theserver100 with information regarding thedevices270 available to be controlled within the room. Eachdevice270, can have a customizeddevice control506 interface for that particular type of device provided by the device driver or have ageneric device control506 interface suited for that specific type ofdevice270. For example, a customizeddevice control506 interface may be configured with specific commands to activate features of aprojector164 such as rescaling, color, or brightness while ageneric device control506 interface for a light260 simply signals a control line to switch state and turn the light on or off. Then the user configures the static connections within thepresentation environment110. The static connections define all of the connections betweendevices270 that are potentially available to be controlled. Additional details on the specific configuration process to adapt and model a givenpresentation environment110 or the secondexemplary environment1000 is provided below.
Configuring the System
• The initial configuration of an arbitrary environment, such as the secondexemplary environment1000 depicted inFIGS. 10 and 11, is initiated by the installation of any or all of the devices and static connections or additions to or deletions from the devices and static connections present within the secondexemplary environment1000. The configuration of the system to control the devices present within the secondexemplary environment1000 is accomplished via either a manual configuration process or automated configuration process as described below.
Manual Configuration Process
• Themanual configuration process1200 for the system is detailed inFIG. 12a. Themanual configuration process1200 is initiated1202 upon either the initial installation and setup of the secondexemplary environment1000 or upon the addition or deletion of one or more a new devices or static connections between devices to the secondexemplary environment1000. For example, themanual configuration process1200 in one case is initiated by the addition of a third source device 10s3 to the secondexemplary environment1000 and the connection of the second node of the third source device 10s3|n2 to the first node of the second interface switch 10i2|n1 thereby creating an 10s3->10i2 static connection or link between the respective nodes.
• For themanual configuration process1200, the system is updated directly by manual input. In this case first the third source device 10s3 is added to the definition or representation of the secondexemplary environment1000 stored in thedatabase202. Adevice update1204 is performed to define thedevices270 present in the environment that are part of the system, for example thedevice update1204 in the case of the addition of the third source device 10s3 to the secondexemplary environment1000 would provide basic details on the third source device 10s3, such as the type, make, manufacturer, model number and other details.
• In yet another embodiment, where the third source device 10s3 is capable of announcing its presence in the secondexemplary environment1000 after being powered up or during initial configuration using either a standard plug-n-play or other announcement process the system receives the announcement over theserver communication port1006 that interfaces via aserver communication link1008 the system to the second exemplary environment, in some cases this communication port or communication node associated with theserver1006 is used as the server's100 second interface to the command level network of the secondexemplary environment1000. The announcement is the equivalent of starting or initiating thedevice update1204 process manually, except the update process is triggered by the announcement generated by the third source device 10s3. Theserver100 receives the announcement from the new device added to the secondexemplary environment1000. The announcement generates an event that is captured by the event monitor on theapplication service306. The event handler portion of theapplication service306 then initiates1202 the setup process and starts the input of device details using information provided by the third source device 10s3 as part of its announcement process.
• After thedevice update1204 is started the newly added device, in this case the third source device 10s3, must be configured. First theserver100 performs adriver search1206 to determine whether there exists in the system a driver definition, driver interface definition, or simply driver file appropriate for the type of installed device in the system's driver library. If the driver search locates or identifies1208 a driver for the device to be installed, then the next step in the process is to prompt the user to gather1210 any optional or additional device details on the installed device. Some additional details input by the user may include specific details of the installation environment, easy to remember names for the devices (e.g. Conf.Room #2 Projector) and other details as prompted by either the system itself or the device driver.
• If no driver definition file exists on theserver100, the system queries1220 a driver store or remote server with multiple drivers available under a variety of different terms and conditions. The driver store in one embodiment is accessible via a wide area network such as the Internet. If a driver is available1222, then the driverstore retrieval process1224 begins to retrieve the appropriate or requested driver for transfer to theserver100. In one embodiment the driverstore retrieval process1224 includes either encrypting the entire driver file using an asymmetric key accessible on the driver store or alternatively encrypting a token or license key to be used by theserver100 to unlock or access the driver file after download. The driver file is transferred to theserver100, and theserver100 unlocks or decrypts and installs1226 the driver file into local driver definition file storage on theserver100. After completing thedriver retrieval process1224 and decryption andinstallation process1226, the process returns to gather1210 the device details. In another embodiment, the user manually queries a driver store and manually identifies and downloads a driver file that is provided to the system for installation directly by the user.
• If the driver store does not have a driver available1222 for the device to be installed, such as the third source device 10s3, then the driver store will attempt to identify analternative driver1228 or default driver to use with the device to be installed. For example, in the case where the third source device 10s3 is aDVD player154, if thedriver availability1222 shows no drive file specifically suited for the specific type ofDVD player154 to be installed in the system, then a search is conducted to identify analternative driver1228 to be used. In the case of theDVD player154, a default driver might be a generalized DVD player driver that simply powers up theDVD player154 without any additional command inputs to the third source device 10s3 command port s3c1. In some circumstances the command port, such as s3c1 does not directly command the third source device 10s3 direct, rather it simply controls a remote control switch that selectively activates or powers up the selected device. After identifying analternative driver1228 to be used the user is then prompted to gather1210 device details. In the case of a generalized or generic device driver file additional information collected during the gather1210 process in some embodiments can include specific command strings that can be issued by theserver100 in order to access specific functionality of the device to be installed, or in the embodiment depicted the third source device 10s3.
• The process for configuring an embodiment of the system to control an arbitrary environment begins by defining and configuring thenodes1212 associated with or integral tospecific devices270 in the environment and establishing the static connections or links between thedevices270. In the case of the secondexemplary environment1000 each of thedevices270 located or associated with the environment, regardless whether or not thedevices270 are physically connected to the environment or only connected to the environment via a communication or other link posses at least one node, a communication node, or communication port, or command port. One sub-step of configuring thenodes1212 or ports used by anarbitrary device270 is to define the communications used by the system to communicate and address thedevice270. In the second exemplary environment, a communication node exists for the third source device 10s3, namely the third source device 10s3 communication node s3c1. In this embodiment the third source device 10s3 communication node s3c1 is connected to anetwork hub1004, this enables theserver100 to directly communicate with the third source device 10s3 via the network. The process of configuring thenodes1212 for the third source device 10s3 communication node s3c1 in one embodiment includes defining a specific internet protocol address or network device ID for the third source device 10s3 that enables theserver100 to communicate commands and receive information from the third source device 10s3.
• Similarly in the secondexemplary environment1000, the first source device 10s1 undergoes the similar process of defining and configuring thenodes1212. The first source device 10s1 possesses a first source device 10s1 communication node s1c1, which in this embodiment is a serial communication interface port. The serial port is connected to a serial port on theserial device server1002, the serial1 node. Theserial device server1002 allows theserver100 to address the first source device 10s1 via a network interface on theserver1002 that is translated by theserial device server1002 to serial communication via the serial1 node. Thus during the process of defining and configuringnodes1212 and gathering1210 device details for the first source device 10s1 and theserial device server1002, an address for the serial device server is provided to theserver100 and the specific address or serial communication interface ports, in this example the serial1 node, is also provided to theserver100 to store in the environmental model in thedatabase202 thereby enabling theapplication service306 to retrieve the environmental model configuration details from the system to communicate with the various devices. In a similar manner a secondserial device server1003 is addressed by theserver100.
• In addition to defining and configuring thenodes1212, the communication interfaces, ports, or communication nodes are setup and associated with a givendevice270. The device driver includes or in alternative embodiments with generalized drivers the user inputs details of the nodes available and associated with a givendevice270 in the environment. In the case of the secondexemplary environment1000, eachdevice270 in the environment has a number of nodes associated with it. As described above, one of the nodes associated with a given device is the communication node that enables communication between a givendevice270 and theserver100 in order to receive configuration information, transmit to theserver100 specific device-generated messages, and to otherwise accept commands from the system. The second major category of nodes associated with adevice270 is nodes that enable devices in the environment to be linked together, or link nodes. These link nodes anchor each end of a static connection or link betweendevices270 in the environment. A givendevice270 may have several associated nodes, however the configuration of the environment may limit the number of nodes that are actually linked together with other nodes associated withother devices270 in the environment. Thus part of the configuration task is defining and configuringnodes1212 and definingstatic connections1214. Although the configuration flow chart shows an idealized view of the system whereby the task of defining and configuringnodes1212 appears to precede the step of definingstatic connections1214; in most embodiments though, these tasks proceed in parallel for most systems. Namely, in conjunction with defining and configuring thenodes1212 in the environment, the static connections or links within the environment betweendevices270 are also defined1214.
• The device driver details for a givendevice270 contain details on all of the nodes associated with that type, make, model and style ofdevice270. For example in the case of the third source device 10s3 depicted inFIGS. 10 and 11 of the secondexemplary environment1000, there is one third source device 10s3 command port s3c1 available for connection to the system, which as detailed above has specific capabilities and configuration details associated with a network command port. Similarly, the third source device 10s3 is associated with three interface nodes or link nodes, the first link node s3n1, second link node s3n2, and third link node s3n3. The device driver possesses the basic details of the characteristics and configurations of these interface nodes or link nodes associated with the third source device 10s3. For example, in one embodiment where the secondexemplary environment1000 is an audio-visual controlled environment where the third source device 10s3 is aDVD player154, the first link node s3n1 is a be a stereo audio output while the second link node s3n2 is a composite video output and the third link node s3n3 is an VGA output. During the process of installing the third source device 10s3 into the secondexemplary environment1000 static connections, physical links, or simply links are established between specific nodes on the third source device 10s3 and other devices in the environment. These static interconnections reflect the actual routing of cabling or other physical or logical links established betweendevices270 during installation and reflect linkages between the interface nodes that comprise the individual devices. Referring toFIG. 11 in this embodiment, a physical link or static connection established with the third source device 10s3 via the first link node s3n1 is the 10s3-10i2 link. This 10s3-10i2 link thus connects the third source device 10s3 through the first node s3n1 to the second interface device 10i2 via the second input node 10i2n2. By virtual of the physical connection established within the secondexemplary environment1000 between thedevices270 via the associated nodes on the devices it is possible to associate the nodes on bothdevices270 with the ends static connection formed between the nodes as well as thedevices270 themselves. In this manner the process of definingstatic connections1214 in the environment is together with gathering1210 device details and configuring and defining and configuringnodes1212 until allphysical devices270 and static connections in the secondexemplary environment1000 are input into the environment model.
• In this manner, the system develops and stores a model of the environment to be controlled within theserver100. This model of the secondexemplary environment1000 and thedevices270 available in the secondexemplary environment1000 as developed and defined in theconfiguration process1200, is stored in thedatabase202 and used by theapplication service306 to address, communication, supervise and control thedevices270. The environmental model stored1216 within thedatabase202 uses the details imported from the device driver files and the details of the actual installation to model the system relative to the details of thedevices270 and interconnections betweendevices270 present, in this embodiment, in the secondexemplary environment1000.
• Theconfiguration process1200 to gather1210 device details, define and configurenodes1212 and definestatic connections1214 for aserver100 can occur during the initial installation of theserver100 for use in a given environment and can re-occur at any point in the future after the initial installation when other changes to the environment occur. These changes can range from the integration of new equipment ornew capability devices270 into the environment or loss, removal, or damage todevices270, command links, or physical or static connections within the environment. Upon a change to the environment theconfiguration process1200 is used to update the environmental model.
• In some embodiments, when a givendevice270 is removed from the environment and is no longer available for communication theserver100, the event handler can identify the repeated failures to communicate and power up a givendevice270 that is otherwise configured within the system to be present and available in the environment. In these circumstances, theserver100 uses the event details and the failure of thedevice270 to temporarily remove thenon-responsive device270 and all the device's270 associated nodes from the working model that is stored by theapplication service306 during operation based on the environmental model stored in thedatabase202. By removing a non-responsive element from the working model used by theserver100 to operate it is possible for the system to route around the malfunctioning ornon-responsive device270 and still function at the highest level possible. Further, the system possesses the ability to prompt the user to warn them that the system hasunresponsive devices270, thereby allowing the user to reconfigure the system by removing theunresponsive devices270 from the environmental model or to dispatch a technician to repair the unresponsive ormalfunctioning device270. In this manner, the environment model is used to maintain system configuration details from use to use and is updated using theconfiguration process1200 to model all of thedevices270 in the environment and their relationship to the environment and each other.
Automatic Configuration Via Import
• In yet another embodiment of the system, an automatic configuration process is used to import the details of the secondexemplary environment1000 or upon the addition or deletion of one or morenew devices270 or static connections betweendevices270. In this yet another embodiment, a computer aided drafting (CAD) program is used to develop and design installation drawings for thedevices270 and static connections within a givenenvironment110. One exemplary program used to develop these drawings is VizCAD. In this embodiment of the system, an importer is used to import the details from the drawings in the CAD system into thedatabase202. The importer effectively performs several steps in theconfiguration process1200 by automating part or all of the process for inputtingdevice details1204, gather1210 device details, defining and configuringnodes1212, and definingstatic connections1214 by using the same designs and drawings created as part of the original design process for the environment and using the same information used by the technicians that configured thedevices270, the static connections and the overall environment.
• In one embodiment of the importer, a spreadsheet based, scripted application is developed to import design data from the CAD drawings. In one non-exhaustive embodiment Microsoft® Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is used in conjunction with Microsoft Excel®. The drawing details are exported from the CAD program to an exported data file representing an ordered set of data representing the installeddevices270 present in the environment including any nodes associated with those devices and any static connections established between those nodes. The process starts with a CAD export process, whereby the data is exported into an intermediate structured or ordered set data file, such as a comma or tab delimited text file. The CAD export process is typically a form of a database query, such as a SQL-based query entered into an export engine native to the CAD program. This query, in one embodiment is manually entered by the user, in yet another embodiment the query is automatically retrieved from the CAD program by external query initiated by the importer.
• The exported data file, or files depending on the details of the particular embodiment of the importer, is used to populate three data areas of thedatabase202—devices270, device groups, and static connections. The information related todevices270, or device information, includes its unique system name, manufacturer and model, input and output nodes, and extended properties which may have been added in CAD, such as purchase date, physical location within the facility, unique identifier or asset tracking codes. Device groups identify collections of linkeddevices270 that are functionally or spatially related to each other. These device groups are often in the case of an embodiment of the system used for A/V applications representative of a single room in thepresentation environment110. The information related to static connections provides the routing details for any wiring or links that connect the nodes ofindividual devices270 to other nodes through theenvironment110. In the case of apresentation environment110, the routing information contains details of signal type, for example audio and video signals.
• In some cases, the importer abstracts additional details from the exported data file prior to import into thedatabase202 in order to remove or collapse specific details about the environment that the system does not or is not capable of manipulating. In one example, the video signal being carried by one embodiment of a static connection in apresentation environment110 that is transformed from a standard VGA to an Ethernet-based signal and then back to VGA using three physical wires and one VGA-to-Ethernet and one Ethernet-to-VGA converters in order to transfer the signal over a greater distance is abstracted by the importer into a single static connection since the two converters are effectively transparent to the system. The importer abstracts or collapses these additional details during the conversion process. Specifically, the importer possesses a list of devices in a specific class, separate and distinct from thedevices270 that are controlled by the system, that provide conversion or signal boosting in the environment. In one form, these devices are simple direct input devices, meaning that they have one input node and one output node with no specifically controllable features that are addressed by the system. The no controllable features distinguishes them from other direct input devices such as windowing converters that are addressed by the system to convert a given video signal from one format (e.g. 4:3 ratio) to a second format (e.g. 16:9 ratio). The importer first identifies a connection to or from one of these simple direct input device in the data file obtained from the CAD design. When the importer locates a first simple direct input device, it then performs a search through all of the devices connected to the identified simple direct input device until it finds a matching simple direct input device. In this manner the importer logically connects and associates simple direct input devices and uses the identified relation to abstract them and eliminate them from the static connection that is imported into the system.
• The importer leverages the data entered into the development of the design drawings in the CAD system thereby reducing the potential for transcription errors and speeding up the initial setup and maintenance of the system. In addition to speeding the population of thedatabase202, the intermediate translation of the data files exported from the CAD program in the spreadsheet provides a second reference for personnel using the system to identify specific aspects and details of the system. For example a technician troubleshooting a problem or installing the system can use the spreadsheet output to verify that specific static connections betweendevices270 have been properly created per the desired design.
• After the importer populates thedatabase202, theapplication service306 identifies thedevices270 added to the environment and determines whether or not device drivers are available for eachdevice270. If a device driver is not available or thedevice270 possesses additional configuration details or other configuration settings that were not represented in the CAD file the user is prompted to obtain the device driver files or enter the appropriate information for storage in thedatabase202.
Route Mapping
• Once the environmental model is defined for theserver100 as part of theconfiguration process1200, route map defining the full set of all possible connections and interconnections that can be established in the environment based on the available static connections, nodes associated withdevices270 and thedevices270 is created.
• The process of generating a route map comprising the following steps is described in relation to the secondexemplary environment1000. Theserver100 evaluates all of the source nodes and destination nodes associated with the sources 10s and outputs 10o available to theserver100 in the secondexemplary environment1000. Theserver100 then generates the route map by finding all of the possible routes that can be established between each respective source and destination nodes associated with the sources 10s and outputs 10o. The route map is established from each destination node, input node, or input port of each of the outputs 10o, such as theoutput device1001, to any of the possible output ports or output nodes of the sources 10s that can supply the desired or appropriate types of signal, data, streams, or flows for the input nodes associated with the destination output device 10o1. The generation of the route map for a givenpresentation environment110 is typically performed only when theserver100 is initially configured for the secondexemplary environment1000 or after changes have occurred. These route maps associated with a givenenvironment110, such as the secondexemplary environment1000 with its multiple interface devices 10i1-10i3 respectively, are created by the system during initialization. This enables the system to determine whether or not alldevices270 in theenvironment110 are responding to device commands prior to using thedevices270 as part of the available presentation route maps in a given environment. These route maps represent the physical effect of the specific configuration and capabilities ofdevices270 installed in the environment as manifest within the environmental model.
• The route maps in one embodiment are represented as series of tree like structures that travel up the static connections or links between specific outputs 10o to connect to available sources 10s. Referring to the exemplary tree link maps inFIG. 13, all possible reverse paths between outputs 10o and sources 10s are represented within the route map. Afirst portion1310 of a route map details all of the reverse links between the second output device 10d2 that link or form a connection with any of the sources 10s shown as reverse links. Each of the arrows in thefirst portion1310 of a route map represents a static connection or link between singular nodes established within the secondexemplary environment1000 connecting one node to another. Nodes that have multiple connections between themselves and other nodes indicate that a selectable connection or link exists, such as that found in switches 10i. Thefirst portion1310 of a route map is formed for each of the outputs 10o by stepping through each and every connection from the node under consideration that leads to source nodes. In the case of an audio visual system, the route map is only formed ‘upstream’ meaning that connections are only followed in the opposite direction to the data flow—meaning in the case of an audio-visual system the route map is established in an anti-sense direction from theoutput device130 to the input orsource device120. In this manner the route map is used to populate trees that detail all available links between sources 10s and outputs 10o from node to node. This then allows the routes to be represented as shown inFIG. 13 in thefirst portion1310 of a route map
• After generating the route map all operations required by theserver100 prior to performing routing operations to form connections between sources 10s and outputs 10o in the secondexemplary environment1000 are completed. In one embodiment the route map is formed during the initial startup of theserver100 using the environmental model stored in thedatabase202. The route map is then loaded into a working model of the environment that is then manipulated during operation of theserver100 by theapplication service306. In a second embodiment, the basis of initial route map is also stored in thedatabase202 for retrieval during startup to populate the working model of the environment used by theapplication service306 during operation of the system. In both cases the working model of the environment is updated from the time-to-time during normal operation in response to changes in theserver100, including removingdevices270 from the working model due to events that have occurred or removing specific routes available based on other routes that are implemented as part of a scene being applied to the environment.
Intelligent Routing Engine
• The intelligent routing engine or simply the routing algorithm is comprised of multiple discrete functions that operate together to identify routes and connections between sources 10s and outputs 10o suitable for the type of information or type of flow to be transferred or accommodated within and through the environment. The routing algorithm is implemented within theweb server200, within theapplication service306, that is physically hosted on theserver100. The routing algorithm utilizes both dynamic (i.e. working model) and static (e.g. environmental model)application data204 that is stored in thedatabase202 to create, identify, and establish valid connections between sources 10s outputs 10o located in an environment such as the secondexemplary environment1000. The Routing Algorithm is implemented as a functional element of theserver100 and is used during both initial configuration of theserver100 to establish initial routes when implementing a desired scene or whenever a new configuration of connections from a given source to a given output is required during operation.
• The routing algorithm operates on the working model of the environment described above. The working model itself is derived from the environmental model established with theconfiguration1200 process and stored in thedatabase202. Thus the routing algorithm identifies routes or paths through the environment for flows using the information and details input into theserver100 during theconfiguration1200 process. Prior to starting the routing algorithm an environmental model and working model of the environment are created. Theconfiguration1200 process provides the environmental model with details of all the devices and specifics related to thosedevices270 present within a given environment, including the communication and interface nodes associated with those devices and the respective static connections or links that connect the interface nodes between and withindiscrete devices270 such as the sources 10s, outputs 10o and switches 10i.
• The working model of the environment reflects the current state or status of theserver100, including the present states or configurations of eachindividual device270 located in the secondexemplary environment1000 including controls 10e. The working model of the environment thus effectively represents a full state model, or configuration model of an arbitrary environment whereby static connections,device270 details, and dynamic details (e.g. the linking or switching of two interface nodes in a switch 10i to select a specific path through the switch and link the respective static connections that terminate at interface nodes associated with the switch 10i) of the environment at a given time. The routing algorithm uses the working model to establish new connections or links betweendevices270 located in the environment comprising a number of static connections or links along with the nodes that terminate each of the static connections and thedevices270 that are associated with those nodes. When a route is established each node along the path is effectively associated with two separate elements of the system, first thedevice270 the node is associated with originally and the node is also associated with the route or link it is part of that is established through the environment to link a desired source 10s with a desired output 10o. The working model utilizes a routing map to reflects all available routes and connections that may be established in an environment. The routing algorithm uses the routing map and the respective trees representations of the routing maps, to determine available routes or paths between selecteddevices270.
• When a specific pair ofdevices270 is selected to be interconnected in the interface layer or data layer either by the user directly during operation of theserver100 by inputting a desired pair ofdevices270 to be connected through the user interface of thecontrol client102 or while implementing a new scene, the routing algorithm is used to determine the proper configuration or state for the system to adopt to accomplish the desired outcome. When theserver100 is initially starting up, and the environment is unconfigured and the devices are ready, but no routes or paths through the environment have been created, the routing algorithm is applied to a first pair ofdevices270 to be connected within the environment and it determines the proper route, in other words the routing algorithm identifies the configuration ofdevices270, including the device's associated nodes, and static connections interconnecting the associated nodes in order to create a path between thedevices270. The resulting path updates the working model of the environment to reflect the fact that a portion of the system within the environment is now dedicated to establishing a desired link between the sources 10s and the outputs 10o. By dedicating some links in the environment to this first route, there is an effective reduction in the total number of available routes and theapplication service306 updates the working model to reflect this reduction in potential routes and the new states of thedevices270 implicated by the newly established route. The newly establish route is then queued for implementation in the environment via theserver100 issuing configuration commands to thedevices270 in the environment to establish the route that the algorithm has identified. During startup, the next pairing ofdevices270 is used to establish a second route and so on until all pairs of devices are either connected or the system generates an event indicating to the user that the desired configuration cannot be created or another event occurs to interrupt the process.
• A similar process is used to generate a route when a new pair of connections is desired after a scene is already implemented. For example if the system is already configured in a particular state to implement a specific scene, the working model holds the device states to implement that scene. Upon shifting to a new scene theapplication service306 updates the working model on theserver100 to reflect any presently configured routes that are no longer needed in the new scene and proceeds to form any new routes required by the new scene. The routing algorithm is applied to the working model to determine the desireddevice270 states to implement the new routes required by the new scene.
• The intelligent routing algorithm, or simply routing algorithm uses a recursive algorithm to traverse the available nodes and static connections or links available to traverse across the system from the desired output 10o to the desired source 10s. In this manner the routing algorithm identifies a desired path through the environment comprising at least the desired source 10s and desired output 10o device and at least one nodes associated with each of those sources 10s and outputs 10o and the static connections that terminate with those respective nodes. In one embodiment of the system a recursive algorithm is used to traverse the routing maps to identify the desired route. Different embodiments of the routing algorithm use different types of search routines, including the following recursive search algorithms: breadth-first search, depth limited search, A*, Dijkstra's algorithm, best-first search, and dynamic programming generally. Alternative algorithms including non-recursive and non-traditional algorithms are available for use by those of ordinary skill in the art.
• In one embodiment of the system a recursive depth first search algorithm is used to traverse the routing tree starting with the output 10o device. The output 10o device is effectively the root of the tree. There can be one or more input nodes or input ports associated with the output 10o device. If the desired input is capable of providing signals that can be accepted by any of the input nodes associated with the desired output 10o device, then all possible input nodes associated with the output device in the environment are considered, otherwise only the reduced number of input nodes associated with the output 10o device are considered. The routing algorithm starts with the selected output 10o device and evaluates any static connections available from input nodes associated with the selected output 10o device that it then traverses or ‘travels’ away from the output 10o toward the source 10s. The depth first search algorithm prioritizes driving directly toward the goal of the source device at the expense of potential dead-end routes. Thus the routing algorithm travels along the static connection that terminates at the input node associated with the output 10o device to the other terminating node of the static connection. The other terminating node of the selected static connection is associated with asecond device270 in the environment, including switches 10i, sources 10s, and in some embodiments other outputs 10o. The algorithm then evaluates the other nodes associated with this second device in the environment that are able to switch and connect with the present node to determine whether any of the nodes offer the ability to leave the second device and continue toward the desired destination, namely the desired source 10s. If another node associated with second device exists that terminates a second static connection, the routing algorithm follows this path to the node associated with the other terminus of the second static connection and the third device associated with the that node. In this manner the routing algorithm follows the static connections through each connection's terminating nodes and the associated devices to the desired source 10s. The same process is repeated for each node associated with a given device until either a route to the desired source 10s is identified or a dead-end is found, meaning there are no available connections to follow away from a non-desired device. Upon identifying a dead-end, the algorithm returns to the immediately prior device and evaluates the next unevaluated node available on the immediately prior device until there are no remaining unevaluated nodes on the immediately prior device, at which point the algorithm considers the next prior device. If after traversing all of the connections traveling away from the output 10o and being unable to identify a route to the desired source 10s, the routing algorithm will determine that no route is available and report the error via an event trigger.
• If the algorithm is successful in identifying a route to the desired source 10s, the routing algorithm reports back the desired configuration of static connections, nodes that terminate the static connections, and the devices that are associated with the nodes to be configured in order to create the desired route through the environment. The reported route, including devices and associated nodes to be configured is then marked within the working model to indicate that the reported route, including all nodes and associated devices along the route are included in the identified route and no longer available for other routes, and the working model properly reflect the dedication of a portion of the environment to route. The identified route is then passed to theapplication service306 that issues the commands using the environment model and device driver details to thedevices270 and the associated nodes to establish the route in the secondexemplary environment1000.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYControl of Multiple Audio Visual Components
• The present system and method disclosed herein in embodiments for use withpresentation environments110 possesses a multiple capabilities to perform a plurality tasks. Specifically the system and method enables the management of complex connections between the devices, including sources andoutput devices270 of A/V data and enables the control of devices, including sources andoutput devices270 of A/V data andother presentation environment110environmental devices142 without requiring full configuration paths for all the equipment. Second, the system and method auto-generates user interfaces with appropriate controls for a givenpresentation environment110 based on the types ofdevices270 andenvironmental devices142 available. Third the system and method enables control of specific scenes and presentation control to allow complex multitasking and integration ofmultiple devices270 and controls142 to act in concert with a mere press of a button to configure apresentation environment110. The self-generating user interface enables theserver100 to connect with a variety ofdifferent control clients102, including those that have never connected to a particular environment before, and provide a user interface tailored for thepresentation environment110 to be controlled. Finally, since the system and method is based on a client server architecture with access and communication through standard computer networks, such as IP based networks like the Internet, theserver100 can be located in any geographic location with no impact on the control of a givenpresentation environment110 thus enabling centralized management, portability, transportability, and consistent user interface across an entire enterprise. These specific capabilities enabled by embodiments of the present system and method and others inherent within the system and method disclosed are obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art and this listing is merely provided as a non-exhaustive set of examples.
Control of Integrated Building Systems
• Yet another exemplary application of the present system for managing, routing and controlling devices in an environment is to control thevarious devices270,environmental devices142 present in an integrated building. In this application the system is used to direct the operation ofspecific devices270 in the environment, including sources 10s such as chillers to produce cool air or a dehumidifier that reduces the relative humidity content of air present in a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The system directs the operation of the sources 10s to generate conditioned air, then various switches 10i, or flow control devices such as controllable dampers and mixers are used to mix and distribute the conditioned air through a system of physical connections, static connections, or more generally links present the environment (e.g. ducts or pipes) for distribution to specific output devices located in the areas to accept the conditioned air. The effect of the distribution of the conditioned air is then monitored by communication withenvironmental device142 sensors located in the environment that monitor the environment. In a similar manner the system is able to connect theenvironment devices142 actuators present in the environment to change the overall characteristics of the building, such as adjusting lighting in response to ambient light sensors or automatically dimming windows in response to direct sunlight. Similar control can be applied other building systems, including security, fire and safety and other building systems.
Control of Flexible Manufacturing and Process Equipment
• In still another exemplary embodiment, the present system for managing, routing and controlling devices is used to control systems and equipment present in a flexible manufacturing facility or chemical process facility. In a flexible manufacturing environment there are multiple devices that are classified as sources 10s capable of generating a partial or fully completed product or intermediary product. These sources 10s need commands to provide or start their respective process of generating product. The resulting product then is routed betweenother devices270, that can simultaneously operate as both consumer devices or outputs 10o and sources 10s—namely by accepting partially completed product, performing additional operations, and then outputting the transformed product to another output 10o. In this manner the system treats the source 10s, outputs 10s, and combined source and output devices present in a facility as any other sources 10s to be controlled and the product is routed between the devices by commanding switches 10i manifest as switching equipment, pipe valves, diverters, flexible conveyor belts or semi-autonomous skillets to establish connections or links between the desired sources 10s and consumer or output 10o devices and establish links to route the product between devices. In a similar manner, various sensors for detecting and evaluating the quality of the product provides feedback to the system during operation allowing corrective action to be taken if necessary. In a manufacturing environmentsensors environment devices142 include: temperature sensor, pressure sensor, flow-rate sensor, accelerometer, humidity sensor, radio frequency identification tag reader, finger-print scanner, optical scanner, proximity detector, spectrometer, load sensor, force sensor, and ultrasonic sensor.
CONCLUSION
• While various embodiments of the present system and method for controlling devices and environments have been described above, it should be understood that the embodiments have been presented by the way of example only, and not limitation. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments.

Claims (1)

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for controlling an environment, comprising:

a server configured to host a database that includes information describing a set of static connections and information describing a set of adaptable nodes and that is further configured to run a scheduling service;

a control client that is configured to control at least one output device within the environment and to communicate with the scheduling service;

a control client web application including one or more components configured to render a user interface on the control client,

a control switch that is configured to communicate with the control client; and

an output device configurator that is configured to send a request to access the output device to the scheduling service and through the control switch, to send configuration information to the output device, and to send control information to the output device, wherein the scheduling service is configured to manage availability of the output device for access and the output device is locked to the control client to prevent any other second control client from controlling the at least one output device.

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