CAMILLERI, Michael (Bolebec Place, 13 Market Hill Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire HP22 4JB, GB)
CLAIMS
1. An electronic home entertainment device that has as its primary function operating as a media source for home entertainment, the device being positionable in a given room; wherein the device includes a media control and distribution module, the module comprising:
(a) inputs for receiving data signals from several further media sources or several data sources;
(b) outputs for sending data signals to home entertainment devices located in different rooms;
(c) a controllable switch able to feed the data signals from a given input to one or more of the outputs.
2. The device of Claim 1 in which the primary function of the device is to act as a media source.
3. The device of any preceding claim in which the device is selected from the group: DVD player, a CD player, games platform, TV.
4. The device of any preceding Claim in which inputs to the module include cable TV signal, satellite TV signal, output from a set top decoder box for cable or satellite TV, DVD player A/V output, CD player Audio output, radio tuner output, broadband internet, music jukebox output, personal digital music player output, games platform, telephony connection. '
5. The device of any preceding Claim in which the home entertainment devices in the different rooms are selected from the list: personal computer, television, hi-fi, games platform, telephone.
6. The device of any preceding Claim in which the outputs are connected to CAT5 cabling that enables the data signals to be carried to the home entertainment devices in the different rooms.
7. .The device of any preceding claim in which the outputs are connected to a wireless LAN that enables the data signals to be broadcast for receipt by the home entertainment devices in the different rooms.
8. The device of any preceding Claim in which the controllable switch can be controlled by a remote control device in any one or more of the different rooms.
9. The device of any preceding Claim in which the module enables a user, operating one of the home entertainment devices in any one of the different rooms, to select one of the inputs and to control the input in a manner equivalent to that input being fed directly into the home entertainment device in that room.
10. The device of any preceding Claim in which the module includes the following: (a) DVD player decoding electronics; (b) local room SCART output;
(c) external source input connections to receive the data signals;
(d) connections to send the data signals from each source to any of the different rooms;
(e) digital TV tuner; (£) Ethernet connectivity. |
AN ELECTRONIC HOME ENTERTAINMENT DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic home entertainment device. Typical examples include a DVD player, a CD player, a games platform, a TV.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The audio consumer electronic market worldwide is some 200M units annually. The companies manufacturing CD players, DVD players and other kinds of home entertainment devices are always looking for the next 'must have' upgrade to these current generation products in order to ensure their position in the consumer's living room. Additionally there are several blue chip companies seeking to get control, or at least a significant slice of, the living room. Microsoft has spent considerable sums trying to get there with offerings such as the Media Center PC but has yet to succeed. Apple with its newfound wealth and the aura created by the spectacularly successful iPod range of products is attempting to dramatically increase its domestic presence with the recently launched range of entry level Mac mini computers. The US/UK cable companies are making large investments in order to gain control of the digital "pipes" into living rooms and give consumers a triple-play package of services —voice, video and high speed data. These very public investments mean that the telecom giants such as Verizon, SBC Communications and BellSouth in the USA and British Telecom in the UK are gearing up to offer similar advanced services over new fibre optic networks being rolled out at massive cost. Both the cable operators and the telecom companies see this as their future.
Sήocap (www.siiocap.com) is producing new technologies to enable the big content providers to gather money for their content as it is swapped over peer-to-peer networks. The giants such as Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music and recently EMI Music
have akeady signed up. Many others will follow. And if not -with Snocap technology with some other form of ensuring they get paid for downloads. The important message here is that content is becoming available for electronic delivery to the consumers home.
This cable/telco strategy seems flawless. However, what does the consumer do when these services pop out of the fibre or cable in their home? Management of the distribution, control, data storage and backup and the all important ease of use are key. And so far this crucial user interface has been ignored. Many companies such as Linksys, D-Link, Kiss Technologies and so on are beginning to flood the market with LAN/WLAN-based media players and set-top boxes.
Some of these are compliant with the uPNP standard (Digital Media Adapters or DMAs) and in combination with Windows Media Connect are able to act as clients over Ethernet. With a digital media adapter as part of your home network, you can extend the reach of your home PC even further. This device acts as a wired or wireless bridge between the PC and the TV or stereo, eliminating the need to have the PC in the same room as the TV or stereo. The PC acquires processes, organizes and edits digital music, movies and photos and distributes the digital media throughout your home. By connecting (wired or wirelessly) to the media adapter, you can play your music on your stereo or watch your movies & view photos on your TV. The user interfaces for DMA devices are still poor and most of all no thought has been given to the real arrangement of life within the average household. Typically there will be several TV sets in a household and people do not wish to buy a DVD player, digital media adapter and hi-fi system to accompany each set. And what of the analogue world? It will be some time before DMAs are bug free and robust and users feel comfortable about using what they perceive as ropy PC technology (crashes, freezes, constant upgrading, etc) to run the control and entertainment systems that rule home life. And what about control? Life in the home does not end with audio /visual entertainment. None of the existing offerings contemplate lighting control and management, security etc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an electronic home entertainment device that has as its primary function operating as a media source for home entertainment, the device being positionable in a given room; wherein the device includes a media control and distribution module, the module comprising:
(a) inputs for receiving data signals from several further media sources or several data sources;
(b) outputs for sending data signals to home entertainment devices (e.g. in different rooms);
(c) a controllable switch able to feed the data signals from a given input to one or more of the outputs.
The device for example can be selected from the group: DVD player, a CD player, games platform, TV. The device can be contrasted with dedicated media servers, routers or gateways, whose primary function is to distribute media data obtained externally, rather than act as a source for that data. Set-top boxes can also be regarded in essence as devices whose primary function is to distribute media data obtained externally. The advantage of having a module is that that it can be a unitary component that can be used in many different designs of device (e.g. DVD player, a CD player, games platform, TV); the module can be adapted to fit within the casing of these conventional devices.
Hence, the invention in this implementation is based on the realisation that attempting to migrate a PC into the living room (i.e. the hub of domestic activity) and to use the media control and distribution capabilities (e.g. media router functions) of a PC linked DMA is very wasteful of the existing home entertainment device capabilities. Far simpler to instead embed this kind of media and control and distribution capability into one of the devices that is already in the living room — e.g. a DVD player, a CD player, games platform, TV. Also, the invention eliminates the need for a dedicated router or gateway; hence it saves space and also eliminates the need for a separate power lead and associated cables - these are important advantages in a domestic setting. Also, by integrating the module into a DVD player for example, it allows the module to be controlled from the DVD player (likewise for any other sort of device, such as CD player, games platform or
TV). Removing the need for yet another remote control is another significant advantage.
Inputs to the module can include any of several of the following: cable TV signal, satellite TV signal, output from a set top decoder box for cable or satellite TV, DVD player A/V output, CD player Audio output, radio tuner output, broadband internet, music jukebox output, personal digital music player output, games platform, and telephony connection. These inputs can be analogue or digital. So the invention can enable several of these to be routed, via the device that includes the module, to home entertainment devices, which may be in any room in the house.
The home entertainment devices in the different rooms could include a personal computer, television, hi-fi, games platform, and telephone.
Hence, the present invention enables an existing and well understood home entertainment device, such as a DVD player, to be enhanced with the addition of a module that allows all electronic media types and sources to be handled as inputs and then switched to an appropriate device in any room in the house. For example, the outputs can be connected to CAT5 cabling that enable the data signals to be carried to the home entertainment devices in the different rooms. The outputs could also or alternatively be connected to a wireless LAN that enables the data signals to be broadcast for reception by the home entertainment devices in the different rooms.
The controllable switch (and related more sophisticated SoC) can be controlled by a remote control device in any one or more (at the same time) of the different rooms. Hence, the module enables a user, operating one of the home entertainment devices in one of the different rooms, for instance by using the remote control, to select one of the inputs and to control the input in a manner equivalent to that input being fed directly into the home entertainment device in that room. A user in a different room can, at the same time, select and control a totally different input.
In one implementation, the module includes the following:
(a) DVD player decoding electronics;
(b) local room SCART output;
(c) external source input connections to receive the data signals;
(d) connections to send the data signals from each source to any of the different rooms;
(e) digital TV tuner; (f) Ethernet connectivity.
The module can be readily enhanced with other features, although each shares the same basic architecture, physical dimensions and user interaction flows, allowing manufacturers of DVD players etc. to readily and efficiently select and integrate different modules for home entertainment devices at different prices or performing different functions. More sophisticated modules could for example control home automation systems, such as lighting, heating and security. As is well known, the market for DVD players is highly commoditised, so that product differentiation in this market is very useful.
The primary objective is to generate hardware/software module designs in the residential consumer electronics field, particularly associated with the streaming, storage and distribution of analogue and digital media around the home.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a domestic installation using the present invention;
Figure 2 is a more detailed schematic view of a media control and distribution module in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 3 is a screen shot of the interface displayed on a TV; from this, a user can select different inputs for that TV.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The strategy is to design a series of small, cost effective modules which OEMs can integrate in to their next generation of consumer electronics products for the home. This will enable them to re-ignite the market with a very significant variant of these traditional products which consumers will perceive as having true, measurable value. These modules
(which in one implementation are called Symfony Smart Servers or S3) will encompass the management of other local sources as well as the distribution of these sources to multiple destinations within the home, initially over cable and ' later over wireless networks.
Figure 1 is a schematic of a typical home installation. A DVD player 1 in a living room includes a media and content distribution module 2. Incoming media 3 is sent to the module 2 and can be distributed 4 within the same room, but can also be distributed 7 to other rooms as well. Typical media inputs will include one or more of: cable TV signal, satellite TV signal, output from a set top decoder box for cable or satellite TV, DVD player A/V output, CD player Audio output, radio tuner output, broadband internet, music jukebox output, personal digital music player output, games platform, and telephony connection.
Within the living room, the TV 6 and Hi-fi 5 can be fed signals from the module 2. Hence, the DVD player becomes the central hub for distributing and controlling media throughout the home. A user can control module 2 using a remote control 8; hence he can select any of the incoming media 3 for appropriate playback within the living room; in addition he can select any of the incoming media 3 for appropriate playback in any other room that is connected (by wire, cable, wirelessly or any other means) to the module 2. Figure 3 shows a typical user interface screen that would be shown on the TV in the living room, kitchen, bedroom etc. The UI is simple and clean.
In Figure 1, media is sent to three other rooms, a study, kitchen and bedroom. In each, there is a conventional media playback device (PC, TV and TV, respectively). Attached to each playback device 9, is an input/ output connector that interfaces to the media stream/signal sent 7 from the media control and distribution module in the DVD player
1 in the living room. Distribution can be via conventional CAT5 Ethernet cabling, or LAN wireless, a combination of the two or some other kind of data distribution mechanism.
The I/O device 10 is connected to the playback device 9 and provides incoming media content. Where Cat5 cabling is used, then power for the I/O device 10 can be provide by that cabling. The user controls media playback device 9 using a conventional remote control 12, interfacing to an IR transceiver 11, itself connected to the I/O device 10 or playback device 9. A control input from RC 12 is received at IR transceiver 11 and fed back to I/O device 1, which in turn feeds the control input back to module 2 in the living room DVD player 1. Module 2 then acts appropriately to implement the control inputs initiated or selected by the user (e.g. selecting TV or music from a personal music player; changing TV channels or music tracks; fast forwarding through a film on a DVD or hard disc video recorder etc.) Hence, a user in any room can select any of the incoming media 3 for distribution to that room (assuming usually that appropriate payback device is present in that room).
As noted above, more detailed control and navigation functions are also possible from any room; for example, the user in the Kitchen can not only select a particular satellite TV channel received 3 at module 2 to be sent to the TV 9 in the kitchen, but in addition can perform all of the other control inputs that would be possible if the satellite TV feed from a set top box or decoder present in the kitchen was actually used. Hence, the user in the kitchen could do normal set top box programming, such as setting alerts and favourites, navigating through a menu list of programmes or other kind of TV guide, engage in interactive TV etc. In the study, the PC might predominantly use the broadband internet connectivity provided to the module 2 and hence the media in channel 3 would in fact be a general purpose two-way data pipe. The PC might itself include speakers and hence streaming music from a CD player or music storing hard drive providing a media input 3 to the living room module 2 could be selected by a user at the PC and streamed to the PC for playback on the PC.
Figure 2 shows one implementation of the media control and distribution module 2 in
more detail. The module is shown generally at 20. It includes an integrated system-on- chip, controlling 22 an analogue matrix switch 23. Matrix switch 23 receives three device inputs in stream 24 (equivalent to media in stream 3 in Figure 1). Each input channel includes video and L/R audio. Switch 23 feeds outputs 26 (equivalent to the multi-room media in/ out flow 7 in Figure 1). Each output line 26 includes video, L/R audio, IP and power. IR control inputs from remote room RCs (e.g. RC 12 in Figure 1), for say the media signal from a set top box decoder, are fed back along line 26 to the switch and then back to SoC 21, where they are interpreted. SoC then issues appropriate control signals to the appropriate source of the signal — in this case the set top box. Hence, a user in any room can fully interact with the set top box, or any other item of equipment, that is connected 3 to the module 2.
In addition, switch 23 is connected to IR outputs 25, which enable IR controllable devices to be controlled via the module 1. Module 1 includes an 802.11 b/g transceiver connected to SoC 21. This can be the main basestation for the wireless network. Hence, where a broadband internet connection is included for media input 24, then basestation 27 can share that internet access with other wireless transceivers, such as I/O device in the study. Module 20 can also include the main DVD/CD decoder chip 34 for the DVD player 1; hence the DVD drive 28 in the player 1 provides the signal from the DVD read system to DVD decoder chip 34. This in turn is fed to SoC 21, so that the DVD played by the player can also be distributed 26 to any connected device 9 in any other room. In addition, SoC 21 feeds a video switch 30, feeding video outputs 29, to which a TV screen can be attached; the module 20 hence provides the DVD video/audio feed for the TV 6 in the living room itself.
A hard drive 32 is also connected to the module 20: hence, songs, photographs, videos etc. can also be streamed or sent 26 to any connected playback device in any room. A lighting control interface 33 is also included, hence allowing lights in any room connected to the interface to be controlled from the RC 9 in any room. A power supply 31 is also included for module 20.
Crucially, the S3 modules will be designed from a true system perspective, addressing the
very real-world requirements of how people want to interact with the entertainment in their homes and the additional home automation aspects that they wish to have integrated. To that end, the S3 modules can be based around a traditional analogue distribution from a central location (the living room) to other rooms around the home, running over Cat5 cable. This provides a very good quality distribution and is currently much cheaper and infinitely more robust than an entirely DMA-based solution. Increasingly new build homes and developments are pre-wired with Cat5 infrastructure which largely lies dormant. Our strategy finds an immediate and very practical use for these infrastructures. The initial STL system does encompass some DMA functionality in its main unit, but this is limited to those areas that are cost-effective and entirely robust. This functionality is then made available in remote rooms over the analogue Cat5 distribution infrastructure. Alternatively (or additionally) the modules can include wireless LAN technology such as 802.11.
The S3 modules can be easily integrated into consumer electronic products (such as DVD players) by OEMs. These modules will give OEMs the opportunity to innovate and stay ahead while module variants will give the required flexibility of product tiering and differentiation. The basic User Interface and module management will be integrated within the module firmware, thereby ensuring that simpKcity of use is not compromised by the individual OEM designs. The modules will use the latest highly integrated System- On-Chip technology to enable cost-effective, feature rich products. The final detail of the module variants is subject to determination of the final silicon choice, and consequently what features become available for no (or little) additional hardware cost.
A key feature of the module approach is to leverage a high degree of commonality between the modules, both in terms of hardware design, Silicon chip family and software. The planned modules and their variants are outlined below.
5.1 Module A
This module will have the following features:
DVD player electronics (drive supplied by the OEM).
Local room SCART output with RGB video capability.
3 external video source input connections (each with composite video, left and right audio).
3 remote room connections (RJ45) to enable the DVD and 3 sources to be selected and controlled in 3 different rooms, each room only requiring a single CAT5 connection. This CAT5 connection carries composite video, left and right audio, infra-red and d.c. power. 2 off 3.5mm mono jacks for global IR outputs to control the local sources
Integrated Freeview Digital TV Tuner 10/ 100 Ethernet connectivity.
The ability to view photos and listen to MP3 audio streams from a networked PC
Module A variants will include: Integrated WLAN 802.1 lb/g. Multi-region DVD capability.
Module B
Module B will be as Module A plus the following:
HDD storage capability to deliver sound server functionality. Ability to join two units together to provide additional DVD, Freeview sources, but managed as an integrated whole system
Module B variants will include:
Integrated X-IO interface for lighting/ switching control management.
RAKO lighting interface for higher end lighting control.
Module C
Module C will be as Module B plus the following:
Switched IR to 4 outputs, thereby enabling the independent control of same manufacturer sources (e.g. two co-located Sky+ boxes).
4 external sources can be connected. 4 remote room connections.
Dual Freeview Digital TV Tuner, with PVR functionality
Integrated DAB tuner.
Module C variants will include:
Video server as well as sound server capability.