EP1974189A2

EP1974189A2 - Information displays

Info

Publication number: EP1974189A2
Application number: EP07716686A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bruce Robert Jackson
Original assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp
Current assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp
Priority date: 2006-01-19
Filing date: 2007-01-17
Publication date: 2008-10-01
Also published as: JP2009524113A; BRPI0706687A2; WO2007084505A2; WO2007084505A3; CN101395451A

Abstract

An information display for visually presenting one or more dynamically-changing quantities in a circular or curvilinear format has one or more metering units, each having one or more displays, wherein the display of each metering unit includes at least one selectively activatable annular display having one or more portions, each portion relating to a respective information source and being variably activatable in response to quantitative information associated with that source. The display of each metering unit may further include a central display portion within the at least one annular display, the central display portion being adapted for displaying alphanumeric text, or a ring of buttons around the at least one annular display, or both a central display portion and a ring of buttons. Each annular display portion may exhibit a bidirectional or unidirectional spreading as a measure of the quantative information associated with a source increases.

Description

Information Displays

Technical Field

The invention relates to information displays. More particularly, the invention relates to the display of dynamically changing information such as meters and metering displays in which one or more dynamically-changing quantities are presented in a circular or curvilinear format. Although the invention is described in connection with the display of information relating to characteristics of one or more channels of audio information, it will be understood that the invention is applicable to the display of information relating to characteristics of essentially any type of dynamically changing signals, including, for example, signals relating to other types of electrical signals, such as video signals, to signals representing other physical phenomena such as the flow of electrical, sonic, or fluid waves or the flow of particles or objects, and to signals representing quantities other than physical phenomena.

Background Art

The need to meter a variable number of channels arises in many audio applications. For example one may wish to meter inputs to a device or process, outputs from a device or process or some combination of both.

Consider an example. An audio signal processor can be customized to have more or less physical inputs and outputs, depending on user need. Such customization may be realised with input/output (I/O) boards that slot into a box, giving a variable number of channels. For example, a basic model may provide 4 inputs and 8 outputs. An expanded model could have 4 inputs and 12 outputs, or 8 inputs and 8 outputs. Common to the possible different configurations is a metering display, found on the box's front panel. It is desirable to have a metering display that is able to accommodate a varying number of physical channels.

The need for a metering display that can accommodate a varying number of channels is not just found with hardware in which the physical I/O can vary. For a fixed physical configuration of inputs and outputs, there are still a number of possible metering options. One may wish to display just the inputs, just the outputs or some combination of the two. This reinforces the need for a meter or metering display that is able to accommodate a varying number of channels.

A fully expanded audio processor may present the user with a considerable number of channels, requiring a metering solution that can simultaneously meter a large number of channels. Adequately clear metering should allow the user to glance at the meters, and quickly ascertain signal information; however, the difficulty of providing clear metering increases with the number of channels being metered.

Prior Art

As such metering problems commonly arise, there are prior attempts to solve the problem.

A common approach to audio metering is to employ a horizontal row of vertically-reading meters (each a linear bar graph), with each vertical meter representing a single channel. Although vertical meters allow one to see quickly signal level relative to the other signals being metered, they do not represent clearly the absolute signal level. Unless one can clearly see where the vertical meter "ends" then it is hard to see how close the signal is to its possible maximum.

Previous approaches to the problem of metering a varying number of channels have been based on the traditional "vertical meter". To display an increased number of channels, each vertical meter's width is decreased, allowing more vertical meters to fit side-by-side in a row. However, as the vertical meter's width is decreased it becomes difficult to read. The width of a row is fixed by the physical dimensions of the display, for example its width in pixels.

Circular meters have the advantage of allowing the user to note quickly signal level by "reading" the angle of the meter arm. It is immediately clear how far around the circle the arm is and hence how close the signal is to maximum. However, a traditional circular meter makes it difficult to address the issue of metering a varying number of channels. To be readable, a circular meter must be of a certain size and so one cannot simply shrink the circular meter, as one does for a vertical meter.

Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is an upper left front perspective view of a front panel bearing an information display in accordance with aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a front panel bearing an information display in accordance with aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a portion of a front panel bearing a metering unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention. A first example of a metering display is shown.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of a portion of a front panel bearing a metering unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention. A second example of a metering display is shown.

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of a portion of a front panel bearing a metering unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention. A third example of a metering display is shown.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of a portion of a front panel bearing a metering unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention. A fourth example of a metering display is shown.

FIGS. 7a, 7b and 8-13 are examples of the display of a software implementation corresponding to the examples of FIGS. 3-6. FIG. 14 is a simplified functional block diagram of a possible arrangement for implementing the invention.

Disclosure of the Invention

In accordance with, a aspects of the invention, an information display for visually presenting one or more dynamically-changing quantities in a circular or curvilinear format, comprises one or more metering units, each having one or more displays, wherein the display of each metering unit includes at least one selectively activatable annular display having one or more portions, each portion relating to a respective information source and being variably activatable in response to quantitative information associated with that source. In such an information display, (1) the display of each metering unit may further include a central display portion within the at least one annular display, the central display portion being adapted for displaying alphanumeric text, (2) the display of each metering unit may further include a ring of buttons around the at least one annular display, or (3) the display of each metering unit may further include (a) a central display portion within the at least one annular display, the central display portion being capable of displaying alphanumeric text, and (b) a ring of buttons around the at least one annular display. The variable activation of each annular display portion may be bidirectional, spreading increasingly in two directions along the annular display as a measure of the quantative information associated with a source increases. Alternatively, the variable activation of each annular display portion may be unidirectional, spreading increasingly in one direction along the annular display as a measure of the quantative information associated with a source increases. When buttons are employed, the appearance of one or more of the buttons may be adapted for being changed. The change of appearance of a button may include (1) a lit or unlit appearance, and (2) its color or absence of color. One or more of the buttons may each be associated with a portion of an annular display. Portions of an annular display may each be associated with different aspects of the same process. The process may be related to an audio channel. There may be a plurality of metering units and each unit may be associated with a different process. For example, each process may be related to a different audio channel. The display may be implemented substantially with hardware or it may be implemented substantially with a software-controlled display. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The front panel 2 of an audio signal processor having a plurality of metering units in accordance with aspects of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Although four metering units (4, 6, 8 and 10) are employed in this example, any number (one or more) of metering units may be employed in association with a process or device or a collection of processes or devices. An enlarged view of an exemplary metering unit 6 is shown in FIGS. 3-6. Each of the metering units (4, 6, 8 and 10) may comprise a central alphanumeric display portion 12 capable of displaying arbitrary text, an annular metering or indicating segment portion 14 surrounding the central alphanumeric display portion, and a ring of push buttons 16 surrounding the metering or indicating segment portion 14. Each metering unit also may include several additional push buttons associated with it, as described below. The central alphanumeric display portion 12 and annular metering segment portion 14 may be implemented, for example, by an LCD display controlled by conventional LCD controllers/drivers or by a generic bit-mapped display, such as a computer monitor. An implementation, including illuminated buttons, may be realised in either hardware (as shown in the examples of FIGS. 1-6) or software (as shown in the examples of FIGS. 7-12.

In this example, the central alphanumeric display portion 12 has available three horizontal lines, the middle line being larger than those above and below it, each line having a ten character capacity capable of displaying arbitrary text, such as to label the channel being metered. More or fewer lines may be provided. A larger or smaller character capacity per line may be provided. The size of the characters in the middle line need not be larger than the others. The character capacity per line need not be the same. If desired, the central alphanumeric portion 12 may be entirely omitted.

In this example, the metering or indicating segment portion 14 has two annular sets of activatable segments, an outer set 14a and an inner setl4b, each set of segments having 104 segments. Although this example has two annular sets of segments, one or more annular sets of segments may be provided. The maximum number of annular sets of segments is determined by whether a central alphanumeric portion is employed (and, if so, its size) and the readability of the innermost annular set of segments, which is affected by the overall size of the metering unit. In a practical embodiment of the configuration shown in FIGS. 1-6, the diameter of the ring of push buttons 16 is about 80 mm (about 3 1/8 inches) and the diameter of the LCD display portion is about 60 mm (about 2 3/8 inches). Although the size of each segment in successive inside annular sets of segments is, necessarily, smaller if the same number of segments is maintained in each annular set, the relative dimensions of the segments in different sets may vary in order to improve readability. Thus, in the example of FIGS. 1-6, the axial length of the segments in the inside annular set is larger than the outside annular set.

Although employing the same number of segments in different annular sets has the advantage of providing the same metering resolution in each set, it is not critical to do so. Thus, for example, inside rings may contain fewer segments, if desired. The number of segments in a group may be varied, allowing configuration for different metering tasks. Meter resolution may be traded off against compactness.

In this example, there is a single ring of sixteen push buttons 16 surrounding the metering segment portion 14. One or more additional rings of push buttons may be provided. There may be more or less than sixteen push buttons in a ring of push buttons? Although the example shows push buttons of the same size and evenly populated around a circle, the push buttons need not be of the same size nor need they be evenly populated around a circle. Alternatively, push buttons around the metering segment portion may be omitted. Push buttons may have multiple functions, as described below. One function is as an indicator- ones or all of the buttons may be selectably illuminated and such illumination may display color. The function of the buttons may depend on the mode in which the metering unit is functioning. Each channel being metered may be associated with a single button, which is illuminated to show it is in use.

Consider the following examples. If the metering unit has been configured to display output metering information, holding down a button may cause the channel name to be shown on the alphanumeric display. If the metering unit has been configured to display input metering information, then the button function may be configured to depend on a Mute Enable button. If Mute Enable has been pushed, the ring button may cause the associated input channel to be muted. If Mute Enable has not been pushed, pushing the ring button may cause the input channel name to be shown on the alphanumeric display. The colour of the push button illumination may be variable, providing indication of button function or status of the information being displayed by the particular metering segment with which the push button is associated..

In the examples of FIGS. 1-4, each metering unit 4, 6, 8, 10 is in a mode of operation that allows the display of three sets of information relating to each of four audio channels A, B, C and D (that is, each metering unit may display three sets of information for a particular channel — it has three metering or indicating portions). The mode of operation may be selected, for example, through the use of menu selections that are chosen, for example by ones of the push buttons 16 and/or by ones of other push buttons shown in the example of FIGS. 1-6. Other modes of operation may allow, for example, one set of information per channel, two sets per channel (see the example of FIG. 5), four sets per channel (see the example of FIG. 6), etc. In practice, more than four or five sets of information per metering unit may not be desirable from a user readability standpoint.

In the examples of FIGS. 1-4 in which each metering unit is capable of displaying three sets of information with respect to a particular channel, the first set of information is unassigned, the second set of information is input signal amplitude and the third set of information is output signal amplitude. In these three way examples, the first line of alphanumeric information reads "N:CL3WAY", where "N" is one of the channels, A, B, C, or D, indicating the particular channel to which the metering unit relates and that the mode of operation is three way. The second line in this example indicates in larger characters "CL3Way" and the third line is unused, indicated by four dashes.

In the three way operation mode of the examples of FIGS. 1-4, a segment in a ring is activated showing the center of metering for each of the three sets of information being displayed. Thus, segments 18 and 20 in the outer ring of segments 14a and segment 22 in the inner ring of segments 14b are activated. In principle, these segments may be in the same ring of segments (i.e., all in the outer ring or all in the inner ring). However, the configuration shown has the advantage of providing a greater range for each of the metering segments because the three metering center locations are not equally spaced from one another (because the number of segments and the number of push buttons is not evenly divisible by three).

As mentioned above, one information set, marked by the left activated segment 18 is not assigned. Thus, the metering segment center 20, located at the adjacent inside annular segment may be activated, as shown, but no further segments are activated so long as this metering segment is unassigned. In addition, the adjacent button 24 in the button ring 16 is not activated. Thus, a user may readily observe that one of the three available information indicators in this three-way mode of operation is unassigned and inactive.

The outer segment near activated inner segment 22, in this example, indicates input signal amplitude. The input signal amplitude at a given time is indicated by the number of segments activated in the outer ring, the segments spreading out symmetrically in each direction from a central segment 26 in the outer ring adjacent to the inner segment 22 (an alternative way to spread is described below). To indicate that this set of information is active, the push button 28 adjacent to the metering segment center 26 is activated. This may be accomplished by causing the button to be lit, such as by lighting a green LCD inside the button.

The inner segment near activated outer segment 20, in this example, indicates output signal amplitude. The output signal amplitude at a given time is indicated by the number of segments activated in the inner ring, the segments spreading out symmetrically in each direction from a central segment 30 in the inner ring adjacent to the outer segment 20. In the FIG. 3 example, the input signal is not so high that it drives the audio signal into clipping. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the push button 26 adjacent to the metering segment center 26 is activated. This may be accomplished by causing the button to have a green color, as by lighting a green LED inside the button. In the example of FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the channel B metering unit has an input of sufficient amplitude to drive the audio processing device into clipping. Thus, the expansiveness of the activated metering segments indicating the input and output signals are greater. In addition, to indicate clipping, the large readout may indicate "CLIP" as shown and two additional push buttons 34 and 36, adjacent to push button 32, may be lit, preferably with a different color than in the non-clipping condition. When the audio device is clipping, push buttons 32, 34 and 36 may be red in color, as by lighting a red LED inside each button. Although it is preferred to light at least three push buttons to attract a users attention, alternatively only one or two may be lit.

Thus a user may quickly grasp the condition of various information aspects of one or more audio channels by glancing at one or more metering units.

The rate at which metering segments follows the change of electrical signals representing information being displayed may be controlled by time- averaging the electrical signals such that the displays exhibit appropriate meter ballistics.

FTGS. 5 and 6 are additional examples of possible displays.

In the FIG. 5 example, the metering unit is in a two-way mode of operation in which each of the two metering portions relate to a different channel. The alphanumeric readout may so indicate as shown in the figure (e.g., "ChI," "Ch2," and "CL2Way") in which the one metering portion, the channel 1 portion, is centered at what may be considered north or zero degrees on the compass, and the channel 2 portion is centered at what may be considered south or 180 degrees on the compass. In this example, both metering segments are in the inside ring of segments, the center indicating segment being in the outer ring of segments adjacent to a lit push button, which may be lit green. The metering indications may be the channel output amplitudes, for example.

In the examples of FIGS. 1-4, the metering segments spread symmetrically outward in two directions from a central segment. It is also possible for the metering segments to spread outwardly in one direction from a starting segment. This alternative is shown in the example of FIG. 6. The unidirectional spreading alternative may be advantageous when a larger number of metering portions are employed, such as the four metering portions in the FIG. 6 example. In this case, the four metering segments relate to four channels. Thus, the alphanumeric readouts may indicate "ChI," "Ch2," "Ch3," and "Ch4" near each of the four respective metering segments and the central portion may indicate "CL4Way." As in the other example, a pushbutton, adjacent the respective metering starting point is activated, as with a green light, for example.

The central alphanumeric display portion may be used in various ways and is not limited to the examples described herein. In other examples, the inner group of meter segments (the inside ring) may be used to indicate the amplitude level of an audio signal. The outer group of meter segments (outer ring) may be used to indicate the operation of a limiter or compressor associated with that particular audio signal (see the examples of FIGS. 11 and 12).

In an embodiment of the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, four metering units are on the front panel of a hardware-implemented loudspeaker crossover and equalizer unit. The front panel contains additional controls that may be used in conjunction with the metering units. Adjacent to each metering unit (see FIGS. 3-6) may be up and down navigation buttons 34, 36 and an "ME" button 38. Push buttons 34, 36 and 28 may be considered to be part of a particular metering unit and may affect only that metering unit. The ME button may be a multi-function menu button not directly involved in the metering function of the front panel. Together with the up and down buttons, the ME button may allow a user to move through menus and program the audio unit from the front panel.

An embodiment of the front panel of the example of FIGS. 1 and 2 is completed by a number of meta-buttons that may affect the functioning of all four metering units 4, 6, 8 and 10. These meta-buttons may be "MUTE ENABLE" 40,"METER" 42 and "MENU" 44 and may be located on the far left of the front panel, although the particular location is not critical. "MUTE ENABLE" may be a toggling button that, when active, enables the push buttons in each metering unit as mute buttons. "METER" may switch between the different available metering options and "MENU" may be general-purpose navigational button. In an initial condition upon powering up, the four metering units 4, 6. 8 and 10 may respectively display text such as the following (reading from the left hand unit to the right hand unit) as shown in FIG. 7a:

Tap ME for

Edit

Menu

Tap ME for

Presets

Menu

Tap ME for Utility Menu

Tap ME for

FrontPanel

Confϊg

As a further attention- getter, the powering-up condition may cause the set of buttons 16 in each metering unit to be lit as shown in FIG. 7a.

Under some conditions of operation, all four of the metering units may each display a portion of a textual message that is read as a whole. For example, they may respectively display text such as the following (reading from the left hand unit to the right hand unit) as shown in FIG. 7b:

THIS

IS

A

TEST

Also shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a suitable computer network connector 46, such as an RJ45 connector, an infrared ("IR") sensor 48, and an on/off power switch 50. The power switch may be lit (a green color, for example) in its "on" condition. Informational lights 52 and 54 may be LEDs that indicate, respectively, that there is a network connection and (by flashing) that there is network activity, A light sensor 56 may also be provided for allowing the device to adjust the display brightness to a level appropriate for the amount of ambient light.

As mentioned above, a metering unit may be realized in either hardware (as shown in the examples of FIGS. 1-6) or software (as shown in the examples of FIGS. 8-13). FIGS. 8-11 show examples of the display of a software implementation corresponding to the examples of FIGS. 3-6, described above. FIGS. 12 and 13 are additional examples of the display of a software implementation in which the inner group of meter segments (the inside ring) indicates the amplitude level of an audio signal and the outer group of meter segments (outer ring) indicates the operation of a limiter or compressor associated with that particular audio signal. Instead of physically pressing a button as in the FIGS. 1-6 examples, button-pressing may be simulated by a mouse click or touching a touch screen. The display of a software implementation may allow greater flexibility in the display of text in the central portion of a metering unit. Thus, as an example, FIG. 13 shows four lines of text and indicates that the information being displayed for each channel is with respect to the inputs.

Implementation

The invention may be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of both (e.g., programmable logic arrays). Various general- purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct more specialized apparatus (e.g., integrated circuits) to perform the program steps. Thus, the invention may be implemented in one or more computer programs executing on one or more programmable computer systems each comprising at least one processor, at least one data storage system (including volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device or port, and at least one output device or port, the output device including a display driver and a display. Program code is applied to input data to perform the functions described herein and generate output information. The output information is applied to one or more output devices, in known fashion.

Each such program may be implemented in any desired computer language (including machine, assembly, or high level procedural, logical, or object oriented programming languages) to communicate with a computer system. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.

Each such computer program is preferably stored on or downloaded to a storage media or device (e.g., solid state memory or media, or magnetic or optical media) readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer, for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer system to perform the procedures described herein. The inventive system may also be considered to be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where the storage medium so configured causes a computer system to operate in a specific and predefined manner to perform the functions described herein.

A number of embodiments of the invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, some of the steps described herein may be order independent, and thus can be performed in an order different from that described.

A simplified functional block diagram showing a possible arrangement for implementing a practical embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 14. A microprocessor 58 having an associated memory 60 in which a program is resident is in communication with a digital signal processor (DSP) 62, an interface 64 to an infrared sensor 66, an interface 68 to push buttons 70, a network interface 72 to a physical network cable connector (such as an RJ45 jack) 74, and a display screen interface 76 for a display screen 78. Analog signals to be monitored may be applied to an analog-to-digital converter (A/D) 80 for application to the DSP 62.

Claims

1. An information display for visually presenting one or more dynamically-changing quantities in a circular or curvilinear format, comprising one or more metering units, each having one or more displays, wherein the display of each metering unit includes at least one selectively activatable annular display having one or more portions, each portion relating to a respective information source and being variably activatable in response to quantitative information associated with that source.

2. An information display according to claim 1, wherein the display of each metering unit further includes a central display portion within said at least one annular display, said central display portion being adapted for displaying alphanumeric text.

3. An information display according to claim 1, wherein the display of each metering unit further includes a ring of buttons around said at least one annular display.

4. An information display according to claim 1, wherein the display of each metering unit further includes a central display portion within said at least one annular display, said central display portion being capable of displaying alphanumeric text, and a ring of buttons around said at least one annular display.

5. An information display according to any of claims 1-4 wherein the variable activation of each annular display portion is bi-directional, spreading increasingly in two directions along the annular display as a measure of the quantative information associated with a source increases.

6. An information display according to any of claims 1-4 wherein the variable activation of each annular display portion is unidirectional, spreading increasingly in one direction along the annular display as a measure of the quantative information associated with a source increases.

7. An information display according to any one of-claims 3-6 wherein the appearance of one or more of said buttons is adapted for being changed.

8. An information display according to claim 7 wherein the change of appearance of a button includes (1) a lit or unlit appearance, and (2) its color or absence of color.

9. An information display according to any one of claims 3-8 wherein one or more of said buttons is each associated with a portion of an annular display.

10. An information display according to any one of claims 1-9 wherein portions of an annular display are each associated with different aspects of the same process.

11. An information display according to claim 10 wherein the process is related to an audio channel.

12. An information display according to any one of claims 1-11 wherein there are a plurality of metering units and each unit is associated with a different process.

13. An information display according to claim 12 wherein each process is related to a different audio channel.

14. An information display according to any one of claims 1-13 wherein the display is implemented substantially with hardware.

15. An information display according to any one of claims 1-13 wherein the display is implemented substantially with a software-controlled display.