EP2398255A1

EP2398255A1 - Simultaneous control system for lighting and audio devices

Info

Publication number: EP2398255A1
Application number: EP09839919A
Authority: EP
Inventors: José VILA ORTIZ
Original assignee: Equipson SA
Current assignee: Equipson SA
Priority date: 2009-02-13
Filing date: 2009-10-15
Publication date: 2011-12-21
Also published as: WO2010092197A1; ES2344044B1; ES2344044A1; EP2398255A4

Abstract

The system consists of means (11, 12) for converting signals corresponding to the DMX-512 lighting protocol into command signals which can be understood by an audio block (3) such that at least some of the controls of a light control element (1) facilitate control of at least some of the functions of that audio block (3) such as volume control (6), audio source selection (7), equalization adjustment (8), playback control (9) or others. Said means preferably consist of a microcontroller circuit (12) and a driver circuit (11) which are interconnected between said control element (1) and said audio block (3).

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, as expressed in the title of this specification, relates to a simultaneous control system for lighting and audio equipment, the main purpose of which is to provide a product or range of products that allow using elements that are currently used only for controlling lighting in elements that in addition to exercising control over the aforementioned lighting can have a partial or complete control over sound equipment, so that is facilitated a merger between two technological fields such as lighting and sound which, although they reach the end user as a set, are developed in different technical fields. It is also an object of the invention to simplify the equipment and operations in precincts that use lighting and audio equipment such as entertainment venues or others.
By means of the invention an audio product having all the applications on that field, such as volume control, audio source selection, equalization adjustment, control of players and others is developed, allowing carrying out the corresponding control by making use of the information transmitted by the frame of the DMX-512 lighting protocol.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The DMX-512 lighting protocol is well known for both installation technicians and by people from the lighting professional industry. Although said protocol has a number of years, is in full force and with a lot of product on the market that uses it.
In most of the facilities where the aforementioned DMX-512 protocol is used, where a control over certain lighting elements is required, there are usually also needs for audio, existing an audio equipment independent from the lighting system when it refers to the technical device that facilitates the control, even though later there could be a manual or computer coordination between sound and lighting, such as for example in stages, theaters, entertainment venues, concert halls or others.
Thus, in the current state of the art, there is a gap consisting of that it is not possible to use the elements of lighting control such as light consoles that are used today to control sound equipment, whereby there are drawbacks relative to the fact that the simplicity of operation and equipment is not possible, which would be facilitated by a lighting console, the DMX-512 protocol of which could be applied to sound control simultaneously.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To achieve the objectives and avoid the drawbacks mentioned in previous sections, the invention consists of a simultaneous control system for lighting and audio equipment, existing a light control element such as a lighting console that is applied to a lighting system through a control information frame with DMX-512 lighting protocol, or another system for the generation of that lighting protocol; existing also an audio equipment that has at least one audio block with output to an audio subsystem such as one or more amplifier stages applied to corresponding speakers, the aforementioned audio block having one or more audio inputs and audio functions such as volume control, audio source selection, equalization adjustment, playback control or others.
Innovatively, according to the invention, the aforementioned system of the same consists of means for converting the signals corresponding to that lighting protocol into command signals which can be understood by an audio block; such that at least some of the controls of the aforementioned light control element facilitate control of at least some of the audio functions of the aforementioned audio equipment.
According to the preferred embodiment of the invention the aforementioned means consist of a microcontroller circuit or analog that is applied to the aforementioned audio block and that takes the control information frame corresponding to the DMX-512 lighting control protocol at an output of the light control element through a driver circuit that uses the RS-485 electrical protocol.
With the structure described, the system of the invention has advantages relative to that it allows unifying control of lights and sound in the same place and with a standard lighting console, such that it simplifies the necessary equipment and operations, further allowing simultaneous control of the lighting and sound means of the corresponding precinct.
Next, to facilitate a better understanding of this specification and forming an integral part of it, a unique figure is attached in which the object of the invention has been represented with an illustrative and not limiting character,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURE

Figure 1.- Represents by means of a functional block diagram a simultaneous control system for lighting and audio equipment made according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EXAMPLE OF EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Below there is a description of an example of the invention with reference to the numbering adopted In the Figure.
Thus, the simultaneous control system for lighting and audio equipment of the present example has a light control element consisting of a lighting console 1 that is applied to a lighting system 2 through a control information frame 13 with DMX-512 lighting protocol, as depicted in Figure 1, It is also possible that the DMX-512 signal is generated from another system.
In addition, as it can be seen in figure 1, there is audio equipment that has an audio block 3 with output to amplifier stages 4 that are applied to respective speakers 5. The output of said audio block 3 could also go to powered speakers or other audio subsystems.
The audio block 3 has audio inputs 10 and functions such as volume control 6, audio source selection 7, equalization adjustment 8, playback control 9, or others not represented in that Figure 1.
The system of the present example also has means 11 and 12 for converting the signals corresponding to said lighting protocol into command signals which can be understood by an audio block 3, such that some of the controls on the lights console 1 facilitate control of the functions of the audio block 3 additional to the lighting system 2.
Specifically, the aforementioned means consist of a microcontroller circuit 12 and a driver circuit 11 interconnected between the control console 1 and the audio block 3 as shown in Figure 1. In other embodiments, the microcontroller 12 can be replaced by other control elements such as embedded PCs, microprocessors or similar.
The operation consists of that the DMX-512 control information frame, referenced as 13, from the lighting control element or console 1 is received by the driver 11, which uses as electrical protocol for frame transport the RS-485 protocol.
The DMX-512 protocol is based on a time multiplexing of 512 channels of information of 8 bits each. Those channels are received by the microcontroller 12 which is an element that has been provided with a firmware programming the mission of which is to isolate the value of the channels desired from the frame and using the value transported therein to control the audio elements.
Thus, for example, if there is a stereo amplification system and you want to control the volume of both amplifiers two channels can be used, for example the first and second channels of the frame, assigning the value of the first to the L or left amplifier and the one of the second to the R or right amplifier.
It should be bore in mind that the value of each DMX 8-bit channel ranges from 0 to 255, so that in the cited example the value 0 is associated with a muffled sound volume and the value 255 is associated with the maximum volume. Thus, according to this example, the user can have a standard control light board 1, i.e. with DMX-512 output, and assign two channels to control the volume of the amplifier stages 4, leaving the rest for management of lights, moving heads or other elements of its Installation.
Obviously, the aforementioned volume control on the audio system can be extended to other functions using other DMX channels. Moreover, the system of the present example of the invention can provide an audio source selector. Thus, if there are different audio signal inputs 10 (a microphone, MP3 player, CD, DVD, etc.) there is the possibility of deciding which of the inputs is the one desired to be amplified and heard. In this case what is done is programming the microcontroller 12 to extract the information from the desired channels and associate their value to each one of the inputs, such that the user through a control (slider, button, etc.) can select via the DMX-512 frame, the desired channel of audio input.
Another application consists of the control of an equalization section. Thus, if the corresponding audio block 3 has a bank with a plurality of parametric filters defined throughout the audio spectrum, the gain of each one of those filters may be associated to the value of a DMX-512 channel, such that with said configuration and a control light board with sliders, such as it may be the console 1, the user will have in his control cabin a graphic equalizer on the same console that controls the lighting system.
The system of the present example can also be applied to the control of a player of the ones that have a control interface with which you can select songs, start playing, stop playing, and so on, so that through the system of the present example the DMX-512 protocol can be transformed in one that can be understood by the aforementioned interface, establishing by programming the microcontroller 12 the parallelism between channel values and commands that can be understood by the player.

Claims

Simultaneous control system for audio and lighting equipment, existing a light control element such as a lighting console (1) applied to a lighting system (2) through a control information frame (13) with DMX-512 lighting protocol, or another generation system of that lighting protocol; also existing an audio equipment that has at least one audio block (3) with output to an audio subsystem such as one or more amplifier stages (4) applied to corresponding speakers (5); the aforementioned audio block (3) having one or more audio inputs (10) and audio functions such as volume control (6), audio source selection (7), equalization adjustment (8), playback control (9) or others; characterized in that said system consists of means (11, 12) for converting the signals corresponding to that lighting protocol into command signals which can be understood by an audio block (3); such that at least some of the controls of the aforementioned light control element (1) facilitate control of at least some of the audio functions of the aforementioned audio equipment.
Simultaneous control system for audio and lighting equipment, according to claim 1, characterized in that said means consist of a microcontroller circuit (12) or similar applied to the aforementioned audio block (3) and that takes the control information frame (13) corresponding to the DMX-512 lighting control protocol in an output of the lights control element (1) through a driver circuit (11) that uses the RS-485 electrical protocol.