Audio visual architecture

Abstract

An architecture is provided that is capable of supporting interconnections between components. These devices include output components, such as laserdiscs players and input components, such as speakers. Each of the output components has a source port associated with each type of output signal it can output, and each input component has a sink port associated with each type of input signal that it can input. A multitude of aspects follow from this architecture. For example, each source port can be connected to one or more input ports. The path between a source port and a sink port can be either static or dynamic. Furthermore, the dynamic path can be established through a switching mechanism. Any connection between a source port and a sink port can be either a virtual circuit or a transport medium.

1 . An audio/visual system, comprising: 
 at least one output component having at least one source port for each type of output signal output from the at least one output component and at least one source port object for each of said at least one source port; and    at least one input component having at least one sink port for each type of input signal input to the at least one input component and at least one sink port object for each at least one sink port,    wherein each at least one source port of said at least one output component is connectable to said at least one sink port of said at least one input component via at least one primitive circuit path.    
   
   
       2 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , further including at least one primitive circuit object for each at least one primitive circuit path with a signal at least one of (A) originating from a source port and (B) terminating at a sink port.  
   
   
       3 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least one primitive circuit path between the at least one source port and the at least one sink port is at least one of a static path and a dynamic path.  
   
   
       4 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , further including at least one switching mechanism having at least one input switching port and at least one output switching port, wherein a switching mechanism of the at least one switching mechanism enables the at least one input switching port associated with the switching mechanism to be connected to the at least one output switching port associated with the switching mechanism, thereby establishing at least one dynamic path between the at least one input switching port and the at least one output switching port.  
   
   
       5 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , wherein a wire protocol-based approach is utilized that supports the semantics of said at least one output component and said at least one input component.  
   
   
       6 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 at least one entertainment session; and    at least one player/recorder component associated with each entertainment session including at least one output component, wherein a player/recorder component is a type of source object.    
   
   
       7 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , wherein said at least one output component includes at least one of (A) a display component and (B) a speaker system component, wherein a display object represents a display component and a speaker system object represents a speaker system component.  
   
   
       8 . An audio/visual system according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 at least one media manager object for managing media at its location and for providing at least one appropriate object, as determined by the at least one media manager object, for the media managed by the at least one media manager object.    
   
   
       9 . A method for establishing a path between a source component and an input component in an audio/visual system comprising at least one source component having at least one source port capable of supporting each type of output signal output from the at least one source component and at least one primitive source port object for each of said at least one source port; and at least one input component having at least one sink port capable of supporting each type of input signal input to the at least one input component and a primitive sink port object for each sink port, wherein each at least one source port of said at least one source component is connectable to said at least one sink port of said at least one input component via at least one primitive circuit path, including: 
 instantiating a virtual circuit object that establishes a path between the source port corresponding to the complete source port object and the sink port corresponding to the complete sink port object.    
   
   
       10 . A method according to  claim 9 , further including: 
 establishing a primitive circuit path using an output object that represents the source component and an input object that represents the input component.    
   
   
       11 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein the sink port and the source port are included in the same port.  
   
   
       12 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein said instantiating includes hosting the virtual circuit object by the source port.  
   
   
       13 . A method for use in connection with an audio/visual system, comprising: 
 connecting at least one source port of at least one output component to at least one sink port of at least one input component via at least one primitive circuit path;    wherein each of said at least one output component includes at least one source port for each type of output signal output from the at least one output component and at least one source port object for each of said at least one source port, and    wherein each of said at least one input component includes at least one sink port for each type of input signal input to the at least one input component and at least one sink port object for each at least one sink port.    
   
   
       14 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein at least one primitive circuit object is generated for each at least one primitive circuit path with a signal at least one of (A) originating from a source port and (B) terminating at a sink port.  
   
   
       15 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the at least one primitive circuit path between the at least one source port and the at least one sink port is at least one of a static path and a dynamic path.  
   
   
       16 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein a switching mechanism having at least one input switching port and at least one output switching port connects at least one input switching port associated with the switching mechanism to the at least one output switching port associated with the switching mechanism, thereby establishing at least one dynamic path between the at least one input switching port and the at least one output switching port.  
   
   
       17 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein a wire protocol-based approach is utilized that supports the semantics of said at least one output component and said at least one input component.  
   
   
       18 . A method according to  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 generating at least one entertainment session; and    associating at least one player/recorder component with each entertainment session including at least one output component, wherein a player/recorder component is a type of source object.    
   
   
       19 . A method according to  claim 13 , wherein said at least one output component includes at least one of (A) a display component and (B) a speaker system component, wherein a display object represents a display component and a speaker system object represents a speaker system component.  
   
   
       20 . A method according to  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 generating at least one media manager object for managing media at its location and for providing at least one appropriate object, as determined by the at least one media manager object, for the media managed by the at least one media manager object.