Abstract:
A wireless remote control system for controlling an audio recording system in a recording studio is disclosed. This system incorporates a small wireless remote that can be mounted directly on the user&#39;s body that may include an arm, wrist, leg, belt, or any member. This remote controller may also be mounted directly on an instrument. The system will provide the user the freedom to walk around and control all aspects of a studio environment without being tied to one location.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     Not applicable.  
       FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Not applicable.  
       TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0003]     The present invention relates to a system for controlling various devices in a recording studio remotely with a wireless remote that mounts on a user&#39;s member or their instrument.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     Music recording studios have been around for many years. These audio recording studios contain many different types of recording equipment to capture and store the musical performance of a musician. The history of audio recordings dates all the way back to the late 1800&#39;s when Thomas Edison first invented an audio recording device that was able to record and play back audio material from a tinfoil cylinder phonograph. Through the years, the methods for recording audio have advanced from tinfoil to digital audio storage devices used today. The method for controlling the transport functions of these recording and playback devices is quite simple. The user has a transport control device that contains several buttons that may include stop, play, rewind, fast forward, return, record enable and others. This transport control device may be a keyboard or mouse for a computer or may be a large wireless or wired remote transport device that must be set on a table or desktop or must be held in the users hand while operating the audio recording device. These known methods for controlling a recording system are limited because the user must be located at the specific location or the remote transport must be hand held and set down when not in use. Additionally, other studio operations such as muting a channel, adding or changing acoustic effects, launching a software instruction set in a digital audio device such as MIDI or any other such device requires a separate control interface which, traditionally is located contiguous to the controlled device in the studio control room rather than in the recording artist&#39;s reach.  
         [0005]     The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed above and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior systems and methods of this type. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is the primary object of the present invention to disclose a remote control studio device controller that is adapted to allow the user the freedom to move freely about a recording environment while maintaining control of the studio equipment.  
         [0007]     It is another object of the invention to provide a remote control device that is small and can be mounted on the user&#39;s wrist, neck strap, belt, other member or instrument.  
         [0008]     It is a further object of the invention to provide for a remote control that has several studio controls including the following: stop; play; rewind; fast forward; return; record enable; and volume.  
         [0009]     It is another object of the invention to provide, optionally, extra control buttons that may be programmed by the user to control custom commands in the recording system such as: record delete; talk back microphone enable; headphone level; system volume dim; MIDI preset or any other control parameter settings.  
         [0010]     It is another object of the invention to provide a remote system that will interface with the recording system via MIDI, direct wired connection or computer USB or other input port.  
         [0011]     It is a further object of the invention to provide for a recording studio remote controller that allows for control of a recording studio without the need to pick up a remote by hand.  
         [0012]     It is another object of the invention to provide for a recording studio remote controller adapted to allow for control of a variety of recording system components.  
         [0013]     Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the following drawings.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the remote controller transmitter.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the receiver/interface.  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a schematic of the remote controller transmitter.  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is a schematic of the receiver/interface.  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the remote controller transmitter mounted on a representative instrument.  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the remote controller transmitter mounted on a wrist.  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of the receiver connected to a variety of representative studio devices. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]     While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the remote controller  1  comprises a case  3  containing the electronic components and the control actuators. The first set of such actuators is a series of recorder control buttons  5  which are operative through associated electronics to cause a remote recording device to execute the appropriate transport functions such as: stop; play; record and rewind. In the preferred embodiment, these buttons are single pole instantaneous pushbutton switches, although the invention comprises the use of differing actuators such as membrane switches, touch screens and the like. Also located on the case  3  is an information screen  7  which preferably an LCD display although other types of displays are contemplated as necessitated by the use of the device. This screen  7  can be programmed to display a variety of studio functions such as tape index, MIDI program loaded, or the status of an electronic audio effect like flange or reverb.  
         [0024]     The case  3  also houses a plurality of soft keys  9  which can be programmed to allow access and control of any of a variety of studio devices or preset programs in MIDI format or alternatively allow control of an automated audio signal processing software suite resident on a remote computer such as ProTools® by Digidesign Inc. Additionally, these soft keys  9  can by appropriate connection of the receiving end of the remote control system be wired into a recording console patch bay for remote patching of various effects or into a channel input to allow for remote muting, tone control, or fade through either the channel voltage controlled amplifier, if so equipped or the appropriate motor control circuit for those consoles that have electromechanical automation.  
         [0025]     Additionally, these soft keys  9  can be programmed to allow for a sequence of audio automation programs to be accessed. This is accomplished by programming one or more of the soft keys  9  to act as a toggle between a plurality of programs accessed by a computer to which the receiver  12  is connected. The case  3  also has a first set of mounts  10  and a second set of mounts  11  which are adapted to receive a mounting strap  8 . The first set of mounts  10  allow the case  3  to be mounted onto a narrow aspect member such as a wrist or guitar neck while the second set of mounts  11  allows the wider axis of the case  3  to be utilized for mounting the remote  1  to a thicker aspect member such as a leg or guitar body. Also, the mounts  10 ,  11  may be used singly to allow the case  3  to be hung from the neck or belt of the operator.  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the receiver  12  comprises a receiver body  14  which supports the internal electronics as well as providing for a power connection  16 , a USB port  18 , MIDI format in port  20 , MIDI format out port  22 , as well as external control ports  24 . Operationally, the USB port  18  provides for programming of the device as well as allowing received instructions from the remote  1  to be input to a computer. In programming the device, a supplied program will display an image of the receiver  1  on a screen. The operator will assign the routing of instructions received from the remote  1  by the receiver  12 , as well as the actions of the soft keys  9 . Electronics internal to the receiver, which will be subsequently described, route the received instruction to the appropriate external device. The USB port  18  allows the receiver to transmit instructions to a USB equipped device such as another computer, tape deck or the like. MIDI ports  20 ,  22  allow the receiver  12  to communicate with MIDI enabled devices. Control ports  24  allow the receiver to receive information from non-MIDI devices such as tape decks, certain effects and the like as well as controlling such devices through signals output through these ports.  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  shows a block schematic diagram of the internal components of the remote  1 . CPU  26  controls all electronic functions that include the R.F. transceiver  28  and communications to the receiver and back to the remote for display updates. Display  7  is used to display various functions in the system as previously described. The display  7  will show system status that includes button status and menu modes when the soft keys  9  are configured into a toggle menu. The switch button matrix  30  is used for the eight remote function buttons. The analog potentiometer  32  is an option for variable data entry. A computer display pointer control  34  may also be incorporated into the remote  1 . The user may control the computer display pointer remotely. The power is supplied by a small battery  35 , which is regulated by the  3  volt regulator  36  and filter capacitor  38 . These components provide power to the remote  1  circuitry.  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  shows a schematic block diagram of the receiver module  12 . EEPROM type CPU  39  is used to process all of the data input and output in the system. The R.F. circuit  40  is used to communicate with the remote  1 . Signals are transmitted and received by this circuit. The USB port  18  is used to communicate with the computer. USB port  18  provides transport/software control and system programming. MIDI ports  20 ,  22  are used to control transport functions and preset selections on digital work stations, keyboards, and guitar rigs and other MIDI devices. External control ports  24  can be programmed to control external devices like talkback microphones, and speaker selection via the remote  1  as previously described. The external control ports  24  can be configured to provide external foot pedal control of the recording system. The power supply input is provided by an external transformer that is connected to the receiver module  12  though connector  16 . The external voltage is regulated by regulator  42  and filter capacitor  44 .  
         [0029]     In operation, the user would first connect the receiver  12  to an external computer in which the supplied program has been loaded. The user would then assign routing and instruction sets corresponding to the various external devices which are to be controlled as well as functions associated with the soft keys  9 . After the receiver  12  has been connected to the appropriate external devices, the remote  1  can be used. The remote  1  then is attached to a member or instrument using the appropriate mounts  10 ,  11  and strap  8  allowing the user to control the external devices while moving about the studio environment. During operation, when a soft key  9  or button  5  is pressed, a signal packet is sent from the remote  10  to the receiver  12  using a transmission protocol; preferably 802.15.4 although 802.11 or 802.11A can also be used. The internal electronics in the receiver  12  as described then assigns a control action for the packet received in accordance with the programming previously input into the receiver CPU  39 . This control action, previously determined by the operator during programming, causes an appropriate signal to be generated and sent via an output port (i.e., USB port  18 , MIDI port  22 , or external control ports  24  to the pre-selected external device as appropriate). A signal is then generated by receiver  12  and sent to the remote  1  to update the screen  7  as required. A simpler version of the system could dispense with the screen and thereby the necessity of having the remote  1  being capable of receiving signals from the receiver  12 .  
         [0030]     This description of the presently preferred embodiment is intended as illustrative of the preferred mode of executing the invention and is not intended to restrict the invention in any way over such restrictions as recited in the Claims appended hereto.