Abstract:
An audio/video mixer ( 10 ) for disc jockeys includes a number of video inputs ( 28, 30, 36, 38 ), a number of audio inputs ( 24, 26 ), a video output ( 46, 48 ), an audio output ( 42, 44 ), and controls ( 100, 200 ) thereon for selectively mixing the respective audio and video signals, applying special effects thereto and routing them through the respective video and audio outputs.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims priority to earlier filed U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/557,222 filed Mar. 29, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates generally to disc jockey mixing equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to mixers for audio and also for video.  
         [0003]     In the music industry, there is a need for the ability for a disc jockey to mix both audio and video for a given performance. Currently, such capability requires that the disc jockey use separate audio and video mixers. As can be understood, this becomes cumbersome and expensive. Moreover, known audio and video mixers are not meant for operation by disc jockeys and, therefore, are not easily used during a disc jockey performance. For example, the layout and control of known separate audio and video mixers do not have cross-faders and line-faders, which disc jockeys are accustomed to. Also, these mixers do not have a layout that is familiar to disc jockeys.  
         [0004]     Therefore, there is a need for audio and video mixing capability in a single piece of equipment that is rugged, rack mountable with familiar disc jockey controls.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     The present invention provides in a single piece of equipment both audio and video mixing. The mixer of the present invention includes disc-jockey style controls, including a disc-jockey style cross-fader and line-fader. The mixer is rack mountable and rugged, which is important to disc jockeys. The mixer also includes features built-in that are desirable to a disc jockey, such as audio cueing through headphones and digital video effects for video manipulation on the fly.  
         [0006]     The audio/video mixer for disc jockeys of the present invention has a main housing with a number of video inputs and a video output. Each video input has a corresponding video signal. The mixer also has a number of audio inputs and an audio output. Each audio input has a corresponding audio signal. The mixer also has a video control on the main housing for selectively mixing any number of the video signals into a mixed video signal and an audio control on the main housing for selectively mixing any number of the audio signals into a mixed audio signal. The mixed video signal is connected to the video output and the mixed audio signal is connected to the audio output.  
         [0007]     Accordingly, among the objects of the present invention are the provision for a device for mixing audio and visual signals for disc jockey performances; the provision for a an audio/video mixer that is rugged; the provision for a audio/video mixer that is easily transported; the provision for an audio/video mixer that is rack-mountable; and the provision for an audio/video mixer that is easily used by disc jockeys.  
         [0008]     In view of the foregoing, the mixer of the present invention is very compact, dedicated, low-cost and easy-to-use to carry out both audio and video mixing in a single unit which is not found in the prior art. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a view of the rear panel of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a view of the control panel of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a conceptual view of the signal processing of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0014]     The preferred embodiment of the audio/video mixer for disc jockeys of the present invention is shown generally in  FIG. 1-3  at  10 . Briefly, the mixer  10  has a main housing  12  having side panels  13 , a rear panel  14  and a control panel  16 . The mixer  10  has a variety of input and output connectors on the rear panel  14 . The mixer  10  also has a variety of controls on the control panel  16  for selectively mixing audio and video signals being inputted through the input connectors on the rear panel  14  and outputting the resulting mixed signal out the output connectors on the rear panel  14 . Optionally, rack-mounts  15  could be connected to the side panels  13  by a retainer  17 , such as a small screw or bolt, so that the mixer  10  may be mounted within a nineteen-inch rack, which is a standard within the industry.  
         [0015]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the rear panel  14  of the mixer  10  is shown. The mixer  10  is shown without the rack-mounts  15  attached. The rear panel  14  has a microphone input  18 . The microphone input  18  is preferably a quarter inch microphone jack that is a standard within the industry, but other types of microphone jacks known within the art could be used.  
         [0016]     Adjacent to the microphone input  18  is a first monitor output  20 . The first monitor output  20  is connected to a small video monitor (not shown) for the disc jockey to use during his or her performance to view the unaltered video signal of the first video input described more fully below.  
         [0017]     Above the first monitor output  20  is a second monitor output  22  that is identically in operation to the first monitor output  20  with the exception that the second monitor output  22  carries the unaltered video signal of the second video input. The second video input is described more fully below.  
         [0018]     Adjacent to the first monitor output  20  are left channel  24   a  and right channel  24   b  audio inputs (collectively referred to as the first audio input  24 ). Although the first audio input  24  described and shown is for stereo sound, surround-sound capability could be added easily to the mixer  10  by incorporating front and rear audio channels.  
         [0019]     Above the first audio input  24  is a similarly configured left channel  26   a  and right channel  26   b  audio inputs (collectively referred to as the second audio input  26 ). The second audio input  26  may also be easily configured to handle surround-sound by adding front and rear audio channels.  
         [0020]     Adjacent to the audio inputs  24 ,  26  are four video inputs  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34 . The first and second video inputs  28 ,  30  are standard composite video inputs and are typically used by a disc jockey to feed video from industry or consumer model video players such as DVD players, VCRs, or even steaming video from a personal computer. The third and fourth video inputs  32 ,  34  are S-Video jacks that are standard in the industry for connecting S-Video compatible devices, such as camcorders, to the mixer  10 . The disc jockey typically uses the third and fourth video inputs  32 ,  34  to feed video from live camera feeds to augment his or her performance and to produce unique visual effects when mixed with video form the first and second video inputs  28 ,  30 . These procedures will be described more fully below.  
         [0021]     Adjacent to the video inputs  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  is a third monitor output  36 . The third monitor output  36  is connected to a small video monitor (not shown) for the disc jockey to use during his or her performance to view the unaltered video signal of the third video input described above.  
         [0022]     Above the third monitor output  36  is a fourth monitor output  38  that is identically in operation to the third monitor output  36  with the exception that the fourth monitor output  38  carries the unaltered video signal of the fourth video input described above.  
         [0023]     Adjacent to the third and fourth monitor outputs  36 ,  38  are left  40   a  and right  40   b  channel line inputs for audio (collectively referred to as the audio line input  40 ). The audio line input  40  may be connected to a variety of audio devices such as turntables and CD players to provide the disc jockey with yet another source of audio to use and manipulate during his or her performance. In particular, Numark brand CD players, such as the CDN90, and Numark brand turntables, such as the CDX or TT-series, are particularly well-suited for the disc jockey to use as an additional audio device connected to the line input  40 .  
         [0024]     Adjacent to the line input  40  are two sets of audio  42 ,  44  and video  46 ,  48  outputs. The first set of audio outputs  42  has a left channel  42   a  and a right channel  42   b . Similarly, the second set of audio outputs  44  has a left channel  44   a  and a right channel  44   b  also. Like the audio inputs  24 ,  26 ,  40 , the audio outputs  42 ,  44  could also be configured with front and rear channels to support surround-sound. Both sets of audio outputs  42 ,  44  carry the same mixed audio signal described more fully below. Two sets of audio outputs  42 ,  44  are provided to give the disc jockey flexibility in arranging his or her equipment and in designing his or her performance.  
         [0025]     The first set of video outputs  46  has a composite video connector  46   a  and an S-Video connector  46   b . Similarly, the second set of video outputs  48  has a composite video connector  48   a  and an S-Video connector  48   b  also. Both the first and second video outputs  46 ,  48  carry the same mixed video signal described more fully below. The different types of video outputs  46 ,  48  are provided as a matter of convenience for the disc jockey in order to provide him or her with flexibility in setting up his or her equipment and in planning his or her performance.  
         [0026]     Adjacent to the video outputs  46 ,  48  is a power connector  50 . The power connector  50  is a standard 12 volt DC jack that is standard in the industry, but could be another type of connector.  
         [0027]     Adjacent to the power connector  50  is a power switch  52 , which controls the power to the mixer  10 .  
         [0028]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the control panel  16  of the mixer  10  is shown. The mixer  10  is shown without the rack-mounts  15  attached. The control panel  16  is divided generally into two sets of controls: the audio controls  100  and the video controls  200 .  
         [0029]     The audio controls  100  include a microphone fader  102 , line fader  104 , audio ½ fader  106 , audio cross-fader  108 , master audio fader  110 , cue source control  112 , cue blend control  114 , headphone volume control  116 , and a headphone output  118 .  
         [0030]     The faders  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  110  control the audio volume of the respective outputs  18 ,  26 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 . Specifically, the microphone fader  102  adjusts the audio level of the microphone input  18 ; the line fader  104  adjusts the audio level of the audio line input  40 ; the audio ½ fader  106  controls the overall level for the first audio input  24  and second audio input  26 ; and the master audio fader  110  controls the overall audio level of the first and second audio outputs  42 ,  44  of the mixer  10 .  
         [0031]     The audio cross-fader  108  fades audio between the first audio input  24  and the second audio input  26 . Preferably the audio cross-fader  108  is a slidably actuated type control because this type of control is viewed as desirable by disc jockeys. Furthermore, the audio cross-fader  108  should be positioned so that it slides laterally with respect to the control panel  16 . A laterally sliding type control is also viewed as a desirable feature in a mixer  10  by disc jockeys. Although laterally sliding type actuators are preferred, other styles of controls would work equally effectively and are well known in the art.  
         [0032]     Additionally, the audio cross-fader  108  may be linked to the master video fader  216 , which will be described more fully below, so that they operate in tandem. This may be accomplished in many ways. First, both controls  108 ,  216  could be positioned in similar tracks right next to each other so that the disc jockey may operate both controls  108 ,  216  simultaneously or by further mechanically coupling the two controls  108   216  together. Another way would be to use a DSP control (not shown) to control both of the faders  108 ,  216  simultaneously. Activating the DSP control would electrically link the two controls  108 ,  216  together.  
         [0033]     The cue source control  112  selects an audio input  18 ,  24 ,  26 ,  40  to be output through the headphone output  118  in addition to the master audio outputs  42 ,  44 . The headphone output  118  is a standard audio jack used in the industry. The cue blend control  114  fades between the audio output of the master outputs  42 ,  44  and the source selected by the cue source control  112 . The headphone volume control  116  controls the overall volume level being outputted through the headphone output  118 .  
         [0034]     Turning now to the set of video controls  200 , the video controls  200  are subdivided into a set of source controls  202 , two sets of effects controls  204   a ,  204   b , a set of mode controls  206 , and a set of function controls  208 . The set of video source controls  202  of the video controls  200  is the centerpiece of the mixer  10 . The video source controls  202  are used by the disc jockey to select the video inputs  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  that will ultimately be mixed and outputted through the master video outputs  46 ,  48 .  FIG. 4  shows a useful conceptual diagram of the signal processing of the present invention.  
         [0035]     The mixer  10  has two video busses, Bus A  201   a  and Bus B  201   b . The video source controls  202  selectively assign the video signals of the video inputs  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  to the desired video bus (Bus A or Bus B)  201   a ,  201   b . The disc jockey may then apply special effects to the selected video signal on the video bus using the effects controls  204   a ,  204   b  as desired. The disc jockey may also control how the fade, wipe and picture-in-picture features operate using the mode controls  206  and function controls  208 .  
         [0036]     The video source controls  202  include the following controls: first video selectors  210   a ,  210   b , second video selectors  212   a ,  212   b , and background selectors  214   a ,  214   b . The video source controls  202  are divided into two sets of controls. Each set is identical to the other with the exception that one set effects the Bus A  102   a  source and the other set effects the Bus B  102   b  source. Activating the first video selectors  210   a ,  210   b  selects the first video input  28  for the desired video bus to carry. Activating the second video selectors  212   a ,  212   b  selects the second video input  30  for the desired video bus to carry. Activating the background selectors  214   a ,  214   b  selects the background color set by the background select control  240  (described more fully below). Activating the corresponding first video selector  210   a ,  210   b  and corresponding background selector  214   a ,  214   b  will set the corresponding video bus to carry the video signal of the third video input  32 . Activating the corresponding second video selector  212   a ,  212   b  and corresponding background selector  214   a ,  214   b  will set the corresponding video bus  201   a ,  201   b  to carry the video signal of the fourth video input  34 .  
         [0037]     Also included are a master video fader  216 , auto-fade control  218 , and a fade start control  220 .  
         [0038]     The master video fader  216  fades the video of the master video outputs  34 ,  36  between the video buses  201   a ,  201   b . Preferably the master video fader  216  is a slidably actuated type control because this type of control is viewed as desirable by disc jockeys. Furthermore, the master video fader  216  should be positioned so that it slides laterally with respect to the control panel  16 . A laterally sliding type control is also viewed as a desirable feature in a mixer  10  by disc jockeys. Although laterally sliding type actuators are preferred, other styles of controls would work equally effectively and are well known in the art. As described earlier above, the master video fader  216  may be mechanically or electronically linked to the audio cross-fader control  108 .  
         [0039]     The auto-fade control  218  and fade start control  220  are used to perform wipes and fades (described more fully below) automatically at the speed selected by the master video fader  216 . The auto-fade control  218  turns the auto fade function on and off. The fade start control  220  starts the fade as selected by the master video fader  216 .  
         [0040]     Adjacent to, and on either side of, the video source controls  202  are two sets of effects controls  204   a ,  204   b . The video effects controls  204   a ,  204   b  include activation switches  224   a ,  224   b ; invert controls  226   a ,  226   b , still controls  228   a ,  228   b ; paint controls  230   a ,  230   b ; strobe controls  232   a ,  232   b ; and mosaic controls  234   a ,  234   b . The first set of video effects controls  204   a  applies special effects to video Bus A  201   a . The second set of video effects controls  204   b  applies special effects to video Bus B  201   b . The activation switches  224   a ,  224   b  toggles the effects on and off. The invert controls  226   a ,  226   b  creates a negative of the image on the selected video bus  201   a ,  201   b . The still controls  228   a ,  228   b  freezes the image on the selected video bus  201   a ,  201   b . The paint controls  230   a ,  230   b  merges shades of colors and forms an abstract picture on the selected video bus  201   a ,  201   b . This function is sometimes called “posterization”. There are three levels of intensity that may be cycled therethrough by activating the controls  230   a ,  230   b  repeatedly. The strobe controls  232   a ,  232   b  create a “stop action” effect to the selected video bus  201   a ,  201   b . This function  232   a ,  232   b  has three speed settings that may be cycled therethrough by repeatedly activating the control  232   a ,  232   b . The mosaic controls  234   a ,  234   b  break up the image into patterns of shaded colors to form an abstract picture on the selected video bus  201   a ,  201   b . Three sizes of mosaic squares may be cycled therethrough by activating the mosaic controls  234   a ,  234   b  repeatedly.  
         [0041]     A joystick  236  is located adjacent to, and above, the auto fade control  218 . The joystick  236  is used to position the picture-in-picture window and control the directions of the wipe and fade effects of the mixer  10 . These functions will be described more fully below.  
         [0042]     Above the joystick  236  is a master audio output meter  238 . The master audio output meter indicates the master audio output level as controlled by the master audio fader  110 .  
         [0043]     Also included is a background select control  240 . The background select control  240  selects the background color to be used for the effects. The colors that are included are blue, red, magenta, green, yellow, cyan, white and black. Although conceivably an infinite number of colors could be programmed into the mixer  10 , the ones provided for are the most common and desired among disc jockeys. Activating the background select control  240  repeatedly cycles through the available colors.  
         [0044]     To the left of the joystick  238  is a set of mode controls  206 . The mode controls  206  include a key selector  242 , wipe selector  244 , mix selector  246 , and PIP selector  248 . The key selector  242  is used to activate the luma key and blue key functions (described more fully below) during video mixing. The wipe selector  244  toggles between two types of wipes. The first provides a hard edge at the wipe boundary, and the second provides a softer edge at the wipe boundary. The mix selector  246  selects a smooth fade between the video sources selected in Bus A  201   a  and Bus B  201   b . The PIP selector  248  superimposes an image from Bus A  210   a  over Bus B  201   b  in a smaller window. This feature is commonly referred to as “picture-in-picture”. The style of the picture-in-picture window may be adjusted with the function controls  208  (described more fully below). The position of the picture-in-picture window may be adjusted with the joystick  238 .  
         [0045]     To the right of the joystick  238  is a set of function controls  208 . The function controls  208  include six function keys  250 ,  252 ,  254 ,  256 ,  258 ,  260  and a multi-screen key  262 , which augment the mode controls  206  (excepting the mix selector  240 , which has no associated functions) by providing different functions, styles and effects to the selected mode controls  206 .  
         [0046]     When the key selector  242  is activated, there are four active function keys  250 ,  252 ,  256 ,  258 . The multi-screen key  262  is not used in this mode. The first function key  250  sets the primary source to Bus A  201   a . The second function  252  key sets the primary source to Bus B  201   b . The fourth function key  256  replaces blue (pantone  293 ) areas of the image with a secondary image, at a level controlled by the master video fader  216 . This special effect is typically used by news broadcasters in superimposing a weather map behind a weatherman. Two different styles may be cycled through by activating the fourth function key  256  repeatedly. The fifth function key  258  replaces black areas of the image with a secondary image and also progresses to replace lighter shades based on the position of the master video fader  216 . Two different styles may be cycled through by repeatedly activating the fifth function key  258 ,  
         [0047]     When the wipe selector  244  is activated, each of the function keys  250 ,  252 ,  254 ,  256 ,  258 ,  260  accesses a different style of wipe effect. Each function key  250 ,  252 ,  254 ,  256 ,  258 ,  260  also has four sub-functions, which further modify the style of the wipe effect. Activating a particular function key repeatedly cycles through the four sub-functions.  
         [0048]     When the PIP selector  248  is activated, each of the function keys  250 ,  252 ,  254 ,  256 ,  258 ,  260  accesses a different picture-in-picture style. The first three function keys  250 ,  252 ,  254  have picture-in-picture windows with borders. The border color is set to the color selected by the background select control. The last three function keys  256 ,  258 ,  260  have picture-in-picture windows lacking borders. The first and fourth function keys  250 ,  256  provide a picture-in-picture window that is approximately one-half of the image size. The second and fifth function keys  252 ,  258  provide a picture-in-picture window that is approximately one-quarter of the image size. The third and sixth function keys  254 ,  260  provide a picture-in-picture window that is approximately one-sixteenth of the image size.  
         [0049]     The multi-screen key  262  can only be used in wipe or PIP mode. The multi-screen key  262  will divide the effect into 1, 4, or 16 equal and separate effects.  
         [0050]     While there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.