Patent ID: 7792311

Claim:
An apparatus for processing input signals in accordance with an output configuration, the apparatus comprising: a first module to determine whether a sound signal in an input audio source is reproduced properly with respect to an output configuration of speakers by comparing a number of sound channels in the input audio source to a number of sound channels in the output configuration, wherein the input audio source represented in data packets is selected from a controller and received via a network interface from another device over a data network; a second module, in responding to the first module, configured to synthetically produce a sound effect from the input audio source if the number of sound channels in the output configuration is greater than the number of sound channels in the input audio source, or to synthetically reduce a sound effect from the input audio source if the number of sound channels in the output configuration is less than the number of sound channels in the input audio source; and a network interface, coupled to the first module, reassembling the data packets received from the data network into the input audio source, wherein the apparatus is coupled to at least another device over the network, the network interface is capable of assembling an audio source into smaller packets to be transmitted over the data network to the another device, wherein the controller communicates with the apparatus via the network interface.