Patent ID: 7228190

Claim:
A method for executing a lighting program to control a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), the method comprising acts of (A) receiving an audio input in a digital music file format; (B) digitally processing the audio input to determine at least one characteristic of the audio input; (C) executing the lighting program to generate control signals to control the plurality of LEDs; and (D) during execution of the lighting program in the act (C), generating at least one of the control signals based at least in part on the at least one characteristic of the audio input; wherein the act (B) includes an act of determining a beat of the audio input, and wherein the at least one characteristic of the audio input relates to the beat; wherein the lighting program includes at least one variable parameter that affects a perceivable aspect of a lighting effect generated by the plurality of LEDs in response to the control signals, and wherein the act (D) includes an act of modifying the at least one variable parameter during the execution of the lighting program in the act (C) to generate at least one of the control signals based at least in part on the determined beat of the audio input; and wherein the at least one variable parameter relates to a perceived speed of the lighting effect, and wherein the act (D) includes an act of modifying the at least one variable parameter so as to affect the perceived speed of the lighting effect based on a speed of the determined beat of the audio input.