Industry Patents
Patent: 5493281
Method and Apparatus for Remote Synchronization of Audio, Lighting, Animation and Special Effects
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| Patent Number: |
5493281 |
| Title: |
Method and Apparatus for Remote Synchronization of Audio, Lighting, Animation and Special Effects |
| Abstract: |
Method and apparatus for synchronizing performance of audio, lighting,
animation, and special effects programs at a plurality of remote
locations, such as on parade floats, in which the programs are stored at
each location as digitally-encoded information in the memory of one or
more controllers, and DTMF tone bursts are transmitted over a selected
radio frequency as a synchronization signal to each remote location for
controlling synchronous performance of the programs by audio, lighting,
animation, and special effects systems on the floats. The DTMF tones
control retrieval from an audio controller of an audio program and a SMPTE
time code signal for synchronous control of the lighting, animation, and
special effects systems. The DTMF tone bursts are divided into timecode
packets of discrete tones that are transmitted approximately every 700
milliseconds, wherein the first tone is a special control tone for
synchronization, followed by several location tones, and the last tone is
used to verify a valid timecode packet order.
|
| Country of Issue: |
US |
| First Named Inventor: |
Owens |
| Assignee: |
Walt Disney Company |
| Continuation or Divisional of: |
|
| International Classification: |
G05B 19/02 |
| US Classification: |
340/825.24 |
| Issue Date: |
02-20-1996 |
| Filing Date: |
07-29-1994 |
| Application : |
282196 |
| Notes: |
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| Link to Patent at freepatentsonline.com: |
5493281 at Freepatentsonline |
| Link to World Patent Family1: |
World Patent Family at European Patent Office |
| Link to Google Patents1: |
5493281 at Google Patents |
1. The Google Patents and World Patent Family links will likely not work until a few weeks
after the patent has issued - they take a while to get new patents in their systems.
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