Ethernet SCSI simulator for control of shows

[0001] This application claims benefit of the priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/493,864 filed Aug. 8, 2003 and entitled “Ethernet SCSI Simulator for Control of Shows”.

[0002] The ICON system made by Light and Sound Design has typically used the architecture shown in FIG. 1. An ICON console is used to control each of a number of different output lights. For example, there may be 256 or more lights that can be controlled using the ICON console. In the usual control system, the ICON console produced its output using either SCSI protocol or ultrawide SCSI protocol. This SCSI output sent controls for all of the lights e.g. 256 lights, to the distribution unit 110. Distribution unit 110 decoded the SCSI output and produced separate light outputs, for example, a separate output 112 for light 114, a separate output 116 for light 118, and the like.

[0003] SCSI parts have become less common, and more recently, it has become desirable to use Ethernet for lighting control. However, there is an installed base of these hardware devices.

[0004] The present system describes a device which converts Ethernet protocol representing commands for plural lights, into single channel per output line protocol for lights. In an embodiment, the conversion effectively simulates the SCSI process, enabling operation with a minimal amount of change of hardware.

[0005] These and other aspects will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0006] FIG. 1 shows a basic layout of the hardware systems;

[0007] FIG. 2 shows connecting a consul to distribution unit;

[0008] FIG. 3 shows the layout of the ethernet protocol as used in this system;

[0009] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of operation of the processor.

[0010] FIG. 5 shows a layout of the format of the DMX format.

[0011] In the embodiment, the ICON console 200 produces outputs in ethernet protocol. However, since the ethernet protocol may be limited to 1500 bytes, control of a number of lights may require multiple separate ethernet signals as shown. In one embodiment, 10 channels of ICON data can be provided in one ethernet packet.

[0012] FIG. 2 shows three ethernet cables being run although it should be understood that any number of such wires may need to be run. The ethernet cables are sent to the distribution unit 220 which includes an ethernet interface 225 managed by a processor 230. A processor also runs the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. The processor may be the same processor, or processor 230 may be a dedicated network processor.

[0013] At 400, the processor chooses a light number “X”, whose signal it is looking for. The processor looks at the ethernet frames. Each of the ethernet frames have the basic arrangement as shown in FIG. 3, format 300 has a header 301 of around 48 bytes followed by a body 302, with approximately 1500 bytes of data. Within those 1500 bytes is the format which is shown as a start code 305 followed by a channel for light number 306, followed by data 307. A number of channels can be put into each ethernet data section 302. Therefore, for any given light number, this system looks for the particular channel in the overall data stream at 400. When the system finds the channel, it separates the channel number and data at 405, packages the data as a specified packet, and routes that output to the specified lines at 410. For example, if the channel is channel 1, then the processor will package the data, rebundle it, and send it to channel 1. Effectively, the system continually looks at these contents within the headers, and the overall data stream. This allows the ethernet to simulate an output which is SCSI-like.

[0014] Another embodiment of this system may receive the data via the standard format called DMX 512. In this system, the DMX data is carried over ethernet and handled in a similar way to that discussed above. For example, the standard DMX format is shown in FIG. 5. The DMX format includes a break, shown as the start signal, 500 followed by mark signal 502. This indicates the beginning of the DMX format. This is followed as 504, followed by a specified number of bytes. For example, each channel may include 1 byte of data which controls the state of various dimmers. 512 bytes of information for the dimmers of the 512 channels may therefore follow. The time slot of the information therefore represents the ‘channel’ for which the information is intended. In this system as applied to DMX, the channel information is packaged within an ethernet packet shown as 520, with an ethernet header 522, followed by the data 508 from channel one and similar data from analogous channels. In this embodiment, the data can be output as a single output for each of a plurality of channels, such as 512 channels. Alternatively, the data can be output as standard DMX, where the data output includes all 512 channels time slot multiplexing onto a single line.

[0015] In an embodiment, the processor may be either a Radix 3000 processor, or a “rabbit” processor.

[0016] Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail alone, other modifications are contemplated.