Cloud based audio / video operating systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12455753-B2
Application number	US-202117540157-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2021
Priority date	Jan 16, 2018
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

Technology is disclosed for establishing and administering multiple virtual machines, each with an audio, video and control (AVC) operating system (OS). The technology can also establish and administer cloud based AVC OSs. A server implementing this technology can perform real-time AVC processing, alongside soft and non-real-time processing and can host multiple, independent, virtual AVC OSs. Each AVC OS can perform the processing for an AVC setup. Each of the AVC OSs can be operated by a corresponding virtual machine controlled by a hypervisor running on the server. A cloud based AVC OS can perform processing for a corresponding remote AVC setup comprising multiple AVC devices. An AVC routing system can cause AVC signals from a particular AVC setup to reach a corresponding cloud AVC OS and conversely can cause signals from an AVC OS to reach the correct destination device.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method for operating a real-time audio, video, control (AVC) system in a cloud computing environment, comprising:
establishing an AVC setup group having two or more AVC equipment devices, wherein the two or more AVC equipment devices are remote from the cloud computing
initializing a virtual machine in the cloud computing environment, wherein the AVC setup group is assigned to the virtual machine;
allocating resources to the virtual machine based on a description of the AVC setup group assigned to the virtual machine, wherein the description of the AVC setup group identifies the two or more AVC equipment devices and software components associated with the two or more AVC equipment devices and specifies expected usage rates and connection bandwidths for each of the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group;
establishing an AVC real-time operating system (RTOS) in the virtual machine, wherein the AVC RTOS is an operating system that includes functions that (A) receive AVC data from the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group remote from the cloud computing environment and (B) perform real-time AVC signal processing, within the cloud computing environment, on the AVC data received from each of the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group;
receiving AVC signals associated with the AVC setup group, wherein the AVC signals include an identifier associated with the AVC setup group and AVC data from at least one of the AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group;
routing the AVC signals to the AVC RTOS for processing using the identifier;
processing, in real-time, the AVC signals at the AVC RTOS, wherein the processing includes three or more of: gain and level adjustments, echo reduction, echo cancellation, audio tone control and filtering, audio dynamic range control, audio/video (AV) mixing and routing, AV delay synchronization, Public Address paging, video object detection, verification and recognition, encoding and decoding, resolution adjustments, cropping, delay control, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), session initiated protocol (SIP) interface control, or input control, wherein the processing occurs at a rate that provides results of the AVC signal processing in real time; and
selectively routing processed AVC signals to a subset of the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the AVC setup group is specified by a user or automatically generated based at least on one of: a physical location, a virtual location, and an address range for the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein allocating resources to the virtual machine comprises:
receiving the description of the AVC setup group, wherein the description of the AVC setup group is either indicated by a user or automatically generated based on the established AVC setup group;
compiling the AVC setup group and the virtual machine with an initial resource allocation, wherein compiling the AVC setup group and the virtual machine includes projecting a performance of the virtual machine with the initial resource allocation in processing the routing signals from the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group; and
determining whether the initial resource allocation is sufficient based on the
when the initial resource allocation is sufficient, allocating resources to the virtual machine further includes saving the initial resource allocation, and
when the initial resource allocation is not sufficient, allocating resources to the virtual machine further includes incrementally increasing the initial resource allocation to a second resource allocation and recompiling the AVC setup group and the virtual machine with the second resource allocation.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial resource allocation includes an indication of at least one of a number of CPUs, an amount of memory space, and an indication of associated hardware or software resources.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the description of the AVC setup group further includes at least one of:
a specification of interconnections between the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group; and
an indication of two or more device identifiers associated with the two or more AVC equipment devices in the AVC setup group.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial resource allocation is a default resource allocation for a total number of the two or more AVC devices.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the initial resource allocation is specified based at least partially on the description of the AVC setup group.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual machine is a first virtual machine, the AVC RTOS is a first AVC RTOS, the AVC setup is a first AVC setup group, and the AVC signals are first AVC signals, and wherein the method further comprises:
establishing a second AVC setup group having two or more AVC devices,
wherein the two or more AVC devices in the second group are remote from the cloud computing environment;
initializing a second virtual machine in the cloud computing environment, wherein the second AVC setup group is assigned to the second virtual machine;
allocating resources to the second virtual machine based on a description of the second AVC setup group, wherein the description of the second AVC setup group identifies the two or more AVC equipment devices in the second AVC setup group and software components associated with signals from the two or more AVC equipment in the second AVC setup group;
establishing a second AVC RTOS in the second virtual machine;
receiving second AVC signals associated with the two or more AVC equipment devices in the second AVC setup group, wherein the AVC signals include an identifier associated with the second AVC setup group and AVC data from at least one of the AVC equipment devices in the second AVC setup group; and
routing the AVC signals to the AVC RTOS for processing using the identifier associated with the second AVC setup group.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first AVC RTOS has at least one dedicated hardware component that is not used by the second AVC RTOS.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the first AVC RTOS is established in the cloud computing environment in a first server, and wherein the second AVC RTOS is established in the cloud computing environment in a second server different from the first server.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the AVC signals originated from two or more sources geographically remote from the cloud computing environment.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations for operating an audio, video, control (AVC) system, the operations comprising:
initializing multiple virtual machines in a cloud computing environment including at least a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine;
allocating resources to each of the multiple virtual machines, wherein:
allocating resources to the first virtual machine is based on a description of a first AVC setup group assigned to the first virtual machine, the description of the first AVC setup group identifying a first assignment of two or more first AVC equipment devices and software components associated with the first assignment of two or more first AVC equipment devices and specifying usage rates and connection bandwidths for each of the two or more first AVC equipment devices in the first AVC setup group, wherein the two or more first AVC equipment devices in the first assignment are geographically

Assignees

• Qsc Llc

Inventors

• Rosenboom Gerrit Eimbertus

Classifications

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• G06F9/4406

  Loading of operating system · CPC title

• H04N21/443

  OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title