Distributed and synchronized control system for environmental signals in multimedia playback

A multimedia device, comprising:

• a media input configured to provide a media dataset comprising media content data and environmental effects metadata defining positions for a set of environmental events each corresponding to a media timestamp of a plurality of media timestamps;
• a decoder module configured to, for each environmental event in the set of environmental events, correlate a media playback time indicated by the media timestamp of the environmental event with a device clock value in each of one or more environmental effect generators by identifying a protocol timestamp that corresponds to the media timestamp of the environmental event;
• a remapping module configured to, for an environmental event in the set of environmental events, compute a remapping of the defined position for the environmental event to actual positions of two or more of the one or more environmental effect generators;
• an encapsulation module configured to, for each environmental event in the set of environmental events,
• generate a message for transmission according to a communication protocol, wherein the message reflects the remapping and associates the environmental event with the protocol timestamp, and
• address the message to the one or more environmental effect generators;
• and
• a communication interface configured to transmit the message.

A system, comprising:

• an input configured to receive environmental effects metadata defining positions for each of a set of environmental events, wherein each environmental event specifies a visual effect;
• a decoder module configured to, for each environmental event in the set of environmental events, correlate a media playback time indicated by a media timestamp of the environmental event with a device clock value in each of one or more environmental effect generators by identifying a protocol timestamp for a communication protocol;
• a remapping module configured to, for an environmental event in the set of environmental events, compute a remapping of the defined position for the environmental event to actual positions of two or more of the one or more environmental effect generators;
• and
• an encapsulation module configured to, for each environmental event in the set of environmental events, generate a message for transmission according to the communication protocol, wherein the message associates the protocol timestamp with the environmental event.