A/v interconnection architecture including an audio down-mixing transmitter a/v endpoint and distributed channel amplification

A method for distributing audio using a transmit (TX) audio/video (A/V) endpoint of an A/V interconnection architecture, comprising:

• receiving, by the TX A/V endpoint, at least native audio from the A/V source component;
• outputting, by the TX A/V endpoint, the native audio over an Ethernet video network to an RX A/V endpoint coupled to an A/V sink component that is capable of processing or outputting the native audio;
• down-mixing, by the TX A/V endpoint, the native audio to produce a stereo down-mixed pulse code modulated (PCM) version of the native audio;
• and
• outputting, by the TX A/V endpoint, down-mixed PCM version over an Audio Video Bridging (AVB)-compliant Ethernet audio network to an audio system coupled to an audio sink component that is incapable of processing or outputting the native audio.

An (A/V) interconnection architecture comprising:

• a multi-port video network switch supporting an Ethernet video network;
• a multi-port audio network switch supporting an Ethernet audio network, the audio network switch coupled to the video network switch by at least one link;
• a transmit (TX) A/V endpoint coupled to an A/V source component and configured to receive at least native audio from the A/V source component, and coupled to the video network switch and the audio network switch, the TX A/V endpoint configured to output the native audio to the video network switch for transmission over the Ethernet video network and a stereo down-mixed version of the native audio over the Ethernet audio network;
• a receive (RX) A/V endpoint coupled to the Ethernet audio network and an A/V sink component that is capable of processing or outputting the native audio, the RX A/V endpoint configured to receive the native audio from the video network and provide the native audio to the A/V sink component;
• and
• an audio system coupled to the audio network and an audio sink component that is incapable of processing or outputting the native audio, the RX A/V endpoint configured to receive the stereo down-mixed version of the native audio from the Ethernet audio network and provide the stereo down-mixed version of the native audio to the audio sink component.

An audio/video (A/V) interconnection architecture that provides for expandable surround sound, comprising:

• an expandable surround sound system that includes
• a digital signal processor (DSP) audio module configured to decode native audio into a number of audio channels for a type of surround sound,
• local amplification circuitry configured to amplify a plurality of the audio channels to produce local amplified output channels,
• a network interface coupled to an audio network, and
• processing circuitry configured to packetize one or more of the audio channels to produce one or more add on channels, and output the one or more add on channels via the network interface to the audio network;
• a plurality of unpowered speakers coupled to the local amplification circuitry;
• and
• one or more add on devices coupled to the audio network, each add on device having conversion and amplification circuitry,
• wherein, when the number of audio channels for the type of surround sound is less than or equal to a number of the local amplified output channels, the expandable surround sound system is configured to provide surround sound using the unpowered speakers, which each receive and output a local amplified output channel, and when the number of audio channels for the type of surround sound exceeds the number of the local amplified output channels, the expandable surround sound system is configured to provide surround sound using both the unpowered speakers and the one or more add on devices, which each receive an add on channel, convert and amplify the add on channel produce an amplified output channel, and output the amplified output channel.

A method for providing expandable surround sound comprising:

• decoding native audio into a number of audio channels for a type of surround sound by an expandable surround sound system having local amplification circuitry;
• when the number of audio channels for the type of surround sound is less than or equal to a number of local amplified output channels able to be produced by the local amplification circuitry, amplifying the audio channels and providing them as local amplified output channels to unpowered speakers;
• and
• when the number of audio channels for the type of surround sound exceeds the number of the local amplified output channels able to be produced by the local amplification circuitry, amplifying a first subset of the audio channels and providing them as local amplified output channels to unpowered speakers, and packetizing a second subset of the audio channels to produce one or more add on channels, and outputting the one or more add on channels via an audio network to one or more add on devices that each convert and amplify an add on channel to produce an amplified output channel and output the amplified output channel.