Method and apparatus for remote synchronization of audio, lighting, animation and special effects

A method of synchronizing performance of a plurality of remote location audio, lighting, animation, and special effects programs at a plurality of remote mobile locations, comprising:

• (a) storing, with a controller, programs in memory at predetermined memory address locations at each of the plurality of remote mobile locations, at least one of said programs located at corresponding memory address locations at each remote location being different from the other programs, each of said programs being stored as digitally-encoded information;
• (b) transmitting a synchronization signal to each of the remote mobile locations over a predetermined radio frequency with the use of a transmitter, said synchronization signal identifying a memory address within said predetermined memory address locations at the plurality of remote locations;
• (c) receiving said synchronization signal on said predetermined radio frequency at each of the remote mobile locations with a receiver;
• and
• (d) retrieving simultaneously with a controller at each of the plurality of remote locations said digitally-encoded program information, in response to said synchronization signal, for synchronous performance of the audio, lighting, animation, and special effects programs by audio, lighting, animation, and special effects systems at each remote mobile location.

A method of synchronizing performance of a plurality of remote location audio programs at a plurality of remote locations, utilizing digital playback units capable of storing the programs in memory for playback at each location, comprising the steps of:

• a) storing, with a controller, an audio program in the memory at predetermined memory address locations at each of the plurality of playback units, at least one audio program located at corresponding memory address locations at each playback unit being different from another audio program, each of said programs being stored as a series of blocks of digitally-encoded audio information identified by unique addresses in the memory;
• (b) transmitting a synchronization signal with the use of a transmitter in the form of a series of DTMF tone bursts to each of the remote locations over a predetermined radio frequency, said DTMF tone bursts containing codes for controlling the playback units and for identifying the addresses of selected blocks of audio information in the memory of the playback units to be played back;
• (c) receiving said synchronization signal on said predetermined radio frequency at the plurality of remote locations with a receiver;
• (d) coupling said synchronization signal to each of the playback units;
• and
• (e) causing, with a controller, each of the playback units to simultaneously retrieve said selected blocks of audio information, in response to said synchronization signal, for synchronous playback through an audio system at each of the remote locations.

A method of synchronizing playback of a plurality of remote location audio programs from a plurality of remote locations, utilizing digital playback units capable of storing the audio programs in memory for playback through an audio system at each remote location, comprising:

• (a) storing an audio program at predetermined memory address locations in the memory of each of the plurality of playback units, at least one audio program located at corresponding memory address locations at each playback unit being different from another audio program, each of said audio programs being stored as a series of blocks of digitally-encoded audio information identified by unique addresses in the memory;
• (b) transmitting with the use of a transmitter a series of DTMF tones to each of the remote locations over a predetermined radio frequency, said DTMF tones being divided into timecode packets each of which contains special control tones for controlling the playback units and location tones for identifying the addresses of selected blocks of audio information in the memory of the playback units to be played back;
• (c) receiving said DTMF tones on said predetermined radio frequency at each of the remote locations with a receiver;
• (d) coupling said DTMF tones to each of the playback units;
• and
• (e) causing each of the playback units to simultaneously retrieve on command said selected blocks of audio information, in response to said DTMF tones, for synchronous playback through the audio systems at each of the remote locations.

Apparatus for synchronizing performances of a plurality of remote location programs at a plurality of remote locations, comprising:

• a radio transmitter for transmitting a synchronization signal to the plurality of remote locations over a predetermined radio frequency;
• a radio receiver at each of the remote locations for receiving the synchronization signal;
• at least one controller at each of the remote locations, each controller having memory for storing at predetermined memory address locations the programs to be performed as digitally-encoded information identified by unique addresses in the memory, at least one of said programs located at corresponding memory address locations at each remote location being different from the other programs;
• and
• means coupled to each of said controllers at the remote locations for reproducing a performance in response to the information stored in said controllers,
• wherein said synchronization signal contains codes for identifying the addresses of selected blocks of information in the memories of the controllers to be played back,
• whereby said selected blocks of information at each of the plurality of remote locations are retrieved simultaneously and provided to said performance reproducing means, in response to said synchronization signal, for synchronously reproducing the performances of the plurality of remote locations.

Apparatus for synchronizing performance of a plurality of remote location audio, lighting, animation, or special effects programs at a plurality of remote mobile locations, comprising:

• a radio transmitter for transmitting DTMF tone bursts to the plurality of remote locations over a predetermined radio frequency;
• a radio receiver at each of the remote locations for receiving the DTMF tone bursts;
• at least one controller at each remote location coupled to each of said radio receivers at the remote locations, each controller having memory for storing the programs at predetermined memory address locations to be performed as digitally-encoded information identified by unique addresses in the memory, at least one of said programs located at corresponding memory address locations at each remote location being different from the other programs;
• and
• means coupled to each of said controllers at the remote locations for reproducing audio, lighting, animation, or special effects programs in response to the information stored in said controllers,
• wherein said DTMF tone bursts contain control codes and codes for identifying the addresses of selected blocks of information in the memory of the controllers,
• whereby said DTMF tone bursts cause each of the controllers at each of the plurality of remote locations to simultaneously retrieve and provide said selected blocks of information to said performance reproducing means for synchronous performance of audio, lighting, animation, or special effects at each of the remote locations.

Apparatus for synchronizing playback of a plurality of remote location audio programs at a plurality of remote locations, comprising:

• a radio transmitter for transmitting DTMF tone bursts in the form of timecode packets to the plurality of remote locations over a predetermined radio frequency, each timecode packet having a burst of several tones followed by a period of silence;
• a radio receiver at each of the remote locations for receiving the DTMF tone bursts;
• a playback unit coupled to each of said radio receivers a each of the remote locations, each playback unit having memory for storing audio programs at predetermined memory address locations to be performed as a series of blocks of digitally-encoded audio information identified by unique addresses in the memory, at least one of said programs located at corresponding memory address locations at each remote location being different from the other programs;
• and
• an audio system coupled to each of said playback units at the remote locations for reproducing the audio programs stored in said playback units,
• wherein the first tone in a timecode packet is a special control tone for synchronization, and one or more tones following the first tone are location tones for identifying the locations of selected blocks of audio information in the memory of the playback units to be played back,
• whereby said playback units simultaneously retrieve said selected blocks of audio information, in response to said DTMF tone bursts, for synchronous playback of the audio programs at each of the plurality of remote locations through the audio system at each of the remote locations.