System for node structure discovery in an audio-related system

A system for determination of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the system comprising:

• a graphical user interface core configured to receive a plurality of class attributes from an audio-related device;
• and
• a plurality of plugins associated with one or more of a respective plurality of audio-related devices, each of the plugins, in response to a query from the graphical user interface core that includes the class attributes of the audio related device, are configured to determine if an association with the audio-related device exists based on the class attributes;
• where the plugins are further configured to request and receive from the audio related device an audio node structure of the audio-related device indicative of the functionality of the audio-related device when an association exists, and to determine if a plurality of components included in the audio node structure are predefined within the plugins, where the audio node structure comprises a virtual device, an object and a state variable in a hierarchical configuration, so that when the virtual device is determined to be predefined, the object and state variable are also predefined.

A system for determination of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the system comprising:

• an audio node discovery manager configured to receive class attributes descriptive of the audio-related device;
• and
• a plugin configured to respond to an audio node query from the audio node discovery manager when the received class attributes that are included in the audio node query are recognized by the plugin;
• where the plugin is further configured to retrieve an audio node structure from the audio-related device and compare the audio node structure to a stored, predefined audio node structure that is accessible by the plugin, and
• where the audio node discovery manager is further configured to be enabled by the plugin to query another plugin for a portion of the audio node structure that is not prestored and accessible by the plugin.

A system for discovery of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the system comprising:

• a plurality of plugins associated with one or more of a respective plurality of audio-related devices, the plugins including a plugin that comprises a retrieval engine, a class analysis module and a library storage,
• where the retrieval engine is enabled to retrieve an audio node structure of an audio-related device included among the audio related devices in response to a query that includes attributes of the audio-related device, the node structure comprising a plurality of virtual devices;
• where the class analysis module is configured to compare the retrieved audio node structure to a plurality of predefined virtual devices stored in the library storage;
• and
• where the retrieval engine is configured to enable the discovery of additional components of those virtual devices retrieved from the audio-related device that do not correspond to the predefined virtual devices.

A method for discovery of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the method comprising:

• identifying a plugin that is associated with an audio-related device based on attributes received from the audio-related device that are indicative of the audio-related device;
• the plugin retrieving from the audio-related device an audio node structure representative of the audio-related functionality of the audio-related device,
• determining if each of a plurality of components included in the audio node structure is known by the plugin;
• and if not,
• querying another plugin associated with the audio-related device for unknown components.

A performance equipment manager operable to execute instructions for discovery of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the performance equipment manager comprising:

• a memory device;
• instructions stored in the memory device to receive attributes of the audio-related device;
• instruction stored in the memory device to generate and provide a query that includes the attributes to at least one of a plurality of plugins associated with one or more of a respective plurality of audio-related devices;
• instructions stored in the memory device to enable a plugin included among the plugins to respond to the query when the received attributes that are included in the query are recognized by the plugin;
• instructions stored in the memory device for the plugin, in response to the query, to retrieve a node structure of the audio-related device included among the audio related devices;
• instructions stored in the memory device to receive the node structure that includes a list of virtual devices indicative of the functionality of the audio-related device;
• instructions stored in the memory device to identify any of the virtual devices on the list of virtual devices that is undefined;
• instructions stored in the memory device to retrieve for each of the undefined virtual devices associated attributes and at least one of lists of objects, or lists of state variables or combinations thereof that are included in each of the undefined virtual devices;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory device to store the attributes and an indication of the virtual devices that are predefined.

A method for discovery of the functionality of an audio-related device operable in an audio system, the method comprising:

• enabling a plugin with predetermined class attributes that correspond to the class attributes descriptive of the audio-related device;
• querying the audio-related device with the enabled plugin for an audio node structure descriptive of the functionality of the audio-related device;
• identifying known components included in the audio node structure that correspond to predefined components included in the enabled plugin;
• querying another plugin for non-corresponding components of the audio node structure that are unknown;
• and
• enabling a discovery engine to query the audio-related device for attributes of any components of the audio node structure that are unknown by the plugin and said another plugin.