Possible Solutions for the Vendor Lock-In Control Protocol in IP-Based Production Systems

International standards for video and audio transmission, such as SMPTE ST 2110, have become widespread in Internet Protocol (IP)-based production systems. However, device control still depends on the manufacturerx2019;s original protocols, resulting in the vendor lock-in problem. Herein, we have attempted to solve this problem. We prototyped a control device for an audio input/output (I/O) unit. Generally, the parameters of an audio I/O unit, such as the preamplifier gain and phantom power, are controlled using the audio mixing console with the manufacturerx2019;s original protocol. Therefore, if various audio I/O units from different manufacturers are available at the venues, controlling them is difficult in a control room. Using the vendor-free and open-source protocol, 'Ember+' enables us to build a flexible system without the constraints presented by the manufacturer's original protocols. Additionally, we investigated the control of the connection of audio devices and audio channel mapping according to the specifications of the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) network media open specifications (NMOS) IS-04, 05, and 08. Although IS-08 is stable with the potential to become widespread, it has not been adopted in many products. We implemented an application software to control the connection of audio devices and evaluated the efficiency of NMOS, especially IS-08: audio channel mapping. We confirmed that the application could effectively control the channel mapping like an audio router and could be adopted for any control system. Thus, our prototype and investigation present practical solutions using Ember+ and NMOS IS-08 to control devices on a multivendor IP production system. © 2002 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.