Television – Combined with diverse art device
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-20
2001-02-20
Peng, John K. (Department: 2714)
Television
Combined with diverse art device
C348S484000, C348S483000, C348S423100, C348S553000, C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06191822
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of displaying a video stream of data while simultaneously playing an accompanying audio stream of data. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of receiving a combined stream of data including both audio and video components and separating the audio and video components.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The IEEE standard, “IEEE 1394 Standard For A High Performance Serial Bus,” Draft ratified in 1995, is an international standard for implementing an inexpensive high-speed serial bus architecture which supports both asynchronous and isochronous format data transfers. Isochronous data transfers are real-time transfers which take place such that the time intervals between significant instances have the same duration at both the transmitting and receiving applications. Each packet of data transferred isochronously is transferred in its own time period. The IEEE 1394-1995 standard bus architecture provides multiple channels for isochronous data transfer between applications. A six bit channel number is broadcast with the data to ensure reception by the appropriate application. This allows multiple applications to simultaneously transmit isochronous data across the bus structure. Asynchronous transfers are traditional data transfer operations which take place as soon as possible and transfer an amount of data from a source to a destination.
The IEEE 1394-1995 standard provides a high-speed serial bus for interconnecting digital devices thereby providing a universal I/O connection. The IEEE 1394-1995 standard defines a digital interface for the applications thereby eliminating the need for an application to convert digital data to analog data before it is transmitted across the bus. Correspondingly, a receiving application will receive digital data from the bus, not analog data, and will therefore not be required to convert analog data to digital data. The cable required by the IEEE 1394-1995 standard is very thin in size compared to other bulkier cables used to connect such devices. Devices can be added and removed from an IEEE 1394-1995 bus while the bus is active. If a device is so added or removed, the bus will then automatically reconfigure itself for transmitting data between the then existing nodes. A node is considered a logical entity with a unique address on the bus structure. Each node provides an identification ROM, a standardized set of control registers and its own address space.
The IEEE 1394-1995 standard defines a protocol as illustrated in FIG.
1
. This protocol includes a serial bus management block
10
coupled to a transaction layer
12
, a link layer
14
and a physical layer
16
. The physical layer
16
provides the electrical and mechanical connection between a device or application and the IEEE 1394-1995 cable. The physical layer
16
also provides arbitration to ensure that all devices coupled to the IEEE 1394-1995 bus have access to the bus as well as actual data transmission and reception. The link layer
14
provides data packet delivery service for both asynchronous and isochronous data packet transport. This supports both asynchronous data transport, using an acknowledgement protocol, and isochronous data transport, providing real-time guaranteed bandwidth protocol for just-in-time data delivery. The transaction layer
12
supports the commands necessary to complete asynchronous data transfers, including read, write and lock. The serial bus management block
10
contains an isochronous resource manager for managing isochronous data transfers. The serial bus management block
10
also provides overall configuration control of the serial bus in the form of optimizing arbitration timing, guarantee of adequate electrical power for all devices on the bus, assignment of the cycle master, assignment of isochronous channel and bandwidth resources and basic notification of errors.
Televisions used in consumer electronics systems typically have limited sound capability. Instead, high quality audio capability is achieved within typical home consumer electronics systems or configurations by connecting a separate audio amplifier component to the television. This audio amplifier will then amplify audio from a television or other video receiving device such as a video cassette recorder (VCR), and send the amplified audio signal to an attached set of speakers.
Corresponding audio and video streams of data are combined into MPEG compressed streams of data for transmission between devices. Audio/video streams of data are also stored in an MPEG compressed format in order to reduce the amount of storage space required for the stream of data. A decompression engine is required in order to decompress an MPEG compressed stream of data at the receiving component. Accordingly, in a consumer electronics system as described above, each component receiving the MPEG data stream must include an MPEG decompression engine. Both the television and the audio amplifier would need to include an MPEG decompression engine in order to separately decompress the video and audio components of the MPEG data stream.
A consumer entertainment system including a settop box, a satellite dish, a television and an audio amplifier is illustrated in FIG.
2
. The settop box
22
is coupled to receive an MPEG stream of data from the satellite dish
30
. The settop box
22
includes an MPEG decompression engine to decompress the MPEG stream of data. The settop box
22
is coupled to the television
20
to separately provide the television
20
with the video component from the MPEG stream of data through an analog video interface. The settop box
22
is also coupled to the audio amplifier
24
to separately provide the audio amplifier
24
with the audio component from the MPEG stream of data through an analog audio interface. The audio amplifier
24
is coupled to the speakers
26
and
28
for providing the amplified audio signal to be played on the speakers.
The settop box
22
decompresses an MPEG stream of data received from the satellite dish
30
and separates the audio and video components. The audio and video components are then transmitted from the settop box
22
to the television
20
and the audio amplifier
24
, respectively, in order that the video is displayed on the television
20
while the corresponding audio is played from the speakers
26
and
28
. The audio and video components are transmitted from the settop box
22
through separate analog interfaces to the appropriate components.
In the configuration illustrated in
FIG. 2
, only the settop box
22
is required to include an MPEG decompression engine. This decompression engine within the settop box
22
is used to decompress both the audio and video components within the MPEG stream of data. The settop box
22
includes separate analog interfaces for transmitting the audio data to the audio amplifier
24
and the video data to the television
20
.
What is needed is a system which includes a single decompression engine for decompressing an MPEG stream of data and a single interface through which the audio component and the video component can be transmitted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A separator circuit receives a stream of data including both audio and video components. The separator circuit separates the audio and video components for transmission to appropriate devices. In the preferred embodiment, the separator circuit is part of a decompression engine which decompresses the received stream of data and also separates the audio and video components. Preferably, the decompression engine is implemented within a device configured for coupling to an IEEE 1394-1995 serial bus network. Alternatively, the decompression engine is implemented as a separate dedicated device within the IEEE
1394-1995
serial bus network. After separating the audio and video components, one or both of those components are transmitted from the decompression engine over an isochronous channel on the IEEE 1394-1995 serial bus, to the appropriate devices. When the decompression
Desir Jean W.
Haverstock & Owens LLP
Peng John K.
Sony Corporation
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