DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG.
2 shows a remultiplexer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown, the remultiplexer 100 has a main board 130, an I-bus 120 and one or more data link modules (DLMs) 110.
Illustratively, the remultiplexer 100 can support up to four DLMs 110.
The main board 130 and I-bus 120 of the remultiplexer 100 are of an identical hardware architecture as the main board 30 and I-bus 20 of the program encoder 10 of FIG.
1.
Like the program encoder 10 of FIG.
1, the remultiplexer main board 130 has a processor 131, memory 133, downstream message sender 135, upstream message sender 137, Ethernet controller 139, scheduler 141, system time clock 143, PCR insertion circuit 145, output formatter 147, upstream message receivers 151, 153 HOTLinks.
TM.
transmitters 163, 167, HOTLinks.
TM.
receivers 161, 165 and parallel interface 169.
The PCR inserter 145 plays no role in the remultiplexer 100.
On the other hand, the upstream message sender 137, which is not used in the program encoder 10, is utilized in the remultiplexer 100.
The other circuits 131, 133, 135, 139, 141, 143, 147, 151, 153, 161, 163, 165, 167, 169 perform functions that have similarities to their counterparts 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 47, 51, 53, 61, 63, 65, 67 and 69 in the program encoder 10.
The differences in function/operation lie in how these circuits cooperate together or respond to different received signals.
Such differences operation may be achieved by virtue of changing the software provided to the processor 131 which controls the operation of the remultiplexer 100.
The operation of these devices is discussed in greater detail below.
The DLM 110 has plural, e.
g.
, four, input M2S ports labeled M2S port 3, M2S port 4, M2S port 5 and M2S port 6.
Illustratively, each input can be connected to a cable which carries a serial bitstream according to Cypress.
TM.
's HOTLinks.
TM.
protocol (i.
e.
, at 108 MHZ).
Each M2S input port provides for bidirectional communication.
While each port is bidirectional, they are referred to as input ports to indicate the direction of flow of the to-be-remultiplexed transport streams into the remultiplexer 100
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