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| CATV telephone system |
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| Disc cartridge, optical disk device, and method for information recording and reproducing |
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| Communications, particularly in the domestic environment |
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| Method and apparatus for detecting and viewing similar programs within a video system |
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Remultiplexer for video program bearing transport streams with program clock reference time stamp adjustment
| Details |
Inventors: Slattery, William; Gratacap, Regis;
Assignee: SkyStream Corporation (Mountain View, CA)
Primary Examiner: Ngo; Ricky
Assistant Examiner: Pham; Brenda H.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Proskauer Rose LLP
A method and system are provided for remultiplexing program bearing data. The remultiplexing method and system are applicable to MPEG-2 compliant transport streams carrying video programs. A descriptor based system is used for scheduling the timely output of transport packets wherein each descriptor records a dispatch time as well as a receipt time for each transport packet. The receipt time is used for estimating program clock reference adjustments, but final program clock reference adjustment is performed in hardware in relation to the precise output timing of each transport packets. A descriptor and transport packet caching technique is used for decoupling the synchronous receipt and transmission of transport packets from any asynchronous processing performed thereon. The descriptors can also be used for managing scrambling and descrambling control words (encryption and decryption keys). Remultiplexing functions may be distributed across a network. The remultiplexer can furthermore optimize the bandwidth of transport streams by replacing null transport packets with transport packet data to be inserted into the output transport stream. Program data transmitted via asynchronous communication links is re-timed and assistance is provided for outputting program data on such asynchronous communication links to reduce a variation in end-to-end delay incurred by the program data. Remultiplexing and program specific information can be seamlessly dynamically varied without stopping, or introducing a discontinuity in, the flow of outputted transport packets. A technique is also provided for locking multiple internal reference clock generators. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For sake of clarity, the description of the invention is divided into sections.
Remultiplexer Environment and Overview FIG.
1 shows a basic remultiplexing environment 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
A controller 20 provides instructions to a remultiplexer 30 using, for example, any remote procedure call (RPC) protocol.
Examples of RPCs that can be used include the digital distributed computing environment protocol (DCE) and the open network computing protocol (ONC).
DCE and ONC are network protocols employing protocol stacks that allow a client process to execute a subroutine either locally on the same platform (e.
g.
, controller 20) or on a remote, different platform (e.
g.
, in remultiplexer 30).
In other words, the client process can issue control instructions by simple subroutine calls.
The DCF or ONC processes issue the appropriate signals and commands to the remultiplexer 30 for effecting the desired control.
The controller 20 may be in the form of a computer, such as a PC compatible computer.
The controller 20 includes a processor 21, such as one or more Intel.
TM.
Pentium II.
TM.
integrated is, circuits, a main memory 23, a disk memory 25, a monitor and keyboard/mouse 27 and one or more I/O devices 29 connected to a bus 24.
The I/O device 29 is any suitable I/O device 29 for communicating with the remultiplexer 30, depending on how the remultiplexer 30 is implemented.
Examples of such an I/O device 29 include an RS-422 interface, an Ethernet interface, a modem, and a USB interface.
The remultiplexer 30 is implemented with one or more networked "black boxes".
In the example remultiplexer architecture described below, the remultiplexer 30 black boxes may be stand alone PC compatible computers that are interconnected by communications inks such as Ethernet, ATM or DS3 communications links.
For example, remultiplexer 30 includes one or more black boxes which each are stand alone PC compatible computers interconnected by an Ethernet network (10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T or 1000 BASE-Tr, etc
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