Transcoding media system

• US 20040054689A1
• Filed: 12/05/2002
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CSR Technology Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oak Technology Partners (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Salmonsen, Daniel R., Cerchio, Gerard J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,505,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440218 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

A proxy subsystem for a media renderer comprises a network interface, a content transfer subsystem coupled to the network interface, a format transcoder coupled to the content transfer subsystem and capable of coupling to a rendering hardware. The proxy subsystem further comprises a connection manager service coupled to the content transfer subsystem and the format transcoder subsystem, and a rendering controller capable of coupling to the rendering hardware.

Claims

1. A proxy subsystem for a media renderer comprising:

a network interface;

a content transfer subsystem coupled to the network interface;

a format transcoder coupled to the content transfer subsystem and capable of coupling to a rendering hardware;

a connection manager service coupled to the content transfer subsystem and the format transcoder subsystem; and

a rendering controller capable of coupling to the rendering hardware.

2. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 further comprising:

a transport service coupled to the content transfer subsystem.

3. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein:

the proxy subsystem functions as proxy for optical disk storage to supply CD or DVD format content from a remote source via the network interface.

4. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 further comprising:

a media renderer, wherein the media renderer is an MPEG decoder and the proxy subsystem is implemented in a computer system that downloads and transcodes media content for streaming video to the MPEG decoder from a DVD player coupled to the proxy subsystem.

5. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder further comprises:

import modules capable of receiving video/audio data streams;

a video and audio frame transformer that receives the video/audio data streams from the import modules; and

export modules that encode data frames.

6. A proxy subsystem according to claim 5 wherein the video and audio frame transformer executes one or more operations including video frame interlacing, fast resizing, and filtering.

7. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder executes one or more of a plurality of operations including demultiplexing, extracting, decoding of source content into raw video/audio streams for import., probing and scanning of source content to enable post-processing of files, setting file header information, merging multiple files, and splitting files for storage.

8. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder executes one or more of a plurality of operations including:

initiating content transfers;

selectively activating modules that transfer, manipulate, and buffer audio and video streams; and

encoding frames.

9. A proxy subsystem according to claim 8 wherein:

the format transcoder initiates content transfers by creating a navigation logfile that contains a frame identification and a related group of picture lists with file offsets.

10. A proxy subsystem according to claim 8 wherein:

the format transcoder can selectively pass through audio and video streams without activating the transfer, manipulate, and buffer modules.

11. A proxy subsystem according to claim 8 wherein:

the manipulate modules include modules that selectively manipulate video frames including;

removing an arbitrary frame region for processing;

de-interlacing a video frame;

enlarging or reducing video width or height;

filtering for image resizing;

removing an arbitrary frame region for encoding;

downsampling of video width/height;

video frame flipping or mirror imaging;

gamma correction;

anti-aliasing; and

color manipulations; and

the manipulate modules include modules that selectively manipulate audio frames including;

volume changes;

audio stream resampling; and

synchronizing video and audio frames.

12. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder transcodes content to and from a plurality of formats including one or more of MPEG video, Digital Video (DV), MPEG elementary (ES) or program streams (VOB), YUV4 MPEG streams, NuppelVideo file format and raw or compressed (pass-through) video frames and export modules for writing DivX, OpenDivX, DivX 4.xx, uncompressed AVI files with MPEG, AC3 (pass-through), and PCM audio.

13. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder transcodes content from JPEG to MPEG.

14. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder transcodes content from low quality digital video to high quality MPEG.

15. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder transcodes an MP3 media file to a Dolby AC3 pulse-coded modulation (PCM) format.

16. A proxy subsystem according to claim 1 wherein the format transcoder transcodes any transcribable media for viewing on a DVD player.

17. A method of transcoding media content for renderer comprising:

receiving video/audio data streams;

initiating content transfers by creating a navigation logfile that contains a frame identification and a related group of picture lists with file offsets;

selectively transferring, manipulating, and buffering audio and video streams and encoding the data frames.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein manipulation operations are selected from among a group comprising:

manipulating video frames comprising;

removing an arbitrary frame region for processing;

de-interlacing a video frame;

enlarging or reducing video width or height;

filtering for image resizing;

removing an arbitrary frame region for encoding;

downsampling of video width/height;

video frame flipping or mirror imaging;

gamma correcting;

anti-aliasing; and

color manipulationing; and

manipulating audio frames including;

changing volume;

audio stream resampling; and

synchronizing video and audio frames.

19. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a network controller coupled to the processor;

a storage interface coupled to the processor;

an emulation processor coupled to the storage interface and capable of emulating a storage device from information received from a network via the network controller; and

a content transfer subsystem executable on the emulation processor; and

a format transcoder executable on the emulation processor.

20. A computer system according to claim 19 further comprising:

a network controller; and

an interface controller coupled to the network controller and capable of coupling to the computer bus, the interface controller including the emulation processor that emulates bus data and control signals of the host and at least one of the devices.

21. A computer system according to claim 20 further comprising:

a processor coupled to the interface controller and capable of executing multiple functions including control, data transfer, emulation, transcoding, data storage, interfacing, and test operations.

22. A computer system according to claim 20 further comprising:

a interface processor coupled to the interface controller; and

a storage coupled to the interface controller and capable of storing data and program code executable on the interface processor including program code for emulating bus data and control signals of the host, program code for emulating bus data and control signals of a device, and program code for selecting and seamlessly combining communication of actual bus data and control signals and emulated bus data and control signals on the computer bus.

23. A computer system according to claim 19 wherein the format transcoder executes one or more of a plurality of operations including:

initiating content transfers;

selectively activating modules that transfer, manipulate, and buffer audio and video streams; and

encoding frames.

24. A computer system according to claim 19 wherein:

the format transcoder initiates content transfers by creating a navigation logfile that contains a frame identification and a related group of picture lists with file offsets.

25. A computer system according to claim 24 wherein:

the format transcoder can selectively pass through audio and video streams without activating the transfer, manipulate, and buffer modules.

26. A computer system according to claim 24 wherein:

the manipulate modules include modules that selectively manipulate video frames including;

removing an arbitrary frame region for processing;

de-interlacing a video frame;

enlarging or reducing video width or height;

filtering for image resizing;

removing an arbitrary frame region for encoding;

downsampling of video width/height;

video frame flipping or mirror imaging;

gamma correction;

anti-aliasing; and

color manipulations; and

the manipulate modules include modules that selectively manipulate audio frames including;

volume changes;

audio stream resampling; and

synchronizing video and audio frames.

27. A video system comprising:

a video display;

a decoder coupled to the video display that decodes video information in a native format;

a network controller capable of coupling to an external network; and

a transcoder coupled to the decoder and to the network controller, the transcoder being capable of;

manipulating data and control signals into compliance with the native format;

receiving network information in a format different from the native format from the external network; and

supplying the network information in the native format to the decoder.

28. A video system according to claim 27 wherein:

the transcoder is capable of analyzing data and signals to determine format of a presented information and whether the presented information format is a format supported by the decoder and, if not, reformatting the presented information to the supported format.

29. A video system according to claim 27 wherein:

the transcoder is capable of analyzing data and control signals for commands and responses to determine a format supported by the decoder, determining whether information received from an external network does not comply with the supported format, and, if not, converting the information received from the external network to the supported format.

30. A video system according to claim 27 wherein:

the transcoder is capable of receiving signals from the external network and manipulating the signals so that the decoder functions as if receiving signals from a standard information source device, seamlessly supplying content to the device from multiple diverse-format sources.

31. A video system according to claim 27 wherein:

the network controller supports one or more information transfer protocols selected from among broadband, IEEE-1394 high-speed serial bus, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC-61883) Standard that describes;

Isochronous Plug Control Registers, Connection Management Protocol (CMP), Function Control Protocol (FCP), Common Isochronous Packet (CIP) headers, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP GET/PUT/POST), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

32. An information handling system comprising:

means for receiving video/audio data streams;

means for initiating content transfers by creating a navigation logfile that contains a frame identification and a related group of picture lists with file offsets;

means for selectively transferring, manipulating, and buffering audio and video streams and

means for encoding the data frames.

33. An information handling system according to claim 32 further comprising means selected from among a group comprising:

means for manipulating video frames comprising;

means for removing an arbitrary frame region for processing;

means for de-interlacing a video frame;

means for enlarging or reducing video width or height;

means for filtering for image resizing;

means for removing an arbitrary frame region for encoding;

means for downsampling of video width/height;

means for video frame flipping or mirror imaging;

means for gamma correcting;

means for anti-aliasing; and

means for color manipulationing; and

means for manipulating audio frames including;

means for changing volume;

means for audio stream resampling; and

means for synchronizing video and audio frames.