Method Of Controlling Power States In A Multimedia System

• US 20080232209A1
• Filed: 08/18/2006
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Vergoossen, Theodorus Anna Peter Gertrudis, Driesen, Bas
• Granted Patent: US 8,042,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 369/47.5
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44245 Monitoring the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. its availability, bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4436 Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

This invention relates to controlling the power states in a multimedia system comprising a multimedia connector box including a multimedia source interconnected to a transmitter module, and a multimedia device including a receiver module interconnected to a multimedia sink, wherein the transmitter and the vice via multimedia interfacing means. A signal detector detects the signal activity between the power sources of the multimedia system for determining the current power state of the power sources, and a power switching mechanism adapts the power states of the transmitter and receiving modules to the power states of the power sources.

Claims

1. A method of detecting and controlling the power states in a multimedia system, the system comprising a multimedia connector box (201) including a multimedia source (203) interconnected to a transmitter module (204) and a multimedia device (202) including a receiver module (205) interconnected to a multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205) are interfaced via multimedia interfacing means (210), and wherein the transmitter module (204) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia source (203), the method comprising:

on the connector box (201) side;

determining (101) the power state of the multimedia source (203),

switching (103) the power state of the transmitter module (204) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia source (203),

wherein information indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) is provided (105) to the receiver module (205); and

on the multimedia device (202) side;

switching (107) the power state of the receiver module (204) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia source (203).

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the receiver module (205) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia sink (206), the method further comprising:

on the multimedia device side (202);

determining the power state of the multimedia sink (206),

switching the power state of the receiver module (205) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia sink (206),

wherein information indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) is provided to the transmitter module (204); and

on the connector box side (201);

switching the power state of the transmitter module (204) to the same power states as determined for the multimedia sink (206).

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing information to the receiver module (205) indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) comprises transmitting data indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) to the receiver module (205).

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing information to the receiver module (205) indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) is based on the signal activity at the transmitter module (204) or the multimedia source (203), wherein the receiver module (205) is adapted to automatically detect the signal activity and based thereon determined the current power state of the transmitter module.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing information to the transmitter module (204) indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) comprises transmitting data indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) to the transmitter module (204).

6. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing information to the transmitter module (204) indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) is based on the signal activity at the receiver module (205) or the multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter module (204) is adapted to automatically detect the signal activity and based thereon determined the current power state of the receiver module.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the power state comprises detecting the signal activity either on the High-Definition-Multimedia-Interface Transition-Minimized-Differential-Signaling (HDMI TMDS) lines, the clock line or the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) line.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of determining the power state comprises detecting the signal activity either on the High-Definition-Multimedia-Interface Transition-Minimized-Differential-Signaling (HDMI TMDS) lines, the clock line or the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) line.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the power state of the transmitter module and accordingly the multimedia source (203) comprises detecting the signal activity (209a) between the transmitter module (204) and the receiver module (205).

10. A method according to claim 6, wherein the step of determining the power state of the receiver module and accordingly the multimedia sink (203) comprises detecting the signal activity (209b) between the receiver module (204) and the transmitter module (206).

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein if the detected signal activity results that no activity is detected over a pre-defined time interval the power state of the power sources is determined to be in stand-by state (STB) or off state (OFF), otherwise the power state of the power sources is determined to be in on state (ON).

12. A computer readable media for storing instructions for enabling a processing unit to execute the method steps in claim 1.

13. A communication protocol arranged to implement a power control of a multimedia system comprising a multimedia connector box including a multimedia source interconnected to a transmitter module (204) and a multimedia device including a receiver module (205) interconnected to a multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205) are interfaced via multimedia interfacing means (210), and wherein the transmitter module (204) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia source (203) and wherein the receiver module (is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia sink (206), wherein information indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) are provided to the receiver module (205), or vice verse, information indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) are provided to the transmitter module (204), wherein the information are used for harmonizing the power mode of the system.

14. A communication protocol according to claim 13, wherein the information is provided by sending +5V signal state and a HPD signal state across the optically or wirelessly medium.

15. A system (220) adapted for detecting and controlling the power states in a multimedia system, the system comprising a multimedia connector box (201) including a multimedia source (203) interconnected to a transmitter module (204) and a multimedia device (202) including a receiver module (205) interconnected to a multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205) are interfaced via multimedia interfacing means (210), wherein the transmitter module (204) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia source (203) and wherein the receiver module (205) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia sink (206), the system comprising:

on the connector box side (201);

a power detector (207a) adapted determine the power state of the multimedia source (203),

a switching mechanism (208a) adapted to switch the power state of the transmitter module (204) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia source (203),

wherein information indicating the current power state of the multimedia source (203) is provided to the receiver module (205);

on the multimedia device side (202);

a switching mechanism (208b) adapted to switch the power state of the receiver module (205) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia source (203).

16. A system according to claim 15, further comprising:

on the multimedia device side (202);

a power detector (207b) adapted determine the power state of the multimedia sink (206);

wherein the switching mechanism (208b) is adapted to switch the power state of the receiver module (205) to the same power state as determined for the multimedia sink (206), wherein information indicating the current power state of the multimedia sink (206) are provided to the transmitter module (204).

17. A system according to claim 15, wherein the multimedia interfacing means comprises High-Definition-Multimedia-Interface (HDMI), or digital uncompressed video and audio interfacing means.

18. A system according to claim 15, wherein the transmitter and receiving modules are connecter together either optically or wirelessly.

19. A system according to claim 15, further comprising a stand-by mechanism implemented in the connector box and display and which is independent of the multimedia interfacing means (210) and the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205), wherein either the connector box or the display takes up the role as master and where the master puts the slave in standby by using a predefined handshake mechanism over a predefined communication protocol.

20. A system according to claim 15, wherein the connector box acts (201) as a master and multimedia device (202) as a slave.

21. A system according to claim 15, wherein a handshake is used to go to stand-by mode and to come out of the stand-by mode.

22. A mechanism (200a, 200b) adapted to be implemented in a multimedia system for controlling the power states in the system, the system comprising a multimedia connector box (201) including a multimedia source (203) interconnected to a transmitter module (204) and a multimedia device (202) including a receiver module (205) interconnected to a multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205) are interfaced via multimedia interfacing means (210), and wherein the transmitter module (204) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia source (203) and wherein the receiver module (205) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia sink (206), the mechanism comprising:

a power detector (207, 207b) adapted to detect the power state of the multimedia source or sink (203, 206), and

a power switching mechanism (208a, 208b) adapted to switch the power state of the transmitter or receiver modules (204, 205) to the same power state as detected for the multimedia source or sink (203, 206).

23. A mechanism according to claim 22, wherein the mechanism is further adapted to send +5V signal state and Hot-Plug-Detect (HPD) signal state across the multimedia interfacing means.

24. A method performed in a mechanism (200a, 200b), where the mechanism (200a, 200b) is adapted to be implemented in a multimedia system for controlling the power states in the system, the system comprising a multimedia connector box (201) including a multimedia source (203) interconnected to a transmitter module (204) and a multimedia device (202) including a receiver module (205) interconnected to a multimedia sink (206), wherein the transmitter and the receiver modules (204, 205) are interfaced via multimedia interfacing means (210), and wherein the transmitter module (204) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia source (203) and wherein the receiver module (205) is capable of having a power state which is different to a power state of the multimedia sink (206), the method comprising:

detecting the power state of the multimedia source/sink (203, 206), and

switching the power state of the transmitter/receiver modules (204, 205) to the same power state as detected for the multimedia source/sink (203, 206).