SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING COMMUNICATION INTERFACES AND PROTOCOLS

• US 20090022176A1
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: James T. Nguyen
• Original Assignee: James T. Nguyen
• Inventors: Nguyen, James T.
• Application Number:
  US11/969,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20090022176A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/10 Use of a protocol of communication by packets in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052

Abstract

A system and method for converting communication interfaces and protocols is provided. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a system for converting data including a first interface configured to communicate using an HDMI standard, the first interface receiving HDMI data from a plurality of first communication channels, a second interface configured to communicate using a second communication protocol, the second interface having at least one second communication channel, and a circuitry coupled to the first interface and to the second interface, the circuitry configured to receive HDMI data from the first interface, multiplex at least a portion of the HDMI data received via the first interface onto the at least one second communication channel in accordance with the second communication protocol.

Claims

1. A system for converting data comprising:

a first interface configured to communicate using an HDMI standard, the first interface receiving HDMI data from a plurality of first communication channels;

a second interface configured to communicate using a second communication protocol, the second interface having at least one second communication channel; and

a circuitry coupled to the first interface and to the second interface, the circuitry configured to;

receive HDMI data from the first interface;

multiplex at least a portion of the HDMI data received via the first interface onto the at least one second communication channel in accordance with the second communication protocol.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communication interface and second communication protocol are defined by any of SFP, SFP+, and XFP.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communication interface is a serial interface.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the serial interface is configured to use differential signals.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the serial interface is configured to use optical signals.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is reconfigurable such that the circuitry is configured to:

receive HDMI data from the second interface;

de-multiplex at least a portion of the received HDMI data via the second interface onto the plurality of first communication channels in accordance with the HDMI standard.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is capable of communicating bi-directionally using the first interface.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one LED:

wherein the first interface comprises a plurality of signals defined by the HDMI standard; and

wherein the at least one LED is coupled to a signal indicative of one of the plurality of signals, the at least one LED configured to indicate a status of the signal.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one LED:

wherein the first interface comprises a plurality of signals defined by the HDMI standard; and

wherein the at least one LED is coupled to a signal indicative of a combination of any of the plurality of signals, the at least one LED configured to indicate a status of the signal.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the HDMI data comprises both HDMI control information and HDMI audiovisual information.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein system is implemented using any of an FPGA, a CPLD, and an ASIC.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is implemented using any of an FPGA, a CPLD, and an ASIC.

13. The system of claim 1:

wherein the first interface is implemented using a first ASIC for receiving the HDMI data;

wherein the circuitry includes a second ASIC for outputting serial data in accordance with an XFP protocol; and

wherein the circuitry includes an FPGA configured to receive data from the first ASIC and to provide the data received by the FPGA to the second ASIC using a XAUI protocol.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is implemented using a pluggable module form factor.

15. A system for converting data comprising:

a first interface configured to communicate using a first communication protocol, the first interface for receiving serial data from a first communication channel;

a second interface configured to communicate using an HDMI standard, the second interface having a plurality of second communication channels; and

a circuitry coupled to the first interface and to the second interface, the circuitry configured to;

receive the serial data from the first interface; and

de-multiplex at least a portion of the serial data onto the plurality of second communication channels in accordance with the HDMI standard.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first communication interface and first communication protocol are defined by any of SFP, SFP+, and XFP.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first interface is configured to use differential signals.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first interface is configured to use optical signals.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is reconfigurable such that the circuitry is configured to:

receive HDMI data from the second interface;

multiplex at least a portion of the received HDMI data onto the first communication channel in accordance with the first communication protocol.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is capable of communicating bi-directionally using the second interface.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising at least one LED:

wherein the second interface comprises a plurality of signals defined by the HDMI standard; and

wherein the at least one LED is coupled to a signal indicative of one of the plurality of signals, the at least one LED configured to indicate a status of the signal.

22. The system of claim 15, further comprising at least one LED:

wherein the second interface comprises a plurality of signals defined by the HDMI standard; and

wherein the at least one LED is coupled to a signal indicative of a combination of any of the plurality of signals, the at least one LED configured to indicate a status of the signal.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the serial data comprises both HDMI control information and HDMI audiovisual information.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is implemented using any of an FPGA, a CPLD, and an ASIC.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the circuitry is implemented using any of an FPGA, a CPLD, and an ASIC.

26. The system of claim 15:

wherein the first interface is implemented using a first ASIC for receiving the serial data in accordance with any one of an SFP protocol, an SFP+ protocol, and an XFP protocol;

wherein the circuitry includes a second ASIC for outputting HDMI data in accordance with an the HDMI standard; and

wherein the circuitry includes an FPGA configured to receive data from the first ASIC and to provide the data received by the FPGA to the second ASIC using a XAUI protocol.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is implemented using a pluggable module form factor.

28. A method for communicating HDMI information comprising:

receiving HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data from a first interface;

storing the HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data;

multiplexing the HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data into a transmit data stream provided to a second interface;

de-multiplexing HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data from a receive data stream via a second interface;

storing the de-multiplexed HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data from the receive data stream;

providing the de-multiplexed HDMI audiovisual data and HDMI control data to the first interface.