SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING HIGH-DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA SIGNALS OVER FOUR TWISTED-PAIRS

• US 20090238212A1
• Filed: 03/18/2008
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Original Assignee: Transwitch Corporation
• Inventors: Bar-Niv, Amir, Roethig, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 8,098,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/498
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/047 using display data channel standard [DDC] communication
• 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: H04L 7/0008 Synchronisation information channels, e.g. clock distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4122 additional display device, e.g. video projector digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A system and method for transferring high-definition multimedia signals over four twisted-pairs. The system includes a multimedia source for transmitting multimedia data and source-to-sink management data to a multimedia sink over a first channel, a second channel and a third channel wherein the multimedia source is further being capable of transmitting a clock signal to the multimedia sink over a fourth channel; and a multimedia sink for transferring sink-to-source management data to the multimedia source over the fourth channel. The clock signal and the sink-to-source management data are simultaneously transmitted over the fourth channel. Each of the channels comprises a single twisted-pair, thereby the channels can bounded in a twisted pair type cable comprising at least one of: Category 5, Category 5e, Category 6, and Category 6e.

Claims

1. A system for transferring signals, comprising:

a multimedia source for transmitting multimedia data and source-to-sink management data to a multimedia sink over a first channel, a second channel and a third channel, wherein a transfer rate of the multimedia data is higher than a transfer rate of the source-to-sink management data, and wherein the multimedia source is further capable of transmitting a clock signal to the multimedia sink over a fourth channel; and

a multimedia sink for transferring sink-to-source management data to the multimedia source over the fourth channel, wherein a transfer rate of the clock signal is higher than a transfer rate of the sink-to-source management data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the first channel, second channel, third channel and fourth channel comprises a single twisted pair, thereby the signals are transferred over four twisted pairs.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sink-to-source management data and the clock signal are simultaneously transferred over the fourth channel.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia source comprises:

a data multiplexing circuit for interleaving the multimedia data and the source-to-sink management data; and

a source clock and data handler for transferring the clock signal over the forth channel and filtering the sink-to-source management data received on the fourth channel from the multimedia sink.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia sink comprises:

a data demultiplexing circuit for de-interleaving the multimedia data and the source-to-sink management data received on the first channel, the second channel, and the third channel; and

a sink clock and data handler for transferring the sink-to-source management data over the forth channel and filtering the clock signal received on the fourth channel from the multimedia source.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia data comprises at least:

pixel data, audio data, and auxiliary data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the source-to-sink management data is transferred as user-defined control codes.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals are at least high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signals.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the multimedia data comprises transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) characters.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the source-to-sink management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals and consumer electronics control (CEC) signals.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the sink-to-source management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals, consumer electronics control (CEC) signals, and a hot plug detect signal.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the four twisted pairs are bounded in a twisted pair type cable comprising at least one of:

Category 5, Category 5e, Category 6, and Category 6e.

13. A multimedia source adapted to enable the transfer of signals, comprises:

a data multiplexing circuit for transferring multimedia data and sink-to-source management data over a first channel, a second channel, and a third channel; and

a source clock and data handler for filtering a sink-to-source management data received on a fourth channel and for transferring a clock signal to a multimedia sink over the fourth channel.

14. The multimedia source of claim 13, wherein each of the first channel, second channel, third channel and fourth channel comprises a single twisted pair, thereby the signals are transferred over four twisted pairs.

15. The multimedia source of claim 13, wherein the sink-to-source management and the clock signal are simultaneously transmitted over the fourth channel.

16. The multimedia source of claim 13, wherein the data multiplexing circuit comprises:

a first multiplexer for generating the source-to-sink management data;

a second multiplexer for multiplexing the source-to-sink management data with a first stream of the multimedia data;

a third multiplexer for multiplexing the source-to-sink management data with a second stream of the multimedia data; and

a fourth multiplexer for multiplexing the source-to-sink management data with a third stream of the multimedia data.

17. The multimedia source of claim 16, wherein the multimedia data comprises at least one of:

pixel data, audio data, and auxiliary data.

18. The multimedia source of claim 13, wherein the source-to-sink management data is transferred as user-defined control codes.

19. The multimedia source of claim 18, wherein the source clock and data handler comprises:

a low pass filter for filtering the sink-to-source management data;

a demultiplexer for producing signals of the sink-to-source management data; and

a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit for generating the clock signal.

20. The multimedia source of claim 13, wherein the signals are at least high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signals.

21. The multimedia source of claim 20, wherein the multimedia data comprises transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) characters.

22. The multimedia source of claim 20, wherein the source-to-sink management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals and consumer electronics control (CEC) signals.

23. The multimedia source of claim 20, wherein the sink-to-source management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals, consumer electronics control (CEC) signals, and a hot plug detect signal.

24. The multimedia source of claim 14, wherein the four twisted pairs are bounded in a twisted pair type cable comprising at least one of:

Category 5, Category 5e, Category 6, and Category 6e.

25. A multimedia sink adapted to enable the transfer of signals, comprises:

a data demultiplexing circuit for extracting multimedia data and source-to-sink management data transferred over a first channel, a second channel, and a third channel; and

a sink clock and data handler for filtering a clock signal received on a fourth channel and for transferring a sink-to-source management data to a multimedia source over the fourth channel.

26. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein each of the first channel, second channel, third channel and fourth channel comprises a single twisted pair, thereby the signals are transferred over four twisted pairs.

27. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein the sink-to-source management and the clock signal are simultaneously transmitted over the fourth channel.

28. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein the data demultiplexing circuit comprises:

a first demultiplexer for demultiplexing the source-to-sink management data and a first stream of the multimedia data;

a second demultiplexer for demultiplexing the source-to-sink management data and a second stream of the multimedia data; and

a third demultiplexer for demultiplexing the source-to-sink management data and a third stream of the multimedia data; and

a fourth demultiplexer for outputting the signals of the source-to-sink management data.

29. The multimedia sink of claim 28, wherein the multimedia data comprises at least one of:

pixel data, audio data, and auxiliary data.

30. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein the source-to-sink management data is transferred as user-defined control codes.

31. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein the sink clock and data handler comprises:

a high pass filter for filtering the cock signal;

a multiplexer for generating sink-to-source management data; and

a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit for recovering the clock signal.

32. The multimedia sink of claim 25, wherein the signals are at least high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signals.

33. The multimedia sink of claim 32, wherein the multimedia data comprises transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) characters.

34. The multimedia sink of claim 32, wherein the source-to-sink management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals and consumer electronics control (CEC) signals.

35. The multimedia sink of claim 32, wherein the sink-to-source management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals, consumer electronics control (CEC) signals, and a hot plug detect signal.

36. The multimedia sink of claim 26, wherein the four twisted pairs are bounded in a twisted pair type cable comprising at least one of:

Category 5, Category 5e, Category 6, and Category 6e.

37. A method for transferring signals, comprising:

generating source-to-sink management data;

transferring the multimedia data and the source-to-sink management data from a multimedia source to a multimedia sink over a first channel, a second channel, and a third channel by interleaving the source-to-sink management data and multimedia data;

generating sink-to-source management data; and

simultaneously transferring the sink-to-source management data and a clock signal over a forth channel, wherein the sink-to-source management data is transferred from the multimedia sink to the multimedia source and the clock signal is transferred from the multimedia source to the multimedia sink.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein each of the first channel, second channel, third channel and fourth channel comprises a single twisted-pair, thereby the signals are transferred over four twisted pairs.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein a transfer rate of the clock signal is higher than a transfer rate of the sink-to-source management data.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the transfer rate of the multimedia data is higher than a transfer rate of the source-to-sink management data.

41. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

demultiplexing the multimedia data and the source-to-sink management data received on the first channel, the second channel, and the third channel;

filtering the clock signal sent on the fourth channel from the multimedia source; and

filtering the sink-to-source management data sent on the fourth channel from the multimedia sink.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein the signals are at least high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signals.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the multimedia data comprises transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) characters.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the source-to-sink management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals and consumer electronics control (CEC) signals.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the sink-to-source management data comprises at least one of:

display data channel (DDC) signals, consumer electronics control (CEC) signals, and a hot plug detect signal.

46. The method of claim 38, wherein the four twisted pairs are bounded in a twisted pair type cable comprising at least one of:

Category 5, Category 5e, Category 6, and Category 6e.