System for Dynamic Audio Visual Capabilities Exchange

• US 20150326638A1
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Published: 11/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Silicon Image, Inc. (Lattice Semiconductor Corporation)
• Inventors: Yarygin, Sergey
• Granted Patent: US 10,637,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A sink device transmits capabilities information associated with the sink device to the source device. The source device, responsive to receiving the capabilities information of the sink device generates a multimedia stream, and transmits the generated multimedia stream to the sink device to be output to the user. The sink device identifies a portion of the capabilities information that has changed and transmits to the source device a notification notifying the source device that a portion of the capabilities information has changed. The source device transmits a request for the portion of the capabilities information that has changed to the sink device. The sink device responsive to receiving the request transmits the portion of the capabilities information that has changed to the source device. The source device then modifies the multimedia stream output to the sink device based on the portion of the capabilities information that has changed.

Claims

1. A method of communicating audio visual capabilities, the method comprising:

transmitting, from a first device to a second device, capabilities information of the first device, the capabilities information of the first device identifying the audio visual capabilities of the first device;

transmitting, from the second device to the first device, a multimedia stream based on the capabilities information of the first device;

identifying, at the first device, a change in a portion of the capabilities information of the first device;

transmitting, from the first device to the second device, only a subset of the capabilities information that includes the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device; and

modifying, at the second device, a multimedia stream being sent from the second device to the first device based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the first device to the second device, information notifying the second device of the change in a portion of the capabilities information of the first device, the information including the tag identifying the portion of the capabilities information of the first device that has changed;

transmitting, from the second device to the first device based on the tag, a request for the portion of the capabilities information that has changed; and

responsive to the request, receiving at the second device from the first device, the portion of the capabilities information of the first device that has changed.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

retrieving, at the first device, responsive to the request, the portion of the capabilities information of the first device that has changed based on the tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying, at the second device, a multimedia stream being sent from the second device to the first device based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device comprises:

determining, by the second device that the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device is associated with a visual capability of the first device; and

restarting, the multimedia stream being sent from the second device to the first device, the restarted multimedia stream accommodating the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying, at the second device, a multimedia stream being sent from the second device to the first device based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device comprises:

determining, by the second device that the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device is not associated with a visual capability of the first device; and

modifying the multimedia stream being sent from the second device to the first device without restarting the multimedia stream.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein first and second device communicate through a multimedia link, the capabilities information is transmitted via a control channel of the multimedia link and the video stream is transmitted via a multimedia channel of the multimedia link.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the first device to the second device, status information of the first device, the status information of the first device identifying the status of the first device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the second device to the first device, metadata information associated with the multimedia stream.

9. A first device, comprising:

an interface circuit to communicate with a second device that is a source of a multimedia stream for the first device; and

a memory storing instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to;

transmit, to the second device, capabilities information of the first device, the capabilities information of the first device identifying the audio visual capabilities of the first device;

identify a change in a portion of the capabilities information of the first device; and

transmit, to the second device, only a subset of the capabilities information that includes the changed portion of the capabilities information of the first device.

10. The first device of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to:

transmit, to the second device, information notifying the second device of the change in the portion of the capabilities information of the first device, the information including a tag identifying the portion of the capabilities information of the first device that has changed; and

receive, from the second device, a request for the changed portion of the capabilities information based on the tag included in the notification,

wherein the subset of the capabilities information is transmitted responsive to receiving the request for the changed portion.

11. The first device of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to:

receive, responsive to transmitting only the subset of the capabilities information that includes the changed portion of the capabilities information the first device to the second device, a modified multimedia stream from the second device.

12. The first device of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to:

transmit, to the second device, status information of the first device, the status information of the first device identifying the status of the first device.

13. The first device of claim 9, the instructions further comprising instructions to:

receive, from the second device, metadata information associated with a multimedia stream.

14. The first device of claim 9, wherein first and second device communicate through a multimedia link, the capabilities information is transmitted via a control channel of the multimedia link and the multimedia stream is received by the first device via a multimedia channel of the multimedia link.

15. A first device, comprising:

an interface circuit to communicate with a second device;

a memory storing instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to;

receive, from a second device, capabilities information of the second device, the capabilities information of the second device identifying audio visual capabilities of the second device;

transmit a multimedia stream to the second device based on the capabilities information of the second device;

receive, from the second device, only a subset of the capabilities information that includes a changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device; and

modify, based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device, the multimedia stream output to the second device.

16. The first device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive, from the second device, information indicating a change in a portion of the capabilities information of the second device, the information including a tag identifying the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device;

transmit, based on the tag, a request to the second device requesting the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device,

wherein the subset of the capabilities information is received responsive to transmitting the request to the second device.

17. The first device of claim 15, wherein modify, based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device, the multimedia stream output to the second device comprises:

determine that the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device is associated with a visual capability of the second device; and

restarting, the multimedia stream output to the second device, the restarted multimedia stream accommodating the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device.

18. The first device of claim 15, wherein modify, based on the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device, the multimedia stream output to the second device comprises:

determine that the changed portion of the capabilities information of the second device is not associated with a visual capability of the second device; and

modify the multimedia stream output to the second device without restarting the multimedia stream.

19. The first device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive, from the second device, status information of the second device, the status information of the second device identifying the status of the second device.

20. The first device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

transmit metadata information associated with a multimedia stream to the second device.

21. The first device of claim 15, wherein first and second device communicate through a multimedia link, the capabilities information is received via a control channel of the multimedia link and the multimedia stream is transmitted via a multimedia channel of the multimedia link.