Method and apparatus for compressing video and voice signals according to different standards
First Claim
1. Apparatus for variably compressing first and second signals in order to contemporaneously fit both said first and said second signals in compressed form into an available band width with each compressed signal utilizing a corresponding portion of said available band width, the apparatus comprising;
- a first processor for processing the first signal;
a second processor for processing the second signal; and
computer memory for storing a plurality of instruction sets each corresponding to respective different compression algorithms;
the first processor being programmed by a first instruction set which is selected from the plurality of instruction sets stored in the computer memory in order to compress said first signal to utilize a corresponding first portion of said available band width;
the second processor being programmed by a second instruction set which is selected from the plurality of instruction sets stored in the computer memory in order to compress said second signal to substantially utilize a corresponding second portion of said available band width, which second portion is equal to said available band width minus said first portion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for compressing and decompressing audio and video signals. The audio and video signals can be compressed and decompressed according to different standards, such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. The audio and video signals can also be compressed and decompressed at different rates. Compression rates can be varied to fit the audio and video signals into a narrow transmission bandwidth, such as an RF transmission bandwidth.
157 Citations
24 Claims
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1. Apparatus for variably compressing first and second signals in order to contemporaneously fit both said first and said second signals in compressed form into an available band width with each compressed signal utilizing a corresponding portion of said available band width, the apparatus comprising;
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a first processor for processing the first signal; a second processor for processing the second signal; and computer memory for storing a plurality of instruction sets each corresponding to respective different compression algorithms; the first processor being programmed by a first instruction set which is selected from the plurality of instruction sets stored in the computer memory in order to compress said first signal to utilize a corresponding first portion of said available band width; the second processor being programmed by a second instruction set which is selected from the plurality of instruction sets stored in the computer memory in order to compress said second signal to substantially utilize a corresponding second portion of said available band width, which second portion is equal to said available band width minus said first portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. Apparatus for compressing audio and video signals, comprising:
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a first plurality of memory devices which each store different audio compression instruction sets for compressing the audio signal; a first processor that is programmable to compress the audio signal, the first processor being programmed by a selected one audio compression instruction set stored in a selected one of the memory devices of the first plurality; an audio formatter for generating packet headers for the compressed audio signal; an audio transport processor for dividing the compressed audio signal into audio packet data and for adding an audio packet header to each audio packet data; a second plurality of memory devices which each store different video compression instruction sets for compressing the video signal; a second processor that is programmable to compress the video signal, the second processor being programmed by a selected one video compression instruction set stored in a selected one of the memory devices of the second plurality; a video formatter for generating video packet headers for the compressed video signal; a video transport processor for dividing the compressed video signal into video packet data and for adding a video packet header to each video packet data; a multiplexer for multiplexing together the outputs of the first and second transport processors; and a control loop for selecting one instruction set from said first plurality of memory devices and one instruction set from said second plurality of memory devices for respectively programming said first and said second processors in order to compress the audio and video signals to fit together within a predetermined bandwidth. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. Apparatus for decompressing audio and video transport packets, each packet including a packet header and packet data, a packet header indicating whether the corresponding packet data includes a compression rate and type, the apparatus comprising:
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a buffer; a latch; a first plurality of memory devices which store different instruction sets for decompressing the audio packet data; a second plurality of memory devices which store different instruction sets for decompressing the video packet data; an inverse transport processor, responsive to the audio and video transport packets, for storing packet data in the buffer and for storing the compression rates and types in the latch; a first digital signal processor for decompressing the audio packet data stored in the buffer at the rate specified in the latch, the first digital signal processor being programmed to perform decompression by the instruction set stored in a selected one of the memory devices in the first group; and a second digital signal processor for decompressing the video packet data stored in the buffer at the rate specified in the latch, the second digital signal processor being programmed to perform decompression by the instruction set stored in a selected one of the memory devices in the second group. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method for variably compressing and decompressing first and second signals in order to contemporaneously fit both the compressed first and second signals into an available band width , said method comprising steps of:
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storing in computer memory a plurality of instruction sets each corresponding to different algorithms for signal compression and decompression; selecting first and second instruction sets from the plurality of instruction sets in the computer memory; programming a first processor with the first selected instruction set to compress and decompress the first signal; and programming a second processor with the second selected instruction set to compress and decompress the second signal. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method of compressing audio and video signals, comprising the steps of:
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storing in computer memory a first plurality of instruction sets for compressing the audio signal; selecting a first instruction set from the first plurality; programming a first processor with the selected first instruction set, the first processor being programmed to compress the audio signal; generating audio packet headers for the compressed audio signal; dividing the compressed audio signal into audio packet data; adding an audio packet header to each audio packet data to form audio transport packets; storing in computer memory a second plurality of instruction sets for compressing the video signal; selecting a second instruction set from the second plurality; programming a second processor with the selected second instruction set, the second processor being programmed to compress the video signal; generating video packet headers for the compressed video signal; dividing the compressed video signal into video packet data; adding a video packet header to each video packet data to form video transport packets; and multiplexing together the video and audio transport packets into a single stream. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A method of decompressing audio and video transport packets, each packet including a packet header and packet data, a packet header indicating whether the corresponding packet data includes a compression rate and type, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in computer memory a first plurality of instruction sets for decompressing the audio transport packets; selecting a first instruction set from the first plurality; storing in computer memory a second plurality of instruction sets for decompressing the video transport packets; selecting a second instruction set from the second plurality; storing audio packet data in one area of memory and video packet data in another area of memory; determining whether compression rate and type are included in the packet data; storing the compression rate and type in yet another area of memory; programming a first digital signal processor to decompress the audio packet data at the stored rate, the first digital signal processor being programmed with the first instruction set; and programming a second digital signal processor to decompress the video packet data at the stored rate, the second digital signal processor being programmed with the second instruction set.
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Specification