Auxiliary transport assist processor especially for an MPEG-2 compliant decoder
First Claim
1. A data processing system having a general purpose assist processor external to and operating in conjunction with a data path of operational hardware functional units, wherein said hardware functional units are operational without any processing assistance from said general purpose assist processor, said general purpose assist processor adapted to assist in processing specific blocks of data, or assist in processing only blocks of data with an indicator set, said assist processor also adapted to modify the operation of a functional unit of said operational hardware functional units or the data that it is operating on, and, if necessary, return the data to the data path of the hardware functional units.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An assist processor operates in conjunction with a data path of individual hardware functional units to decode an MPEG-2 compliant data stream. The assist processor has the capacity to assist in processing specific blocks of data, assist in processing every block of data, or assist in processing only blocks of data with an indicator or flag or specific bit or byte set. The assist processor, when notified, modifies the operation of the functional unit or the data that it is operating on, and if necessary, returns the data to the datapath of the hardware functional units. The hardware functional units may operate as an MPEG-2 transport demultiplexor.
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Citations
15 Claims
- 1. A data processing system having a general purpose assist processor external to and operating in conjunction with a data path of operational hardware functional units, wherein said hardware functional units are operational without any processing assistance from said general purpose assist processor, said general purpose assist processor adapted to assist in processing specific blocks of data, or assist in processing only blocks of data with an indicator set, said assist processor also adapted to modify the operation of a functional unit of said operational hardware functional units or the data that it is operating on, and, if necessary, return the data to the data path of the hardware functional units.
- 5. A method of using a data processing system having a general purpose assist processor external to and operating in conjunction with a data path of operational hardware functional units, wherein said hardware functional units are operational without any processing assistance from said general purpose assist processor, said assist processor assisting in processing specific blocks of data, or assisting in processing only blocks of data with an indicator set, wherein the assist processor modifies the operation of a functional unit of said operational hardware functional units or the data that it is operating on, and, if necessary, returns the data to the data path of the hardware functional units.
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9. A system for decoding an MPEG-2 compliant data stream having packets with packet bits, said system comprising:
a transport demultiplexer, said transport demultiplexer comprising; a transport assist port for interfacing the transport demultiplexer to an external general purpose assist processor; a fully operational functional unit, said functional unit being operational without any assistance from said general purpose assist processor; and a packet buffer coupled to said transport assist port and said functional unit for holding packets to be processed by said functional unit, wherein packet bits specify conditions for interruption of said external general purpose assist processor and wherein when interrupted said general purpose assist processor is adapted to modify the operation of the functional unit or the data that it is operating on. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for decoding an MPEG-2 compliant data stream having packets with packet bits, said system comprising:
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a microprocessor; a transport assist port; an on-chip memory bus coupling said microprocessor to said transport assist port; fully operational video, audio, and data unloaders, wherein said video, audio and data unloaders comprise hardware units that are operational without any assistance from said microprocessor; and a packet buffer coupled to said transport assist port and said unloaders for holding packets as they are processed by said unloaders wherein packet bits specify conditions for interruption of said microprocessor, and wherein when interrupted said microprocessor is adapted to modify the operation of an unloader or the data that it is operating on, wherein said packet bits identify when modification is needed.
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14. A method of decoding an MPEG-2-compliant data stream having packets with packet bits in a system including a microprocessor, a transport assist port, a bus coupling said microprocessor to said transport assist port, a fully operational functional unit, and a packet buffer coupled to said transport assist port and said functional unit, said functional unit being operational without any assistance from said microprocessor, said method comprising:
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parsing said packets and recovering said packet bits; delivering said packets to said packet buffer; interrupting said microprocessor based upon content of at least one information field of said packets; and subsequent to interrupting said microprocessor, processing at least one of said packets by said microprocessor to dynamically modify the operation of the functional unit or the data that it is operating on, said dynamically modifying the operation being accomplished by modifying content of an information field within said at least one packet, said content of said information field being used by said functional unit in operating on said data. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification