Transport processor for processing multiple transport streams

• US 7,149,230 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2002
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Coffin, III, Louis F., Prakash, Deepak, Lundblad, James A., Tirva, Victor A., Galicia, Geroncio G., Brown, Paul B., Baldwin, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): LY, ANH VU H
• Application Number:
  US10/094,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20030169783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/536
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42615 involving specific demultiplexing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/434 Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream demultiplexing of data packets for data networks, e.g. RTP/UDP H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4385 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43853 involving multiplex stream decryption arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23

Abstract

A processing apparatus for processing multiple video programs from one or more transport streams. The processing apparatus has a transport processing circuit that includes multiple transport processor units. The transport processor units utilize a common transport processor memory unit having demux context entries containing processing and hardware state information for packet types. Each transport processor unit includes a transport interface for identifying data packets to be acquired from the transport stream, a demultiplexing processor for processing the acquired data packets, and a demultiplexing DMA unit for memory handling operations of the processed data packets. Index chaining allows the transport processor units to access information from the transport processor memory unit. The method uses indices to access demux context entries from the transport processor memory unit. Related DMA indices are used to access memory handling information from the transport processor memory unit.

Claims

1. A processing apparatus which simultaneously processes a plurality of transport streams that include data packets, the processing apparatus comprising:

a transport processor memory; and

a plurality of transport processor units that commonly utilize the transport processor memory, wherein the transport processor memory includes a plurality of demultiplexing contexts for maintaining information for data packets acquired by the transport processor units, and wherein each of the transport processor units comprises;

a transport interface that identifies the data packets to acquire from an incoming transport stream;

a demultiplexing processor that performs processing operations on the acquired data packets; and

a demultiplexing direct memory access (DMA) unit that determines where the acquired data packets are to be transported.

2. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the transport interface generates a time stamp in header information of the acquired data packets to allow for clock recovery.

3. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the demultiplexing processor performs filtering operations on the acquired data packets.

4. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 3, further comprising a DMA switch which arbitrates transport of DMA packet information from among the demultiplexing DMA units of the plurality of transport processor units.

5. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein the demultiplexing DMA unit has a DMA random access memory for buffering packet information for transfer through the DMA switch.

6. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 4, further comprising a playback DMA, wherein the DMA switch further comprises a playback DMA interface for sending DMA information to the playback DMA.

7. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the playback DMA can selectively send information back to one of the transport processor units and a component external to the processing apparatus.

8. A processing apparatus for simultaneously processing a plurality of transport streams that include data packets, the processing apparatus comprising:

a shared context storage; and

a plurality of transport processor units that commonly utilize the shared context storage, wherein the shared context storage includes a plurality of demultiplexing contexts for maintaining information for data packets acquired by the transport processor units, and wherein each of the plurality of transport processor units comprises;

a transport interface that identifies the data packets to acquire from an incoming transport stream;

a demultiplexing processor that performs processing operations on the acquired data packets; and

a demultiplexing direct memory access (DMA) unit that determines where the acquired data packets are to be transported.

9. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 8, further comprising a shared filter storage shared among the plurality of transport processor units, wherein the demultiplexing contexts point to the location of filters in the shared filter storage.

10. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the shared context storage has a plurality of DMA contexts for storing an address and a length of DMA buffers in which the information for the data packets is stored.

11. A processing apparatus which simultaneously processes a plurality of transport streams that include data packets, the processing apparatus comprising:

means for storing information; and

a plurality of means for processing incoming transport streams, wherein the plurality of means for processing commonly utilize the means for storing information, wherein the means for storing information includes a plurality of demultiplexing contexts for maintaining information for data packets acquired by the transport processor units, and wherein each of the plurality of means for processing comprises;

means for identifying the data packets to acquire from an incoming transport stream;

means for performing processing operations on the acquired data packets; and

means for determining where the acquired data packets are to be transported.

12. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the plurality of means for processing comprise at least four transport processor units.

13. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein:

each of the plurality of means for processing processes one of the incoming transport streams;

the incoming transport streams processed by the plurality of means for processing comprise different copies of the same incoming transport stream; and

each means for processing performs a different demultiplexing operation on the copy of the incoming transport stream that corresponds thereto.

14. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein one or more of the incoming transport streams comprise input from a playback DMA associated with the processing apparatus.

15. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein one or more of the incoming transport streams comprise input from an external system source not originating from the processing apparatus.

16. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein one or more of the incoming transport streams comprise input from a source external to a system that includes the processing apparatus.

17. A processing apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the number of incoming transport streams exceeds the number of means for processing and wherein the processing apparatus further comprises means for selecting one of the transport streams to be processed by each of the means for processing.

18. In a video processing device configured to receive a plurality of incoming transport streams, the video processing device having a shared context storage and a plurality of transport processor units, a method for processing data packets comprising the acts of:

receiving data packets each having a packet identifier;

filtering the data packets by comparing the packet identifier of each of the received data packets with a data structure that specifies the packet identifiers of data packets that are to be acquired;

processing the filtered data packets using information included in one of a plurality of demultiplexing contexts stored in the shared context storage, the demultiplexing contexts maintaining status information of data packets processed by the video processing device; and

sending video data included in the data packets to buffers identified using information included in one of a plurality of direct memory access (DMA) contexts stored in the shared context storage, the DMA contexts maintaining the buffer information for data packets processed by the video processing device.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the buffers comprise ping pong buffers.

20. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the buffers comprise ring buffers.

21. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the information contained in each DMA context includes an address and a length of the buffer to which the video data is to be sent.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the information contained in each of the DMA contexts further includes information relating to special processing of packets, wherein the information relating to special processing is included in control fields of the DMA contexts, and wherein the information relating to special processing includes at least one of interrupt information, new buffer information, and buffer repeat information.

23. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the method comprises performing the acts of receiving, filtering, processing and sending the data packets by each of the plurality of transport processor units substantially simultaneously such that the video processing device processes the plurality of transport streams substantially simultaneously.

24. In a video processing device configured to receive a plurality of incoming transport streams that include data packets, the video processing device having a plurality of transport processor units that utilize a common transport memory to maintain information associated with data packets processed by the video processing device, a method for processing a data packet using an index associated with the data packet, the method comprising the acts oft:

receiving a data packet at a transport interface of one of the transport processor units;

generating an index associated with the received data packet;

accessing first information from the common transport memory using the index, wherein the first information enables a demultiplexing processor of said one of the transport processor units to perform a processing operation on the data packet; and

accessing second information from the common transport memory using the index, wherein the second information enables a demultiplexing direct memory access (DMA) unit of said one of the transport processors to identify a buffer in which video data included in the data packet is to be stored.

25. A method as recited in claim 24, further comprising the act of selectively descrambling the video data included in the data packet using the first information accessed from the common transport memory.

26. A method as recited in claim 24, further comprising the act of filtering video information included the data packet using a filter from a shared filter storage, the filter being located using the first information accessed from the common transport memory.

27. A method as recited in claim 24, further comprising the act of storing the video data included in the data packet in one of a plurality of storage formats, the storage format being identified using the first information accessed from the common transport memory.

28. In a video processing device configured to receive a plurality of incoming transport streams that include data packets, the video processing device having a plurality of transport processor units that utilize shared context storage having demultiplexing contexts for maintaining information associated with the data packets processed by the video processing device and direct memory access (DMA) contexts for maintaining buffer information for the data packets processed by the video processing device, a method for processing a data packet using an index associated with the data packet, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving a data packet at a transport interface of one of the transport processor units;

generating an index associated with the received data packet;

accessing, by a demultiplexing processor of one of the plurality of transport processor units, a demultiplexing context associated with the data packet from the shared context storage using the index;

generating a DMA index associated with the data packet using the demultiplexing context; and

accessing, by a demultiplexing DMA unit of said one of the plurality of transport processor units, a DMA context associated with the data packet from the shared context storage using the DMA index such that the demultiplexing DMA unit is enabled to identify a buffer in which video data included in the data packet is to be stored.

29. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the act of accessing a demultiplexing context comprises:

identifying a location of the demultiplexing context in the shared context storage; and

reading information in the demultiplexing context into the demultiplexing processor.

30. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the act of generating a DMA index comprises the act of selecting a DMA channel on which to write the video data, the DMA channel being associated with the DMA context, the DMA index pointing to the DMA context.

31. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the act of accessing the DMA context comprises:

identifying a location of the DMA context in the shared context storage, the DMA context being associated with the DMA index; and

reading information in the DMA context into the demultiplexing DMA unit.

32. A method as recited in claim 28, further comprising:

modifying the demultiplexing context and writing the modified demultiplexing context to the shared context storage; and

modifying the DMA context and writing the modified DMA context to the shared context storage.

33. In a video processing device configured to receive an incoming transport stream that includes data packets, the video processing device having a unit that utilizes a transport memory to maintain information associated with data packets acquired by the video processing device, a method for delaying processing of data packets associated with a video program using an index associated with the data packets, the method comprising the acts of:

repeatedly performing the acts of;

receiving a data packet at a transport interface of a transport processor unit;

generating a time stamp associated with the received data packet;

generating an index associated with the received data packet;

accessing information from the transport memory using the index, wherein the index includes a plurality of demultiplexing contexts for maintaining the information for the data packets, which are acquired by a plurality of transport processor units, and wherein the information enables a demultiplexing direct memory access unit of the transport processor to identify a buffer in which the data packet is to be stored;

accessing data packets associated with the video program from the buffers in which the data packets are stored; and

processing the data packets for recording or playback of the video program.

34. A method as recited in claim 33, wherein the act of accessing data packets associated with the video program from the buffers in which the data packets are stored comprises reconfiguring a transport stream containing the video program utilizing the time stamps associated with the received data packet, wherein the transport stream is received by the video processing device for processing.