Method of and apparatus for controlling bidirectional streams of isochronous data flowing between an application and a bus structure

• US 7,287,113 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2005
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shima, Hisato, Smyers, Scott D., Fairman, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Dang; Khanh
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, RAYMOND NGAN
• Application Number:
  US11/120,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20050198426A1
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: 710305-315, 710 4- 7, 710 36- 43, 710104-106, 710/29, 710/31, 710/65, 710/66
• US Class Current: 710/306
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40058 Isochronous transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40071 Packet processing; Packet format adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific network H04N21/2381, H04N21/4363, H04N21/4381; packet switches H04L49/00; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90

Abstract

An isochronous data pipe provides a bi-directional path for data between an application and a bus structure. The isochronous data pipe includes the ability to send, receive and perform manipulations on any isochronous stream of data, including data on any number of isochronous channels. The isochronous data pipe is a programmable sequencer that operates on the stream of isochronous data as it passes through the isochronous data pipe. The isochronous data pipe is programmed by an application to perform specific operations on the stream of data before the data is either transmitted across the bus structure or sent to the application, thereby pre-processing and manipulating the data before it is delivered to its destination. The operations are performed on both the packet header and the data field of the data packet. The isochronous data pipe can be stopped and started on the occurrence of specific events. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the isochronous data pipe is programmed to send and receive both isochronous and asynchronous data, including generating requests and appropriate packet headers.

Claims

1. A method of controlling streams of data comprising:

a. receiving a stream of data from a bus structure thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data;

b. obtaining at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data;

c. generating an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code;

d. providing the output stream of data to an application; and

e. determining a channel number for the received stream of data, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to the channel number of the received isochronous stream of data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

3. A method of controlling streams of data comprising:

a. receiving a stream of data from a bus structure thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is one of an isochronous stream of data and an asynchronous stream of data;

b. determining if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data or an asynchronous stream of data;

c. obtaining at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data and from a memory address corresponding to asynchronous data if the received stream of data is an asynchronous stream of data;

d. generating an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code; and

e. providing the output stream of data to an application.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

5. A method of controlling streams of data comprising:

a. receiving a stream of data from an application thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data;

b. obtaining at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data;

c. generating an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code;

d. providing the output stream of data to a bus structure; and

e. determining a channel number for the received stream of data, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to the channel number of the received isochronous stream of data.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

7. A method of controlling streams of data comprising:

a. receiving a stream of data from an application thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is one of an isochronous stream of data and an asynchronous stream of data;

b. determining if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data or an asynchronous stream of data;

c. obtaining at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data and from a memory address corresponding to asynchronous data if the received stream of data is an asynchronous stream of data;

d. generating an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code; and

e. providing the output stream of data to a bus structure.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

9. An apparatus to control streams of data comprising:

a. a receiving circuit configured to receive a stream of data from a bus structure thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data;

b. a converting circuit coupled to the receiving circuit to obtain at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data and generate an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number of the received isochronous stream of data; and

c. a transmitting circuit coupled to the converting circuit and configured to provide the output stream of data to an application.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

11. An apparatus to control streams of data comprising:

a. a receiving circuit configured to receive a stream of data from a bus structure thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is one of an isochronous stream of data and an asynchronous stream of data;

b. a converting circuit coupled to the receiving circuit to obtain at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data and generate an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code, wherein the converting circuit further determines if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data or an asynchronous stream of data, and further wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data and from a memory address corresponding to asynchronous data if the received stream of data is an asynchronous stream of data; and

c. a transmitting circuit coupled to the converting circuit and configured to provide the output stream of data to an application.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

13. An apparatus to control streams of data comprising:

a. a receiving circuit configured to receive a stream of data from an application thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data;

b. a converting circuit coupled to the receiving circuit to obtain at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data and generate an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code, wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number of the received isochronous stream of data; and

c. a transmitting circuit coupled to the converting circuit and configured to provide the output stream of data to a bus structure.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.

15. An apparatus to control streams of data comprising:

a. a receiving circuit configured to receive a stream of data from an application thereby forming a received stream of data, wherein the received stream of data is one of an isochronous stream of data and an asynchronous stream of data;

b. a converting circuit coupled to the receiving circuit to obtain at least one operation code regarding the received stream of data and generate an output stream of data by converting the received stream of data into the output stream of data by executing the at least one operation code, wherein the converting circuit further determines if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data or an asynchronous stream of data, and further wherein the at least one operation code is obtained from a memory address corresponding to a channel number if the received stream of data is an isochronous stream of data and from a memory address corresponding to asynchronous data if the received stream of data is an asynchronous stream of data; and

c. a transmitting circuit coupled to the convening circuit and configured to provide the output stream of data to a bus structure.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the bus structure is an IEEE 1394 standard bus structure.