Method and apparatus for capturing slices of video data

• US 7,817,157 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2005
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: HP Inc.
• Inventors: Noonan, Robert L., Dykes, Don, Emerson, Theodore F., Heinrich, David F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hau H
• Application Number:
  US11/209,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20060039467A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 345/537, 345/547, 345/538, 345/545
• US Class Current: 345/537
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1462 with means for detecting differences between the image stored in the host and the images displayed on the remote displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/02 Handling of images in compressed format, e.g. JPEG, MPEG
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0072 Error control for data other than payload data, e.g. control data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0094 Bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/132 Sampling, masking or truncation of coding units, e.g. adaptive resampling, frame skipping, frame interpolation or high-frequency transform coefficient masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/137 Motion inside a coding unit, e.g. average field, frame or block difference
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/164 Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/174 the region being a slice, e.g. a line of blocks or a group of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/42 characterised by implementation details or hardware specially adapted for video compression or decompression, e.g. dedicated software implementation H04N19/635 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/436 using parallelised computational arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/507 using conditional replenishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6332 directed to client

Abstract

A remote management controller may include a capture engine and a processor. The capture engine may be configured to obtain a slice of video data output from a video graphics controller, store the slice of video data, and calculate at least one value correlative to the slice of video data. The processor may be configured to retrieve the slice of video data stored by the capture engine and process any changed portion of the slice of video data for transmission to a remote system.

Claims

1. A remote management controller comprising:

a capture engine configured to obtain only selected single slices of video data corresponding to selected portions of a video image frame output from a video graphics controller, the video image frame including portions which are viewable and portions which are non-viewable via a monitor, each of the selected single slices comprising a plurality of data blocks and the obtained selected singled slices together comprising less than all slices of the video image frame, to store each selected single slice of video data, and to calculate at least one value for each block of the selected single slices of video data; and

a processor configured to retrieve each selected single slice of video data stored by the capture engine and to process a data block for transmission to a remote system, including data blocks corresponding to non-viewable portions of the video image frame, only if the at least one value for the data block indicates a change relative to an at least one calculated value for a corresponding data block of a previously obtained single slice of video data corresponding to a same portion of a previous video image frame.

2. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the capture engine comprises at least one buffer in which to store the selected single slices of video data.

3. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one value calculated by the capture engine comprises a cyclic redundancy check.

4. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the capture engine comprises a capture table in which to store the at least one value.

5. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the video data is obtained from a direct video output of the video graphics controller.

6. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by compressing the video data.

7. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by encoding the video data.

8. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured is configured to process the video data by encrypting the video data.

9. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by forming the video data into at least one packet suitable for transmission to the remote system.

10. The remote management controller, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor instructs the capture engine to obtain the single slice of video data.

11. A method of processing video data for transmission to a remote system, the method comprising:

obtaining only selected single slices of video data corresponding to selected portions of a video image frame output from a video graphics controller, the video image frame including portions which are viewable and portions which are non-viewable via a monitor, each of the selected single slices comprising a plurality of data blocks and the obtained selected single slices together comprising less than all slices of the video image frame;

storing each of the selected single slices of video data;

calculating at least one value for each block of the selected single slices of video data, including data blocks corresponding to non-viewable portions of the video image frame; and

processing a data block for transmission to a remote management system, including data blocks corresponding to non-viewable portions of the video image frame, only if the at least one value for the data block indicates a change relative to an at least one calculated value for a corresponding data block of a previously obtained single slice of video data corresponding to a same portion of a previous video image frame.

12. The method, as set forth in claim 11, comprising storing the selected single slices of video data in a buffer.

13. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein calculating the at least one value comprises calculating a cyclic redundancy check of each of the plurality of blocks of video data in the single slice.

14. The method, as set forth in claim 11, comprising storing the at least one value in a table.

15. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein obtaining the video data comprises obtaining the video data from a direct video output of the video graphics controller.

16. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein processing comprises compressing the video data.

17. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein processing comprises encoding the video data.

18. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein processing comprises encrypting the video data.

19. The method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein processing comprises forming the video data into at least one packet suitable for transmission to the remote management system.

20. A computer comprising:

at least one central processing unit;

main memory accessible by the at least one central processing unit;

a video graphics controller configured to receive video data from the at least one central processing unit and to generate a video data output; and

a remote management controller coupled to receive the video data output from the video graphics controller, the remote management controller comprising a capture engine and a processor, the capture engine being configured to obtain only selected single slices of the video data output corresponding to selected portions of a video image frame, each selected single slice comprising a plurality of data blocks and the obtained selected single slices together comprising less than all slices of the video image frame, to store the selected single slices of video data, and to calculate at least one value for each block of the selected single slices of video data, and the processor being configured to retrieve each selected single slice of video data stored by the capture engine and to process a data block for transmission to a remote system only if the at least one value for the data block indicates a change relative to an at least one calculated value for a corresponding data block of a previously obtained single slice of video data corresponding to a same portion of a previous video image frame, wherein the remote management controller is powered separately from other components of the computer, including at least the central processing unit, so that remote management controller is configured to continue to operate regardless of the whether the other components of the computer are powered.

21. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the capture engine comprises at least one buffer in which to store the selected single slices of video data.

22. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the at least one value calculated by the capture engine comprises a cyclic redundancy check.

23. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the capture engine comprises a table in which to store the at least one value.

24. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the video data is obtained from a direct video output of the video graphics controller.

25. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by compressing the video data.

26. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by encoding the video data.

27. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by encrypting the video data.

28. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data by forming the video data into at least one packet suitable for transmission to the remote system.

29. The computer, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor instructs the capture engine to obtain the single slice of video data.

30. The computer of claim 20, wherein the video image frame includes portions which are viewable and portions which are non-viewable via a monitor, and wherein data blocks processed for transmission to a remote system include data blocks corresponding to non-viewable portions of the video image frame.