System and method for data transmission

• US 8,161,175 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Lu, Kuei-Chih
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Dhairya A
• Application Number:
  US11/720,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172177A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,311 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/37 with arrangements for assigning different transmission priorities to video input data or to video coded data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/89 involving methods or arrangements for detection of transmission errors at the decoder

Abstract

A data transmission system includes a sending device and a receiving device. The sending device includes an image receiving unit that indicates the order of reception of the blocks using version numbers, a first database for storing the version numbers of the blocks, a transmitting unit which transmits the blocks to the receiving device using User Datagram Protocol, a determination module which determines whether a block requires resending, an updating unit for updating the version numbers in the first database, and a notification unit for notifying the receiving device of the latest version number of the block at each position using Transmission Control Protocol. The receiving device includes a second database, a receiving unit for receiving blocks using User Datagram Protocol, a display unit for determining the version numbers of the blocks and for displaying the blocks, and a processing unit for sending a request to the sending device.

Claims

1. A sending device for transmitting data to a receiving device, said sending device comprising:

an image receiver that divides each received image into a plurality of blocks, that indicates an order of reception of blocks received by said image receiver using different version numbers, and that gives an independent version number to blocks located at different positions;

a first database configured to store latest image data and a latest version number of a block at each position in the image received by said image receiver;

a transmitter, electrically connected to said image receiver, said transmitter transmitting image data of a block received by the transmitter, a corresponding position of the block in the image, and the version number of the block to the receiving device using User Datagram Protocol;

a determiner, electrically connected to said image receiver and configured to receive a block from said image receiver, said determiner issuing a notification upon determining that the received block needs to be transmitted to the receiving device;

an updater, electrically connected to said first database, to said determiner, and to said transmitter, and configured to receive the notification from said determiner, said updater incrementing the latest version number of the block stored in said first database, independently of the latest version number of the other blocks located at different positions, only when the notification is received from the determiner, and providing the incremented version number of the block, the image data of the block, and the position of the block in the image to said transmitter; and

a notifier, electrically connected to said first database, said notifier referring to the latest version numbers stored in said first database every inspection cycle, and sending, using Transmission Control Protocol, to the receiving device, the latest version number of the block at each position in an image, without accompanying image data in the block.

2. The sending device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said determiner includes a comparator electrically connected to said updater, said comparator comparing image data of the blocks which are at a same position in two consecutive images received by the image receiver, and

wherein, when the image data of a block have changed, said comparator sends the notification, including the block and a current version number of the block, to said updater.

3. The sending device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image receiver further assigns a flag to each block, each flag being set to a first state or a second state, such that the flag is in the first state, when the block corresponding to the flag needs to be resent to the receiving device, and the flag is set to the second state when the block corresponding to the flag has been resent or the block corresponding to the flag does not need to be resent to the receiving device, a latest state of the flag of a block at each position in the image being stored in said first database.

4. The sending device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said updater is configured to switch the flag of the block that has been transmitted to the receiving device and that is stored in said first database to the second state.

5. The sending device as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a command receiver, electrically connected to said first database, said command receiver utilizing Transmission Control Protocol to receive, from the receiving device, a command to resend a block to the receiving device, and controlling the states of the flags stored in said first database according to the command such that, when the command includes a block that the receiving device wants said sending device to resend the image data thereof, said command receiver sets the flag corresponding to the block to the first state.

6. The sending device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said determiner includes a detector, electrically connected to said updater and said first database, said detector detecting the states of the flags stored in said first database, and, upon detecting one of the flags to be in the first state, notifying said updater of the block to which said one of the flags corresponds and a current version number of the block.

7. The sending device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image receiver continuously receives images from a video camera.

8. The sending device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image receiver continuously captures screen frames.

9. The sending device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image receiver notifies said notifier that an inspection cycle has been reached every time K images are received, K being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

10. A data transmission system including a sending device and a receiving device, said sending device being capable of transmitting data to said receiving device, said receiving device being capable of receiving the data sent from said sending device,

said sending device comprising:

an image receiver that divides each received image into a plurality of blocks, and that indicates an order of reception of blocks received by said image receiver using different version numbers, and gives an independent version number to blocks located at different positions;

a first database configured to store latest image data and a latest version number of a block at each position in the image received by said image receiver;

a transmitter, electrically connected to said image receiver, said transmitter transmitting image data of a block received by the transmitter, a corresponding position of the block in the image, and the version number of the block to said receiving device using User Datagram Protocol;

a determiner, electrically connected to said image receiver and configured to receive a block from said image receiver, said determiner issuing a notification upon determining that the received block needs to be transmitted to said receiving device;

an updater, electrically connected to said first database, to said determiner, and to said transmitter, and configured to receive the notification from said determiner, said updater incrementing the latest version number of the block stored in said first database independently of the latest version number of the other blocks located at different positions, only when the notification is received from the determiner, and providing the incremented version number of the block, the image data of the block, and the position of the block in the image to said transmitter; and

a notifier, electrically connected to said first database, said notifier referring to the latest version numbers stored in said first database every inspection cycle, and sending, to said receiving device, the latest version number of the block at each position in an image, without accompanying image data in the block, using Transmission Control Protocol;

said receiving device comprising;

a second database configured to store version numbers of a plurality of blocks;

a data receiver that utilizes User Datagram Protocol to receive the image data of the blocks, the version numbers of the blocks, and the positions of the blocks in an image sent from the transmitter of said sending device;

a display, electrically connected to said second database and said data receiver, said display receiving a block from said data receiver and comparing the version number of the received block with the version number of the corresponding block stored in said second database such that, when the version number of the received block is newer than the version number stored in said second database, the version number stored in said second database is updated, and the block with the updated version number is displayed on a display screen; and

a processor, electrically connected to said second database, said processor receiving the latest version numbers of blocks, without accompanying image data of the blocks, from the notifier of the sending device using Transmission Control Protocol, and comparing the version numbers of the blocks stored in said second database with the latest version numbers of the blocks received from the notifier of said sending device such that, when the version number of a block stored in said second database is older than the latest version number of the corresponding block notified by said sending device, said processor issues a request to said sending device using Transmission Control Protocol to demand resending of the block, the request including a message for the block at each position as to whether resending is required.

11. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said determiner includes a comparator, electrically connected to said updater, said comparator comparing image data of blocks which are at a same position in two consecutive images received by the image receiver, and

wherein, when the image data of a block have changed, said comparator sends the notification, including the block and a current version number of the block, to said updater.

12. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said image receiver assigns a flag to each block, each flag being set to a first state or a second state such that the flag is in the first state, when the block corresponding to the flag needs to be resent to said receiving device, and the flag is set to the second state when the block corresponding to the flag has been resent or the block corresponding to the flag does not need to be resent to said receiving device, a latest state of the flag of a block at each position in the image being stored in said first database.

13. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said updater configured to switch the flag of the block that has been transmitted to said receiving device and that is stored in said first database to the second state.

14. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said sending device further comprises a command receiver, electrically connected to said first database, the command receiver utilizing Transmission Control Protocol to receive, from said receiving device, a command to resend a block to said receiving device, and controlling the states of the flags stored in said first database according to the command such that when the command includes a block that said receiving device wants said sending device to resend the image data thereof, said command receiver sets the flag corresponding to the block to the first state.

15. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 14, wherein said determiner includes a detector, electrically connected to said updater and to said first database, said detector detecting the states of the flags stored in said first database and, upon detecting one of the flags being in the first state, notifying said updater of the block to which said one of the flags corresponds and a current version number of the block.

16. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said image receiver continuously receives images from a video camera.

17. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said image receiver continuously captures screen frames.

18. The data transmission system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said image receiver notifies said notifier that an inspection cycle has been reached every time K images are received, K being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

19. A data transmitting method for transmitting data from a sending device to a receiving device, the data transmitting method comprising:

(A) receiving a first image and dividing the image into N blocks, N being a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, giving the blocks located at different positions corresponding initial version numbers, respectively, and storing image data and the initial version number of each block into a first database;

(B) using User Datagram Protocol to send image data of each block in (A) to the receiving device;

(C) receiving a next image and dividing the image into N blocks;

(D) determining whether one of the N blocks in (C) requires resending, performing (E) if the block does not require resending, otherwise skipping to (H) to perform (H) and (I) in turn if the block requires resending;

(E) determining whether all of the blocks in the image in (C) have been processed, performing (F) if all of the blocks have been processed, and returning to (D) to continue processing of other blocks if not all of the blocks have been processed;

(F) determining whether K images have been processed, performing (G) if K images have been processed, and returning to (C) if K images have not been processed, K being a positive integer greater than or equal to 1;

(G) transmitting, using Transmission Control Protocol, to the receiving device, of a latest version number of each block at each position in an image, without accompanying image data in the block;

(H) incrementing the version number of the block stored in the first database which requires resending independent of the version number of the other blocks located at different positions, and storing the image data of the block requiring resending in the first database; and

(I) using User Datagram Protocol to transmit the image data and the version number of the block requiring resending, and the position of the block requiring resending in the image to the receiving device, and returning to (E) after the transmitting.

20. The data transmitting method as claimed in claim 19, wherein, in (A), each block is further given a corresponding flag, each flag being set to be in a first state or a second state, the flag indicating that a block corresponding to the flag requires resending to the receiving device when the flag is in the first state, the flag being set to the second state when the block corresponding to the flag has been resent or does not require resending to the receiving device, a latest state of the flag of the block at each position in the image being stored in the first database.

21. The data transmitting method as claimed in claim 20, further comprising:

setting each flag corresponding to each block in the first database to the second state between (A) and (C).

22. The data transmitting method as claimed in claim 21, wherein, in (D), resending of the block is determined according to a state of the corresponding flag in the first database.

23. The data transmitting method as claimed in claim 22, further comprising comparing image data of a received block with image data of a block at the same position in an immediately preceding image between (D) and (E), performing (E) if the image data are the same, and performing (H) to carry out (H) and (I) in turn if the image data are not the same.

24. The data transmitting method as claimed in claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a command sent from the receiving device using Transmission Control Protocol, and

controlling states of the flags stored in the first database according to the received command so as to place the flag of the block requiring resending in the first state.

25. A data receiving method for receiving data transmitted from a sending device, the data receiving method comprising:

(a) using User Datagram Protocol to receive image data of a block, a version number of the block, and a position of the block in an image from a sending device;

(b) determining whether the received version number of the block is an earliest version number of blocks at a same position received in (a), and displaying the block on a display screen, and storing the version number of the block in a second database, when the received version number of the block is the earliest version number,

when the received version number of the block is not the earliest version number, comparing the received version number of the block with a version number of a corresponding block stored in the second database, updating the version number of the corresponding block stored in the second database when the received version number of the block is newer than the version number of the corresponding block stored in the second database, and displaying the block having the updated version number on the display screen;

(c) receiving a notification of a latest version number of a block at each position from the sending device through Transmission Control Protocol, without accompanying image data of the block; and

(d) comparing the version number of a block at each corresponding position stored in the second database with the latest version number sent from the sending device through Transmission Control Protocol, and, when the version number stored in the second database is older than the latest version number, sending a request, to the sending device, through Transmission Control Protocol, to send, to the receiving device, the block with the latest version number, the request including a message for the block at each position as to whether resending is required.

26. A data transmission method, which includes a data transmitting method and a data receiving method, the data transmitting method being used to send data from a sending device to a receiving device, the data receiving method being used to receive, by the receiving device, the data transmitted from the sending device,

the data transmitting method comprising:

(A) receiving a first image and dividing the image into N blocks, N being a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, giving each block a corresponding initial version number, giving, respectively, mutually independent version numbers to blocks located at different positions, and storing image data and the initial version number of each block into a first database;

(B) using User Datagram Protocol to send image data of each block in (A) to the receiving device;

(C) receiving a next image and dividing the image into N blocks;

(D) determining whether one of the N blocks in (C) requires resending, performing (E) if the block does not require resending, otherwise skipping to (H) to perform (H) and (I) in turn if the block requires resending;

(E) determining whether all of the blocks in the image in (C) have been processed, performing (F) if all the blocks have been processed, and returning to (D) to continue processing of other blocks if not all of the blocks have been processed;

(F) determining whether K images have been processed, performing (G) if K images have been processed, and returning to (C) if K images have not been processed, K being a positive integer greater than or equal to 1;

(G) transmitting, using Transmission Control Protocol, to the receiving device, a latest version number of each block at each position in an image, without accompanying image data in the block;

(H) incrementing the version number of the block stored in the first database which requires resending independent of the version number of the other blocks located at different positions, and storing the image data of the block requiring resending in the first database; and

(I) using User Datagram Protocol to transmit the image data and the version number of the block requiring resending, and the position of the block requiring resending in the image to the receiving device, and returning to (E) after the transmitting;

the data receiving method comprising;

(a) using User Datagram Protocol to receive image data of a block, a version number of the block, and a position of the block in an image from the sending device;

(b) determining whether the received version number of the block is an earliest version number of blocks at a same position received in (a), and displaying the block on a display screen, and storing the version number of the block in a second database, when the received version number of the block is the earliest version number,

when the received version number of the block is not the earliest version number, comparing the received version number of the block with a version number of a corresponding block stored in the second database, updating the version number of the corresponding block stored in the second database when the received version number of the block is newer than the version number of the corresponding block stored in the second database, and displaying the block having the updated version number on the display screen;

(c) receiving a notification of a latest version number of a block at each position from the sending device through Transmission Control Protocol, without accompanying image data of the block; and

(d) comparing the version number of a block at each corresponding position stored in the second database with the latest version number sent from the sending device through Transmission Control Protocol, and, when the version number stored in the second database is older than the latest version number, sending a request, to the sending device, through Transmission Control Protocol, to send, to the receiving device, the block with the latest version number, the request including a message for the block at each position as to whether resending is required.

27. The data transmission method as claimed in claim 26, wherein, in (A), each block is further given a corresponding flag, each flag being set to be in a first state or a second state, the flag indicating that a block corresponding to the flag requires resending to the receiving device when the flag is in the first state, the flag being set to the second state when the block corresponding to the flag has been resent or does not require resending to the receiving device, a latest state of the flag of the block at each position in the image being stored in the first database.

28. The data transmission method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the data transmitting method further includes:

setting each flag corresponding to each block in the first database to the second state between (A) and (C).

29. The data transmission method as claimed in claim 28, wherein, in (D), resending of the block is determined according to a state of the corresponding flag in the first database.

30. The data transmission method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the data transmitting method further comprises:

comparing image data of a received block with image data of a block at the same position in an immediately preceding image between (D) and (E), performing (E) if the image data are the same, and performing (H) to carry out (H) and (I) in turn if the image data are not the same.

31. The data transmission method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the data transmitting method further comprises:

receiving, by the sending device, a command sent from the receiving device using Transmission Control Protocol, and

controlling, by the sending device, states of the flags stored in the first database according to the received command so as to place the flag of the block requiring resending in the first state.