Rendering a video stream based on digital clock generated based on timing information

• US 8,341,454 B1
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Kondapalli, Raghu
• Primary Examiner(s): Suryawanshi, Suresh
• Application Number:
  US12/334,796
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 713/400, 713/500, 713/600
• US Class Current: 713/600
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/12 Synchronisation of different clock signals provided by a plurality of clock generators

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with clock generation are provided. In one embodiment, a precise timing protocol message is parsed to extract timing information. Timing waveform parameters are calculated based on the timing information and a digital clock is generated based on the waveform parameters. A video stream can then be decoded and rendered, where the rendering depends on the digital clock.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a digital clock circuit;

receive logic to receive a precise timing protocol message from a network device, where the timing protocol message includes timing information;

content logic to receive content to be processed;

determination logic to determine a frequency and a phase from the timing information; and

digital clock logic to control the digital clock circuit to generate a digital clock with the frequency and the phase, where the digital clock is used to control the content logic to process the content.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, where the timing information includes time stamp clock information, and where the digital clock logic determines the frequency and the phase by scaling the time stamp clock information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a video rendering engine to render the content, where the video rendering engine is clocked with the digital clock.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, where the determination logic determines a time stamp clock period associated with the timing protocol message, where the frequency is associated with the time stamp clock period.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, where the determination logic further determines the frequency by dividing a time value with the time stamp clock period.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, where the time value is 3125 nanoseconds when the time stamp clock period is 8 nanoseconds.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, where the determination logic determines a remainder amount based on the frequency, and where the digital clock logic compensates the digital clock with the remainder amount on a clock tick.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a queuing engine, where the digital clock logic controls the digital clock circuit to generate a queuing clock, where the queuing clock is based on the frequency and the phase, and where the queuing clock clocks the queuing engine.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, where the apparatus is compatible with at least one of, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 1588 protocol, and the IEEE 1722 protocol.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a clock period register to store a clock period associated with the precise timing protocol message, and where the digital clock logic controls the digital clock circuit to generate the digital clock based on the clock period stored in the clock period register.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, where the clock period is a time stamp clock period.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, where the determination logic determines the frequency and the phase from the timing information by scaling at least some of the timing information.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, where the apparatus is software configurable.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, where the apparatus is incorporated into a router, a switch, a gateway, or a network interface card (NIC).

15. A method, comprising:

parsing a precise timing protocol message to extract timing information;

calculating timing waveform parameters based on the timing information;

generating a digital clock based on the waveform parameters;

decoding a video stream; and

rendering the video stream based on the digital clock.

16. The method of claim 15, where the timing information includes a time stamp clock interval, and the digital clock is generated based on the time stamp clock interval.

17. The method of claim 15, where the timing information includes a time stamp clock period, where at least one waveform parameter is associated with the time stamp clock period.

18. The method of claim 15, further including determining a remainder amount based on the timing information and compensating the digital clock with the remainder amount on a clock tick of the digital clock.

19. The method of claim 15, further including generating a queuing clock, where the queuing clock is based on the timing waveform parameters, and clocking a queuing engine using the queuing clock.

20. The method of claim 15, further including storing a clock period associated with the precise timing protocol message in a register, and generating the digital clock based on the clock period stored in the register.

21. The method of claim 15, where the method is compliant with at least one of, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 1588 protocol, and the IEEE 1722 protocol.