Channel selection in a multimedia system

• US 20060080707A1
• Filed: 11/09/2005
• Published: 04/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Indra Laksono
• Original Assignee: Indra Laksono
• Inventors: Laksono, Indra
• Granted Patent: US 8,291,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2805 Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method for a client module to provide a channel selection request in a multimedia system begins by receiving an input signal from a client. The method continues by interpreting the input signal to determine type of signal. The method continues, when the type of signal is control information, by determining whether the control information relates to a local command or a system-level command. The method continues, when the control information relates to a system-level command, by processing the control information for conveyance to a multimedia server to produce a control message. The method continues by transmitting the control message to the multimedia server.

Claims

1. A method for a client module to provide a channel selection request in a multimedia system, the method comprises:

receiving an input signal from a client;

interpreting the input signal to determine type of signal;

when the type of signal is control information, determining whether the control information relates to a local command or a system-level command;

when the control information relates to a system-level command, processing the control information for conveyance to a multimedia server to produce a control message; and

transmitting the control message to the multimedia server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the input signal further comprises:

receiving the input signal via an interface with the client, wherein the client includes at least one of;

a personal computer, a laptop computer, a person digital assistant, a video telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, a monitor, a television, a high definition television, a printer, and a facsimile machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the input signal further comprises:

receiving the input signal via a wireless communication path from a remote control device of the client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the control information relates to a local command or a system-level command further comprises:

determining that the control information includes a channel selection request for a channel of interest;

determining whether a current set of channels includes the channel of interest; and

when the current set of channels includes the channel of interest, locally processing the input signal to provide the channel of interest to the client.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprises:

when the current set of channels does not include the channel of interest, preparing the control message to request selection of the channel of interest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the control information for conveyance to the multimedia server further comprises:

encoding the control message based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce an encoded control message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the encoding further comprises:

packetizing data of the control message into a packet that includes a header section and a data section, wherein the header section includes at least one of;

identity the client, type of message, encryption enable/disable, type of encryption, compression enable/disable, type of compression, and packet sequence number.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprises:

conveying the packet using at least one of;

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the encoding further comprises:

framing data of the control message into a frame that includes header section and a data section, wherein the header section includes at least one of identity the client, type of message, encryption enable/disable, type of encryption, compression enable/disable, type of compression, and frame number.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises:

conveying the frame in accordance with at least one of;

a time division multiplexing data conveyance protocol, and frequency division multiplexing data conveyance protocol.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the encoding further comprises at least one of:

multilevel encoding data of the control message;

non return to zero (NRZ) encoding the data of the control message;

Manchester encoding the data of each of the control message;

block encoding the data of each of the control message; and

nB/mB encoding the data of each of the control message, where n<

m.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

when the type of signal is an audio signal, processing the audio signal to produce generic audio data;

converting the generic audio data into a stream of data; and

transmitting the stream of data to the multimedia server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the converting the generic audio data into the stream of data further comprises:

encoding the generic audio data based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce the stream of data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the processing the audio data further comprises at least one of:

converting the audio data into MPG formatted audio data;

converting the audio data into MP3 formatted audio data; and

converting the audio data into PCM digitized audio data.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

when the type of signal is a video signal, processing the video signal to produce generic video data;

converting the generic video data into a stream of data; and

transmitting the stream of data to the multimedia server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the converting the generic video data into the stream of data further comprises:

encoding the generic video data based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce the stream of data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the processing the video signal further comprises at least one of:

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into MPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into JPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into M-JPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into digital RGB video data; and

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into digital YCbCr video data.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

when the type of signal is application data, processing the input signal to produce processed application data; and

transmitting the processed application data to the multimedia server.

19. An apparatus for providing a channel selection request in a multimedia system, the apparatus comprises:

processing module; and

memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory includes operational instructions that cause the processing module to;

receive an input signal from a client;

interpret the input signal to determine type of signal;

when the type of signal is control information, determine whether the control information relates to a local command or a system-level command;

when the control information relates to a system-level command, process the control information for conveyance to a multimedia server to produce a control message; and

transmit the control message to the multimedia server.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to receive the input signal by:

receiving the input signal via an interface with the client, wherein the client includes at least one of;

a personal computer, a laptop computer, a person digital assistant, a video telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, a monitor, a television, a high definition television, a printer, and a facsimile machine.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to receive the input signal by:

receiving the input signal via a wireless communication path from a remote control device of the client.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to determine whether the control information relates to a local command or a system-level command by:

determining that the control information includes a channel selection request for a channel of interest;

determining whether a current set of channels includes the channel of interest; and

when the current set of channels includes the channel of interest, locally processing the input signal to provide the channel of interest to the client.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

when the current set of channels does not include the channel of interest, prepare the control message to request selection of the channel of interest.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to process the control information for conveyance to the multimedia server by:

encoding the control message based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce an encoded control message.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to encode the control message by:

packetizing data of the control message into a packet that includes a header section and a data section, wherein the header section includes at least one of;

identity the client, type of message, encryption enable/disable, type of encryption, compression enable/disable, type of compression, and packet sequence number.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

convey the packet using at least one of;

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA), CSMA with collision avoidance, and CSMA with collision detection.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to encode the control message by:

framing data of the control message into a frame that includes header section and a data section, wherein the header section includes at least one of identity the client, type of message, encryption enable/disable, type of encryption, compression enable/disable, type of compression, and frame number.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

convey the frame in accordance with at least one of;

a time division multiplexing data conveyance protocol, and frequency division multiplexing data- conveyance protocol.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to encode the control message by at least one of:

multilevel encoding data of the control message;

non return to zero (NRZ) encoding the data of the control message;

Manchester encoding the data of each of the control message;

block encoding the data of each of the control message; and

nB/mB encoding the data of each of the control message, where n<

m.

30. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

when the type of signal is an audio signal, process the audio signal to produce generic audio data;

convert the generic audio data into a stream of data; and

transmit the stream of data to the multimedia server.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to convert the generic audio data into the stream of data by:

encoding the generic audio data based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce the stream of data.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to process the audio data by at least one of:

converting the audio data into MPG formatted audio data;

converting the audio data into MP3 formatted audio data; and

converting the audio data into PCM digitized audio data.

33. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

when the type of signal is a video signal, process the video signal to produce generic video data;

convert the generic video data into a stream of data; and

transmit the stream of data to the multimedia server.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to convert the generic video data into the stream of data by:

encoding the generic video data based on a data conveyance protocol of the multimedia system to produce the stream of data.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to process the video signal by at least one of:

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into MPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into JPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into M-JPEG formatted video data;

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into digital RGB video data; and

converting the video signal of the channel of interest into digital YCbCr video data.

36. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory further comprises operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

when the type of signal is application data, process the input signal to produce processed application data; and

transmit the processed application data to the multimedia server.