Method and system for transmiting N-bit video data over a serial link
First Claim
1. A transmitter for transmitting N-bit video over a serial link configured to transmit encoded K-bit words of video data, said transmitter comprising:
- a subsystem operable in at least one N-bit mode to pack a sequence of N-bit words of video data into a sequence of fragments, where N≠
K and each of the fragments consists of K bits of the video data; and
circuitry coupled to the subsystem and having at least one output configured to be coupled to the serial link, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate a sequence of encoded fragments by encoding each fragment in the sequence of fragments and to assert the sequence of encoded fragments to the at least one output, whereby the encoded fragments can be transmitted over the link when said link is coupled to the at least one output.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system including a receiver, a TMDS link (or other serial link), and a transmitter configured to transmit K-bit video words (typically, encoded 8-bit video words) over the link. In typical embodiments, the transmitter is configured to pack a sequence of N-bit video words, where N≠K (e.g., N=10, 12, or 16, when K=8) into a sequence of K-bit fragments, encode the fragments, and transmit the encoded fragments. The transmitted data are indicative of a sequence of M-fragment groups, and the transmitter is typically configured also to transmit over the link packing phase data indicative of the phase of the most recently transmitted fragment. Other aspects are transmitters and receivers for use in such a system and methods implemented by any such transmitter, receiver, or system.
47 Citations
70 Claims
-
1. A transmitter for transmitting N-bit video over a serial link configured to transmit encoded K-bit words of video data, said transmitter comprising:
-
a subsystem operable in at least one N-bit mode to pack a sequence of N-bit words of video data into a sequence of fragments, where N≠
K and each of the fragments consists of K bits of the video data; and
circuitry coupled to the subsystem and having at least one output configured to be coupled to the serial link, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate a sequence of encoded fragments by encoding each fragment in the sequence of fragments and to assert the sequence of encoded fragments to the at least one output, whereby the encoded fragments can be transmitted over the link when said link is coupled to the at least one output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. A transmitter, including:
-
a subsystem operable in any selected one of a number of different 3N-bit pixel modes to pack sequences of N-bit color components of video data into sequences of fragments, where N≠
8, each of the fragments consists of 8 bits of the video data, and the 3N-bit pixel modes include a 30-bit pixel mode, a 36-bit pixel mode, and a 48-bit pixel mode; and
circuitry coupled to the subsystem and having outputs configured to be coupled to a transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) link, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate sequences of encoded fragments by performing TMDS encoding on the sequences of fragments and to assert the sequences of encoded fragments to the outputs during active video intervals, whereby the encoded fragments can be transmitted over the TMDS link when said TMDS link is coupled to the outputs, wherein the transmitter is operable in a 24-bit pixel mode in which the subsystem asserts 8-bit components of 24-bit pixels to the circuitry, the circuitry performs TMDS encoding on the 8-bit components to generate a 10-bit TMDS code word in response to each of the 8-bit components, and the circuitry asserts each said TMDS code word to the outputs, and wherein each of the sequences of fragments is a sequence of MN-fragment groups, where MN is an integer whose value depends on which of the 3N-bit pixel modes is the selected one of the 3N-bit pixel modes, each of the fragments in each of the groups has a different phase within the group, the circuitry is configured to assert blanking characters to the outputs during blanking intervals, and the transmitter is configured to implement state machine sequences that implement transitions between the active video intervals and the blanking intervals at boundaries between assertion of different encoded fragments of a single one of the groups, and between boundaries that occur between assertion of different ones of the groups, without omitting assertion of any encoded fragment in any of the sequences of encoded fragments. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
-
-
39. A receiver, including:
-
circuitry having inputs configured to be coupled to a serial link, wherein the circuitry is configured to recover K-bit words of video data that have been transmitted to at least a subset of the inputs; and
a subsystem coupled to the circuitry to receive a sequence of the K-bit words and operable in at least one N-bit mode in which the sequence of the K-bit words is a sequence of packed K-bit fragments of a sequence of N-bit video data words, where N≠
K, and the subsystem is operable in each said N-bit mode to unpack the fragments to recover the sequence of N-bit video data words. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
-
-
54. A receiver, including:
-
circuitry having inputs configured to be coupled to a transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) link, wherein the circuitry is configured to configured to recover TMDS code words indicative of 8-bit words of video data that have been transmitted to at least a subset of the inputs and to decode the code words to recover the 8-bit words of video data; and
a subsystem coupled to the circuitry to receive sequences of the 8-bit words and operable in any selected one of a number of different 3N-bit pixel modes in which N≠
8 and the sequences of the 8-bit words are sequences of packed 8-bit fragments of 3N-bit pixels, wherein the subsystem is operable in each said 3N-bit pixel mode to unpack the fragments to recover a sequence of the 3N-bit pixels, the 3N-bit pixel modes include a 30-bit pixel mode, a 36-bit pixel mode, and a 48-bit pixel mode, the receiver is also operable in a 24-bit pixel mode in which the sequences of the 8-bit words received by the subsystem are sequences of 24-bit pixels, andthe circuitry is also configured to recover a link clock having frequency L that has been transmitted to at least a subset of the inputs over the TMDS link, and the circuitry includes a frequency divider coupled to receive the link clock and operable in each said 3N-bit pixel mode to generate a pixel clock having frequency P at least substantially equal to (8/N)L in response to the link clock.
-
-
55. A system, including:
-
a transmitter;
a receiver; and
a serial link coupled between the transmitter and the receiver, wherein the transmitter comprises;
a subsystem operable in at least one N-bit mode to pack a sequence of N-bit words of video data into a sequence of fragments, where N≠
K and each of the fragments consists of K bits of the video data; and
circuitry coupled to the subsystem and having outputs configured to be coupled to data channels of the serial link, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate a sequence of encoded fragments by encoding the fragments and to assert the sequence of encoded fragments to the outputs to transmit the encoded fragments to the receiver over the link. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
-
Specification