Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for operating a transport stream encoder to produce a stream of packets carrying data representing a plurality of component signals

US5574505A · kind A · utility

58Cited by
7References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 16, 1995
Grant dateNov 12, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 16, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/2365
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for operating a transport stream encoder to produce a stream of packets carrying data representing a plurality of component signals which comprises the following steps. The packet stream is partitioned into successive groups, each group containing a predetermined number of packet slots. A plurality of priority lists is maintained, one for each of the packet slots in the group. Each priority list contains a plurality of entries, and each entry identifies one of the component signals. When a packet slot is to be produced, the entries in the priority list corresponding to that packet slot are traversed, one at a time. For each of those entries it is determined whether the component signal identified by that entry can produce a packet. If it can, a packet containing data representing that component signal is produced. Only if none of the component signals identified by the entries in the priority list can produce a packet is a null packet produced.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.