Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for opportunistically transferring data in a packet stream encoder

US5864557A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
10References
11Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 25, 1996
Grant dateJan 26, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 25, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N21/434
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A transport stream encoder comprises a plurality of component signal sources. One of the component signals sources is a source of an opportunistic data component signal carrying a block of data having a predetermined size to be transferred within a predetermined period of time. A packet generator is coupled to the plurality of component signal sources, and produces a composite packet stream, partitioned into successive groups containing a plurality of packet slots. A memory stores a plurality of priority lists respectively associated with the plurality of packet slots. Each priority list contains a plurality of entries, and each entry contains data representing a respective one of the plurality of component signal sources. A scheduler is responsive to the entries in the plurality of priority lists and conditions the packet generator to generate a packet for each one of the packet slots. The generated packet contains data from a component signal source selected from among the component signal sources having representative data in the entries in the priority list associated with that packet slot. A processor modifies the entries in the plurality of priority lists in such a manner as …

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