Method and apparatus for designing a communication mechanism between embedded cable modem and embedded set-top box

摘要

The present disclosure discloses a digital communication between the embedded cable modem (eCM) and embedded set-top box (eSTB) via a shared memory. The communication is carried out by packet transfer mechanism as per the protocol without adding any extra header overhead. The communication link is established between the eSTB and eCM mainly in layer 2 and partly in layer 1 according to an implementation of the OSI model. Further, eSTB is used as an eSAFE device coupled to eCM where the eCM and eSTB are considered to be placed on two SoCs with a separate CPU to each SoC (System-On-Chip) with a shared memory (via high speed data bus protocol). DMA (Direct Memory Access) engines are used to accelerate data transfer and to reduce load. DMA of only eCM, SoC is used to minimize hardware resources.

主权项

1. A digital communication system, the system comprising:
an embedded Cable Modem (eCM) including a first System-On-Chip (SoC) comprising a Direct Memory Access (DMA) unit and a central processing unit, wherein the central process unit is configured to access a shared memory within the eCM SoC; and an embedded Set-Top Box (eSTB) coupled to the eCM by a packet transfer interface, the eSTB including a second SoC having a central processing unit coupled to the Direct Memory Access unit configured to access the shared memory within the eCM SoC as a local memory for the eSTB, wherein communication between the eCM and eSTB uses the shared memory, wherein communication between the eCM and the eSTB adds no header overhead and at least one buffer table configured to facilitate communication between the eCM and eSTB using the shared memory.