BUS AND INTERFACE SYSTEM FOR CONSUMER DIGITAL EQUIPMENT

摘要

A SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A SIGNAL (SP) FOR COUPLING DIGITAL AUDIO, VIDEO AND DATA SIGNALS IN COMPRESSED FORM VIA A BUS (500). A PROCESSING MEANS (98) FORMATS THE DIGITAL AUDIO, VIDEO AND DATA SIGNALS INTO SUPERPACKETS (SP) FOR TRANSMISSION VIA THE BUS. EACH SUPERPACKET COMPRISES A TIMESTAMP (TS), AND A TRANSPORT PACKET (TP), REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIGITAL AUDIO, VIDEO AND DATA SIGNALS. THE SUPERPACKETS HAVE A FIXED DURATION AND OCCUR AT VARIABLE INTERVALS. DEVICES (50) RECEIVE THE SUPERPACKET SIGNAL AND MAY UTILIZE THE TIMESTAMPS (TS) FOR CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION. A RECORDING AND REPLAY DEVICE PROCESSES THE VARIABLE SUPERPACKET SIGNAL OCCURRENCE FOR RECORDING. REPRODUCED TIMESTAMPS (401) ARE UTILIZED TO CONTROL RESTORATION OF THE SUPERPACKET SIGNAL TO HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY THE DURATION AND OCCURRENCE AS WHEN FORMATTED FOR BUS TRANSMISSION. A SIMPLIFIED BUS (501) COUPLES SUPERPACKETS BETWEEN DEVICES. AN INDICIA (V S) IS ADDED TO A SUPERPACKET SIGNAL TO PROVIDE AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF DEVICE BUS INTERFACES (102). THE AUTOMATED INTERFACE CONTROL IS ALSO RESPONSIVE TO DEVICE CONTROL STATUS. FIG 5