Set-top box integration of integrated drive electronics

#1. Field of the Invention

#The invention described herein relates to video recording.

#2. Background Art

#The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the left-most digit(s) in the reference number.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the interconnection between set-top box logic and a hard disk, wherein the hard disk includes integrated drive electronics.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the integration of integrated drive electronics in the set-top box logic, according to an embodiment of the invention.

#A preferred embodiment of the present invention is now described. While specific configurations and arrangements are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other configurations and arrangements can be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that this invention can also be employed in a variety of other devices and applications.

#In the invention described herein, integrated drive electronics are incorporated in the set-top box logic. This allows the set-top box logic to communicate directly to a hard disk, so that the intervening PCI bus becomes unnecessary.

#FIG. 2 illustrates the system of the invention generally. Hard disk 210 is shown in communication with set-top box logic 230. As described above, set-top box logic decodes a cable signal and accepts other signals corresponding to user inputs. Set-top box logic can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits. Set-top box logic 230 includes IDE 220. IDE 220 represents the interface to hard disk 210. Because IDE 220 is incorporated in set-top box logic 230, information passes directly between set-top box logic 230 and hard disk 210 need not pass through a PCI bus.