Data transmission
AssigneeSony United Kingdom Limited
InventorMichael Page
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A data communication transmitting node is provided, the transmitting node comprising: a plurality of buffers for storing data from a respective plurality of input data streams; means for monitoring an occupancy level of each of the plurality of buffers to detect if the occupancy level is sufficient to provide a complete data block to the transmission stream; and a transmission controller operable to select, in turn, a buffer from the plurality of buffers to output a data block to a transmission data stream, the selection being performed according to a buffer selection order. If the buffer selected by the transmission controller is detected to have an insufficient occupancy level when selected, a dummy data block is supplied to the data transmission stream in place of a data block from the selected buffer.
Claims17
A data communication system comprising:
- a plurality of buffers for storing data from a respective plurality of input data streams;
- logic to monitor an occupancy level of each of said plurality of buffers to detect if said occupancy level is sufficient to provide a complete data block to said transmission stream;
- and
- a transmission controller to select, in turn, a buffer from said plurality of buffers to output a data block to a transmission data stream, said selection being performed according to a buffer selection order;
- in which, if said buffer selected by said transmission controller is detected to have an insufficient occupancy level when selected, a dummy data block is supplied to said data transmission stream in place of a data block from said selected buffer.
A transmitting method for use in a data communication system, said method comprising the steps of:
- storing data from a respective plurality of input data streams in a plurality of buffers;
- monitoring an occupancy level of each of said plurality of buffers to detect if said occupancy level is sufficient to provide a complete data block to said transmission stream;
- and
- selecting, in turn, a buffer from said plurality of buffers to output a data block to a transmission data stream, said selection being performed according to a buffer selection order so that if said buffer selected by said transmission controller is detected to have an insufficient occupancy level when selected, a dummy data block is supplied to said data transmission stream in place of a data block from said selected buffer.
A programmable logic device for use with a plurality of input data streams stored in a respective plurality of buffers, said device being programmed so as to implement a method comprising the steps of:
- monitoring an occupancy level of each of said plurality of buffers to detect if said occupancy level is sufficient to provide a complete data block to said transmission stream;
- and
- selecting, in turn, a buffer from said plurality of buffers to output a data block to a transmission data stream, said selection being performed according to a buffer selection order so that if said buffer selected by said transmission controller is detected to have an insufficient occupancy level when selected, a dummy data block is supplied to said data transmission stream in place of a data block from said selected buffer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.