Data Flow Control Method and Apparatus

A data flow control apparatus, comprising:

• a buffer unit, configured to store a transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) character;
• a calculation unit, configured to:
• when a clock signal arrives, calculate a quantity of TMDS characters currently stored in the buffer unit;
• and
• an output unit, configured to:
• output a TMDS character in the buffer unit when the quantity of TMDS characters currently stored in the buffer unit reaches a preset value;
• otherwise output a gap data packet;
• wherein the preset value is less than or equal to a TMDS character storage capacity of the buffer unit.

A data flow control device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a communications interface, wherein the processor, the memory, and the communications interface are all connected by using a bus;

• the memory is configured to store a computer execution instruction;
• and
• the processor is configured to execute the computer execution instruction stored in the memory, to perform the following operations:
• when a clock signal arrives, calculating a quantity of transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) characters currently stored in a buffer of the device;
• and outputting a TMDS character in the buffer when the quantity of TMDS characters currently stored in the buffer reaches a preset value, otherwise outputting a gap data packet;
• wherein the preset value is less than or equal to a TMDS character storage capacity of the buffer.

A data flow control device, comprising a buffer, a TMDS character counter, a controller, a multiplexer, and a gap data packet generator, wherein

• the buffer is configured to store a transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) character;
• the TMDS character counter is configured to:
• record a quantity of TMDS characters input to and/or output from the buffer, and send the recorded quantity of TMDS characters to the controller;
• the controller is configured to:
• when a clock signal arrives, calculate, based on the quantity of TMDS characters that is recorded by the TMDS character counter, a quantity of TMDS characters currently stored in the buffer, and send a first control signal to the multiplexer when the quantity of TMDS characters currently stored in the buffer reaches a preset value, otherwise send a second control signal to the multiplexer;
• and
• the multiplexer is configured to:
• when receiving the first control signal from the controller, output the TMDS character in the buffer, or when receiving the second control signal from the controller, output a gap data packet generated by the gap data packet generator.