Direct memory access execution engine with indirect addressing of circular queues in addition to direct memory addressing

A method for managing digital transport packet distribution in a transport packet demultiplexing system, wherein the transport packet demultiplexing system receives a transport stream including digital transport packets each identified by a packet identifier (PID), the method comprising:

• generating an address index for each of the transport packets based on the PID, wherein the address index corresponds to a memory queue address;
• generating a local header incorporating the address index for each of the transport packets;
• adding the local headers to their corresponding transport packets;
• and
• distributing the modified transport packet to corresponding memory queues based on their associated one of the memory queue addresses in the local header, including
• reading the local headers of the transport packets,
• generating direct memory access (DMA) instructions indicating where the transport packet is to be distributed,
• storing the DMA instructions in memory, and
• transferring the transport packets using a DMA transport engine which executes the DMA instructions directly from memory.

A method for managing digital transport packet distribution in a transport packet demultiplexing system, wherein the transport packet demultiplexing system receives a transport stream including digital transport packets each identified by a packet identifier (PID), the method comprising:

• generating an address index for each of the transport packets based on the PID, wherein the address index corresponds to a memory queue address;
• generating a local header incorporating the address index for each of the transport packets;
• adding the local headers to their corresponding transport packets;
• and
• distributing the modified transport packet to corresponding memory queues based on their associated one of the memory queue addresses in the local header;
• wherein the distributing step comprises:
• reading the local headers of the transport packets;
• generating direct memory access (DMA) instructions indicating where the transport packet is to be distributed;
• storing the DMA instructions in memory;
• and
• transferring the transport packets using a DMA transport engine which executes the DMA instructions directly from memory;
• and
• the DMA transport engine transfers the transport packets as a memory-to-memory operation, the memory-to-memory operation selectively comprises a de-scrambling as the data transfer occurs using a key stored in a key table, the key is selected using a key pointer.

An apparatus for managing digital transport packet distribution in a transport packet demultiplexing system, wherein the transport packet demultiplexing system receives a transport stream including digital transport packets each identified by a packet identifier (PID), the apparatus comprising:

• means for generating an address index for each of the transport packets based on the PID, wherein the address index corresponds to a memory queue address;
• means for generating a local header incorporating the address index for each of the transport packets;
• means for adding the local headers to their corresponding transport packets;
• and
• means for distributing the modified transport packet to corresponding memory queues based on their associated one of the memory queue addresses in the local header;
• wherein the distributing means comprises:
• means for reading the local headers of the transport packets;
• means for generating direct memory access (DMA) instructions indicating where the transport packet is to be distributed;
• means for storing the DMA instructions in memory;
• and
• means for transferring the transport packets using a DMA transport engine which executes the DMA instructions directly from memory;
• and
• the DMA transport engine transfers the transport packets as a memory-to-memory operation and the memory-to-memory operation selectively comprises a de-scrambling means using a key stored in a key table.