Thomson Licensing

Thomson Licensing S.a.

Dieter Haupt

Michael Drexler

Klaus Gaedke

Thomas Brune

Siegfried Schweidler

Gilles Straub

Dietmar Hepper

Jens Cahnbley

Malte Borsum

Uwe Riemann

Herbert Schütze

For writing, flash memory devices are physically accessed in a page-oriented mode, but such devices are not error-free in operation. According to the invention, when writing information data in a bus write cycle in a sequential manner into flash memory devices assigned to a common data bus, at least one of said flash memory devices is not fed for storage with a current section of said information data. In case an error is occurring while writing a current information data section into a page of a current one of said flash memory devices, said current information data section is written into a non-flash memory. During the following bus write cycle, while the flash memory device containing that defective page is normally idle, that idle time period is used for copying the corresponding stored section of said information data from said non-flash memory to a non-defect page of that flash memory device.

Method and apparatus for dealing with write errors when writing information data into memory devices

Method and apparatus for dealing with write errors when writing information data into flash memory devices

Various applications record or handle uncompressed video, where the amount of information needed for each frame or field is constant, based on the video frame rate and color resolution of each pixel. Since various video frame rates and audio sample rates are defined and can be combined independently, the amount of audio samples per video frame may vary. The disclosed method allows packing audio samples and video samples into constant size containers, e.g. MXF containers, so that there is an integer amount of audio samples within the time period needed for one video frame, independent from the used video raster. The method includes generating constant length KLV encoded video packets, generating variable length KLV encoded audio packets corresponding to the same time period as the video packets, generating variable length KLV encoded data packets, wherein the sum of the lengths of the audio packet and the data packet are constant, and generating from said packets a constant size content package.

Method and device for recording digital data

A wireless extension of the IEEE 1394 bus where two clusters of 1394 devices are linked by a wireless bridge. The device clusters communicate without being bridge-aware. The wireless bridge provides for a bus reset isolation. The wireless extension including a buffer memory for storing self-identification packets in the 1394 interfaces of both boxes of the wireless bridge. With these buffer memories the self-identification packets of the bus stations in the other cluster can be collected and they can be read out during the self-configuration phase of the network after a bus reset when the bus grant is assigned to the box of the wireless bridge that is also connected to the bus where the bus reset has occurred. The physical layer block of the 1394 interface transmits artificial self-identification packets for all bus stations of the other cluster.

Interface circuit connecting a device with a bridge portal function to a communication bus

A method for determining a remote timeout parameter in a network comprising a link between a first bus and a third bus. The link is implemented through a first and a second bridge portal connected respectively to the first and the third bus, and is modelized as a second bus connected to the first bus and the third bus through bridges. Upon solicitation to provide its contribution to a timeout for a request subaction, the first bridge portal adds to the timeout contribution the first bridge portal's maximum request subaction processing time and either the link's maximum transmission time of half of the link's maximum transmission time, depending on the location of the destination node of the request subaction.

Method for determining a timeout delay in a network

The invention deals with a physical layer circuit for the IEEE1394 bus. Considered is a scenario where two clusters of 1394 devices are linked to each other by means of a wireless bridge. The devices of one cluster shall communicate with devices of the other cluster without being bridge aware. Under this scenario there are two different types of 1394 devices existing in each cluster. One device is a bridge portal and will have the bridge functionality. All the other 1394 devices in the cluster will not have the bridge functionality. As the device having the bridge functionality needs to have a specific buffer memory for buffering node-ID packets, usually there are two different types of physical layer circuits required for the different types of 1394 devices. The invention deals with the problem of how it can be realized to use in both different types of 1394 devices the same type of physical layer circuit. The invention solves the problem by means of configuration means in the physical layer circuit. These configuration means enable either to configure the physical layer circuit as a bridge portal physical layer circuit supporting the bridge functionality by buffering said node-ID packets in said buffer memory or else configuring the physical layer circuit as a standard physical layer circuit that disables the buffering of said node-ID packets. The new type of physical layer circuit is pin compatible with a standard physical layer circuit.

Physical layer circuit and interface circuit

In case of a loss of power supply a short-circuit between the corresponding pins of the two IEEE 1394 connectors of a device is established. Preferably this will be achieved by a relay controlling switches. If power is available, the relay is powered and the switches are open. The device then behaves like without this extension. If power is lost, the relay is not powered any longer, and the switches are closed. By this way, the device simply disappears from the cluster, which will then be reorganised according to IEEE 1394 rules.

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Springe, Germany

Dieter Haupt