Dynamic rate control technique for video multiplexer

Abstract

A video multiplexer is disclosed which incorporates a dynamic rate control feature. MPEG encoded video signals for each channel are stored in a first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer. A packetizer for each channel detects the level in the FIFO buffer and issues a request signal to the video multiplexer that the channel desires to transmit the video signals on the network. The bandwidth allocation for a channel is either preselected by the video provider or automatically selected, and tokens are issued by a counter associated with each channel to give greater network access to those channels which require a higher bandwidth. A token multiplier detects the bandwidth needs of the various channels by detecting the rate that the FIFO buffer is being filled and automatically multiplies the number of consecutive packets which the packetizer may transmit over the multiplexer during a single grant.