The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 15, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 19, 1999
Siu-Wai Wu, San Diego, CA (US);
Kevin Wirick, Encinitas, CA (US);
General Instruments Corporation, Horsham, PA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing an opportunistic data capability for an existing statistical multiplexing encoder platform, such as a multi-channel video data encoder. An Opportunistic Data Processor (ODP) is provided as a plug-in card or an external device that can be interfaced with an existing multi-channel encoder. The ODP communicates with a Quantization Level Processor (QLP) and Packet Multiplexer (PM) in the multi-channel encoder as if it was just another channel encoder. The ODP implements a special rate control scheme by encoding data and sending it to the PM only when a global Quantization Level (QL) indicates that spare bandwidth is available. Spare bandwidth is assumed to be available when the global QL is less than a threshold value. Moreover, the OPD sends a bandwidth need parameter to the QLP, as do the other channel encoders. However, the ODP's need parameter is scaled by a function of the global QL to attenuate its actual bandwidth need as the global QL increases to provide smooth variations in the ODP's encoded data rate.