Tunneling HDMI data over wireless connections

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9749682-B2
Application number	US-201514734824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2015
Priority date	Jun 9, 2015
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

Techniques are described for tunneling high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) data over a wireless connection from an HDMI-capable source device to a client device that is physically connected to an HDMI-capable sink device via an HDMI connector. The techniques enable wireless transmission of HDMI data without video compression by using an encapsulation scheme that maps HDMI audio and video channels into a transport stream format and maps HDMI side channels into an IP datagram for transmission over the wireless connection. The source device may operate as an HDMI controller and perform HDMI-based data, control, and security processing required for HDMI connectivity with the sink device via the client device. The client device, therefore, may be a “dummy” client device that does not perform HDMI-based processing, but acts as a wireless HDMI bridge to pass the HDMI data between the source device and the sink device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of processing data comprising:
establishing, by a source device, a wireless connection with at least one client device having a physical high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to a sink device;
processing, by the source device, HDMI control and security data for the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device;
encapsulating, by the source device, HDMI data for transmission over the wireless connection, the HDMI data including the HDMI control and security data, HDMI video data, and HDMI audio and auxiliary data, wherein encapsulating the HDMI data comprises:
encapsulating the HDMI video data for each of a plurality of color components into video streams of a first transport stream having a transport stream format,
encapsulating the HDMI audio and auxiliary data for each of the plurality of color components into audio streams of a second transport stream having the transport stream format, wherein the second transport stream is separate from the first transport stream, and
encapsulating only the HDMI control and security data into Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams, wherein the IP datagrams are separate from the first transport stream and the second transport stream; and

transmitting, by the source device, the encapsulated HDMI data over the wireless connection to the client device for transfer to the sink device via the physical HDMI connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the video streams of the first transport format are each associated with a packet identifier (PID) for the respective video color component, and the audio streams of the second transport stream are each associated with a PID for the respective audio color component, and wherein synchronization control signals, preambles, and guardbands included in the HDMI video data and the HDMI audio and auxiliary data are not included in the video streams or the audio streams.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the HDMI video data and the HDMI audio and auxiliary data are associated with HDMI transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) channels of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the source device, encapsulated HDMI control and security data over the wireless connection from the client device, wherein the encapsulated HDMI control and security data includes HDMI control and security data associated with the sink device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the HDMI control and security data for the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device comprises at least one of:
processing data associated with a display data channel (DDC) of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to determine audio and video formats accepted at the sink device;
processing data associated with a consumer electronics control (CEC) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to support command and control of the sink device;
processing data associated with an HDMI Ethernet audio control (HEAC) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to control audio and data applications at the sink device; or
processing data associated with a hot plug detect (HPD) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to determine whether the sink device is connected to the client device.

6. A source device for processing data, the source device comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors in communication with the memory and configured to:
establish a wireless connection with at least one client device having a physical high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to a sink device;
process HDMI control and security data for the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device;
encapsulate HDMI data for transmission over the wireless connection, the HDMI data including the HDMI control and security data, HDMI video data, and HDMI audio and auxiliary data, wherein, to encapsulate the HDMI data, the one or more processors are configured to:
encapsulate the HDMI video data for each of a plurality of color components into video streams of a first transport stream having a transport stream format,
encapsulate the HDMI audio and auxiliary data for each of the plurality of color components into audio streams of a second transport stream having the transport stream format, wherein the second transport stream is separate from the first transport stream, and
encapsulate only the HDMI control and security data into Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams, wherein the IP datagrams are separate from the first transport stream and the second transport stream; and

transmit the encapsulated HDMI data over the wireless connection to the client device for transfer to the sink device via the physical HDMI connection.

7. The source device of claim 6 , wherein the video streams of the first transport stream are each associated with a packet identifier (PID) for the respective video color component, and the audio streams of the second transport stream are each associated with a PID for the respective audio color component, and wherein synchronization control signals, preambles, and guardbands included in the HDMI video data and the HDMI audio and auxiliary data are not included in the video streams or the audio streams.

8. The source device of claim 6 , wherein the HDMI video data and the HDMI audio and auxiliary data are associated with HDMI transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS) channels of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device.

9. The source device of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive encapsulated HDMI control and security data over the wireless connection from the client device, wherein the encapsulated HDMI control and security data includes HDMI control and security data associated with the sink device.

10. The source device of claim 6 , wherein, to process the HDMI control and security data, the one or more processors are configured to at least one of:
process data associated with a display data channel (DDC) of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to determine audio and video formats accepted at the sink device;
process data associated with a consumer electronics control (CEC) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to support command and control of the sink device;
process data associated with an HDMI Ethernet audio control (HEAC) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to control audio and data applications at the sink device; or
process data associated with a hot plug detect (HPD) channel of the physical HDMI connection between the client device and the sink device to determine whether the sink device is connected to the client device.

11. The source device of claim 6 , wherein the source device comprises at least one of:
an integrated circuit;
a microprocessor; or
a wireless communication device.

12. A method of transmitting data comprising:
establishing, by a client device having a physical high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to a sink device, a wireless connection with a source device;
receiving, by the client device, encapsulated HDMI data over the wireless connection from the source device, the encapsulated HDMI data including encapsulated HDMI video data in a first transport stream having a transport stream fo

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Rabii Khosro Mohammad
• Subramaniam Vijay Naicker
• Wietfeldt Richard Dominic
• Shaukat Fawad
• Balasubramanyam Shivakumar

Classifications

• H04N21/64322

  IP · CPC title

• H04N21/43637

  involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth®, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] (arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114) · CPC title

• H04N21/440218

  by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 (conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01) · CPC title

• H04N21/4367

  Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card · CPC title

• H04N21/43615

  Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals (home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805) · CPC title