Digital media distribution device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9866876-B2
Application number	US-201715619339-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2017
Priority date	Aug 11, 2003
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

A digital media distribution device that includes an encoder, a decoder coupled to the encoder, and a transcoder coupled to the decoder. The encoder is configured to encode input data that is received by the digital media distribution device into a first data format. The decoder is configured to decode output data to be output by the digital media distribution device. The transcoder is configured to convert the encoded input data from the first data format into a second data format. The digital media distribution device is configured to be coupled to a computer network.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A digital media distribution device comprising:
an encoder configured to encode input data received by the digital media distribution device into encoded data in a first data format, the encoder coupled directly to and under control from a computer terminal unit;
a decoder configured to decode the encoded data into output data, the decoder coupled to the encoder solely via a computer network and coupled directly to and under control from the computer terminal unit; and
a transcoder, coupled to the decoder via the computer network, configured to convert the encoded data from the first data format into a second data format; and
the computer terminal unit enabling an operator to directly control the encoder and the decoder via one of a serial connection or the computer network.

2. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the encoder and the decoder are remotely controllable.

3. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the encoder and the decoder are configured to perform a verification check and report their status to a user before processing data, including reporting decoding and encoding capability based on a bandwidth test.

4. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital media distribution device is configured for wavelet-based tunable compression.

5. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital media distribution device has a form factor and a user interface that approximate the form factor and the user interface for a video tape recorder.

6. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein an encoding bit rate of the encoder and a decoding bit rate of the decoder are user definable.

7. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital media distribution device is an internet protocol addressable device.

8. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital media distribution device is coupled to a network-accessible storage device via the computer network, the network-accessible storage device configured to store encoded data.

9. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the encoder, the decoder, and the transcoder each include cache memory used to compensate for latency associated with accessing the network-accessible storage device.

10. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital media distribution device is coupled to an asset management system, and the asset management system can determine end of file location information and asset information for the data.

11. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , further comprising a hardware reconfigurable compression codec operatively associated with at least one of the encoder and the decoder.

12. The digital media distribution device according to claim 1 , wherein the encoder and the decoder comprise hardware slots configured to support multiple interface formats including at least two selected from the group consisting of SD-SDI, HD-HDI, GSN, uncompressed AES-3, unbalanced BNC, and balanced XLR.

13. A digital media distribution device comprising:
an encoder configured to encode input data into encoded data, the encoder coupled directly to and under control from a computer terminal unit; and
a decoder configured to decode the encoded data into output data, the decoder coupled to the encoder solely via a computer network, and coupled directly to and under control from the computer terminal unit; and
the computer terminal unit enabling an operator to directly control the encoder and the decoder via one of a serial connection or the computer network.

14. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the encoder and the decoder perform a verification check and report their status to a user before processing data, including reporting decoding and encoding capability based on a bandwidth test.

15. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the digital media distribution device is configured for wavelet-based tunable compression.

16. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the digital media distribution device has a form factor and a user interface that approximate the form factor and the user interface for a video tape recorder.

17. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein an encoding bit rate of the encoder and a decoding bit rate of the decoder are user definable.

18. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the digital media distribution device is an internet protocol addressable device.

19. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the digital media distribution device is coupled to a network-accessible storage device via the computer network, the network-accessible storage device configured to store all encoded data for at least one of the encoder and the decoder.

20. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the encoder and the decoder each include cache memory used to compensate for latency associated with accessing the network-accessible storage device.

21. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the digital media distribution device is coupled to an asset management system, and the asset management system can determine end of file location information and asset information for the data.

22. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , further comprising a hardware reconfigurable compression codec operatively associated with at least one of the encoder and the decoder.

23. The digital media distribution device according to claim 13 , wherein the encoder and the decoder comprise hardware slots configured to support multiple interface formats including at least two selected from the group consisting of SD-SDI, HD-HDI, GSN, uncompressed AES-3, unbalanced BNC, and balanced XLR.

Assignees

• Warner Bros Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Klamer Paul
• Long Ken
• Ramamurthy Arjun

Classifications

• H04N21/60

  Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client {, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream}; Communication details between server and client · CPC title

• H04N19/157

  Assigned coding mode, i.e. the coding mode being predefined or preselected to be further used for selection of another element or parameter · CPC title

• H04N19/162

  User input · CPC title

• H04N19/40

  using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream · CPC title

• H04N21/234309 Primary

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