Supplemental data path for supporting on-screen displays from external sources in a monitor/TV receiver using a secondary analog signal path

Abstract

An external source outputs an analog signal containing on-screen information (OSD) for the external source, which has been decoded in the external source, and an encoded high definition digital signal. A high definition television (HDTV) has separate inputs for the analog signal and the high definition digital signal, which is decoded in the HDTV to a format suitable for display on the HDTV monitor. Accordingly, both the OSD information for the external source and the high definition signal are available for use and display on the HDTV monitor.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method of displaying information from an external source on a monitor of a high definition television (HDTV), comprising: 
 generating on-screen display (OSD) information in the external source;    converting the OSD information to an analog signal;    transmitting the analog signal to the HDTV along an analog interface;    processing the analog signal in the HDTV; and    displaying the analog signal containing the OSD information for the external source on the monitor of the HDTV.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the external source is a set-top box.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 transmitting a high definition (HD) digital signal from the external source to the HDTV via a digital interface;    decoding the HD digital signal in the HDTV; and    displaying a video representation of the HD digital signal.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the digital interface is an IEEE1394 interface.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the decoding is with a high-level MPEG-2 decoder.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising selecting the analog signal when OSD information is desired for display and selecting the HD digital signal when a video is desired for display.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the selecting is with an external control device.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the selecting is based on information contained in the signals from the external source.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the OSD information and the video are displayed at the same time.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the OSD information and the video are displayed at different times.  
     
     
         11 . A system for displaying information on a monitor, comprising: 
 an external source having a high definition digital input terminal for accepting a high definition digital transport stream, a high definition digital output terminal for outputting high definition digital signals, and an analog output terminal for outputting an analog signal containing on-screen display (OSD) information for the external source; and    a high definition television (HDTV) having a digital input terminal for accepting the high definition digital signals and an analog input terminal for accepting the analog signal containing OSD information.    
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the external source is a set-top box.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the external source comprises: 
 a central processing unit (CPU) for generating the OSD information; and    a decoder coupled between the CPU and the analog output terminal for transforming the OSD information to an analog format.    
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the decoder is a main-level MPEG-2 decoder.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the external source further comprises: 
 a demodulator coupled to the high definition digital input terminal for demodulating the digital transport stream; and    a transport unit coupled between the demodulator and the digital output terminal for selecting desired signals from the digital transport stream.    
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the HDTV comprises: 
 a high-level decoder coupled to the digital input terminal for decoding the high definition digital signals; and    a video switching device coupled to the high-level decoder and the analog input terminal for selecting a high definition digital signal or the analog signal containing the OSD information.    
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the high-level decoder is a high-level MPEG-2 decoder.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising a remote control unit for selecting the high definition digital signals or the analog signal containing the OSD information for display on the monitor.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the HDTV further comprises a CPU coupled to the video switching device for generating OSD information for the HDTV.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a digital interface coupling the digital output terminal of the external source to the digital input terminal of the HDTV, and an analog interface coupling the analog output terminal of the external source to the analog input terminal of the HDTV.  
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the digital interface is an IEEE1394 interface.  
     
     
         22 . A method of displaying information from an external source on a monitor of a high definition television (HDTV), comprising: 
 generating on-screen display (OSD) information in the external source;    transmitting the OSD information to the HDTV along a digital transport stream;    processing the digital transport stream in the HDTV to extract the OSD information from the digital transport stream; and    displaying the OSD information for the external source on the monitor of the HDTV.    
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the processing comprises demodulating and decoding the digital transport stream.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the transmitting is via a high speed digital interface.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the high speed digital interface is an IEEE1394 interface.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising transmitting a high definition (HD) digital signal along with the OSD information along the digital transport stream.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the external source is a set-top box.