Video Processing and Optical Recording

Abstract

A combined digital TV decoding and optical recording system includes a transport stream demultiplexer to demultiplex at least one compressed multimedia stream from an MPEG transport stream having multiplexed compressed multimedia streams. A video encoder compresses a video stream to generate a second compressed video stream. A common system controller controls operations of the transport stream demultiplexer and the video encoder, and allocates portions of a memory to the transport stream demultiplexer and the MPEG video encoder based on respective memory requirements.

1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a transport stream demultiplexer to demultiplex at least one compressed video stream from an encoded transport stream having multiplexed compressed video streams;   a video encoder to compress a video stream to generate a second compressed video stream; and   a controller to allocate portions of a shared memory to the transport stream demultiplexer and the video encoder based on respective memory requirements.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , also comprising a common memory controller for controlling access to the memory by the transport stream demultiplexer and the video encoder. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , also comprising a demodulator to demodulate a signal from a digital television tuner to generate the encoded transport stream. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , also comprising a recording module to record at least one of the compressed video streams demultiplexed by the transport stream demultiplexer and the second compressed video stream to a recording medium. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , also comprising a transport stream to program stream encoder to convert the demultiplexed compressed video stream into an MPEG program stream. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , also comprising a program stream to transport stream encoder to convert the second compressed video stream into an MPEG transport stream. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , also comprising at least one of a video decoder, a video post-processor, an audio encoder, and an audio decoder, in which the controller allocates portions of the shared memory to the at least one of the video decoder, the video post-processor, the audio encoder, and the audio decoder based on respective memory requirements. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 a demodulator to demodulate a signal from a digital television tuner to generate an MPEG transport stream having multiplexed compressed video streams;   a transport stream demultiplexer to demultiplex at least one compressed video stream from the MPEG transport stream;   an MPEG video decoder to decode the compressed video stream;   an MPEG video encoder to compress another video stream to generate a second compressed video stream;   a memory shared by the transport stream demultiplexer, the MPEG video decoder, and the MPEG video encoder;   a controller to control the transport stream demultiplexer, the video decoder, and the video encoder, and allocate portions of the shared memory to the transport stream demultiplexer, the video decoder, and the video encoder based on respective memory requirements; and   a recording module to record at least one of the compressed video streams demultiplexed by the transport stream demultiplexer and the second compressed video stream to a recording medium.   
     
     
         9 . A system comprising:
 a system controller to control operations of a first module for decoding a digital TV signal and a second module for encoding a video signal for recording to an optical recording medium; and   a system resource shared by the first and second modules, the system controller allocating portions of the system resource to the first and second modules based on requirements of the modules.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  in which the system resource comprises memory. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9  in which the system controller adjusts speeds of the first and second modules so that peak requirements of the system resource from the first and second modules occur at controlled times. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9  in which the first module comprises an MPEG decoder to decode the MPEG encoded audio and video signals. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9  in which the second module comprises an MPEG encoder for compressing the video signal according to MPEG encoding to generate a compressed video signal. 
     
     
         14 . A system comprising:
 means for dynamically allocating portions of a shared memory for use in (a) demultiplexing a signal having multiplexed digitally encoded video streams and (b) encoding another video stream, and   means for simultaneously demultiplexing the signal and encoding the other stream using the respective allocated portions of the memory.   
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 a system controller to control operations of a first module for decoding a digital radio signal and a second module for encoding an audio signal for recording to an optical recording medium; and   a memory shared by the first and second modules, the system controller allocating portions of the memory to the first and second modules based on requirements of the modules.   
     
     
         16 . A method comprising
 dynamically allocating portions of a shared memory for use in (a) demultiplexing a signal having multiplexed digitally encoded video streams and (b) encoding another video stream, and   demultiplexing the signal and encoding the other stream using the respective allocated portions of the memory.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  also comprising controlling the demultiplexing and the encoding operations using a common controller. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  in which demultiplexing a signal having multiplexed digitally encoded video streams comprises demultiplexing an MPEG transport stream having multiplexed MPEG encoded video streams to select one of the MPEG encoded video streams. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , also comprising converting a selected MPEG encoded video stream into an MPEG program stream, and storing data used during the conversion in the shared memory. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , also comprising encoding the MPEG program stream according to an optical storage standard to generate a signal suitable for storage in an optical storage medium that supports direct recording of an MPEG program stream, and storing data used during the encoding of the MPEG program stream in the memory. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , also comprising decoding the selected MPEG encoded video stream according to MPEG decoding, and storing data used during the decoding in the shared memory. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 16  in which the other video stream is encoded to generate an MPEG program stream, and the method also comprises converting the MPEG program stream into an MPEG transport stream, and storing data used during the decoding in the memory. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , comprising encoding the MPEG transport stream according to an optical storage standard to generate a signal suitable for storage in an optical storage medium that supports direct recording of an MPEG transport stream, and storing data used during the encoding of the MPEG transport stream in the memory. 
     
     
         24 . A method comprising:
 using a controller to control operations of a first module for decoding a digital TV signal and a second module for encoding a video signal for recording to an optical recording medium; and   storing data used during operations of the first and second modules in a shared memory, in which allocation of a first portion of the memory to store data used by the first module is partially dependent on an operation condition of the second module.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , comprising dynamically allocating a first portion of the memory to store data used during operations of the first module, and dynamically allocating a second portion of the memory to store data used during operation of the second module. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , comprising demodulating a digital TV signal. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  in which operations of the first module comprise demultiplexing an MPEG transport stream derived from the demodulated digital TV signal to generate MPEG encoded audio and video signals. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  in which operations of the first module comprise decoding the MPEG encoded audio and video signals according to MPEG decoding to generate decoded audio and video signals. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  in which operations of the first module comprise video post-processing the decoded video signal to improve image quality of the video signal. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29  in which operations of the first module comprise encoding the post-processed signal to generate an encoded signal that can be displayed on a television. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 24 , in which operations of the second module comprise compressing the video signal according to MPEG encoding to generate a compressed video signal. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  in which operations of the second module comprise encoding the compressed video signal according to an optical storage standard to generate a signal having a waveform suitable for storage on an optical storage medium. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 24  in which operations of the first module comprise converting an MPEG transport stream derived from the digital TV signal into an MPEG program stream. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 24  in which operations of the second module comprise converting an MPEG program stream derived from the video signal into an MPEG transport stream. 
     
     
         35 . A computer program product that causes a controller to perform operations comprising:
 setting register values to control operations of a first module for decoding a digital TV signal and a second module for encoding a video signal for recording to an optical recording medium; and   dynamically allocating a first portion of a memory to store data used during operations of the first module, and dynamically allocating a second portion of the memory to store data used during operations of the second module.   
     
     
         36 . A method comprising:
 using a common controller to control operations of a first module for decoding a digital radio signal and a second module for encoding an audio signal for recording to an optical recording medium; and   storing data used during operations of the first and second modules in a shared memory, in which allocation of a first portion of memory to store data used by the first module is partially dependent on an operation condition of the second module.