KR20010050416A - Apparatus with configuration ROM storing format information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily obtain information of a sub-unit even in another electronic equipment operated by a different protocol by storing the information concerning the sub-units in a storage means as a keyword. CONSTITUTION: A video deck 100 is provided with a tuner 110 and a tape recording/reproducing part 120 as the sub-unit and also provided with a configuration ROM 130 where information concerning a deck is stored. Information indicating types of the whole sub-units in the electronic equipment is arranged in a 'Keyword leaf' of the configuration ROM 130 as the keyword and also information indicating whole formats to be processed in the sub-units in the electronic equipment are arranged as the keyword. Thus, information indicating the types of the sub-units in the video deck 100 are stored in the ROM 130 as the keyword and also information indicating the formats of data to be processed in the sub-units are stored.

Description

Apparatus with configuration ROM storing format information}

Field of invention

The present invention relates to an electronic device for use with a video device, an audio device, etc., which is operated according to a specific protocol such as, for example, audio / video control (" AV / C "). In particular, the present invention includes a memory, which can be accessed directly from another electronic device, for storing information about the subunit such that the device can easily obtain different information by the electronic device even if the device is operated according to different protocols. It relates to an electronic device.

Description of related technology

A plurality of electronic devices operating according to different protocols may be interconnected through a common bus such as an IEEE 1394 bus.

An electronic device (unit) used as an IEEE 1394 node, such as a video desk, includes a subunit and a configuration read-only memory (" ROM ") in which various information related to the subunit is stored. The configuration ROM can be accessed directly by other electronic devices via the IEEE 1394 bus.

However, the information in the configuration ROM, including the information about the subunits of the device operating in accordance with a specific protocol such as the AV / C protocol, is not compatible with the device operating in accordance with different protocols. In particular, the information in the configuration ROM about the specific protocol (AV / C) of the device is difficult to access to other devices operating according to other protocols.

With direct access to the configuration ROM described above, there is an increase in requests that information relating to the operating protocol of the electronic device, such as information about subunits, can be accessed by other electronic devices that can be operated according to other protocols. do.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device in which information on the subunit can be easily obtained by another electronic device even when operating according to another protocol.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part apparent from the specification and drawings.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a network system interconnected by an IEEE 1394 bus.

2 is a diagram showing a periodic configuration of transmission data of a device connected by an IEEE 1394 system.

3 is a diagram illustrating an address space configuration of a CSR structure.

4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a PCR.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the structures of oMPR, oPCR, iMPR, and iPCR, respectively.

6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a plug, a plug control register, and an isochronous channel.

Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a control command and its response.

FIG. 8 illustrates in more detail the relationship between the control command and the response of FIG.

9 illustrates an example of a packet structure of an isochronous transport packet according to the present invention.

10 illustrates an example of a packet structure of an isochronous transport packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11 illustrates a data structure of a configuration ROM.

12 illustrates a data structure of a bus information block.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing information indicating the type of a subunit stored as a keyword; FIG.

Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between subunits and keywords.

15 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a data format and a keyword;

16 is a diagram showing an example in which format information of data that can be processed by a subunit is stored as a keyword;

Summary of the Invention

An electronic device according to the invention comprises a memory means for storing functions relating to its own electronic device as a keyword, which can be accessed directly from another electronic device, and at least one subunit, wherein the memory means stores information about the subunit. Save as a keyword.

The present invention may include memory means for storing, as a keyword, a function relating to a unique electronic device, which can be directly accessed from another electronic device. When the native electronic device is an IEEE 1394 node, for example, the memory means may be a configuration ROM. The memory means may store the information about the subunit existing in the electronic device (or "unit") as a keyword. The information about the subunit may include information indicating the format of data that can be processed by the subunit, information indicating the type of the subunit, and the like.

Since information about the subunit is stored as a keyword in a memory means that can be directly accessed from another electronic device, even when the other electronic device operates according to a different protocol, such other electronic device is transferred from the above-described memory means to the subunit. The information can be easily read.

In addition, the electronic device according to the present invention may further include a memory means in which a vendor or model name is stored in the form of Minimal ASCII (US standard code for information exchange). Therefore, an electronic device with minimal ASCII validity can easily display characters of a vendor name or a model name.

To more fully understand the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention.

1 illustrates a network system in which a plurality of nodes are interconnected via an IEEE 1394 bus 20. In the network system shown in FIG. 1, an IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) 10 and a video deck 100 are connected to an IEEE 1394 bus 20. IRD 10 and video deck 100 may each be an IEEE 1394 node. The receiving antenna 30 and the monitor 40 are connected to the IRD 10. Receive antenna 30 is also connected to video deck 100.

Video deck 100 is an IEEE 1394 node as described above, and operates according to the AV / C protocol. The video deck 100 includes a tuner 100 and a tape recorder / playback unit 120 as subunits, and also includes a configuration ROM 130 for storing information about the video deck. In addition, video deck 100 may process "MPEG2 transport stream" and "Digital VTR" video data formats.

2 shows a periodic structure of data transmission by a device connected according to IEEE 1394. FIG. In IEEE 1394, data is divided into packets and transmitted by time-division in cycles of 125 microseconds. This period is created by a period start signal supplied from an electronic device having a period master function. Isochronous packets guarantee the required bandwidth (in time units called bandwidth) for transmission from the beginning of every cycle. Therefore, isochronous transmission guarantees data transmission within a certain time. However, if a transmission error occurs, data is lost because there is no protection mechanism.

During each period of time not used for isochronous transmission in each cycle, the electronic device protecting the bus as a result of the arbitration sends packets upon boiling. An isochronous transmission guarantees secure transmission by acknowledgment and re-challenge, but the transmission timing is uncertain.

In order to perform isochronous transmission by a given electronic device, the electronic device must conform to the isochronous function. Moreover, at least one electronic device must have a periodic master function. Moreover, at least one electronic device connected to the IEEE 1394 serial bus must have isochronous resource management function.

IEEE 1394 is based on a Control & Status Register (CSR) architecture with a 64-bit address space defined by the International Organization for Standardization / International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO / IEC). 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of an address space according to the CRS architecture. The upper 16 bits form a node ID representing a node on each IEEE 1394 bus. The remaining 48 bits are used to specify the address space allocated to each node. In addition, the upper 16 bits are divided into 10 bits of the bus ID and 6 bits of the physical ID (narrow ID). Since the value that the entire bit is set to 1 is used for specific purposes, they can specify 1023 buses and 63 nodes. Among the 256 terabyte address spaces defined by the lower 48 bits, the space defined by the upper 20 bits is the initial register space or individual space used for 2048 bytes of CSR-specific registers or IEEE 1394-specific registers. (Private Space), Initial Memory Space (Initial Memory Space) and the like. The space defined by the lower 28 bits is the configuration ROM 130, initial unit space used for node specific use, plug control if the space defined by the upper 20 bits is initial register space. It is used as a register (Plug Control Register (PCR)). The above-described configuration ROM 130 based on the general ROM format is located at addresses 400h to 800h in the initial register space.

While each electronic device has the CSR shown in Fig. 3, for the bandwidth available registers, only those contained by the resource manager at boiling are valid.

When the bandwidth is not allocated for isochronous communication, the maximum value is stored in the bandwidth available register, and each time the bandwidth is allocated, the value is decreased.

Each bit of the channel enable register between offsets 224h and 228h corresponds to channel numbers 0 through 63, respectively. If the bit is equal to 0, it indicates that the corresponding channel has already been allocated. In such a case, only the channel availability register of the electronic device operating as the isochronous resource manager is valid.

In order to control the input and output of each device via the interface, the electronic device has a Plug Control Register (PCR) defined by IEC 61883 at addresses 900h to 9FFh in the initial unit space shown in FIG. This is the same concept that a plug is specified to form a signal path that is logically analogous to an analog interface.

4 illustrates the structure of a PCR. The PCR has an output plug control register (oPCR) representing an output plug and an input plug control register (iPCR) representing an input plug. Moreover, the PCR has an output master plug register (oMPR) and an input master plug register (iMPR) representing information on the output plug or input plug unique to each device. Each device does not have a plurality of oMPRs and iMPRs, but has a plurality of oPCRs and iPCRs corresponding to each individual plug. The PCR shown in FIG. 4 has 31 oPCR and iPCR, respectively. The flow of isochronous data is controlled by operating the registers corresponding to these plugs.

5 shows the structure of oMPR, oPCR, iMPR, iPCR. FIG. 5A shows the structure of oMPR, FIG. 5B shows the structure of oPCR, FIG. 5C shows the structure of iMPR, and FIG. 5D shows iPCR. The structure of the A two bit data rate capability storage area on one side of oMPR and iMPR stores a code representing the maximum transfer rate of isochronous data that can be transmitted or received by the device. The broadcast channel base area of the oMPR defines the channel number used for broadcast output.

The storage area of the number of 5-bit output plugs on the second side of the oMPR stores a value indicating the number of output plugs owned by the associated device, that is, the number of the oPCR. The storage area of the number of 5-bit input plugs on the second side of the iMPR stores a value indicating the number of input plugs owned by the associated device, that is, the number of the iPCR. Non-persistent and persistent extension fields are those specified for future expansion.

Each online area on one side of oPCR and iPCR shows the usage of the plug. That is, a value of 1 to indicate that the plug is online and a value of 0 to indicate that the plug is offline. The value of each broadcast connection counter of oPCR and iPCR indicates whether a broadcast connection is currently in a state of (1) or (0). Each point-to-point connection counter (6 bits wide) in oPCR and iPCR represents the number of point-to-point connections owned by the associated plug. The value (6 bits in width) of the number of each channel of oPCR and iPCR indicates the isochronous channel number to which the associated plug is connected. The value of the data rate of the oPCR (2 bits wide) represents the actual transmission speed of the isochronous data packet output by the associated plug. The code (4 bits in width) stored in the area of the overhead ID of the oPCR represents the bandwidth of the overhead of isochronous communication. The payload value (10 bits in width) of the oPCR represents the maximum value of the data contained in the isochronous packet that the associated plug can handle.

6 shows the relationship between a plug and a plug control register and an isochronous channel. The AV devices 50 to 52 are connected to each other via an IEEE 1394 serial bus. Isochronous data is defined by oPCR [1] (of oPCR [0] to oPCR [2]) and the baud rate and number of oPCR are defined by oMPR of AV-device 52. Shipped to number 1. Similarly, the AV device 51 sends isochronous data to channel number 2 specified by oPCR [0], and the AV device 50 attaches isochronous data to channel number 2 specified by oPCR [1]. Read it and save it.

Next, the AV / C instruction set employed in the audio system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

7 illustrates a response sent asynchronously with a control command. As shown in Fig. 7, the controlling side is indicated as "controller" and the controlled side is indicated as "target". The transmission of the response to the control command is executed between the electronic devices using the write transaction of the asynchronous transmission in IEEE 1394. The target received data sends an ACK back to the controller confirming receipt of the data.

FIG. 8 illustrates the relationship between the control command and the response shown in FIG. 7 in more detail. The electronic device A is connected to the electronic device B via the IEEE 1394 bus. The electronic device A is a controller, and the electronic device B is a target. Both electronic device A and electronic device B have a command register and a response register, each of which has 512 bytes. As shown in Fig. 8, the controller (device A) transfers a command by writing a command message to the command register 123 of the target (device B). Conversely, the target (device B) sends a response by writing a response message to the response register 122 of the controller (device A). Therefore control information is exchanged by two messages.

9 is a diagram showing a part of the isochronous transport packet used for the isochronous transmission described above. The header is assigned to this packet and occupies 32x2 bits from the front and includes a sync pattern sy, a packet code tt, a channel, a tag, a data length, and an error correction code CRC. A marker (SPH) indicating whether or not a certain size of data is present in each packet, reservation (RSV), source packet header, partition number (FN) of source packet, data block size (DBS), its own confirmation code ( The next 32 bits, when divided to be allocated to SID), are allocated to the count value of the continuous packet DBC. The next 32 bits are allocated to a recording area SY such as a time stamp, a sampling frequency FDF of transmitted data, a transmission format FMT, and the like. Another next area is allocated to transmission data made of source data in units of 32 bits, and an error correction code (CRC) is added at the end thereof.

Thus, in this example, one bit (one bit at the position enclosed by the broken line in Fig. 9) at a specific position in the region of the sampling frequency FDF made of 8 bits indicates a flag indicating that the transmission rate of the audio signal is controlled ( Is used to add FC). If this flag FC is a "1" signal, it indicates a mode in which the transmission rate is controlled. If the flag FC is "0", it indicates entering a mode in which the transmission rate is not controlled. In addition, in the following description, the mode in which the transmission rate is controlled is called a flow control mode.

The link block (not shown) of the video deck 100 of FIG. 1 adds the digital audio signal DA, the digital video signal DV, and the like to the isochronous transport packet in a predetermined unit, thereby providing an input / output circuit (not shown). Send to bus 20 via.

Fig. 10 shows an asynchronous transmission packet for one-to-one asynchronous communication by the above-described control command or the like. The input / output circuit of the video deck 100 sets an address or the like indicating its unique node, bus number, and the like on the packet for dispatch. Specifically, the first 32 bits of the packet are the priority level of this packet, the code of this packet (tCode), the rechallenge code of this packet (rt), the level assigned to this packet (tLabel), and the transmission rate (spd). Acknowledgment data (imm) indicating association with the continuous packet is allocated. Furthermore, data (destination offset high, destination offset low) designating an address of the entry mode and data (destination ID) indicating the destination node and the bus are allocated. Therefore, a data length of the transmission data and the like are further allocated, and the transmission data is allocated in units of 32 bits.

The link block of the video deck 100 receives a packet for one-to-one communication received by an input / output circuit and transmits the data allocated to the packet to a processing device such as a host computer or an integrated central processing unit (CPU) (not shown). Notice). In this way, various control commands sent to the video deck 100 from another device (not shown) are notified to the processing device.

Regarding data communication between devices connected according to IEEE 1394, the pending US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 490,827, filed Jan. 25, 2000, is incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 11 shows a data structure of the configuration ROM 130 shown in FIG. The configuration ROM 130 includes a bus information block "Bus Information block", a root directory "Root Directory", an instant directory "Instance Directory", and a unit directory "Unit Directory".

FIG. 12 shows a data structure of the bus information block shown in FIG. The first five quadlets of ROM 130 contain bus information blocks. Unique values are assigned to 64 bits of "node_vendor_id", "chip_id_hi", and "chip_id_lo" in the bus information block, so that the devices can be distributed to each other. "node_vendor_id" is a unique ID and is assigned to production from IEEE / Registration Authority Committee (RAC). "chip_id_hi" and "chip_id_lo" are IDs of a total of 40 bits uniquely distributed by "node_vendor_id".

Returning to Fig. 11, the vendor ID is located in the entry of the root directory "Vendor". The "Textual descriptor" carries this "Vendor" entry. The position of this "Textual descriptor" is indicated by "Descriptor leaf offset". In an embodiment of the present invention, a minimal ASCII character code representing a vendor is located in the "Textual descriptor".

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 13, a "Descriptor Directory offset" representing "Descriptor Directory" is located in the root directory. The "Descriptor leaf offset" indicating the position of the "Mandatory" "Textual descriptor" is located in the "Descriptor Directory". "Descriptor leaf offset" also indicates the positions of "Optional", "Texture descriptor", "Icon descriptor", and the like. In this case, the minimal ASCII character code is located in the optional "Texture descriptor". In addition, icon data indicating a vendor is located in an "Icon descriptor".

1 again, the instance directory is a directory showing an example of the function of the unique electronic device. The root directory contains an "Instance directory offset" that indicates the location of the instance directory. Moreover, the instance directory includes a "Keyword leaf offset" indicating the position of the "Keyword leaf" and a "Unit directory offset" indicating the position of the unit directory.

A node, which is an access unit on the IEEE 1394 bus, includes a plurality of units that can be operated independently while the node uses the address space in common. The unit directory represents the location and version of the software for this unit. In other words, when the location of the bus information block and the root directory are fixed, the other blocks are designated by offset addresses.

Information indicating the type of all subunits in the electronic device is located in the "Keyword leaf" as a keyword. This keyword is denoted by uppercase letters "A to Z" of the alphabet, numbers "0 to 9" and hi-phone "-". 14 shows an example of a correspondence relationship between a subunit type ("Subunit Type") and a keyword ("Keyword"). In one embodiment of the invention, video deck 100 incorporates tuner 110 and tape recorder / playback unit 120 as subunits. For this purpose, " TUNER " representing the tuner 110 and " TAPE " representing the tape recording / reproducing section 120 are located at " Keyword leaf " as keywords.

Furthermore, information representing the entire format that can be processed by the subunit in the electronic device is located in the "Keyword leaf" as a keyword. 15 shows an example of the correspondence relationship between the format ("Format") and a keyword ("Keyword"). In the mode of practicing the present invention, video data in formats representing "MPEG2 transport stream" and "digital VTR" can be processed. For this purpose, "MPEG2-TS" representing "MPEG2 transport stream" and "DV" representing "digital VCR" are located in the "Keyword leaf" as keywords.

Returning to FIG. 11, the root directory includes a "Unit directory offset" indicating the location of the unit directory. The unit directory contains entries of "Specifier-ID", "Version", and "Model". The model ID is located in the "Model" entry. The "Textual descriptor" carries this "Model" entry. This "Textual descriptor" is indicated by "Descriptor leaf offset". In one embodiment of the invention, the minimal ASCII character code representing the model name is located in the "Textual descriptor".

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 16, the "Descriptor leaf offset" indicating the location of the "Descriptor Directory" is located in the root directory, for example, the location of the "Mandatory" "Textual descriptor". The " Descriptor leaf offset " indicating is located in the "Descriptor Directory ", and " Descriptor leaf offset " indicating the positions of " Optional " " Texture descriptor ", " Icon descriptor " " Modifiable descriptor " In this case, the minimal ASCII character code representing the model name is placed in the "Mandatory" "Textual descriptor". The icon data of the model is located in the "Icon descriptor". Also, other data representing the model is located in the "Modifiable descriptor".

As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, information indicating the type of subunit in the video deck 100 is stored as a keyword in the configuration ROM 130 of the video deck 100. Furthermore, information indicative of the format of data that can be processed by the subunits in the video deck 100 is stored in the configuration ROM 130. The configuration ROM 130 may be accessed directly from another electronic device, which may operate according to a protocol different from the AV / C protocol. Therefore, in the network system of FIG. 1, although the IRD 10 is operated according to a protocol different from, for example, the AV / C protocol, the IRD 10 directly accesses the configuration ROM 130 of the video deck 100. And format information of data that can be processed by subunits in the video deck 100 can be easily obtained.

In addition, even if the information about the subunit stored in the configuration ROM 130 is information indicating the type of the subunit and information indicating the data format that can be processed by the subunit in the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited thereto. It is not limited.

Moreover, although the present invention is applied to the video deck 100 in the present invention described above, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to other electronic devices including similar configuration ROMs.

According to the present invention, since the information about the subunit is stored in a memory means that can be directly accessed from another electronic device even if another electronic device is operated according to another protocol, such information can be easily obtained from the other electronic device. have. In addition, since the electronic device includes a memory means stored in the form of minimal ASCII as the vendor name or model name, if the electronic device is an electronic device with minimal ASCII valid, characters of the vendor name or model name can be displayed.

Therefore, the objects described above are apparent from the foregoing description, are effectively achieved, and any changes may be made in carrying out the method with the described configurations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all matters contained in and shown in the accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to be limiting.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover the general and specific overall features of the invention described herein, and as a matter of language, the overall description of the scope of the invention to be mentioned therein.

Even if the electronic device according to the present invention operates according to another protocol, information on the subunit can be easily obtained by the other electronic device.

Claims (28)

An apparatus operating according to a first protocol and transmitting data on a bus line, Data interface means for inputting and outputting data; Data storage means for storing information relating to the device relating to the first protocol, Said data storage means being accessible via said data interface means to another device operating in accordance with a second protocol. The method of claim 1, And the first protocol is a transport protocol. The method of claim 1, The first protocol is a function control protocol. The method of claim 3, wherein The first protocol is an AV / C protocol. The method of claim 1, The data storage means stores the information as a keyword. The method of claim 1, And said data storage means stores said information hierarchically. The method of claim 1, The information including information indicative of a function type of the device. The method of claim 7, wherein Further comprises one or more subunits, The information indicating the function type of the device includes information indicating at least one type of the one or more subunits. The method of claim 1, And said data storage means stores said information in minimal ASCII. The method of claim 9, And said data storage means stores said information using alphabets. The method of claim 9, And said data storage means stores said information using numbers. The method of claim 9, And said data storage means stores a vendor name. The method of claim 9, And said data storage means stores a model name. The method of claim 1, Wherein the information comprises information indicative of a data format. A method for obtaining data from an apparatus operating according to a first protocol and comprising data storage means and data interface means, Storing information relating to the device relating to the first protocol in the data storage means; Accessing said storage means to obtain said information via said data interface means, Said data storage means may be accessible via said data interface means to another apparatus operating in accordance with a second protocol. The method of claim 15, And said first protocol is a transport protocol. The method of claim 15, The first protocol is a function control protocol. The method of claim 17, The first protocol is an AV / C protocol. The method of claim 15, The data storing means stores the information as a keyword. The method of claim 15, And said data storing means stores said information hierarchically. The method of claim 15, The information including information indicative of a function type of the device. The method of claim 21, The apparatus further comprises one or more subunits, And the information indicative of the functional type of the device comprises information indicative of at least one type of the one or more subunits. The method of claim 15, And said data storing means stores said information in minimal ASCII. The method of claim 23, wherein And said data storage means stores said information using alphabets. The method of claim 23, wherein Said data storage means storing said information using numbers. The method of claim 23, wherein And said data storing means stores a vendor name. The method of claim 23, wherein And said data storing means stores a model name. The method of claim 15, The information including information indicative of a data format.