CN115834811A - Multimedia video and audio system and protocol converter thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The specification provides a multimedia video system and a protocol converter thereof, wherein the multimedia video system comprises an integration device such as a television, various video equipment connected with the rear end, and a protocol converter, the protocol converter is connected with the integration device, the protocol converter not only processes audio and video signals input from a specific video source traditionally and outputs the audio and video signals to the integration device for playing, but also can directly output the converted audio to an audio output device connected with the protocol converter for playing. The protocol converter can process the audio signal received by the audio acquisition processing device from the storage device, and can transmit the audio signal back to the audio acquisition processing device through the audio return channel or the enhanced audio return channel, and finally convert the audio signal into various audio output interfaces supported by the protocol converter.

Description

Multimedia video and audio system and protocol converter thereof

Technical Field

The present specification provides an audio/video system, and more particularly, to a multimedia audio/video system using a protocol converter supporting an audio return channel.

Background

With the rapid development of the multimedia industry, the requirements of people on the video quality are increasingly raised nowadays, and video devices mostly support various transmission interfaces for transmitting video signals, such as DisplayPort (DP), HDMI, wiFi, and the like, and support various high-quality video specifications, such as 4K, 5K, and 8K resolutions, which are more and more widely adopted, so that users can experience higher-level viewing quality. As for audio, the popularity of more audio formats and audio coding techniques also allows users to have a better listening experience.

Taking a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) protocol as an example, a schematic diagram of an HDMI video system architecture is shown in fig. 1, in which a functional block diagram of the HDMI protocol is shown, where the HDMI protocol defines a source terminal (source) 11 and a sink terminal (sink) 13, which respectively implement a source device (HDMI source device) and a sink device (HDMI sink device) in a video device. The source supplying device is a device for receiving external audio and video signals in the audio and video system, such as a set-top box, a DVD audio and video player or a game host, and the accumulating device is a device for receiving and playing audio and video signals in the audio and video system, such as a television and a sound equipment.

In the power supply terminal 11, a Transmitter (TX) 103 receives signals of a video 101 and an audio 102 from an audio/video source, converts the signals into audio/video signals under the HDMI protocol, and transmits the signals to a Receiver (RX) 107 of the storage terminal 13 via a cable or a wireless communication in multiple channels, wherein Display Data Channel (DDC) and Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) signals for transmitting various information under the HDMI protocol are implemented, and then the signals are converted and decoded to form digital contents for playing, such as a video 105 and an audio 106 as shown in the figure.

However, since various video transmission protocols are mixed in the increasingly complex multimedia applications, the prior art proposes a product called a Protocol Converter (PCON) which can be conveniently used in the video environment of various video interfaces, and the purpose of the protocol converter is to convert the input video transmission format and then output the converted format, so that the source-storage of different transmission interfaces is compatible, and a user can flexibly connect the transmitters of various transmission interfaces on the terminal storage (such as a television), thereby successfully extending the multimedia application range and functions.

In addition, in terms of improvement and improvement of an audio application context, under a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) protocol, the HDMI supporting apparatus can also reversely transmit an audio signal from the storage terminal to the power supply terminal through an Audio Return Channel (ARC) or enhanced audio return channel (eARC) technology defined by the HDMI supporting apparatus, so that audio transmission on the multimedia video platform is more flexible.

The purpose of the present protocol converter product is to enable the power supply end and the storage end of different transmission video signal interfaces to transmit video signals and communicate with each other. For example, a DP-to-HDMI protocol converter receives a DP signal transmitted from a DP/Type-C power source, converts the DP signal into an HDMI transmission format, and transmits an audio/video signal to a storage terminal through a Transmitter (TX) of the HDMI.

However, except for the conversion of the audio/video transmission format, the communication concepts between the DP and the HDMI devices are different, the HDMI multimedia platform architecture is rooted at the storage end, and then various HDMI devices can be connected as branches, and through the CEC mechanism in the HDMI protocol, the CEC pin of the HDMI port is used to transmit a single-wire bidirectional control signal, so that a user can control all connected HDMI devices through one remote controller, and each HDMI device can interact with each other, thereby achieving the effect of linkage control. However, the DP transport interface does not have a similar concept, and therefore, the protocol converter also needs to load the auxiliary line (CEC over aux) with a CEC signal, which is based on the principle that CEC control information received by the HDMI Receiver (RX) is transferred to DPCD (display port configuration data) under the DP protocol, and then transferred to the DP/Type-C power source terminal through the DP auxiliary line (aux) signal, so as to add the DP/Type-C power source device to the entire HDMI multimedia platform architecture.

An example of a conventional architecture is shown in FIG. 2, in which the DP/Type-C source device 21 is shown connected to the HDMI multimedia platform 25 through the protocol converter 23, the HDMI multimedia platform 25 is shown as an integrated terminal in the system architecture, the solid lines in the figure represent video signals, and the dotted lines represent audio signals. The HDMI multimedia platform 25 has an integration device 251 (e.g., a tv) receiving the video signal and the audio signal converted to the HDMI protocol from the protocol converter 23, and on the other hand, can also receive the audio/video content from other devices in the platform, such as from the HDMI source one 255 through the audio acquisition processing device 253, and can return the audio to the audio acquisition processing device 253 through the audio return channel (ARC/eARC), and can also directly receive the audio/video content from the HDMI source two 259. The storage device 251 can additionally output the audio signal to the external audio device 257 for playing.

However, as seen in the above-mentioned related products of the conventional Protocol Converter (PCON), there are some limitations, such as that the HDMI Transmitter (TX) of the conventional protocol converter can only output audio/video signals, and does not support the audio return channel/enhanced audio return channel (ARC/eARC) function of the HDMI protocol, and the HDMI sink can return audio signals to the HDMI transmitter through the utility Pin and hot plug detect Pin (HPD) of the HDMI port, so that the HDMI sink cannot receive the audio signal input returned from the HDMI sink, which is equivalent to sacrificing the signal source of the audio signal input of the protocol converter itself.

In addition, since the protocol converter focuses on the conversion of different video/audio transmission interfaces, as shown in fig. 2, the protocol converter 23 firstly analyzes the audio signal in the DP signal, converts the audio signal into the audio data packet under the HDMI transmission protocol, and then transmits the audio data packet to the HDMI storage (251), so that there is no extra encoding format conversion or processing for the audio in the audio data packet, and the audio data analyzed from the DP signal can only be transmitted to the HDMI storage in one direction, and there is no choice for outputting other audio. Therefore, if the user wants to have a higher quality listening experience, the user needs to additionally connect other audio processing devices unless the connected HDMI sink can support the HDMI sink.

For the above two reasons, although the DP/Type-C source device 21 shown in fig. 2 can integrate the video part into the HDMI multimedia platform architecture, it cannot be effectively integrated into the audio transmission, which increases the burden of the user on the installation of the multimedia platform and reduces the convenience of use.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the disadvantages of the prior art that the proposed Protocol Converter (PCON) cannot handle the audio input from the HDMI sink, and can only transmit the audio signal to the HDMI sink in one direction without any selection of other audio output, the present disclosure provides a multimedia audio/video system and a protocol converter thereof, wherein the protocol converter can handle the audio signal input from a specific audio/video source, and also can handle the audio signal returned from the sink in the multimedia audio/video system, and then convert the audio signal into various audio transmission interfaces for output.

According to one embodiment, the proposed multimedia audio/video system comprises an integration device, a protocol converter connected to the integration device, an audio/video receiver for receiving audio/video data, a video processor for performing encoding/decoding processing on a video format, and an audio protocol processing unit for receiving an audio portion of the audio/video data from the audio/video receiver, performing audio processing on the audio portion, converting the audio portion into an audio format, and outputting the audio format to a corresponding playback device, or outputting the audio format to an audio output device connected to the protocol converter. In addition, the audio protocol processing unit receives the returned audio signal from the storage device through the audio transceiving circuit, and outputs the audio signal to the audio output device after audio processing.

Wherein the protocol converter receives the audio signal from the storage device through either an Audio Return Channel (ARC) or an enhanced audio return channel (eARC). In the multimedia video system, the storage device is also connected with one or more video devices, and the video devices can become video data sources of the storage device and also form audio signals output by the storage device to the protocol converter.

Preferably, the audio part of the audio-visual data received by the protocol converter through the audio-visual receiver is the first format audio, which is converted into the second format audio and then output to the storage device, and the audio signal received by the protocol converter from the storage device is the second format audio.

Furthermore, the protocol converter is provided with at least one audio output interface, the output circuit is switched through the audio output multi-path switching circuit, one of the audio output interfaces is determined, and the audio output interface can be one or more of an analog interface, a digital interface and a wireless radio frequency interface.

For a better understanding of the features and technical content of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention and accompanying drawings, which are provided for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the invention.

Drawings

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an HDMI protocol;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional architecture for integrating DP/Type-C power devices into an HDMI multimedia platform;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multimedia AV system applying a protocol converter according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a multimedia audio/video system architecture according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a protocol converter; and

fig. 6 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of an audio protocol conversion circuit in a protocol converter.

Detailed Description

The following is a description of embodiments of the present invention with reference to specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand the advantages and effects of the present invention from the disclosure of the present specification. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification and various other changes, which can be made in various details within the specification and without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The drawings of the present invention are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be drawn to scale. The following embodiments will further explain the related art of the present invention in detail, but the disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements or signals, these elements or signals should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used primarily to distinguish one element from another element or from one signal to another signal. In addition, the term "or" as used herein should be taken to include any one or combination of more of the associated listed items as the case may be.

In order to improve the disadvantages and inconveniences of the conventional Protocol Converter (PCON) that can only output audio/video signals and does not support the audio return channel/enhanced audio return channel (ARC/eARC) function of the HDMI protocol, and that cannot process the audio input returned from the HDMI sink (e.g., a television) and can only be transmitted to the HDMI sink in one direction, the present disclosure provides a multimedia audio/video system and a protocol converter thereof, wherein one of the main technical objectives of the present disclosure is to provide the protocol converter with an audio signal processing function, and through the technical improvement of a transmission interface, the protocol converter with a simpler original function can completely cooperate with an audio storage device in the audio/video system on video signals or audio signals without an additional external audio processing device to process the audio signal, and the novel protocol converter can be integrated into a multimedia audio/video system based on an audio storage device (e.g., a television, an audio/video playback device), such as a multimedia audio/video system based on a clear multimedia interface (HDMI).

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multimedia video/audio system applying the protocol converter according to the present disclosure.

The multimedia video system shown in the figure includes a video playback device 32, such as a television, as a device of the storage end in the multimedia video system, and receives video data transmitted from a video source 31 through a protocol converter 30, wherein the video source 31 can be a transmission interface (such as DP/Type-C) from a specific format, and the video data transmitted through the transmission interface can be converted into a transmission format (such as HDMI) supported by the storage end through the protocol converter 30. The av playback device 32 at the storage side can be connected to one or more av devices, which are shown as a first av device 301 and a second av device 302, for example, the av devices at home, such as a tv game, a DVD player, etc., and the first av device 301 and the second av device 302 are various sources of av data in the multimedia av system and are also sources of av data in the storage device.

According to an embodiment, the storage-side av playback device 32, the first av device 301 and the second av device 302 can support a Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) function that is added to the HDMI standard in the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification. The audio/video system conforming to the HDMI-CEC standard can be connected to various HDMI-capable audio/video devices through a connection line (e.g., a cable with two-way communication) under a specific standard, so that the various HDMI-CEC-capable devices in the storage can be controlled by only one remote controller 305.

Taking fig. 3 as an example, under the HDMI-CEC specification, a user can operate the Remote controller 305 to operate towards the av playback device 32, and the generated Control signal can be transmitted (e.g. a Remote Control Pass Through) to all devices connected to the av playback device 32, such as the illustrated first av device 301 and second av device 302, and can be transmitted to the protocol converter 30 under the multimedia av system provided by the present disclosure.

According to the embodiment shown in the figure, the protocol converter 30 not only converts the audio/video data inputted from the audio/video source 31 and transmits the converted data to the audio/video playing device 32, but also processes the audio signal returned from the audio/video playing device 32 to the protocol converter 30 through the audio return channel/enhanced audio return channel (ARC/eARC), and the audio/video equipment connected to the integrating device (i.e., the audio/video playing device 32) also forms the audio signal outputted from the integrating device to the protocol converter 30, and the audio signal inputted to the protocol converter 30 is outputted to the sound system 33 through the specific output interface after being converted.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a multimedia audio/video system architecture according to the present disclosure. The main components of the multimedia audio/video system include a protocol converter 403, an integration device 405, and various audio/video devices connected to the integration device 405 within the system, such as a second format audio/video source 409, an audio output device (e.g., external speaker and related devices, headphones) 411, and a second format audio/video source 413. In addition, based on the proposed improved protocol converter 403 can support the audio return channel/enhanced audio return channel (ARC/eARC) function of the HDMI protocol, the protocol converter 403 can process the audio signal returned from the integration device 405, so that in the multimedia av system, the protocol converter 403 can directly output audio to various audio output devices, different from the audio output device 411 connected to the integration device 405, the audio output device connected to the protocol converter 403, such as the audio/video receiver (AVR) 431, the wireless receiver 433, the earphone 435, and the speaker system 437 shown in the figure.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the multimedia audio/video system receives audio/video content in a first format from a first format audio/video source 401, such as data in the DP/Type-C transmission format described in the above example, including audio and video in a specific format, and performs audio/video format conversion on the received audio/video data through a protocol converter 403, such as converting the received audio/video data into audio/video data in HDMI format, and transmits the audio/video data to an integrator 405 for playing the audio/video content through an associated audio/video device.

On the other hand, in the multimedia av system, different av sources, such as the second format av source 409 in the figure, are provided inside, besides connecting the storage device 405 through the HDMI cable (or wireless), the related audio signals can be input to the storage device 405 through the audio acquisition processing device 407, or the storage device 405 itself can be used as an audio signal source and then input to the audio acquisition processing device 407 through the audio return channel 415. On the other hand, as shown in the second format video source two 413, the storage device 405 can be directly connected through the HDMI cable (or wirelessly), and the video content can be directly input to the storage device 405. With respect to the storage device 405, audio may be output to the additional audio output device 411 for playback.

In particular, the protocol converter 403 of the present disclosure utilizes a circuit supporting an audio return channel/enhanced audio return channel (ARC/eARC) function to process the audio signal returned from the storage device 405. That is, the protocol converter 403 receives the audio and video signals in the first format from the first format av source 401 and converts the audio and video signals into the second format supported by the multimedia av system based on the storage device 405, and the protocol converter 403 can also receive the returned audio signals from the storage device 405 through the audio return channel 417. Thus, the protocol converter 403 can perform encoding and decoding on the audio signal transmitted by the first format video source 401 or the audio signal returned from the storage device 405, convert the audio signal into formats supported by various audio transmission interfaces, and output the audio signal through one or more audio playback devices connected to the protocol converter 403, as shown in the figure, wired or wireless output devices supported by the protocol converter 403, such as the video receiver 431 and the wireless receiver 433, may also include analog signals output from the earphone 435 and the speaker system 437 through digital conversion.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the protocol converter 403 supports a wired output format such as I in the audio playback device ² S (Inter-IC Sound), S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface), line-Out analog audio signals and the like; wireless output formats, e.g. Bluetooth

And wireless network

Therefore, the user can more freely transmit the received audio formats to the corresponding audio playing devices through the protocol converter 403 in the multimedia av system for playing.

Furthermore, the protocol converter 403 may also perform various post-processing on the Audio signal, such as volume adjustment, noise reduction, equalization (Equalization), etc., or encode and decode the received Audio data, for example, the received Audio signal is in a compressed and encoded Audio format, such as AC3 (Audio Coding version 3), DTS (Digital television Systems) and MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group), and in addition, the Multi-Channel or Multi-stream categories all belong to them, and all of them can be directly decoded and restored or converted into any Audio format for subsequent application by the protocol converter 403 provided in the present disclosure.

Therefore, the proposed protocol converter 403 can directly process the received audio signal without being connected to other audio processing devices or processed by specific devices in the system, and can directly transmit the audio signal to various audio playing devices interfaced with the protocol converter 403 for playing, which can reduce the sound delay as much as possible and give the most direct listening experience to the user.

Reference may be made to the block diagram of the embodiment shown in fig. 5 with respect to circuitry implementing the protocol converter.

The protocol converter 50 connected to the storage device 53 in the multimedia audio/video system is shown to receive the audio/video data from the first format audio/video signal 51, convert the format and output to the storage device 53. The protocol converter 50 is provided with an audio/video receiver 501 for separating audio/video data, and the video part is transmitted to the video processor 503 for performing encoding/decoding processing with respect to the video format, such as converting the input first format audio/video into the HDMI format supported by the multimedia audio/video system, and then outputting the HDMI format to the storage device 53 through the audio/video transmitter 505. An audio protocol processing unit 500 is proposed, and the audio part of the audio data received from the audio receiver 501 is transmitted to the audio protocol processing unit 500, and after the audio signal is encoded and decoded and converted into a specific audio format, the audio signal can be directly output from the protocol converter 50 to an audio output device connected to the protocol converter 50, such as the audio system 55 shown in the figure, or output to the storage device 53 through the audio/video transmitter 505. The av transmitter 505 is a connection interface between the protocol converter 50 and the storage device 53, and may be an HDMI transmission interface, for example.

Specifically, however, the protocol converter 50 may receive the audio signal from the storage device 53 through a supported audio return channel 511 (which may be an Audio Return Channel (ARC) or an enhanced audio return channel (eARC)), and transmit the audio signal to the audio protocol processing unit 500 through the audio return receiving circuit 507, and similarly convert the audio signal into a specific audio format and output the specific audio format directly to the sound system 55, and may transmit a plurality of channels to different speakers to achieve the effects of depth of field and surround.

Referring to fig. 6, a block diagram of an embodiment of the audio protocol processing unit 500 is shown, wherein the protocol converter 50 processes audio signals from and to the protocol converter 50 through the audio protocol processing unit 500, and the audio protocol processing unit 500 may be firmware or software executed in a circuit of the protocol converter 50, or an audio protocol conversion circuit, and the embodiment shows that the audio protocol processing unit 500 is provided with an audio processing circuit 61 for processing audio signals input to the protocol converter and forming output audio, particularly processing first format audio 601 input from a first format audio/video source or second format audio 602 returned from an integrated device in the multimedia audio/video system. There are mainly four parts in terms of circuitry and functions therein, embodiments of which are described below.

The first part is an audio receiving and transmitting module, such as the illustrated audio receiving module 63 and audio transmitting module 69, which respectively process the audio in the two formats through the audio receiving module 63 in the audio protocol processing unit 500, and the illustrated first audio receiver 631 and second audio receiver 632 that receive the audio signals in different formats mainly work to receive the audio in the first format 601 (e.g., the audio in the DP/Type-C transmission format) and the audio in the second format 602 (e.g., the HDMI ARC/ARC audio data packet returned by the storage device). The audio receiving module 63 can decode the audio data packets of the first format audio 601 received by the first audio receiver 631 and the second format audio 602 received by the second audio receiver 632, respectively, obtain the audio sampling data and the audio information therein, such as the sampling rate, the number of sound channels, and the encoding format, and then perform the conversion of the audio transmission interface and output the audio signal through the audio transmission module 69.

On the other hand, the second audio receiver 632 in the audio receiving module 63 receives the second format audio 602 returned from the storage device in the multimedia audio/video system through the audio return channel or the enhanced audio return channel, and when processing the audio signal, a discovery and disconnection process is performed at the beginning, according to an embodiment, the audio receiving module 63 discovers that the connected storage device (HDMI Sink) supports the enhanced audio return channel (eARC), and the circuit switches to the enhanced audio return channel receiving mode, wherein the second audio receiver 632 can receive uncompressed sound data with a bandwidth of 36.864Mbps (for example, 8-channel 24bit L-PCM (linear pulse-code modulation) audio signal with a sampling rate of 192 KHz) at the maximum under the enhanced audio return channel (eARC); if the audio receiving module 63 finds that the enhanced audio return channel (eARC) is not supported, it automatically reduces the audio return channel mode to the normal audio return channel mode and synchronously switches the circuit to the audio return channel mode, which makes the second audio receiver 632 capable of receiving only uncompressed audio data with a bandwidth of 9.216Mbps at most (e.g., 2-channel 24bit L-PCM audio signal with a sampling rate of 192 KHz). In either the normal audio return channel or the enhanced audio return channel mode, as well as processing the first format audio 601, the audio receiving module 63 similarly obtains the sound sample data and the related audio information for use by the subsequent audio transmitting module 69.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the audio transmission module 69 is provided with an I2S signal generator 691 for outputting the I2S signal 603, an SPDIF signal generator 692 for outputting the SPDIF signal 604, a digital-to-analog converter 693 for converting the digital signal into an analog signal for outputting the analog signal 605, and a wireless transmitter 694 for outputting the rf signal 606, for each of the different output signals corresponding to an audio output device.

The second part is a multi-switching module for audio input and output, such as the illustrated audio input multi-switching circuit 65 and audio output multi-switching circuit 67, through the operation of the multiplexers 651 and 671, the protocol converter can freely switch between different audio signal input sources and output various audio transmission interfaces, and besides switching the audio signal transmission lines, the embodiment can include the power switch, clock frequency switching, etc. functions of the protocol converter.

According to this embodiment, the audio input multiplexer 65 can switch its input lines automatically or manually according to the source of the audio signal, including the control signal generated by automatic determination or the signal generated by the manual switch, to receive the first format audio 601 or the second format audio 602 output by the first audio receiver 631 or the second audio receiver 632, so that the different formats of audio can be input to the audio processing circuit 61 through the multiplexer 651 of the audio input multiplexer 65. The protocol converter has at least one audio output interface, when the audio processing circuit 61 performs encoding and decoding on the audio of the first or second format according to the output requirement, wherein the multiplexer 671 can switch the output circuit according to the control signal received by the audio output multiplexer 67 to determine one of the audio output interfaces, in this example, the audio output multiplexer 67 is electrically connected to various signal generators in the audio transmission module 69, corresponding to various audio output interfaces, the audio output interface shown in this example is a digital interface of various audio formats (such as I2S, SPDIF, etc.), or an analog interface after converting digital-analog into analog signals, such as an earphone or speaker system output interface, a wireless radio frequency interface capable of converting into bluetooth communication and wireless network, etc. It should be noted that the transmission interface for the input and output audio supported in the protocol converter provided in the present disclosure is not limited to the specifications listed in the above embodiments, and can switch or output the audio signal to the signal generator of various audio formats at will, so as to achieve the purpose of flexibly converting the audio transmission interface.

The third part is an audio processing circuit 61, which can be implemented by software, firmware or hardware, and is the core of the audio protocol processing unit 500, for performing encoding and decoding or various post-processing on the audio signal, according to the embodiment, the audio processing circuit 61 can compress the audio signal in the L-PCM coding format into the format of AC3, MPEG, DTS or Dolby, or reversely decompress the audio signal back into the L-PCM format; the audio processing circuit 61 may also perform various digital audio signal processing, such as noise reduction, volume control, pop suppression, or tone adjustment by an equalizer, and then sample and pack the audio signal into a target transmission interface format, and send the audio signal out through the transmission circuit of each transmission interface, or transmit the audio signal to the integrating device 53 shown in fig. 5 through the video/audio transmitter 505. Furthermore, in the multimedia av system supporting the HDMI CEC and DP auto-to-CEC technologies, the audio processing circuit 61 also processes control signals under the consumer electronics control protocol (CEC), for example, control signals under the HDMI CEC and DP auto-to-CEC technologies.

The fourth part is software and firmware integrated with system behavior, which can control each circuit and module in the audio protocol processing unit 500 according to various multimedia application situations (such as theater, sport or voice mode) to integrate and manage the software, firmware and circuit operations of the protocol converter, including decision, arbitration, interrupt processing, etc., so that the protocol converter can realize a complete and comprehensive image and audio multimedia interface conversion device.

According to one embodiment, the software and firmware of the protocol converter is implemented by blocks of a memory and a processor (e.g., the audio processing circuit 61), a program is stored in the memory, and the processor executes the program to drive the protocol converter, wherein the control logic, parameter setting, arbitration determination, power management, interrupt processing, time scheduling, etc. are implemented by each unit module in the protocol converter described in the above embodiments.

In summary, according to the multimedia video system described in the above embodiments, the protocol converter enhances the audio conversion freedom and achieves better audio processing capability, and the protocol converter can be integrated into the HDMI-CEC function and DP AUX-to-CEC technology in the multimedia video system, so that the protocol converter can be connected to all devices through the CEC function of the HDMI multimedia video platform, and is compatible with the system behavior of the original protocol conversion, so that the multimedia video system can maintain compatibility while increasing the multimedia processing capability and application flexibility of the protocol converter, and finally integrate the entire protocol converter into a complete multimedia solution.

The disclosure is only a preferred embodiment of the invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, so that the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the specification and drawings.

Description of the reference numerals

11 supply end

101 video

102 audio frequency

103 conveyor

13 accumulating end

105 video

106 audio frequency

107 receiver

21 DP/Type-C source supply device

Protocol converter 23

25, HDMI multimedia platform

251 storage device

253 audio acquisition processing device

255 hdmi source one

259 hdmi source two

257 audio frequency device

31 source of video and audio

30 protocol converter

32 audio-video playing device

33 audio system

301 first audio-visual device

302 second audio/video device

305 remote controller

401 first format video and audio source

403 protocol converter

405 storage device

407 Audio acquisition processing device

409 second format video source one

411 audio output device

413 second format video source two

431 video and audio receiver

433 radio receiver

435 earphone

437 speaker system

415,417 Audio backhaul channel

50 protocol converter

51 first format video and audio signal

53 storage device

501 video and audio receiver

503 video processor

505 audio-video transmitter

507 audio frequency return receiving circuit

500 audio protocol processing unit

55 audio system

511 Audio Back channel

61 audio processing circuit

63 audio receiving module

601 first format Audio

602 second format audio

631 first audio receiver

632 second Audio receiver

65 audio frequency input multi-channel switching circuit

651, multiplexer

67 audio output multi-path switching circuit

671 multiplexer

69 audio transmission module

691

692

693 digital to analog converter

694 Wireless transmitter

603

604

605 analog signal

606 radio frequency signal

Claims (10)

1. A protocol converter, comprising:

the video and audio receiver receives video and audio data, wherein the video part is transmitted to the video processor and carries out coding and decoding processing aiming at the video format;

the audio protocol processing unit receives the audio part in the audio-video data from the audio-video receiver, performs audio processing, converts the audio part into an audio format, or receives an audio signal from the storage device through the audio return receiving circuit, performs audio processing and outputs the audio signal to the audio output device connected with the protocol converter; and

the video and audio transmitter outputs the processed video and audio to the storage device.

2. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protocol converter receives the audio signal from the storage device via an audio return channel or an enhanced audio return channel.

3. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protocol converter switches the input line via the audio input multiplexing circuit to determine whether to receive the first format audio or the second format audio.

4. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 3, wherein the audio portion of the AV data received by the AV receiver is the first format audio, which is converted and outputted to the integration device, and the audio signal received by the protocol converter from the integration device is the second format audio.

5. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the audio protocol processing unit has an audio receiving module and an audio transmitting module, wherein the audio receiving module comprises a first audio receiver and a second audio receiver for processing the first format audio and the second format audio respectively.

6. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first format audio received by the first audio receiver and the second format audio received by the second audio receiver are respectively subjected to audio data packet decoding to obtain audio sample data therein, the audio sample data includes a sampling rate, a number of sound channels and a coding format, and after being converted by the audio transmission interface, an audio signal is output through the audio transmission module.

7. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second audio receiver receives the second format audio returned by the integration device via an audio return channel or an enhanced audio return channel, and performs a discovery and disconnection process to discover whether the integration device supports the enhanced audio return channel or does not support the enhanced audio return channel.

8. The protocol converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protocol converter is provided with at least one audio output interface, and the audio output interface is determined by switching the output lines through the audio output multiplexing switching circuit.

9. The protocol converter according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the audio protocol processing unit is provided with an audio processing circuit for performing encoding and decoding of audio signals and processing control signals under CEC.

10. A multimedia audio/video system, comprising:

an accumulation device; and

a protocol converter connected to the storage device, wherein the protocol converter comprises:

the video and audio receiver receives video and audio data, wherein the video part is transmitted to the video processor and carries out coding and decoding processing aiming at the video format;

the audio protocol processing unit receives the audio part in the audio and video data from the audio and video receiver, processes the audio, converts the audio into an audio format, or returns the audio signal from the storage device through an audio return receiving circuit, processes the audio and outputs the audio signal to an audio output device connected with the protocol converter; and

the video and audio transmitter outputs the processed video and audio to the storage device.

Images