GB2178275A

GB2178275A - Recorded data transfer system

Info

Publication number: GB2178275A
Application number: GB08617315A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernard Gallagher; Yasmin Hashmi
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1985-07-20
Filing date: 1986-07-16
Publication date: 1987-02-04
Also published as: GB8617315D0; GB8518350D0

Abstract

A recorded data transfer system is provided particularly for use in the entertainment industry whereby digital data may be transferred between a source unit, a database which may be housed by a record company and user units. The transfer system comprises a) a database having a main computer, a caller/called interface, a transmitter/receiver interface, and a data storage and processing system, means for controlling the storage and processing of data, b) at least one source unit having a means for communication with said database and means for the storage and processing of data, and c) at least one user unit having means for communication with the database and a means for storing/recalling and/or processing data received from the database. Preferably the user unit includes playback apparatus. The database includes means for transmitting bytes of data in the form of a plurality of frequencies, each frequency being assigned to only one bit of the word.

Description

SPECIFICATION Recorded data transfer system This invention relates to a recorded data transfer system particularly for use in the entertainment industry whereby digital data may be transferred between a source unit, a database which may be housed buy a record compa ny, a nd a user unit either directly or indirectly.

According to the invention there is provided a recorded data transfer system comprising a) a database having a main computer, a caller/ called interface, a transmitterlreceiver interface, a data storage and processing system, means for controlling the storage and processing of data, means for controlling the process of being called byoneor more user units or another database, and b) at leastone user unit having meansforcommunication with said database including a transmitter/receiver interface and means fo r storing/recalling and/or processing data received from the database.

Preferably the transfer system includes at least one source unit having a meansforcommunication with said database including a transmitter/receiver interface, and means forthe storage and processing of data.

The media for data transfer is preferably high speed telephone links byway of modems. However, normal telephone links, fibre optic links, electro-magnetic waves oranyothersuitable medium may be used.

Themediaforstorageofdatawould be floppy disk, hard disk, optical or laser disk, magnetic tape, integrated circuit memory or any other suitable medium.

The system may incorporate anti-piracy methods such as the encryption or encoding of data either generally or uniquely.

The data is transferred from the source unit to the database where it is processed for storage in library form whereby selected data can be transmitted to any userand/orsource unit in national orforeign territories.

The source unit could belong to a recording artist, the main unit to a major record company and user units to the general public. The artistwouldtransfera master mix to the record company who would store it, having processed it if necessary, and recall it, when necessary for sale to the general public via their user units. By arranging forthe data to be encoded/ encrypted uniquely for each user unit, the borrowing orunlawful copying of material couldbeeliminated.

This method could also be used to ensure security between all units.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE lisa block diagram of a possible configura- tion ofthe source (artist's) unit, FIGURE2 isa blockdiagram of a possibleconfiguration forthe main (database or record company's) unit, FIGURE 3 is a block diagram of a possible configura- tion forthe user unit, and FIGURE 4 is a diagram of a parallel transmitter/ receiver as a possible means of communication between units.

From Figure 1 it is seen thatthe source unit, which will be located, for example, at the artist's recording studio, comprises a storage medium 11, a buffer 12, an encoder/decoder 13, a serial/parallel and parallel/ serial converter 14, and a parallel transmitter/receiver 15. It is assumed that the artist's material is digitised before it reaches the buffer stage. Although a parallel transmitter/receiver is preferable. However, depend ing on the type of processor used, for example a transputer, serial to parallel conversion may not be necessaryasthe data will be available in parallel form.

In the case of sometransmission media with very hight serial speeds, serial to parallel conversion may also not be necessary.

The database, Figure 2, comprises a parallel transmitter/receiver 20, a serial/parallel and parallel/serial converter 21, an encoder/decoder 22 and a buffer store 23. Conversion of data may take place at the record company for in-house audio orvisual reproduction by means of a conversion system 24.

The user unit, Figure 3, comprises a parallel receiver/transmitter 30, a serial/parallel and parallel/ serial converter 31,a storage medium 32 such as video tape or optical disk, a decoder 33 and suitable conversion apparatus 34for audio and/or visual reproduction.

It is assumed that recorded material may be sent and received by both the source unit and the database and that the user unit may only receive recorded material. Decoding (if applicable) should preferably be actuated between the storage medium and conver sion thus eliminating the possibility of material being usefully borrowed or copied.

By means of the parallel/receivertransmitterthe artist can transmit a newly recorded work direct to the record company. The user on the other hand can log on to the data base and make her/his selection according to a supplied menu. Suitable security coding may be provided between the source unit and the data base and likewise between the data base and the user unit and between data bases.

At present all transfer of data between remote systems is done serially or by phase/amplitude modulation. In the preferred arrangement the parallel transmitter/receiver allows parallel transmission of data words using a form of frequency shift keying described below.

The parallel transmitter/receiver of each of the source unit, database and user unit comprises the same components. However, as an example there is shown in Figure 4the tra nsm itter/receiver (15,20,30 respectively of Figures 1,2 and 3) of which the components fortransmission are shown to the left of the diagram and the components for receiving are shown to the right. In the transmitter portion the outputs 35 (most significant bit to least significant bit) ortheserial/parallel and parallel/serialconverterl4 are connected to the inputs of a series offrequency multipliers 36fed respectively by preselected frequen- cies 40.The outputs of the multipliers 40 are fed to a mixer 41 in which the individual frequencies are summedasasingleanalogsignalforserialtransmis sion.

In use a word or frame of recorded data is clocked onto the multiplying lines where each individual bit is multiplied by its own unique frequency (f1 , f2 ---fn).

The individual frequencies are chosen so that addition of all possible combinations will not result in an arror.

For example, if most significant bit (M.S.B.) is 'hi' then thefrequencyfl will be fed to a mixer 41, if it is then fl will not appear and no combination ofthe other frequencies f2-fn will result in fl being apparent. Clock pulses offrequencyfscform a system clock 37 which clocks the data out from the converter 14 can also be multiplied by a frequencyfs and transmitted as a frequency and recovered atthe receiving end (e.g. by phase lock looping) for use in synchronisation.

The frequencies which are mixed in the mixer 41 are then sent as an analog signal over the transmission medium where the signal is received by a spectrum analyser 42 forming part of parallel transmitter receiver (21 of Figure 2).

If the transmission medium is an ordinarytelephone system then the bandwidth is restricted to 3 kHz. Therefore, depending on the number of bits used per word, the frequencies used to representthe bits will haveto bewithinthis bandwidth. For example if the lowestfrequencyto be used is 200 Hz--which will representthe L.S.B.then if 16 bits are used perword, the difference between each frequency could be 175Hz 175Hz i.e. thefrequencyused to represent the L.S.B. + 1 would be 200 + 175 = 375 he etc. British Telecom protocols would not be broken due to the system clock frequency being continuously present during data transfers.It must be noted however, that currenttechnology requires at least 2 cycles of a frequency to be transmitted in orderforthatfrequency to be recognised by receiver circuitry. The rate of transmission is therefore determined by the lowest frequency used so normal telephone links would seem impractical forthis purpose, and the above serves only as an example.

If the transmission medium is one in which modulation is used (eitherAM, FM, PCM or PM [Phase modulation]) then the output from the mixer stage could be modulated in the same way as ordinary speech and demodulatedatthe receiving end (in this example at the database) the received word orframe must be filtered for each individual frequency and this is carried out bythe spectrum analyser42 having either separate filters for each frequency or a carrier sweep filterwhich would detect whether the frequen cies are present or not. If a frequency is present the filter will give an outputvoltageto represent that bit; if nottherewill beazero.

To synchronisethe system, the system clock, which has been sent along with the bitfrequencies can be recovered and used as a READ clock. This clock could be sent at a lowerfrequency than the L.S.B. for example. The voltages then have to be'squared off' and converted into suitable digital levels by an analog to digital convertor 43 which can then be stored.

The recorded data transfer system of the present invention affords the following advantages: a) Forthecompany; 1) The elimination of supply and demand prob lems.

2) The elimination of production costs.

3) The elimination of distribution costs.

4) The elimination of sales force.

5) Built-instockcontrol.

6) The elimination of piracy within the recorded data system.

7) The immediate transfer of master information inland and overseas.

8) Vast reduction in storage space.

b) Fortheartist; 1) Immediate and secure transfer of master mix information to the company.

2) Immediate access to master mix information from any territory.

3) An enhanced royalty accounting system due to the built-in stock control.

4) Increased promotion on product due to aforementioned reduction in costs.

c) Fortheconsumer; 1) Master mix quality of recorded material.

2) Greatly increased choice of material irrespective of territory.

3) Home-buying of material.

4) Immediate access to material.

5) The opportunity to refurbish collection irrespective of deletions.

Claims

1. A recorded datatransfersystem comprising a) a database having a main computer, a caller/ called interface, a transmitter/receiver interface, a data storage and processing system, means for controlling the storage and processing of data, means for controlling the process of being called by one or more user units or another database, and b) atleastoneuserunithaving meansforcommunication with said database including atransmitter/receiver interface and meansforstoring/recaIling and/or processing data received from the database.

2. A data transfer system as claimed in Claim 1, including atleastonesourceunithaving a meansfor communications with said database including a transmitter/receiver interface, and means for the storage and processing of data.

3. A data transfer system as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said transmitter/receiver interface is in the form of a parallel/serial device.

4. A data transfer system as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said parallel/serial transmitter/receiver comprises a plurality of frequency multipliers arranged in an array to receive a parallel word orframe input, means for supplying to said multipliers with signals of different frequencies so that each individual bit of the word orframe is multiplied by its own unique frequency, and meansfor summing thefrequencies at the output of the multipliers to provide an analog signal for serial transmission.

5. A data transfer system as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said transmitter/receiver includes a spectrum analyserfor receiving serial analog signals, an analog to digital converter and a data buffer store.

6. A data transfer system as claimed in Claim 5, wherein a further multiplier is provided for receiving the system clock pulses which are multiplied by a unique frequency and summed with the multiplied frequencies representing the word orframe, said clock pulses being recovered by said spectrum analyserforthe purpose of synchronisation.

7. A parallel/serial transmitter/receiverfor a data transfersystem comprising a pluralityoffrequency multipliers arranged in an arrayto receive a parallel word orframe input, meansforsupplying to said multipliers with signals of different frequencies so that each individual bitoftheword orframe is multiplied by its own unique frequency, and means forsumming the frequencies at the output of the multipliers to providean analog signal forserial transmission.

8. A parallel/serial transmitter/receiver as claimed in Claim 7, including a spectrum analyserfor receiving serial analog signals, an analog to digital converter and a data buffer store.

9. A recorded data transfer system as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as described byway of example with reference to Figures 1 and 2.

10. A parallel/serial transmitter/receiver as claimed in Claim 7, substantially as described byway of example with reference to Figure 4.