TWI280486B - Method for processing a data stream by utilizing multi-processor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for processing a data stream by utilizing plural processors, including the central processing unit and the compression processor of at least one MPEG card. With the similar concept of the distributed system, the present invention could make best use of each processor in the computer and therefore greatly reduce the rendering time. The steps of the method comprises: dividing the data stream into plural segments; checking states of a central processing unit and at least one compressing processor; dispatching the segments to either the central processing unit or the compressing processor according to the statuses, wherein the central processing unit or the compressing processor would process the segments to generate compressed segments; and cascading the compressed segments to generate a compressed data stream.

Description

1280486 V. Technical Description of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for processing a data stream by using a plurality of processors, and more particularly to a method for compressing a data stream by using a central processing unit and a compression processor. method. [Prior Art] With the advancement and development of information technology, more and more applications for the capture of video, sound or video content are available. One of the most common applications is that when users collect multimedia materials or files, they can use the editing program on the computer to process these images or audio/video files. For example, the user can make the above-mentioned image or sound/video file have various effects by editing, merging, transcoding or adding visual/audio effects. In terms of the processing power of a typical personal computer, the processing of multimedia data is indeed quite time consuming, especially compression and decompression. Therefore, some users may install one or more additional compression cards on the expansion slot of the computer (such as PC I slot or USB port) to assist with compression and decompression. The above compression card typically has a processor or a single function chip for compressing and/or decompressing data into a specific format, such as MPEG-1 (Motion Picture Experts Group; Motion Picture Compression Standard_, MPEG-2 or MPEG). -4, etc. Since such compression cards are designed for specific functions, ie compression and decompression, their processing speed is relatively higher than that of computers without such compression cards.

However, the types of source and target data are quite numerous, and the source or compression type supported by the compression card is quite limited. For example, some MPEG

1280486, V. Invention Description (2) The card can only compress the data stream into MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 format files. On the other hand, some compression cards can only support certain kinds of sources, such as digital cameras ( DV) The information captured. If the user wants to edit various types of compression or MPEG files from various sources, the construction of the render will only be performed by the central processing unit of the computer. As a result, the compression card will lack real-value benefits due to the above limitations. Moreover, the conventional method only allows the user to select one of a plurality of processors to execute the multimedia stream, and cannot integrate several processors to perform heavy compression and decompression. As for the selected processor, such as the central processor, it will be in a state of full load and busy with the task of dispatching, while other processors, such as processors on the MPEG card, are always idle. It is a waste of resources. Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient way to utilize the central processing unit and the compression card to process the data stream. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a method for processing a data stream by using a plurality of processors installed in a computer, by which a user can fully utilize each available processor to perform compression. / Decompression work, thus reducing the processing time by optimally configuring the processing power of each processor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of processing a data stream using a plurality of processors, first dividing the data stream into segments and confirming the state of the central processor and at least one of the compression processors. Subsequently, based on confirmation

1280486, V. Description of the invention (3) state to assign these segments to either the central processor or the compression processor, and the central processor or compression processor will process the dispatched regions according to the above dispatch The segment produces a compressed segment. Finally, the segments after these pressures are merged to produce a compressed data stream. Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium having executable instructions, the storage medium comprising a plurality of function modules for processing data streams by using a plurality of processors by dividing the data stream into a plurality of data streams. a segment; confirming a state of the central processor and the at least one compression processor; assigning a segment to the central processor or the compression processor according to the state, wherein the central processor or the compression processor is Dispatched to process the dispatched section to produce a compressed section; and merge the above-described compressed section to produce a compressed data stream. The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and it is understood that the preferred embodiments of the present invention are merely illustrative, and therefore preferred embodiments Exceptionally, the invention may also be applied broadly to other embodiments. The invention is not limited to any embodiment, but should be determined by the scope of the appended claims and its equivalents. In the first embodiment, an embodiment of the source of the data stream is presented, wherein the result band 13 represents the data stream in the present embodiment. The user can generate this data stream by some sort of editing application and compress it into a specific format, such as MPEG-1. According to the embodiment presented in Figure 1, the data stream is formed by combining three video files, namely video A, video B and video.

1280486, V. Inventive Note (4) C' and add the transition effect (transition effec·) to the part of Chongfeng. It should be understood that the type of file is not limited to video material, but may also include sound, video, text or other possible multimedia material, and video files 10 to 12 are merely examples of the present invention. In addition, the sources and types of video files 10 to 12 are various. In one embodiment of the present invention, video A is captured by a digital camera (DV), and video B is from a DVD (digital video disc). ), and video c is an MPEG-1 file stored on a hard disk of the computer. As shown, the video a 1 0 and the video C 1 2 partially overlap, and the overlapping regions 1 〇 1 and 1 〇 2 • and Seg-3) will add some kind of transition effect. Similarly, video c 12 and video B 1 1 also partially overlap, and the overlapping regions 1 1 1 and 1 2 2 (and Seg-6) will add some kind of transition effect. After the editing is completed, the results are processed further to produce a compressed file. In the picture 2, which presents a simplified computer architecture, the computer 20 is composed of a CPU (central processing unit) 201, a RAM (random-access memory) 202, and a display interface 2 0 3 and the round-in and out interface 2 〇4. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the computer 2 further includes an MPEG card having a compression processor capable of compressing or decompressing the MPEG~2 format. It should be understood that the MPEG card can be replaced by any other possible and equivalent compression card, so the type of compression format supported will vary depending on the compression card used. Furthermore, several compression cards may be installed in the computer 20. The support type of the above $' compression format is based on the ability of the compression card. Therefore, I,,, but the card can only support a specific compression format, including but not limited to mpeg-b

Page 10 1280486, five, invention description (5) MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, etc., at this time the user can see the need to secure - compression card. In this embodiment, it is installed on a computer:: Zhang or a compression format supporting MPEG-1. The above-mentioned components are all connected to the conventional system bus 2 〇6. Of course, other components or skirts may be included to perform specific brains. This is not the main focus of the invention, so the details will be Give. However, the interface 2 0 3 can be slid to the display 20 7 and the output interface is 22. Display, disc 208 or CD/DVD player 2 0 9. The preferred f y of the present invention is consuming to read the storage medium 5 stored in FIG. : The V7 ’! The details of the participating media 50 will be detailed below. Genbe, the best example, the video is taken from the dvd in the CD player 2〇9. The comparison c is stored in the hard disk 2 0 8 , and the video is switched and arranged. j j 3谀 is the edit of any possible stream, and it needs to be further processed. This is the so-called “rendering”. Too & Λ /: The concept of the distributed system is introduced into the construction process. 'Ran* month two system system uses several computers at the same time to complete the 〇7 刀 散Inventing only a computer can achieve considerable results and effects, and the purpose is to add a third diagram in which a flowchart of the construction procedure according to the present invention is presented. In the first step 30, the data stream is received, and then the data stream is flowed in step 31. Come to Maiyu District '^' This segmentation can be used as the data type and editing status of the illuminating stream. Referring again to Fig. 1, the result band 13 is represented by eight segments, and the '+ machine' is Seg-1 to Seg-8, respectively. Section Seg - Seg - 8 is best

Page 11 1280486 V. Invention Description (6) It has the same length of time, but it can still be adjusted according to its data type and editing status. For example, as shown in Figure 1, it is best to take it from different sources. The parts (usually different file types) are separated, and it is better to separate the parts with different editing states. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the editing states of the segments Seg-3 and Seg-6 are different from the other segments, because they have overlapping effects and are added with transition effects, such segments usually require more Processing time. Next, the status of each processor will be confirmed in step 32. The processor includes a CPU 2 01 and a compression processor in the MPEG card 205, wherein the information of the processor state can include its availability and the supported compression. format. With f, the segment is dispatched to a processor that is available and supports the compressed format of the source and target data. As shown in step 33, the details of the dispatching procedure are explained below. Finally, the processed and compressed segments are combined to produce a compressed archive, such as an MPEG-1 format file. The division of the above data stream, the confirmation of the status, and the assignment of the segments are preferably performed by the CPU 201. Referring to Figure 4, the details of a preferred embodiment of the dispatch procedure are presented, in which the CPU 203 will confirm whether the section has been edited, as indicated by steps 40 and 41 of the Confirm Edit Status. For example, segments Seg-3 and Seg-6 are edited segments, while other segments are not edited. If the result of the confirmation indicates that the section has not been edited, it will then confirm its compression format in step 43. Subsequently, step 45 will be performed to identify whether the compressed format of the segment is substantially equivalent to the resulting compressed format, i.e., MPEG-1 of the present embodiment, and has the same parameters, such as the size of the grid, the frame rate,

1280486 . V. Description of invention (7) Bit rate, display aspect ratio, and grid type (progressive or interlaced). If the compression format of the two is the same, 'this section will skip processing (including construction) and compression steps' and merge directly with 4 after the other sections have finished compressing. For example, the sections S eg - 4 and S eg - 5 are not edited and have the same compression format as the result, so these two sections can be called invariant sections, and such sections will omit consumption. Time construction and compression procedures. If the compression format of the segment is not the same as the result, transcoding will be required for such segment. For example, the segments Seg-7 and Seg-8 are DVD video data, so they must be decompressed and then reduced to the format of E P E G - 1. In another embodiment, the segments S e g - 7 and S e g - 8 may be video packets in the Μ P E G - 1 format, and the resulting compressed format is in the MPEG-2 format. It should be understood that the present invention is capable of covering all types of compression formats, and that the above examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting of the invention. In this case, the program will proceed to step 4 4, the content of which will The description is below. Returning to step 4 1, if the decision in step 41 indicates that the segment has been edited, i.e., segments Seg-3 and Seg-6, it will be rendered in step 42. In general, the constructed program can be executed by the CPU 201 alone, but if other processors have the ability to construct, the construction work can be distributed to other available processors. In this case, the concept of multiple processors is also applied to the construction process. Since the construction of the edited section requires a decompression step, the dispatched processor must support the original compression format of this section, which will be confirmed in step 4 4. In step 44, the source of the segment is also taken into account, as the compression card may only support specific sources, such as data from DV or hard disk.

Page 13 1280486 . V. Description of Invention (8) At the time of confirmation, if the compression format and source of the segment are supported by each processor, this segment can be sequentially assigned to any available processor, including CPU 2 0 1 and compression processor 2 0 5 are as shown in step 47. Otherwise, since these sections can only be processed by the CPU 201, they can only be assigned sequentially when the CPU 2 01 is available, as shown in step 46. Finally, in step 48, the processed and compressed segments are combined to generate a file in a compressed format, that is, the MPEG-b in the embodiment is shown in FIG. 5, which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The storage medium 50 may be a compact disc (CD/DVD), a floppy disc, a hard disc, or a memory. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described storage medium 1. The storage medium 50 has executable instructions for performing the various steps described above to utilize multiple processors. These instructions are grouped into a number of modules, each of which is a split module 5 0 1 , a confirmation module 5 0 2, a dispatch module 5 0 3 , and a merge module 5 0 4 . In general, the types of modules can include programs, software, or even a set of instructions. The storage medium 50 can be used by a computer or other computing device to perform the functions and operations described above, and similar descriptions will be omitted herein to avoid cumbersome repetition. The storage medium not only has executable instructions, but also can process the storage medium of the data stream by using multiple processors by performing the following steps: dividing the data stream into several sections; confirming that the central processing unit calls at least one compression a state of the processor; according to the state, the segment is dispatched to either the central processor or the compression processor, wherein the central processor or the compression processor processes the allocated segment to generate the compressed segment; And merging the compressed segments to generate a compressed data stream.

</ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; Modifications and similar configurations made within the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Page 15 1280486, Schematic. Brief Description [Simplified Schematic] Figure 1 shows the editing process of the data stream. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware architecture of the computer. Figure 3 is a flow chart showing the steps of processing. Figure 4 is a flow chart showing the steps of dispatching. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the storage medium of the present invention.

Ming said tgu #符元元要主第16页

Claims (1)

1280486. VI. Patent application scope 1. A method for processing a data stream by using a plurality of processors (pr 〇cess 〇r), the steps comprising: decoding the tributary stream into a plurality of segments, confirming a central processing unit and a state of at least one #1 compression and reduction processor; assigning the segment to the central processing according to the sorrow or the forging process, and both First, wherein the central processing unit or the compression processor processes the segment according to the dispatch to generate a compressed segment; and merges the compressed segment to generate a compressed data stream. The method of claim 1, wherein the data stream comprises multimedia material having compressed data or uncompressed data. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data stream is divided into several segments according to its data type and editing status. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the type of data includes a compressed format or source type of the data stream. The method of claim 3, wherein the edited state refers to a portion of the tributary stream that has not been edited. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the state comprises the central processor and availability of the compression processor (a v a i 1 a b i 1 i t y) Page 17 1280486 VI. The scope of application for patents and the supported compression format. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the compression processor comprises a processor on a compression card and the compression card is installed in a computer having the central processing unit. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the segment is dispatched sequentially when the state indicates that one of the central processor and the compression processor is available. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the section comprises at least one invariant section, wherein the invariant section is directly merged without the central processor or the compression process The device is compressed. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the unchanged section is not edited, and the compressed section of the unchanged section is the same as the compressed tributary stream. 1 1. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: _preparing the segment having at least one edited portion before dispatching 〇1 2. - having executable instructions A storage medium for processing a data stream by using a plurality of processors by performing a plurality of steps, the steps comprising: Page 18 1280486. The patent application scope divides the tributary stream into a plurality of segments, confirms the state of a central processing unit and at least one compression processor; assigns the segment to the central processing unit according to the state or One of the compression processors, wherein the central processor or the compression processor processes the segment according to the dispatch to generate a compressed segment; and merges the compressed segment to generate a '^-compressed data flow. 1 3 . The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the data stream comprises multimedia material having compressed data or uncompressed data. H. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the data stream is divided into a plurality of sections according to its data type and editing status. 1 5. The storage medium of claim 14 of the patent application, wherein the data type includes a compressed format or a source type of the data stream. 16. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the editing status indicates an edited portion of the data stream. #7. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the state includes the central processor and the availability of the compression processor and the supported compression format. 1 8 . The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the compression is Page 19 1280486, VI. Patent Application Scope The processor includes a processor on a compression card, and the compression card is installed in a computer having the central processing unit. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein when the status indicates that one of the central processing unit and the compression processor is available, the section is sequentially allocated. 20. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the section comprises at least one unchanged section, wherein the unchanged section is directly performed | and without the central processor Or the compression processor performs compression. 2 1. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein the unchanged section is not edited&apos; and the compressed section of the unchanged section is the same as the compressed lean stream. 2 2. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the step further comprises: rendering the section having at least one edited portion prior to dispatching. Page 20