PVR Packet Insertion Bypassing System Memory Bus
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing personal video recorder (PVR) architecture requires a significant amount of bandwidth between the CPU and system memory for packet insertion operations, leading to inefficient data access.
Innovation Solution
A method and architecture that directly transfers packet insertion information from the processing unit to the insertion module without storing it in system memory, reducing the need for memory transactions and eliminating the use of linked lists or direct memory access (DMA) operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If packet insertion information is stored in system memory and accessed via DMA operations, then data can be retrieved and processed, but bandwidth requirements between CPU and system memory increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the packet insertion information from system memory storage and processes it directly in the insertion module. By removing the intermediate storage step in system memory, the solution eliminates the need for high-bandwidth data transfer between CPU and memory, while still enabling efficient packet insertion processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The insertion module serves as an intermediary component that receives packet insertion information directly from the CPU without requiring it to be stored in system memory first. This intermediary approach allows the CPU to process information and transfer it directly to the insertion module, bypassing the high-bandwidth memory bus.
2Ease of operation
If linked lists are used to organize insertion data in system memory, then data can be collected and organized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the linked list data structure from system memory by processing packet insertion information directly in the insertion module. This extraction eliminates the complexity of managing linked lists in memory while maintaining the capability to organize and process insertion data efficiently.
3Speed
If direct memory access operations are performed, then data transfer speed increases, but bandwidth consumption between CPU and system memory increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the data transfer step from system memory by processing packet insertion information directly in the insertion module. This eliminates the need for high-speed data transfer between CPU and memory, as the information is processed in-place within the insertion module without requiring memory bus transactions.
Data Source
AI summary
A personal video recorder (PVR) system includes a processing unit, a system memory coupled to the processing unit by a system memory bus, and an insertion module being coupled to the processing unit for inserting a packet into a PVR bit stream according to packet information. During a packet insertion operation, the processing unit is for reading data from the system memory, processing the data to generate the packet insertion information, and directly transferring the packet insertion information to the insertion module. By directly transferring the packet insertion information generated by the processing unit to the insertion module, memory bandwidth requirements of the system memory are reduced, and data access of the system memory is improved.