SDI Ingest Process Concurrent Monitoring via Shared Memory
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems cannot concurrently monitor and ingest from multiple Serial Digital Interface (SDI) inputs due to the limitation that only one process can read from an SDI port at a time, leading to issues with inaccurate transcoding and workflow inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A dedicated ingest process that can concurrently monitor and ingest from multiple SDI inputs by using shared memory to copy data to the media transcoding pipeline, allowing multiple processes to ingest from a single SDI input and enabling simultaneous monitoring and transcoding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If only one process is allowed to read from an SDI port at a time, then the system maintains simple access control and avoids conflicts, but the system cannot concurrently monitor and transcode the input content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces shared memory as an intermediary data buffer between the SDI input port and multiple consumer processes (monitor and transcode). The shared memory acts as a mediator that allows the single-reader constraint to be maintained while enabling multiple processes to access the data stream concurrently through copy operations, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a copying mechanism where data read from the SDI port is copied into shared memory, and then multiple processes can independently read and process copies of this data. This copying approach enables concurrent monitoring and transcoding operations without violating the single-reader constraint of the SDI port, thereby improving productivity while managing complexity through standardized copy operations.
2Measurement precision
If a single process reads from the SDI port for transcoding, then the system avoids data access conflicts, but monitoring the input becomes inaccurate or impossible simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The shared memory serves as an intermediary that decouples the monitoring and transcoding operations from direct competition for the SDI port data stream. By copying data to shared memory, the system enables both monitoring and transcoding to access accurate input data simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the data access function by separating the reading operation (performed by one process) from the processing operations (performed by multiple processes). This segmentation allows the monitor process and transcode process to operate independently on copies of the data, ensuring both can access accurate input information without interfering with each other, thus maintaining measurement precision while improving productivity.
3Productivity
If multiple processes attempt to read from the same SDI port simultaneously, then concurrent processing capability increases, but data access conflicts and read errors occur
Solution Approach 1:
The shared memory acts as a protective intermediary layer that prevents direct simultaneous access conflicts to the SDI port. Multiple processes can safely read from shared memory concurrently while only one process reads from the SDI port at a time, thus maintaining data access reliability while enabling concurrent processing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The copying mechanism creates isolated data copies in shared memory that can be safely accessed by multiple processes simultaneously. This eliminates data access conflicts and read errors that would occur with direct simultaneous SDI port access, thereby maintaining reliability while achieving the desired concurrent processing capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Media inputs, such as serial digital interface (SDI) inputs, can be concurrently monitored and ingested. An ingest process can be configured to concurrently monitor each of a set of SDI inputs. A transcoding job requiring content from one of the inputs can send a request over shared memory to the ingest process, which can copy the data to the media transcoding pipeline over shared memory while concurrently monitoring the SDI inputs. In at least some embodiments, multiple processes can concurrently ingest from a single SDI input.