US5548324A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Process, apparatus and system for displaying multiple video streams using linked control blocks
Assignee: Intel Corp
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Filing: 1994-05-16
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Granted: 1996-08-20
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Expires: 2014-05-16
Abstract
Abstract A computer-implemented process, apparatus, and system for displaying multiple video streams at the same time on a single display monitor, where at least two of the video streams may have different frame rates. Data structures containing linked control blocks are used to process the multiple video streams, where each control block contains information used in scaling and converting a single unscaled bitmap corresponding to a single frame of a video stream. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides video conferencing capabilities between multiple remotely located participants.
Inventors
- 👤 Terry Downs
- 👤 Judith A. Goldstein
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 23:29
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09G; G09G5/00; G09G5/36; G09G5/363; G06; G06T; G06T1/00; G06T1/60; H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/40; H04N21/41; H04N21/414; H04N21/4143; H04N21/422; H04N21/4223; H04N21/426; H04N21/43; H04N21/431; H04N21/4312; H04N21/4316; H04N21/47; H04N21/478; H04N21/4788; H04N7/00; H04N7/01; G09G2340/00; G09G2340/04; G09G2340/0407; G09G2340/0435; G09G2340/12; G09G2340/125; H04N7/14; H04N7/15
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 36
Claim 1
Independent Claim
212 words
A computer-implemented process for displaying a plurality of video streams on a display monitor, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising the steps of: (a) generating n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A; (b) storing the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions of a memory device in a circular fashion: (c) generating m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; (d) storing the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions of the memory device in a circular fashion; (e) generating a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and (f) displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
212 words
A computer-implemented process for displaying a plurality of video streams on a display monitor, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising the steps of: (a) generating n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A; (b) storing the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions of a memory device in a circular fashion: (c) generating m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; (d) storing the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions of the memory device in a circular fashion; (e) generating a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and (f) displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The process of claim 1, wherein each data structure comprises a plurality of linked control blocks.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
49 words
The process of claim 1, wherein step (f) comprises the step of displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with an enable/disable flag of each control block of each of the plurality of data structures.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 3, wherein step (e) comprises the step of generating a current data structure by updating one or more enable/disable flags of a previous data structure.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
13 words
The process of claim 1, wherein each control block comprises a link pointer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
64 words
The process of claim 1, wherein each control block comprises: the color space of an unscaled bitmap; the color space for the display monitor; the pixel format of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of a display window within the display monitor; the position of the unscaled bitmap; and the position of the display window within the display monitor.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
46 words
The process of claim 1, wherein: step (a) comprises the steps of: (1) receiving an encoded video stream A corresponding to the video stream A; and (2) decoding the encoded video stream A to generate the n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
The process of claim 7, wherein step (a)(1) comprises the step of receiving the encoded video stream A from a first remote participant in a video conferencing session.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
48 words
The process of claim 8, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of: (1) capturing a local video stream corresponding to a local participant in the video conferencing session; and (2) generating the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the local video stream.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
44 words
The process of claim 9, wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of: (3) generating an encoded local video stream corresponding to the local video stream; and (4) transmitting the encoded local video stream to the first remote participant in the video conferencing session.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
56 words
The process of claim 8, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of: (1) receiving an encoded video stream B corresponding to the video stream B from a second remote participant in the video conferencing session; and (2) decoding the encoded video stream B to generate the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
206 words
An apparatus for displaying a plurality of video streams, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising: (a) means for generating n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A and for generating m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; (b) means for storing the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions in a circular fashion and for storing the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions in a circular fashion; (c) means for generating a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks, each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and (d) means for displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
206 words
An apparatus for displaying a plurality of video streams, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising: (a) means for generating n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A and for generating m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; (b) means for storing the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions in a circular fashion and for storing the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions in a circular fashion; (c) means for generating a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks, each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and (d) means for displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each data structure comprises a plurality of linked control blocks.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
48 words
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein means (d) comprises means for displaying the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with an enable/disable flag of each control block of each of the plurality of data structures.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein means (c) comprises means for generating a current data structure by updating one or more enable/disable flags of a previous data structure.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 13, wherein each control block comprises a link pointer.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
64 words
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each control block comprises: the color space of an unscaled bitmap; the color space for a display monitor; the pixel format of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of a display window within the display monitor; the position of the unscaled bitmap; and the position of the display window within the display monitor.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: means (a) comprises: (1) means for receiving an encoded video stream A corresponding to the video stream A; and (2) means for decoding the encoded video stream A to generate the n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 18, wherein means (a)(1) comprises means for receiving the encoded video stream A from a first remote participant in a video conferencing session.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
49 words
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein means (a) comprises: (1) means for capturing a local video stream corresponding to a local participant in the video conferencing session; and (2) means for generating the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the local video stream.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein means (a) further comprises: (3) means for generating an encoded local video stream corresponding to the local video stream; and (4) means for transmitting the encoded local video stream to the first remote participant in the video conferencing session.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
52 words
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein: means (a)(1) receives an encoded video stream B corresponding to the video stream B from a second remote participant in the video conferencing session; and means (a)(2) decodes the encoded video stream B to generate the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
244 words
A system for displaying a plurality of video streams, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising: (a) a host processor; (b) a display monitor; and (c) a video subsystem, the video subsystem comprising: (1) a memory device; and (2) a display controller, wherein: the host processor controls the operations of the system; the video subsystem generates n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A and generates m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; the memory device stores the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions in a circular fashion and stores the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions in a circular fashion; the host processor generates a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks, each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and the display controller displays the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm on the display monitor in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
244 words
A system for displaying a plurality of video streams, the plurality of video streams comprising a video stream A and a video stream B, comprising: (a) a host processor; (b) a display monitor; and (c) a video subsystem, the video subsystem comprising: (1) a memory device; and (2) a display controller, wherein: the host processor controls the operations of the system; the video subsystem generates n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An corresponding to the video stream A and generates m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the video stream B; the memory device stores the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An in s memory positions in a circular fashion and stores the bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm in t memory positions in a circular fashion; the host processor generates a plurality of data structures, each data structure comprising a plurality of control blocks, each control block comprising information for controlling the display of one of the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm; and the display controller displays the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm on the display monitor in accordance with the plurality of data structures, wherein the frame rate of the video stream A is different from the frame rate of the video stream B.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
16 words
The system of claim 23, wherein each data structure comprises a plurality of linked control blocks.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
46 words
The system of claim 23, wherein the display controller displays the bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An and B1, B2, . . . , Bm in accordance with an enable/disable flag of each control block of each of the plurality of data structures.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 25, wherein the host processor generates a current data structure by updating one or more enable/disable flags of a previous data structure.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
13 words
The system of claim 23, wherein each control block comprises a link pointer.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
64 words
The system of claim 23, wherein each control block comprises: the color space of an unscaled bitmap; the color space for the display monitor; the pixel format of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of the unscaled bitmap; the dimensions of a display window within the display monitor; the position of the unscaled bitmap; and the position of the display window within the display monitor.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
49 words
The system of claim 23, wherein the video subsystem further comprises: (3) a pixel processor for receiving an encoded video stream A corresponding to the video stream A and for decoding the encoded video stream A to generate the n bitmap signals A1, A2, . . . , An.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
25 words
The system of claim 29, wherein said host processor receives the encoded video stream A from a first remote participant in a video conferencing session.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
52 words
The system of claim 30, wherein the video subsystem further comprises: (4) a video capture controller for capturing a local video stream corresponding to a local participant in the video conferencing session and for generating the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm corresponding to the local video stream.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
41 words
The system of claim 31, wherein: the pixel processor generates an encoded local video stream corresponding to the local video stream; and the host processor transmits the encoded local video stream to the first remote participant in the video conferencing session.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
54 words
The system of claim 30, wherein: the host processor receives an encoded video stream B corresponding to the video stream B from a second remote participant in the video conferencing session; and the pixel processor decodes the encoded video stream B to generate the m bitmap signals B1, B2, . . . , Bm.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-08-20 | 2000-02-19 | 2000-08-20 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-08-20 | 2004-02-19 | 2004-08-20 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-08-20 | 2008-02-19 | 2008-08-20 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |