HK1137580A

HK1137580A - Method and system for audio data processing

Info

Publication number: HK1137580A
Application number: HK10101235.1A
Authority: HK
Inventors: 布雷杰班德休‧米什雷; 理查‧贾因
Original assignee: 美国博通公司
Priority date: 2007-10-15
Filing date: 2010-02-04
Publication date: 2010-07-30

Description

Method and system for processing audio data

Technical Field

The present invention relates to audio data processing, and more particularly, to a method of transmitting digital audio in SPDIF format to one or more receivers.

Background

In recent years, digital data communication has become more popular and a large number of applications have been developed. One such application includes the transmission and reception of digital audio using the sony/philips data interface format (SPDIF). In international electrotechnical commission publication 60958-3 ed.1.0, entitled "digital audio interface-part 3: the SPDIF protocol is described in detail in user usage.

The SPDIF protocol defines a series of data streams organized in subframes, frames and blocks. At the time of transmission, the digital audio data may be encoded and transmitted over a dedicated SPDIF cable to one or more locations for processing. Each receiving position uses an SPDIF receiver/decoder to receive the encoded SPDIF data, decode it, and transmit it to one or more speakers. Such a conventional digital audio processing scheme is not cost-effective because a dedicated SPDIF cable for connecting the SPDIF transmitter and the SPDIF receiver and the SPDIF decoder itself are very expensive. Further, if the encoded audio data is sent to multiple locations, the cost will increase exponentially. In this regard, an additional SPDIF cable is required to transmit the encoded data, and an additional SPDIF receiver/decoder is required for each location.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Disclosure of Invention

A method and/or system for transmitting digital audio in SPDIF format to one or more receivers, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for processing audio data, comprising:

packing the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet;

transmitting the at least one SPDIF packet for processing over one or more networks supporting packet communications.

Preferably, the method further comprises receiving the at least one SPDIF packet over one or more networks supporting packet communication.

Preferably, the method further comprises depacketizing the received at least one SPDIF packet to generate at least one decoded audio data frame.

Preferably, the method further comprises sending the generated at least one decoded audio data frame to at least one speaker.

Preferably, the one or more networks include one or more of the internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN, and/or a bluetooth link.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

extracting one or more channel state bits from the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame prior to packetizing.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

packing the extracted one or more channel state bits with the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate the at least one SPDIF data packet.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

generating at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet.

Preferably, the generated at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet includes one or more of the extracted one or more channel state bits, a packet sequence number, and other header information.

Preferably, the generated at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet includes 192 channel status bits corresponding to a plurality of SPDIF data frames within an SPDIF block.

Preferably, the at least one SPDIF packet is sent to at least one receiver for processing.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

and packing the extracted one or more channel state bits to generate at least one channel state bit data packet.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

and transmitting the at least one channel state bit data packet and the at least one SPDIF data packet to at least one receiver for processing.

Preferably, the at least one channel status bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet are transmitted through one or more networks supporting packet communication.

Preferably, the at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet are transmitted using a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and/or a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

Preferably, the method further comprises:

one or more SPDIF packets and packet header information are extracted from the transmitted packet.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

generating at least one decoded audio data frame based on the extracted one or more SPDIF packets and the packet header information.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

extracting one or more of sampling rate information, SPDIF data type information, and copyright notice information associated with at least a portion of the plurality of SPDIF data frames from the transmitted at least one channel status bit packet.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

generating at least one decoded audio data frame based on the extracted one or more of sampling rate information, SPDIF data type information, and copyright notice information.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for processing audio data, comprising: at least one processor configured to packetize at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet; the at least one processor transmits the at least one SPDIF packet for processing over one or more networks supporting packet communication.

Preferably, the at least one processor receives the at least one SPDIF packet through one or more networks supporting packet communication.

Preferably, the at least one processor unpacks the received at least one SPDIF packet to generate at least one decoded audio data frame.

Preferably, the at least one processor sends the generated at least one decoded audio data frame to at least one speaker.

Preferably, the at least one processor extracts one or more channel state bits from the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame prior to packetization.

Preferably, the at least one processor packs the extracted one or more channel state bits with the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate the at least one SPDIF data packet.

Preferably, the at least one processor generates at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet.

Preferably, the at least one processor packages the extracted one or more channel state bits to generate at least one channel state bit data packet.

Preferably, the at least one processor sends the at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet to at least one receiver for processing.

Preferably, the at least one processor extracts one or more SPDIF packets and packet header information from the transmitted packet.

Preferably, the at least one processor generates at least one decoded audio data frame based on the extracted one or more SPDIF packets and the packet header information.

Preferably, the at least one processor extracts one or more of sampling rate information, SPDIF data type information, and copyright notice information associated with at least a portion of the plurality of SPDIF data frames from the transmitted at least one channel status bit packet.

Preferably, the at least one processor generates at least one decoded audio data frame based on the extracted one or more of sampling rate information, SPDIF data type information, and copyright notice information.

Various advantages, aspects and novel features of the invention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully described with reference to the following description and drawings.

Drawings

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram of the format of an SPDIF data block that may be used in embodiments consistent with the invention;

fig. 1B is a schematic block diagram of a format of stereo audio data in an SPDIF data frame that can be used in an embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF digital audio processing system that may be used in embodiments consistent with the invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF digital audio processing system for transmitting decoded SPDIF digital audio data to a plurality of receivers according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF data processing block for receiving decoded SPDIF audio data according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart of steps for processing an SPDIF packet, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart of steps for processing an SPDIF packet containing one or more channel state bits in the header (header), according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of steps for processing an SPDIF packet and a channel status bit packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the present invention include a method and system for transmitting digital audio in SPDIF format to one or more receivers in a network (network supported packet based communication) supporting packet communication. A method aspect may include packetizing at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet. The at least one SPDIF packet may be transmitted for processing over one or more networks supporting packet communications. The one or more networks may include one or more of: the internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN, and/or a bluetooth link. One and/or more channel state bits may be extracted from the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame prior to packetization. The extracted one or more channel state bits may be packetized with the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate the at least one SPDIF data packet. At least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet may be generated. The generated at least one header may include the extracted one or more channel state bits and/or a data packet sequence number. The generated at least one header may include 192 channel status bits corresponding to a plurality of SPDIF data frames in one SPDIF block.

The at least one SPDIF packet may be sent to at least one receiver for processing. The extracted one or more channel state bits may be packed to generate at least one channel state bit data packet. The at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet may be transmitted to at least one receiver for processing. The at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet may be transmitted over one or more networks supporting packet communication. The at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet may be transmitted using a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and/or a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Sample rate information, SPDIF data type information, and/or copyright notice information associated with at least a portion of the plurality of SPDIF data frames may be extracted from the transmitted at least one channel status bit packet.

Fig. 1A is a schematic block diagram of a format of an SPDIF data block that can be used in an embodiment according to the present invention. Referring to fig. 1A, each SPDIF block 114 may include 192 frames, i.e., frame 0(110) through frame 191 (112). Each SPDIF frame 110, …, 112 may include two subframes. For example, frame 110 may include subframes 102 and 104. Likewise, frame 112 may include subframes 106 and 108. Each SPDIF subframe may include 32 slots or bits. For example, the subframe 102 may include 32 bits, i.e., b0, …, b 31. Each sub-frame, such as sub-frame 102, may include a preamble 116, digital data 118, 120, and additional information 122, …, 128.

The preamble 116 may include 4 bits (b0, …, b 3). The bits b4, …, b27 may be used to represent digital data. In some examples, the auxiliary data field 118 may be used to provide non-audio information, such as information that may be used to identify the type of audio data. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the auxiliary data field 118 may be used to identify the audio data 120 as stereo audio data or multi-channel audio data. The additional information may include 4 additional bits 122, …, 128, designated as b28, …, b31, respectively. Bits 28(122) may include a significance bit (V) that may be used to encode a data sample significance flag (significance flag). Bits 29(124) may include user data bits (U)124, which may be used to encode user information. Bits 30(126) may include channel state bits (C), which may be used to encode channel state information. Bits 31(128) may include a parity bit (P).

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, one or more bits b28, …, b31 from the additional information field of the SPDIF subframe 102, …, 108 may be used for transmission of the decoded SPDIF digital audio data to one or more receivers. For example, the channel state bits 126 may be extracted from each of the 192 SPDIF frames 110, …, 112 to obtain a total of 192 Channel State Bits (CSB). The extracted CSB may be transmitted to one or more receivers along with the decoded SPDIF digital audio data, for example, over the internet and/or an intranet.

Fig. 1B is a schematic block diagram of a format of stereo audio data in an SPDIF data frame that can be used in an embodiment according to the present invention. Referring to fig. 1B, the SPDIF frame 140 may include subframes 136 and 138. The data format of the SPDIF subframes 136 and 138 may be the same as the format of the subframe 102 in fig. 1A. For example, the sub-frame 136 may include the preamble 130, the audio data 132, and the additional information 134. Likewise, the sub-frame 138 may include a preamble 131, audio data 133, and additional information 135. The SPDIF data frame 140 may be used to transmit stereo audio data including two channels, such as Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM) data. In this regard, the audio data portion 132 of the subframe 136 may be used to transmit channel 1 data and the audio data portion 133 of the subframe 138 may be used to transmit channel 2 data.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, one or more CSBs from the additional information fields 134 and 135 of the SPDIF subframes 136 and 138 may be used for transmission of the decoded SPDIF digital stereo data to one or more receivers. The extracted CSB may be transmitted to one or more receivers, for example, over the internet and/or an intranet, along with decoded SPDIF digital stereo audio data.

Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF digital audio processing system that may be used in embodiments according to the present invention. Referring to fig. 2, the SPDIF digital audio processing system 200 may include an SPDIF data transmitter (Tx)202, an audio decoder 204, …, 208, and corresponding speakers 210, …, 214.

The SPDIF data Tx 202 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enable encoding and transmitting SPDIF digital audio data. For example, the SPDIF data Tx 202 may encode the SPDIF digital audio data and may transmit the encoded SPDIF digital audio data to one or more receivers, such as the audio decoders 204, …, 208. The encoded SPDIF digital audio data may be transmitted to the audio decoders 204, …, 208 through dedicated SPDIF cables 216, …, 220, respectively.

The audio decoder 204, …, 208 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/or code that may be operable to receive and decode SPDIF digital audio data transmitted by the SPDIF data Tx 202. The audio decoder 204, …, 208 may send the decoded SPDIF digital audio data to the corresponding speaker 210, …, 214.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the SPDIF digital audio processing system 200 will achieve significant improvements in operating costs and efficiency by decoding the received encoded SPDIF audio data using only one audio decoder. In this regard, only one SPDIF cable may be used to connect the SPDIF data Tx and the audio decoder. In this regard, the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame may be packetized to generate the at least one SPDIF data packet. The at least one SPDIF packet may then be transmitted over one or more networks supporting packet communication, such as the internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN, and/or a bluetooth link. For example, the at least one SPDIF packet may be sent to a receiver/depacketizer (depacketizer), which may extract decoded SPDIF audio data from the received at least one SPDIF packet.

In another embodiment of the present invention, in the above-described packetization process, one or more CSBs may be extracted from the decoded SPDIF digital audio data and transmitted to one or more receivers/de-packetizers along with the packetized SPDIF data over one or more networks supporting packet communication, such as the internet, wireless LAN, bluetooth link, and/or intranet. The extracted CSB may be transmitted as part of one or more headers of the packetized SPDIF data and/or the extracted CSB may be transmitted as a separate packet.

Fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF digital audio processing system for transmitting decoded SPDIF digital audio data to a plurality of receivers according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, the SPDIF digital audio processing system 300 may include an SPDIF data transmitter (Tx)302, an audio decoder 304, and an SPDIF packer 306. The SPDIF digital audio processing system 300 further comprises SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 and corresponding SPDIF Rx (audio player/speaker) 320, …, 324.

The SPDIF data Tx 302 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enable encoding and transmitting SPDIF digital audio data. For example, the SPDIF data Tx 302 may encode the SPDIF digital audio data and may transmit the encoded SPDIF digital audio data to a separate receiver/decoder, such as the audio decoder 304. The encoded SPDIF digital audio data may be transmitted to the audio decoder 304 through the single SPDIF cable 303.

The audio decoder 304 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enable receiving and decoding SPDIF digital audio data transmitted by the SPDIF data Tx 302 via the SPDIF cable 303. The audio decoder 304 may transmit the decoded SPDIF digital audio data to the SPDIF packer 306. The SPDIF packager 306 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may be operable to package SPDIF data into SPDIF packets suitable for transmission over the internet or an intranet, for example. The SPDIF packager 306 also generates one or more headers for the SPDIF packet, where the headers may include one or more extracted CSBs and/or packet sequence numbers. In some examples, the SPDIF packager 306 may package the extracted CSB into individual CSB packets, which may be sent with the SPDIF packet to the SPDIF unpacker 314, …, 318. In another embodiment of the invention, CSB packets may be sent over Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and SPDIF packets may be sent over User Datagram Protocol (UDP). In another embodiment of the present invention, the SPDIF packer 306 may receive the CSB from the SPDIF data Tx 302 alone.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the one or more headers for the SPDIF packet may include header information other than the one or more extracted CSBs and/or packet sequence numbers.

The SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enable unpacking of received SPDIF packets and/or CSB packets. The unpacked SPDIF digital audio information may then be sent to a corresponding SPDIF Rx (audio player/speaker) 320, …, 322.

In operation, the SPDIF data Tx 302 may encode SPDIF digital audio data and may send the encoded SPDIF digital audio data to the audio decoder 304 via the SPDIF cable connection 303. The audio decoder 304 may decode the received encoded SPDIF digital audio data. The decoded SPDIF digital audio data may be transmitted to the SPDIF packer 306. The SPDIF packer 306 may collect each SPDIF data block including 192 frames and extract 192 channel status bits from each SPDIF data block. The SPDIF packager 306 may then use one or more different techniques to partition each SPDIF block into packets.

For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the following SPDIF data packing techniques may be used: each SPDIF data block is partitioned into n packets. In this regard, each packet may include 192/n SPDIF data frames. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the following SPDIF data packing techniques may be used: SPDIF packets of size X may be used, where X may be a multiple of 8. Next, the SPDIF packer 306 may fill each SPDIF packet of size X with as many SPDIF frames as possible.

Although only two packing techniques are disclosed for use by the SPDIF packer 306, the present invention is not so limited. In this regard, the SPDIF packer 306 may also use other techniques to pack the SPDIF data and/or the CSB. In one embodiment of the present invention, the SPDIF packer 306 may extract the CSB and pack the CSB using a format different from the format used to pack the SPDIF decoded audio data. In this regard, the SPDIF data and the CSB may be optionally packaged in different formats. Further, the unpackers 314, …, 318 may unpack the CSB and/or SPDIF packets using the same format as used by the SPDIF packer 306.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame may be packetized by the SPDIF packetizer 306 to generate at least one SPDIF packet. The at least one SPDIF packet may then be transmitted over one or more packet communication enabled networks 311 (e.g., the internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN, a bluetooth link) to one or more receiver/depacketizers that may extract decoded SPDIF audio data from the received at least one SPDIF packet.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, in the above-described packetizing process, the SPDIF packetizer 306 may extract one or more CSBs from the decoded SPDIF digital audio data, and may transmit the CSBs together with the packetized SPDIF data to one or more receiver/decoders by the one or more packet communication-capable networks 311. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the SPDIF packer 306 may separately receive the CSB from the SPDIF data Tx 302. The extracted CSB may be transmitted as part of one or more headers of the packetized SPDIF data and/or the extracted CSB may be sent as a separate packet. The SPDIF data packet generated by the SPDIF packetizer 306 may be sent to the SPDIF depacketizer 314, …, 318 with or without a header. In the example where the SPDIF packet includes headers, each packet header may be used to transmit additional information or information for error recovery. For example, each header may include 192 CSBs extracted from each SPDIF block (each SPDIF block includes 192 SPDIF frames, each contributing one CSB). The SPDIF packet header may also include a packet sequence number, which may specify the sequence number of the SPDIF packet in the data block. The SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 may use headers for error recovery or to send any additional information.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, 192 CSBs extracted from each SPDIF block may be packetized and transmitted in one or more packets. In the CSB-packed-alone embodiment, the SPDIF packet header may include only the packet sequence number. The CSB and SPDIF packets may then be encapsulated and sent to the SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 over the internet or intranet. The SPDIF packager 306 may package the SPDIF and/or CSB packets into internet packets, transport layer protocol packets (e.g., TCP and/or UDP packets), wireless LAN (802.11) packets, and/or bluetooth packets.

After the SPDIF packetizer 306 generates the SPDIF packet (with or without a header) and/or the CSB packet, the SPDIF packet (with or without a header) and/or the CSB packet may be transmitted to the SPDIF depacketizer 314, …, 318 via the internet/intranet/WLAN, or bluetooth and connection 308, …, 312. The SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 may unpack the received SPDIF and/or CSB packets and transmit the unpacked and decoded SPDIF digital audio data to the corresponding audio player/speakers 320, …, 324.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, there may occur a case where a header for the SPDIF packet is not generated. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, it may occur that a Channel Status Bit (CSB) packet is not generated together with the SPDIF packet.

Although the audio decoder 304 and the SPDIF packer 306 are shown as different blocks in fig. 3, the present invention is not limited thereto. In one embodiment of the present invention, the audio decoder 304 and the SPDIF packer 306 may be implemented in a single SPDIF Rx/decoder/packer (SPDIF RDP) block 309. In such an example, SPDIF RDP 309 may include CPU 305 and memory 307. Further, as shown in fig. 3, the CPU may implement one or more functions of the audio decoder 304 and/or the SPDIF packer 306. Likewise, the SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318 and SPDIFRx (audio player/speaker) 320, …, 322 may also be implemented in a single block, such as SPDIF data processing block (SPDIF DPB) 400. Likewise, the SPDIF data Tx 302 and the SPDIF packer 309 may be implemented in one block.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an SPDIF data processing block for receiving decoded SPDIF audio data according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the SPDIF DPB400 may include a CPU402, a depacketizer 406, a SPDIF Rx 405, and a memory 404. The unpacker 406 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enable unpacking packed SPDIF data and/or CSB packed data. The SPDIF unpacker may have the same functionality as the SPDIF unpackers 314, …, 318. The SPDIF Rx 405 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and code that may enable the transmission of decoded and unpacked SPDIF digital audio data to an audio player and/or speakers.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4, the SPDIF packet (with or without a header) and the CSB packet may be transmitted to the SPDIFRx/unpacker 400 over one of the internet/intranet/WLAN/bluetooth and links 308, …, 312. The SPDIF Rx/depacketizer may extract SPDIF data from the received SPDIF packet. In the example where the SPDIF data includes a header with a CSB, the SPDIF DPB400 may extract the CSB from the header. In the example where the CSBs are transmitted via separate CSB packets, the SPDIF Rx/depacketizer 400 may extract 192 CSBs from the CSB packets. The SPDIF Rx/depacketizer 400 may use the CSB to obtain sample rate information, SPDIF data type information, and/or copyright notice information associated with the received SPDIF data frame.

In the example where an SPDIF packet is lost during transmission, the SPDIF DPB400 may use the frame sequence number and CSB information from the header to create and insert the correct channel state bit information for the frames contained in the lost packet. The SPDIF DPB400 may extract key information, such as sample rate information, SPDIF data type information, and/or copyright notice information, from the CSB. The unpacker 406 may pass the critical information to, for example, an SPDIF Rx 405 and one or more audio players/speakers. In the example where one or more SPDIF packets are lost in transmission, the SPDIF Rx 405 may use the extracted key information to maintain its clock running without interruption. At this point, the SPDIF Rx 405 can recover the SPDIF frames containing the key channel state information from the decoded and decompressed SPDIF data block and play them back even if some frames are lost.

Fig. 5A is a flowchart of exemplary steps for processing an SPDIF packet, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, 4 and 5A, the SPDIF packer 306 may pack at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF packet in step 502 a. The at least one decoded SPDIF data frame may be received from the audio decoder 304. At step 504a, the SPDIF packager 306 may send the at least one SPDIF packet to at least one receiver/unpacker 314 over one or more networks 311 supporting packet communications for processing. At step 506a, the receiver/de-packetizer (e.g., de-packetizer 314 in the SPDIF data processing block 400) may receive the transmitted SPDIF data packet. The SPDIF unpacker 314 may then extract the decoded SPDIF audio from the received SPDIF packet.

Fig. 5B is a flowchart of exemplary steps for processing an SPDIF packet containing one or more channel state bits in the header, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, 4 and 5B, the SPDIF packer 306 may select one or more channel status bits from at least one decoded SPDIF data frame in step 502B. The at least one decoded SPDIF data frame may be received from the audio decoder 304. In step 504b, the SPDIF packer 306 may pack the at least one SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet. In step 506b, the SPDIF packager 306 may generate at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet. The generated at least one header for the at least one SPDIF packet may include one or more extracted channel state bits and a packet sequence number. In step 508b, the SPDIF coder 306 transmits the at least one SPDIF packet including the generated at least one header to at least one receiver for processing, such as the SPDIF DPB 400. The at least one SPDIF packet including the generated at least one header may be transmitted through the internet, an intranet, a bluetooth link, and a wireless LAN.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of exemplary steps for processing SPDIF packets and channel status bit packets, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, 4 and 6, the SPDIF packer 306 may extract one or more channel state bits from at least one decoded SPDIF data frame in step 602. The at least one decoded SPDIF data frame may be received from the audio decoder 304. At step 604, the SPDIF packer 306 may pack the at least one SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet. In one embodiment of the present invention, the SPDIF packer may extract the CSB and pack the CSB using a format different from a format in which the SPDIF decoded audio data is packed. In this regard, the SPDIF data and the CSB may be packaged using different formats. In addition, the unpackers 314, …, 318 may unpack the CSB and/or SPDIF packets using the same format used by the SPDIF packer 306.

At step 606, the SPDIF packager 306 may package the extracted one or more channel state bits to generate at least one Channel State Bit (CSB) data packet. At step 608, the SPDIF packager 306 may send the at least one channel state bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet to at least one receiver for processing. The at least one channel status bit packet and the at least one SPDIF packet may be transmitted through the internet, an intranet, a bluetooth link, and a wireless LAN. At step 610, the SPDIF unpacker 314 may extract sample rate information, SPDIF data type information, and/or copyright notice information associated with at least a portion of the plurality of SPDIF data frames from the transmitted at least one channel status bit packet.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program. The program comprises at least one piece of code which, when executed by a machine, enables the machine to perform the method steps described herein.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in at least one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein.

One implementation of the present invention can be as a motherboard-level product, such as a single chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and a single chip with a different degree of integration than the rest of the system as separate components. The degree of integration of the system is determined primarily by speed and cost considerations. Due to the complexity of modern processors, commercially available processors may be used that may be implemented externally to ASICs of existing systems. Alternatively, if a processor is available (e.g., an ASIC core and logic module), then the commercially available processor can be part of an ASIC device having different functions that execute as firmware.

The present invention may also be implemented by a computer program product, comprising all the features enabling the implementation of the methods of the invention, when loaded in a computer system. The computer program in this document refers to: any expression, in any programming language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to other languages, codes or symbols; b) reproduced in a different format. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other meanings of computer program may be used to implement the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for processing audio data, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the at least one SPDIF packet over one or more networks supporting packet communication.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising depacketizing the received at least one SPDIF packet to generate at least one decoded audio data frame.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising sending the generated at least one decoded audio data frame to at least one speaker.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more networks comprise one or more of the internet, an intranet, a wireless LAN, and/or a bluetooth link.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: extracting one or more channel state bits from the at least one decoded SPDIF data frame prior to packetizing.

7. A system for processing audio data, comprising: at least one processor configured to packetize at least one decoded SPDIF data frame to generate at least one SPDIF data packet; the at least one processor transmits the at least one SPDIF packet for processing over one or more networks supporting packet communication.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said at least one processor receives said at least one SPDIF packet via one or more networks supporting packet communication.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said at least one processor unpacks said received at least one SPDIF packet to generate at least one decoded audio data frame.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said at least one processor transmits said generated at least one decoded frame of audio data to at least one speaker.