Patent Application
20220060781
The disclosure generally relates to the processing of video data.
Video content is often produced with a vision or goal to provide consumers a new differentiated entertainment experience that delivers a premium expression of creative intent using next generation audio-visual technologies. To be able to present this video content in the intended format, the preferred or defined format (e.g., highest quality format supported by the display device) needs to be provided to the source device providing the video content. If the preferred format is not provided to the source device, the display device (also known as the sink device or video sink) may not properly display the video content in the preferred format automatically, even if such capability exists at the display device. Consequently, there should be a consistent and well defined mechanism to present information from display device to the video source device.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is a method of displaying video content, comprising receiving, at a sink device, a signal from a source device to confirm connection of a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable assembly; and sending extended display identification data (EDID), including one or more data blocks identifying advanced features, to the source device, from the sink device via the HDMI cable assembly, indicating at least the sink device's most advanced features to support displaying of the video content in response to the signal.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the method further comprises receiving the video content from the source device in a format defined by the advanced features; and displaying the video content on a display of the sink device in the format defined by the advanced features.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the advanced features indicate the format to be an ultra-high definition (UHD) specific format.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the source device and the sink device are connected using the cable assembly.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the signal and the video content are received over the HDMI cable assembly.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the sink device is UHDA Specified Reference Mode (UHDA-SRM) compliant.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the source device is at least one of a Blu-ray disc, a digital versatile disc (DVD), a set-top box or an over-the-top box.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the sink device is at least one of a display, a television and a PC monitor.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is a sink device to display video content, comprising a receiver configured to receive a signal from a source device to confirm connection of a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable assembly, the signal received on a first line of the HDMI cable assembly; and a transmitter configured to send extended display identification data (EDID), including one or more data blocks identifying advanced features, to the source device, from a second line of the cable assembly, indicating at least the sink device's most advanced features to support displaying of the video content in response to the signal.
Optionally, in any of the preceding claims, the first line of the HDMI cable assembly is a +5V/Hot Plug Detect (HPD) line and the second line of the HDMI cable assembly is a Display Data Channel (DDC) line.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example and are not limited by the accompanying figures for which like references indicate elements.
The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the figures, which in general relate to the processing and transmission of video signals.
Video content is often created with the intention that it will be presented in a particular way, such as would reflect a director's intention for the display of film or cinema content. A television or other display may have a number of different formats and variables in how it processes received content for display, which may or may not include the preferred mode of the content creator. When a display device receives content directly from an over-the-top (OTT) content provider or through a standard audio/video interface, such as HDMI, the content may specify information about the preferred display mode, sometimes referred to as a “UHD Content”. Alternatively, the television or display may enter the “UHD Mode” by internally detecting the presence of UHD characteristics. However, if the display device does not provide the content provider (or source device) with sufficient information (e.g., information that includes the features of the display device) to indicate the preferred mode, the display device may not receive the video content in the highest quality (preferred mode) automatically, i.e. in UHD mode (or some other high quality mode). The following presents techniques to consistently provide or report advanced feature signaling information, such as the display device capabilities, to a content provider (or source device) such that the content provider has knowledge of the display device capabilities without manual effort involved and provides video content to the display device in the preferred mode, particularly where the display device is Ultra-High Definition Alliance (UHDA) compliant.
More specifically, video content may be provided to a television or other display device through multiple paths. A television can receive video content directly through over-air broadcasts, or the television can receive video content directly through a connection to the internet via an OTT from a content provider. A television can also receive video content through a local connection—such as a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)—from a video source device, such as a Blu-Ray disc player, cable or satellite set-top box, or Internet connected Source device. Prior to video content reaching the television directly, or through an HDMI connection from a video source, the television may report its display capabilities to the video content source provider. The display capabilities may be embedded in data that specifies the display features (e.g., the capability of the television to display in various formats, including the highest quality format). In some instances, the embedded data that specifies the display device's advanced feature capabilities may not be present. In these instances, the video content provided to the television or other display device by the content source provider through an HDMI connection may result in content being displayed in a quality that is less than a preferred Mode and less than the capabilities of the television or display device.
It is understood that the present embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in many different forms and that scope of the claims should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concepts to those skilled in the art. Indeed, the disclosure is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents of these embodiments, which are included within the scope and spirit of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding. However, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced without such specific details.
In the discussion that follows, and to place the discussion into a more concrete context, the following discussion will primarily refer to the example of the Ultra-High Definition Alliance (UHD-Alliance or UHDA) protocol. The UHDA is a Standards Development Organization (SDO) with the goals of providing consumers with new differentiated entertainments experience that can deliver a premium expression of creative intent using advances in audio-visual technologies. In this regard, UHDA has defined the requirements of UHDA Specified Reference Mode (UHDA-SRM), a.k.a. Director's Mode, or Filmmaker's Mode, for Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and High Dynamic Range (HDR) Display Devices. The UHDA-SRM specification reflects the advice of content creators regarding their “creative content” and how to recreate those preferred conditions when using consumer displays to reproduce, as closely as possible, that creative intent: The experience that the author intended. UHDA-SRM specifies image processing requirements for the Director's Mode. UHDA-SRM also specifies how Director's Mode is enabled in a display.
To better understand the components and communication between a source device and display (sink) device,
The video source 110 provides the video signal to the video sink 130 from a transmitter circuit Source Tx 119. Some examples of a video source 110 are a set-top box, a DVD, Blu-Ray or other media player, or video camera. The video source can be any system-level product to provide a baseband or uncompressed digital video signal.
In the video source 110, the video signal is provided by the signal provider 111. In the example of the DVD or other media player, the signal provider 111 would read the media to provide the video data/content. In the example of a set-top box or other device that receives the video signal over a cable or other connector, the video signal is received at a receiver circuit or interface for the signal provider 111. For example, in a set-top box embodiment of a video source 110, the set-top box might receive a video signal from a cable provider over a coaxial cable, where the video signal is compressed and encoded according to an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard, such as MPEG-4, or other compression algorithm.
As the received video signal will often be compressed, such as with an MPEG-type compression, the stream of received video data can be decompressed at the video decompression block 112 to generate an uncompressed digital video/audio signal. Depending on the embodiment, in some cases (such as a video camera) where video decompression is not needed, the video decompression block 112 need not be included in the video source device 110. The video source 110 can then perform processing on the decompressed stream of video data. For example, in addition to image processing, the video data may be encrypted in some embodiments, formed into packets, have error correction information added, or have other operations performed upon it. Among other processing, this can include functionality to comply with the requirements of an interface standard, such as HDMI, to transmit the video signal to the sink device (e.g., video sink 130) over the cable assembly 121 as performed in the Source Tx 119.
The video signal can be transmitted from the video source 110 to the video sink 130 over a cable assembly 121, of which there are a number of formats such as component video cable, VGA (Video Graphics Array) cables, or HDMI cables. For purposes of discussion, the HDMI cable assembly will be used as the main embodiment. An HDMI cable assembly 121 will be a cable with plugs or connectors 125 and 127 on either end. The plugs 125 and 127 can plug into corresponding sockets, ports or receptacles 123 and 129 to provide video data from the Source Tx 119 to the Sink Rx 131. In a common embodiment, the video data as received at the video source 110 will have the active video (i.e., the pixels of the image to be provided on a television or other display) compressed, but the video data transmitted over the cable assembly 121 to the video sink 130 can have uncompressed or compressed active video portions. For example, the active video may be DSC (Display Stream Compression) compressed, which is a visually lossless low-latency compression algorithm.
The system includes the Source Tx 219, a cable assembly 121 with signals carried therein (represented by the arrows), and the Sink Rx 231. The video data is transferred over the data channels, where there can be a number of such channels to provide high data transfer rates. As illustrated, there are four data channels. However, other embodiments can have more or fewer data channels. The interface may also be operable in different modes, where less than all of the available data channels are used in some modes if, for example, the interface is operating at a lower data rate or to provide back-compatibility with earlier versions of a standard. In the shown example, a high data rate four lane mode could use all of the provided data channels, while a three lane mode can be provided for back compatibility to an earlier version of a standard by repurposing one of the channels. In some embodiments, the video source on the Source Tx 219 side can configure the link to operate at different bit rates using a fixed rate link. The cable assembly 121 can also have a number of control lines for the exchange of control signals over the source/sink link.
In one embodiment, the cable assembly 121 includes a Hot Plug Detect (HPD) line that recognizes when a Sink Rx 231 is ready for access after being plugged into Source Tx 219 while both are powered on. In one further embodiment, the cable assembly 121 also includes a display data channel (DDC) that is used for configuration and status exchange between the Source TX 219 and the Sink Rx 231. The DDC is used by the Source Tx 219 to read the Sink Rx 231 Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) 239 (or Enhanced EDID (E-EDID)) in order to discover the Sink Rx 231 configuration, parameters and/or capabilities. In another embodiment, the DDC is used by the Sink RX 231 to report the EDID 239 (or E-EDID) configuration, parameters and/or capabilities. In some embodiments, the DDC adds a set of HDMI-specific DDC registers in HDMI Sinks to exchange point-to-point dynamic data between the Source Tx 219 and the Sink Rx 231.
In general, the EDID 239 includes basic information and display parameters, such as manufacturer, serial number, dock and resolution of the display device and is a standard data format defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) that is configured to enable the display device to support Plug and Play functionality. The EDID 239 is typically part of the sink interface and may be stored, for example, in internal storage of the display device, such as Read Only Memory (ROM). The EDID 239 also includes data on the display capabilities that the HDMI sink Rx 231 supports for the display of video content on display (e.g. video sink 130).
Some examples of display configurations, parameters and/or capabilities stored in the EDID 239 that can be set in a specified display mode can include: frame rate; dynamic range; color gamut; a transfer function for the display of the video content; and a definition level for the display of the video content. In some embodiments, the specification of one or more of these properties within the frames of video content supplied from the video HDMI source device (video source) 310 to the HDMI sink device (video sink) 330 can serve to specify a display mode for the presentation of video content. For example, a specific frame rate can invoke a specified presentation mode.
As explained above, many different types of display formats exist, and content being received from the video HDMI source device 310 (in this example, an HDMI source), should match the display mode capabilities of the HDMI sink device 330 such that the user of the HDMI sink device 330 is provided with the best user experience (e.g., the user is provided with the highest resolution). To help ensure that users obtain the best display (and/or audio) experience, a communication protocol can be introduced to make UHD specific EDID features available on UHDA certified and UHDA-SRM compliant HDMI ports. Under this mechanism, the content carrying video source device is made aware of the capability of a connected video sink or display device so that it is able to enforce UHD content delivery with UHDA certified devices automatically.
In one embodiment, when a UHDA certified display device, such as HDMI sink device 330, is connected to an HDMI Source, such as HDMI source device 310, using an HDMI cable, the UHD specific capabilities of the HDMI sink device 330 are sent to the HDMI source device 310, as detailed in the EDID features stored at the HDMI sink device 330. Accordingly, the video source device can deliver video content to the display device such that the UHDA-SRM capable display device can enable the display of a preferred mode, such as UHD Mode, correctly and render UHD content in accordance with the preferred mode.
As depicted in
In one embodiment, the HDMI sink 330 can provide the EDID 339 to the HDMI source device 310, as indicated by the EDID initialization signal between these devices. A sink device which supports UHDA-SRM (UHDA-SRM compliant) should automatically present advanced audio and video capability that the HDMI sink 330 supports in its EDID 339. In one embodiment, when the HDMI sink device 330 is UHDA-SRM compliant, the HDMI sink device 330 sends data stored in the EDID 339, including one or more of the HDMI Forum-Vendor Specific Data Block (HF-VSDB) and other Data Blocks (e.g. HDR Data Block, Colorimetry Data Block, etc.) to the HDMI source device 310 as a matter of course. These data blocks will include the advanced features such that the HDMI source device 310 will recognize the advanced display (and audio) capabilities of the HDMI sink device 330 and therefore provide the highest quality video content (e.g., UHD) for display. In one embodiment, the EDID 339 and data blocks with advanced features are sent automatically upon connection to the HDMI source device 310 when the HDMI sink device 330 is UHDA compliant device. In one further embodiment, the HDMI sink device 330 may support other standard-based (or recommended) highest quality compliance or guidance for UHD experience. Accordingly, the process and devices herein extend beyond non-UHDA SRM compliancy.
Depending on the embodiment, the HDMI source device 310 can be a Blu-ray disc player (BP), a DVD (digital versatile disc) player, a set-top box (STB) or combination of these and other video sources. The HDMI source device 310 can be as described above with respect to the video source 110 of
The source interface 327A in this example is an HDMI interface and can include elements of sockets, ports or receptacles 123 for connection of an HDMI cable assembly 121 and Source Tx 119 from
In one embodiment, the HDMI source device 310 and the HDMI sink device 330 communicate in a CTA-861G and HDMI format.
The Max_TMDS_Charater_Rate field may be set by the sink device to a value below the TMDS Character Rate corresponding to the maximum Pixel clock rate at the maximum color depth. This allows the sink device to support higher color depths at lower resolutions than it can support at higher resolutions.
Accordingly, the HF-VSDB may be used by the HDMI sink device 330 to indicate supported features that have been defined in the HDMI specification. The HF-VSDB may then be read as part of the EDID (during initialization) such that a HDMI source device 310 reads the sink device's supported features (e.g., advanced features). In one embodiment, reading of the HF-VSDB by the HDMI source device 310 is required when the HDMI sink device 330 is UHDA compliant. In this embodiment, the advanced features may be at least the most advanced features available by the sink device.
More specifically, the AVI InfoFrames tell the sink device the dynamic configurations of the source device. For example, they include pixel encoding and enhancement support for the video. There also are audio InfoFrames, which describe the details about the audio data formats and rate so the sink device can synchronize itself with the incoming audio data format. A single physical interface is not specified, but any interface that implements InforFrames must use the VESA Enhanced Extended Display Identification Data Standard (VESA E-EDID) for format discovery. This includes, for example, an HDMI interface.
Various aspects of the video stream are identified by the source device to the sink device (in this case HDMI source and sink devices) using an Auxiliary Video information (AVI) InfoFrame. A source device transmits an AVI InfoFrame at least once per two video fields if the Source is capable of transmitting: an AVI InfoFrame, YCBCR pixel encoding, any Colorimetry other than the transmitted video format's default Colorimetry, any xvYCC or future enhanced Colorimetry, any Gamut Metadata packet, or any video format with multiple allowed pixel repetitions.
With reference to
Turning to
It is understood that the present subject matter may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this subject matter will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Indeed, the subject matter is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents of these embodiments, which are included within the scope and spirit of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present subject matter, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present subject matter. However, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present subject matter may be practiced without such specific details.
Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatuses (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable instruction execution apparatus, create a mechanism for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The aspects of the disclosure herein were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
The disclosure has been described in conjunction with various embodiments. However, other variations and modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims, and such variations and modifications are to be interpreted as being encompassed by the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality.
For purposes of this document, it should be noted that the dimensions of the various features depicted in the figures may not necessarily be drawn to scale.
For purposes of this document, reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” or “another embodiment” may be used to describe different embodiments or the same embodiment.
For purposes of this document, a connection may be a direct connection or an indirect connection (e.g., via one or more other parts). In some cases, when an element is referred to as being connected or coupled to another element, the element may be directly connected to the other element or indirectly connected to the other element via intervening elements. When an element is referred to as being directly connected to another element, then there are no intervening elements between the element and the other element. Two devices are “in communication” if they are directly or indirectly connected so that they can communicate electronic signals between them.
For purposes of this document, the term “based on” may be read as “based at least in part on.”
For purposes of this document, without additional context, use of numerical terms such as a “first” object, a “second” object, and a “third” object may not imply an ordering of objects, but may instead be used for identification purposes to identify different objects.
The foregoing detailed description has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the subject matter claimed herein to the precise form(s) disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the disclosed technology and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the technology in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope be defined by the claims appended hereto.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
This application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) of and claims priority to International Application No. PCT/US2019/043762 filed on Jul. 26, 2019, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/844,042, filed May 6, 2019. The entire contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62844042 | May 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2019/043762 | Jul 2019 | US |
| Child | 17520531 | US |
