Robotarmmechanismandrobotapparatus.docx

Robotarmmechanismandrobotapparatus.docx

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Robotarmmechanismandrobotapparatus

Systemformaintainingaminimumlevelofdigitizeddatasignalqualitywhileallowingbandwidthdependentqualityenhancementwithadditionalenhancementdatapackets

RELATEDAPPLICATIONS

Thisapplicationisrelatedtothecopendingapplication"DynamicDataRateAdjustmentToMaintainThroughputOfATimeVaryingSignal"Ser.No.08/667,072filedApr.18,1996,nowpending.

FIELDOFTHEINVENTION

Thepresentinventionpertainstothefieldofthetransferofdataoverabus.Morespecifically,thepresentinventionrelatestomethodsoftransferringanassuredminimumlevelofdatasupplementedbyqualityimprovements.

BACKGROUND

Digitalsystemscontinuetoprocessescalatingquantitiesofsignalsrepresentingvideo,audio,andothertimevaryingphenomenaoverlimitedbandwidthcommunicationchannels.Typically,suchtimevaryingsignalsaretransferredviaatleastonesharedsignallineorprocessedbyacomponentwhichalsohandlessignalsfrommultipledevices.Thevarioussignalsourcesmustcompeteinanenvironmentwherebandwidthisapreciouscommodity.

Consequently,sustainingcommunicationofatimevaryingsignaloverthesharedsignalline（s）toaprocessingsystemoftenrequiresacompromisebetweenbandwidthsharingandsignalquality.Thatis,eitherthepeaksignalqualitysuffersinordertopreserveadequatebandwidthforotherdevices,orthetimevaryingsignalundulymonopolizestheavailablebandwidth.

Oneinstancewherethisproblemarisesisintransferringacontinuousnaturaldatatype（i.e.motionvideoand/oraudio）overabusinacomputersystem.Transferringmotionvideofromavideoperipheraldevicetoasystemmemoryrequiresperiodicaccesstothebuswhichcouplesthememorytotheperipheral.Dependingonthedesiredqualitylevelofthemotionvideo,asubstantialportionofthetotalbusbandwidthmaybeconsumedbythevideotransfer.Attimes,thismotionvideotransfercanhaveadeleteriouseffectontheperformanceofotherdeviceswhichseekaccesstothebus.Atothertimes,aportionoftheavailablebusbandwidthmayremainunused.

Insomepriorartsystems,otherdevicesmustsimplywaitforaccesstothebus,relyingontheuserorthesystemdesignertoconsiderwhetherthesystemcanadequatelyaccommodateallbusaccesses.Ifthebusisover-utilized,andtheotherdeviceshavelimitedbufferingcapabilitiesorrequirerealtimeaccess,datamaybelost.Evenifthereisnodataloss,busover-utilizationmaycausenoticeablyincreasedlatenciesforbustransactionssuchasinputdeviceresponseornetworkaccess.

Somepriorartprotocols,throughtheuseofinterruptsignalsorotherurgentbusrequestsignals,allowadevicetoquicklyseizebusdominationfromamonopolisticbusagentsuchasavideoperipheral.Theseinterruptions,however,oftenhavenoparticularknownlatencyorbandwidth.Thus,thevideoperipheraldoesnotrespondbyadjustingthebandwidthitseekstoobtain.Asaresult,thevideotransfermaybeabruptlyalteredandthevideoqualitydegradedtoanunacceptablelevel.

Otherpriorartbusprotocolsprovideaguaranteedbandwidthdedicatedtoacertaindevice.Oneexampleistheisochronoustransfermodeoftheuniversalserialbus（USB）,discussedintheUniversalSerialBusSpecificationRevision1.0,Jan.16,1996,availablefromIntelCorporationofSantaClara,Calif.TheUSBprotocolsalsoprovideabulktransfermodewhichfillsinunusedbandwidthbutdoesnotguaranteeanyparticulardatatransferrate.Unfortunately,thebulktransfermodecannotguaranteeaminimumdatathroughput,andtheisochronoustransfermodeprovidesonlyafixedbandwidthregardlessofbusutilization.

Thus,priorsignaltransfertechniquestendtomonopolizethebus,sacrificepeakquality,orfailtoguaranteeaminimumqualitysignaltransfer.Thesepriorartsystemsdonotadequatelyaddresstheneedtoobtainthebestpossiblesignalqualityoversignallineswithfluctuatingloadsbecausetheydonottransfersignalsataguaranteedminimumqualitylevelenhancedbyqualityimprovementtransfersasbandwidthavailabilitypermits.

SUMMARY

Amethodandapparatusfortransferringdatarepresentingacontinuousnaturaldatatypeoveratleastonesignallineisdescribed.Inaccordancewiththedescribedmethod,signaldatapacketsrepresentingthecontinuousnaturaldatatypearerequested.Enhancementdatapacketsprovidinganimprovedqualitylevelarealsorequested.Afterthereceiptofapluralityofsignalpacketsrepresentingadiscretesegmentofthecontinuousnaturaldatatypeisdetected,thepluralityofsignaldatapacketsandapluralityofenhancementdatapacketsarecombinedtoreconstructareceivedversionofthecontinuousnaturaldatatype.

Asystemofthepresentinventionincludesaprocessorcoupledtoacontrollerbyaprocessorbus.Asignalsourcecoupledtothecontrollerprovidesdigitalvaluesrepresentingatimevaryingsignal.Amemorycoupledtotheprocessorandthecontrollercontainsadatarequestroutineforrequestingdatafromfixedandvariablebandwidthchannelsandareceivingroutineforreceivingsignalpacketsfromthefixedbandwidthchannelandenhancementpacketsfromthevariablebandwidthchannel.Thememoryalsocontainsareconstructionroutineforcombiningthesignalpacketsandtheenhancementpacketstoformareconstructedsignal.

BRIEFDESCRIPTIONOFTHEFIGURES

Thepresentinventionisillustratedbywayofexampleandnotlimitationinthefiguresoftheaccompanyingdrawings.

FIG.1isaflowchartillustratingonemethodofthepresentinvention.

FIG.2illustratesasystemwhichperformsvideoprocessingaccordingtothepresentinvention.

FIG.3isaflowchartillustratingonemethodofthepresentinventionusedforvideoprocessinginthesystemofFIG.2.

DETAILEDDESCRIPTION

Thepresentinventionprovidesamethodandapparatusformaintainingaminimumlevelofdataqualitywhileallowingbandwidth-dependentqualityenhancement.Inthefollowingdescription,numerousspecificdetailssuchasparticularsignallines,signaltypes,busprotocols,andbushardwarearrangementsaresetforthinordertoprovideamorethoroughunderstandingofthepresentinvention.Itwillbeappreciated,however,byoneskilledintheartthattheinventionmaybepracticedwithoutsuchspecificdetails.Inotherinstances,specificlinesofcodehavenotbeenshownindetailinordernottoobscuretheinvention.Thoseofordinaryskillintheart,withtheincludedfunctionaldescriptions,willbeabletoimplementthenecessarycodewithoutundueexperimentation.

Thepresentinventiondeliversthebenefitsofbothassuredminimumqualityandbandwidth-dependentenhancements.Inaccordancewiththepresentinvention,adigitalrepresentationofacontinuousnaturaldatatypemaybetransferredoverasharedsignallineorbus.Thetransferonlyreservesaportionofthetotalavailablebandwidthonthebus,thusleavingsufficientbandwidthforotherdevicestogainmeaningfulaccess.Thetransferalsotakesadvantageofotherwiseidlebandwidthwhenotherdevicesaredormant.

FIG.1illustratesonemethodofthepresentinvention.Aportionofbandwidthnecessarytomaintainaminimumqualitysignalisreservedinstep105.Thisbandwidthmaybereservedonanycommunicationline,suchasabusornetworkcommunicationchannelaslongasthecommunicationlineprotocolsallowacertainamountofbandwidthtobereservedforaperiodoftime.

Forusewiththepresentinvention,adigitalrepresentationforasignalincludessignaldatarepresentingtheminimumqualitysignalandenhancementdatawhichprovidesincrementalimprovementstotheminimumqualitysignal.Theappropriatedatapartitioncanbeperformedusingtechniqueswellknownintheart.Forexample,avideoimagemaybepartitionedbysub-samplingsuchthatthecoarselevelsignaldataisafractionofthetotalpixelsrepresentingtheimage,andenhancementdatasystematicallyfillsinmissingpiecesasavailablebandwidthpermits.Alternately,anyothertechniquewhichallowsacoarserepresentationofasignaltobeenhancedwhenadditionaldatacanbetransmittedmaybeused.

Regardlessofthechosenpartitioning,theminimumqualitysignaldataisrequestedinstep110.Afterthesignaldataisreceivedinstep115,enhancementdataforqualityimprovementisthenrequestedinstep120.Preferably,enoughenhancementdataisrequestedtofillanyotherwiseunusedbandwidth,thusassuringthehighestqualitysignalforthegivensignalrepresentation.Consequently,thesizeoftheportionofenhancementdatareceivedinstep125ultimatelydependsonotherdeviceswhichsharethecommunicationchanneloverwhichthedataisbeingtransmitted.

Inoneembodiment,asegmentofdataistransmittedinaseriesoftransferframeswhichincludebothsignalandenhancementdata.Inthisembodiment,steps110-125arerepeateduntiltheendofthesegmentisdetectedinstep130.Thus,asawhole,thesignalandenhancementdataforthesegmentarereceivedinaparalleltransfercomprisingalternatingsequentialtransfers.Alternately,therequestingandreceivingstepsmayberearrangedaccordingtotheprotocolsofaparticularsignalingsystem.Forexample,insomesystems,bothdatasetsmaybothberequestedbeforeanydataisreceived.

Whentheendofasegmentisdetectedinstep130,allofthesignaldatahasbeenreceived,andatleasttheminimumqualityimagecanbereconstructed.Sincetheminimumqualityimagedata（thesignaldata）istransmittedataconstantbandwidth,theendofthesegmentcanbedetectedbyatimeroradataortransferframecountingmechanism.Alternately,theendofthedatasegmentcoul