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