Patent ID: 7581239
Filing Date: 2009-08-25
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: a drive server configured to present one or more compressed data streams; a control server separate from said drive server and configured to present a particular one of said one or more compressed data streams received from said drive server on a particular one of one or more busses as determined by a particular one of a plurality of request signals; one or more remote devices connected to said busses, at least one of said remote devices being disposed in a separate room from said control server and said drive server, each of said remote devices comprising a first decoder circuit and a control circuit, said first decoder circuit being configured to decode and decompress at least one of said one or more compressed data streams received from said control server to generate at least one of a decoded video signal and a decoded audio signal; one or more navigation software modules executable on said control server, each of said navigation software modules being configured to (i) generate one or more control signals that program a respective one of said first decoder circuits in response to one or more user options entered at said respective remote device and (ii) parse a respective one of said one or more compressed data streams; and a supplemental decoder coupled to at least one of said remote devices through a serial interface to receive at least an additional one of said compressed data streams through said serial interface, said supplemental decoder decoding and decompressing said additional compressed data stream, said supplemental decoder comprising (i) an additional decoder circuit and (ii) a state machine configured to control a plurality of read operations and a plurality of write operations sent to said additional decoder circuit.