Abstract:
A TV decoder. The decoder comprises a converter producing a plurality of first bits by sampling a base-band TV signal within a sampling period, and transmitting the first bits in groups, wherein the first bits in each one of the groups undergo parallel transmission through a plurality of first signals, and a demodulator receives the first bits and produces a plurality of second bits controlling the first signals, wherein the second bits are sequentially transmitted through a second signal input to the converter.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a TV decoder, particularly to a TV decoder having a demodulator disposed in a graphic card and separated from an ADC.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    [0004]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional TV decoder. A tuner  11  receives an RF-band TV signal RFTS and outputs a base-band TV signal BTS to a TV decoder chip  12 . The TV decoder chip  12  has an analog-to-digital converter(ADC)  111  receiving the signal RFTS and produces image data bits by sampling the signal RFTS, and a demodulator  112 . The image data bits are transmitted through signal DS to the demodulator  112 . The demodulator  112  also producing control data bits transmitted through signal CS to the ADC  111 . The signal CS carrying the control data bits controls a DC level and gain of the signal DS. Finally, the demodulator  112  produces a video signal VD to be processed by a graphic card  13 .  
           [0005]    In the previously described TV decoder  12 , the ADC  111  and demodulator  112  are disposed on the same chip so that the TV decoder chip  12  is an external device connected to the graphic card  13  by a feature connector (not shown) and the transmission of the bits carried by the signals DS and CS is simply parallel.  
           [0006]    However, it is costly to manufacture the TV decoder chip  12  having both of the ADC  111  and demodulator  112  since their manufacture processes are totally different. For the sake of cost, it is better to separate the demodulator  112  from the ADC  111 , put it into the graphic card  13  and connect the ADC  111  to the graphic card  13  by the feature connector. Unfortunately, a large number of pins are needed between the ADC  111  and graphic card  13  due to the simply parallel transmission of the bits carried by the signals DS and CS, which is not compatible with the pin number of the feature connector.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a TV decoder having the demodulator disposed in the graphic card and separated from the ADC. The number of pins for signal transmission between the ADC and demodulator is reduced to be compatible with the pin number of the feature connector.  
           [0008]    The present invention provides a TV decoder. The TV decoder comprises a converter producing a plurality of first bits by sampling a base-band TV signal within a sampling period, and transmitting the first bits in groups, wherein the first bits in each one of the groups undergo parallel transmission through a plurality of first signals, and a demodulator receives the first bits and produces a plurality of second bits controlling the first signals, wherein the second bits are sequentially transmitted through a second signal input to the converter.  
           [0009]    Thus, in the invention, the techniques of clock doubling, double triggering and time sharing make it possible for a large number of bits between the ADC and demodulator to be transmitted through a small number of pins of the feature connector. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    The following detailed description, given by way of example and not intended to limit the invention solely to the embodiments described herein, will best be understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional TV decoder.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a TV decoder according to one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the timing of the image data and clock signals transmitted between the ADC and demodulator of a TV decoder according to one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the timing of the control data signals transmitted between the ADC and demodulator of a TV decoder according to one embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a TV decoder according to one embodiment of the invention. A tuner  21  receives a RF-band TV signal RFTS and outputs a base-band TV signal BTS to a 10-bit ADC  22 . The ADC  22  receives the signal RFTS, and produces image data bits by sampling the signal RFTS at a sampling rate. The image data bits are transmitted through 5 image data signals DATA on 5 pins  0 ˜ 4  to a demodulator  231  in a graphic card  23 . The image data bits obtained within one sampling period are transmitted in groups and the bits in each one of the groups undergo parallel transmission through the 5 data signals DATA on the rising and falling edges of the clock signal CLK. That is to say, the ADC  22  transmits the groups of the image data bits at a data rate four times the sampling rate. Accompanied by the image data signals DATA, the ADC  22  also produces a clock signal CLK with a frequency of twice the sampling rate, a data selection signal DATASEL, and a constituent data selection signal CrSEL on pins  5 ,  6  and  7  respectively. They are also transmitted to the demodulator  231 . The demodulator  231  produces control data bits transmitted through control signals YCrUPDOWN and GainCbUPDOWN on pins  8  and  9  to the demodulator  231 . The control data bits carried by the signals YCrUPDOWN and GainCbUPDOWN control the DC level and gain of the image data signals DATA. In addition to the signals YCrUPDOWN and GainCbUPDOWN, the demodulator  231  also produces signals VDHCLK and VDCAD transmitted to the ADC  22  on pins  10  and  11 . The signals VDHCLK and VDCAD are used to set some programmable features of the ADC  22  such as the sampling rate. Finally, the demodulator  231  produces a video signal VD to be further processed by the graphic card  23 .  
         [0016]    There are three types of base-band TV signal BTS; composite TV signal, S TV signal comprising constituent signals Y and C, and component TV signal comprising constituent signals Y, Cr and Cb. The number of image data bits produced by the 10-bit ADC  22  within a sampling period depends on the type of the TV signal. For the composite TV signal, the number of image data bits produced within a sampling period is 10. For the S TV signal, the number is 20 wherein 10 bits are produced by sampling the constituent signal Y and the other 10 bits are produced by sampling the constituent signal C. For the component TV signal, the number is 30 wherein 10 bits are produced by sampling the constituent signal Y, another 10 bits are produced by sampling the constituent signal Cr and the other 10 bits are produced by sampling the constituent signal Cb.  
         [0017]    The timing of the signals DATA, DATASEL, CLK and CrSEL for the component TV signal will be explained in conjunction with FIG. 3.  
         [0018]    In the sampling period T1:  
         [0019]    Upon the falling edge F1 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 least bits Y1 L  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T1 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . Both of the signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a high logic level, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Y.  
         [0020]    Upon the rising edge R1 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 most significant bits Y1 M  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T1 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . Both of the signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a high logic level, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Y.  
         [0021]    Upon the falling edge F2 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 least bits Cr L  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T1 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . The signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a low and high logic level respectively, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Cr.  
         [0022]    Upon the rising edge R2 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 most significant bits Cr M  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T1 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . The signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a low and high logic level respectively, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Cr.  
         [0023]    In the sampling period T2:  
         [0024]    Upon the falling edge F3 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 least bits Y2 L  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T2 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . The signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a high and low logic level respectively, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Y.  
         [0025]    Upon the rising edge R3 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 most significant bits Y2 M  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T2 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . The signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a high and low logic level respectively, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Y.  
         [0026]    Upon the falling edge F4 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 least bits Cb L  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T2 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . Both of the signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a low logic level, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Cb.  
         [0027]    Upon the rising edge R4 of the clock signal CLK, the 5 DATA signals on the pins  0 ˜ 4  carrying the 5 most significant bits Cb M  of the image data bits produced in the sampling period T2 are transmitted to the demodulator  23 . Both of the signals DATASEL and CrSEL have a low logic level, which indicates that the bits carried by the DATA signals are those produced by sampling the constituent signal Cb.  
         [0028]    Thus, the image data bits obtained by sampling the base-band TV signal BTS in the continuously repeated sampling period T1 and T2 are transmitted to the demodulator  23  in the way described previously. It is noted that the bits produced by sampling the constituent signal Cr are transmitted alternatively with the bits produced by sampling the constituent signal Cb in the sampling period T2. That is to say, the video signal VD is a video signal of a 4:2:2 format.  
         [0029]    For the S TV signal, the timing of the signals DATA, DATASEL, CLK and CrSEL is the same as that for the component TV signal except that the signal CrSEL always has a high logic level, which indicates there is no bit produced by sampling the constituent signal Cb, and that the sampling period T2 is only used for the transmission of the bits produced by sampling the constituent signal C.  
         [0030]    For the composite TV signal, the timing of the signals DATA, DATASEL, CLK and CrSEL is the same as that for the component TV signal except that both signal CrSEL and DATASEL always have a high logic level, which indicates there are only bits produced by sampling the single composite signal, and no bit is transmitted in the sampling period T2.  
         [0031]    In this embodiment, the ADC  22  is a 10-bit ADC with the data rate four times the sampling rate and transmits at most 20 bits through 5 data signals within one sampling period. However, the numbers of the data signals and the bits transmitted within one sampling period are not limited to 5 and 20. They can be chosen to be any proper number as long as a ratio of the number of the bits to that of the data signals is equal to a ratio of the data rate to the sampling rate.  
         [0032]    The timing of the signals YCrUPDWN and GainCbUPDOWN for the component TV signal will be explained in conjunction with FIG. 4.  
         [0033]    The signal YCrUPDOWN carries bits of a start code and two alternately transmitted control data YUPDOWN and CrUPDOWN. The signal GainCbUPDOWN carries bits of a start code and two alternately transmitted control data GainUPDOWN and CbUPDOWN. The bits of the control data YUPDOWN, CbUPDOWN and CrUPDOWN are for DC restoration of the data signals DATA carrying the bits produced by sampling the constituent signal Y, Cb and Cr respectively. Each of the control data YUPDOWN, CbUPDOWN and CrUPDOWN has 8 bits wherein the first bit indicates the polarity of a adjustment value and the other 7 bits indicate the adjustment value. The control data GainUPDOWN also has 8 bits and controls the gain of the data signals. The gain rages from ½ to 2.  
         [0034]    For the S TV signal, the timing of the signals YCrUPDWN and GainCbUPDOWN is the same as that for the component TV signal except for there is no control data CbUPDOWN and the control data CrUPDOWN is used for the constituent signal C.  
         [0035]    For the composite TV signal, the timing of the signals YCrUPDWN and GainCbUPDOWN is the same as that for the component TV signal except there is no control data CbUPDOWN and CrUPDOWN, and the control data YUPDOWN is used for the single composite TV signal.  
         [0036]    Since the signals VDHCLK and VDCAD are simply transmitted through the two pins  10  and  11  respectively, no further explanation will be made for them.  
         [0037]    Consequently, in the invention, the techniques of clock doubling (making the frequency of the clock signal twice the sampling rate), double triggering (transmitting the data bits upon the falling and rising edges of the clock signal) and time sharing (alternately transmitting two control data through one control signal) make it possible for a large number of bits between the ADC and demodulator to be transmitted through only the 12 pins of the feature connector. The demodulator is separated from the ADC, put into the graphic card and connected to the ADC by the feature connector. This reduces the manufacture cost of the TV decoder.  
         [0038]    While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.