Patent ID: 8098737

Claim:
A method to receive multiple independently encoded input channels and provide at least one video output said method comprising: independently locking the at least one video output to one of the encoded input channels wherein independently locking the at least one video output includes: providing first and second independent voltage controlled oscillators configured to generate respective first and second reference clocks for outputting video data from the at least one video output; providing first and second independent clock recovery circuits each configured to receive clock information from any one of the encoded input channels and to independently control at least one of the first and second independent voltage controlled oscillators; enabling the first clock recovery circuit to independently recover a first clock information from a first encoded input channel, the first recovered clock information being provided to the first independent voltage controlled oscillator for generating the first reference clock; enabling a second clock recovery circuit to independently recover a second clock information from a second encoded input channel, the second recovered clock information being provided to the second independent voltage controlled oscillator for generating the second reference clock; and decoding video data from the first and second encoded input channels independent of the first and second recovered clock information using a single instance of a multi-channel video decoder, the multi-channel video decoder being configured to decode at least one frame of video data from both the first encoded input channel and the second encoded input channel during a time it takes to display a single frame of video data at the at least one video output; and outputting the decoded video data for at least one of the first and second encoded input channels from the at least one video output based on at least one of the first and second reference clocks.