Patent ID: 8077741

Claim:
A multiplexing network system in which a plurality of media devices, including a master device, at least one source device, and at least one sink device, are interconnected through a digital transmission path, and digital information is multiplexed and synchronously transferred between the media devices, the system comprising: bandwidth management information stored in memory and accessible by the master device for providing an indication of a bandwidth of a data stream for each of the media devices; device-specific state management information stored in the memory and accessible by the master device for providing an indication of a type of data output or received by the media devices, and a control device in the master device configured to set compression rates of the data streams transferred between the media devices to be variable, based on the bandwidth management information and the device-specific state management information, by dividing a maximum bandwidth of the digital transmission path by a sum of bandwidths of the data streams for all media devices; wherein the at least one source device is configured to output video information to the digital transmission path, and during the output of the video information, the source device compresses and converts the video information in accordance with the compression rate set by the control device, and outputs the compressed and converted video information; wherein the at least one sink device is configured to receive the video information from the digital transmission path and display the video information on a screen, wherein the at least one sink device decompresses a compressed and converted video stream transferred from the source device through the digital transmission path, and displays the decompressed video stream on the screen; wherein the control device accesses the bandwidth management information and device-specific state management information during system startup, and when the control device determines that a selected at least one sink device is in a powered-off state, the control device performs control so that the compression rates of the data streams are relaxed with respect to the source devices corresponding to other sink devices in a powered-on state, and relatively large bandwidths are assigned thereto; and wherein when the control device determines that the selected at least one sink device has changed from a powered-on state to a powered-off state, the control device accesses the device-specific state management information and saves detailed operational state information corresponding to the at least one sink device.