Silicon Image Patent Grants

Integrated connector/flex cable

Granted: December 30, 2014
Patent Number: 8920188
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for providing a connection between a connector and a flex cable. In one embodiment, the connector scheme comprises: a flex ribbon having first and second sides, the first side being opposite the second site, where the flex ribbon has one or more traces on the first side and a ground plane on at least a portion of the second side; and a connector into which the flex ribbon is inserted to make an electrical connection thereto, where the connector…

Bi-directional digital interface for video and audio (DIVA)

Granted: December 9, 2014
Patent Number: 8908576
A communication system, comprising a first node, a second node, a serial communication link between the first node and the second node, configured to transmit digital video data from the first node to the second node over one or more video channels of the link. The communication system further including a hybrid link between the first node and the second node, wherein the first node and the second node are configured to transmit at least one stream of data to the other through a hybrid…

Method and system for improving serial port memory communication latency and reliability

Granted: November 18, 2014
Patent Number: 8892825
A method, apparatus and system for reducing memory latency is disclosed. In one embodiment, data between a host computer system and a memory is communicated via a port or a group of ports at the memory over multiple time intervals, wherein the host computer is coupled to the memory. Further, a command associated with the data is communicated between the host computer system and the memory via the port or the group of ports over a single time interval.

Block noise detection and filtering

Granted: November 18, 2014
Patent Number: 8891897
Systems and methods for block noise detection and filtering are disclosed. One embodiment includes, computing difference magnitudes in pixel values for adjacent pixels in the image. The difference magnitudes can include horizontal difference magnitudes for horizontally adjacent pixels and vertical difference magnitudes for vertically adjacent pixels. One embodiment further includes using normalized sums of the difference magnitudes to determine a set of noise characteristics of the block…

Interfacing between integrated circuits with asymmetric voltage swing

Granted: November 11, 2014
Patent Number: 8885435
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to interfacing between integrated circuits with asymmetric voltage swing. An embodiment of an apparatus includes a first integrated circuit including a first transmitter and a first receiver; a second integrated circuit including a second transmitter and a second receiver; and an interface including communication channel linking the first transmitter with the second receiver and the first receiver with the second transmitter, wherein…

Mechanism for facilitating a configurable port-type peripheral component interconnect express/serial advanced technology attachment host controller architecture

Granted: October 28, 2014
Patent Number: 8874820
A mechanism for facilitating configuration of port-type Peripheral Component Interconnect Express/Serial Advanced Technology Attachment host controller architecture is described. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a plurality of PHYs to be used as Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) ports and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) ports, and logic to facilitate swapping of one or more of the plurality of PHYs between being the PCIe ports and the SATA ports.

Mechanism for memory reduction in picture-in-picture video generation

Granted: October 7, 2014
Patent Number: 8854548
A mechanism for memory reduction in picture-in-picture video generation is disclosed. A method of embodiments of the invention includes receiving, from a transmitting device, a plurality of video streams at a receiving device coupled to the transmitting device, wherein a first video stream of the plurality of video streams is designated to be displayed as a main video and one or more other video streams of the plurality of video streams are designated to be displayed as one or more sub…

Test solution for ring oscillators

Granted: September 23, 2014
Patent Number: 8841974
A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for testing of multiple ring oscillators. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises at least one ring oscillator structure having a ring oscillator having an inverter chain with an odd number of inverters connected back-to-back and operable to produce an oscillatory output, and a test structure coupled to provide either an observability chain input or a test input to the ring oscillator and to receive the oscillatory output as a feedback from…

Multi-site testing of computer memory devices and serial IO ports

Granted: September 16, 2014
Patent Number: 8839058
A method and apparatus for multi-site testing of computer memory devices. An embodiment of a method of testing computer memory devices includes coupling multiple memory devices, each memory device having a serializer output and a deserializer input, wherein the serializer output of a first memory device is coupled with a deserializer input of one or more of the memory devices of the plurality of memory devices. The method further includes producing test signal patterns using a test…

Mechanism for facilitating dynamic timestamp-less clock generation for transmitting media streams over shared channels

Granted: September 9, 2014
Patent Number: 8832338
A mechanism for facilitating dynamic timestamp-less clock generation for transmitting media streams over shared channels is described. In one embodiment, a method includes periodically counting and producing, at a first media device, a number of audio/video (“A/V”) samples, generating a pace clock based on the number of A/V samples, generating a target clock based on the pace clock, and transmitting an A/V media stream based on a frequency difference between a pace frequency relating…

Security mechanism for wireless video area networks

Granted: September 9, 2014
Patent Number: 8831225
A device is disclosed including a security module to generate and update cryptographic keys to establish a secure relationship between the device and one or more station devices in a wireless video area network (WVAN) and a domain manager to maintain a list of the station devices that are authorized to operate in the WVAN.

Discovery of electronic devices in a combined network

Granted: August 5, 2014
Patent Number: 8799443
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to discovery of electronic devices in a combined network. An embodiment of a method includes determining an identifier for a first device in a combined network according to a first network protocol, the combined network including a first network using the first network protocol and a second network using a second network protocol, where the identifier is determined based on a unique designation for the first device, and determining…

Detection of encryption utilizing error detection for received data

Granted: July 29, 2014
Patent Number: 8793723
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed detection of encryption utilizing error detection for received data. An embodiment of a method includes selecting a first port for foreground processing of a stream of data received at the first port, the stream of data including content data, and sampling a set of data received at a second port, the second port being not selected for foreground processing, the set of data including a data packet and error correction data. The method…

Method, apparatus and system for communicating sideband data with non-compressed video

Granted: July 22, 2014
Patent Number: 8786776
Techniques and mechanisms for communicating sideband information in a data frame including video data. In an embodiment, a data frame is exchanged between two device via a hardware interconnect which is compatible with physical layer requirements of an interface specification. The interface specification identifies a data frame format comprising a total of X consecutive horizontal lines of vertical blanking data and a total of Y consecutive horizontal lines of data including video data.…

Configurable multi-dimensional driver and receiver

Granted: June 24, 2014
Patent Number: 8760188
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a configurable multi-mode driver and receiver. An embodiment of a communication system includes a communication channel, and a first device and a second device coupled with the communication channel. The first device includes a driver apparatus to drive data signals on the communication channel, the driver apparatus including circuits to receive and drive the data signals, where the circuits are configurable for termination…

Transmission and detection of multi-channel signals in reduced channel format

Granted: June 17, 2014
Patent Number: 8755431
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to transmission and detection of multi-channel signals in reduced channel format. An embodiment of a method for transmitting data includes determining whether a first type or a second type of content data is to be transmitted, where the first type of content data is to be transmitted at a first multiple of a base frequency and the second type of data is to be transmitted at a second multiple of the base frequency. The method further…

Hybrid interface for serial and parallel communication

Granted: June 10, 2014
Patent Number: 8751709
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a hybrid interface for serial and parallel communication. An embodiment of a method includes initializing a first apparatus for transmission of data to or reception of data from a second apparatus, switching an interface for the first apparatus to a first mode for a parallel interface, the parallel interface including a first plurality of pins, and transmitting or receiving parallel data in the first mode via the first plurality of…

Single ended configurable multi-mode driver

Granted: May 20, 2014
Patent Number: 8729924
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a single-ended configurable multi-mode driver. An embodiment of an apparatus includes an input to receive an input signal, an output to transmit a driven signal generated from the input signal on a communication channel, a mechanism for independently configuring a termination resistance of the driver apparatus, and a mechanism for independently configuring a voltage swing of the driven signal without modifying a supply voltage for…

Mechanism for memory reduction in picture-in-picture video generation

Granted: April 15, 2014
Patent Number: 8698958
A mechanism for memory reduction in picture-in-picture video generation is disclosed. A method of embodiments of the invention includes receiving, from a transmitting device, a plurality of video streams at a receiving device coupled to the transmitting device, wherein a first video stream of the plurality of video streams is designated to be displayed as a main video and one or more other video streams of the plurality of video streams are designated to be displayed as one or more sub…

Delivering on screen display data to existing display devices

Granted: April 8, 2014
Patent Number: 8695034
A method and apparatus for delivering screen display data to existing display devices. Some embodiments of an apparatus include an interface to receive an input stream for a display device. The apparatus further includes a module to generate on screen display data for the display device. The apparatus includes a multiplexer, the multiplexer to multiplex the on screen display data into the input stream.