Importance

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Abstract

The system and method of the present invention provides a structure and method for implementing a configurable and scalable A/V system that enables a user to perform processes across one or more A/V processing devices coupled together via a network. In one embodiment, a plurality of configurable A/V systems are coupled via a network. At least two of the A/V systems include digital signal processors (DSPs) that. are programmable. The A/V systems also include other resources, such as data storage, synchronizers, analog to digital converters, digital to analog converters, etc., to support the variety of audio/video processing to be performed. In one embodiment, the user inputs at least one task to performed. The task is broken down into basic processing components or primitives. These primitives are defined in a processor descriptor block maintained by the system. The processor descriptor block indicates the processing requirements and distributability of the process across the network. For example, in one embodiment, the processor descriptor block identifies the number of cycles necessary to perform the process, any resource dependencies, and whether the process can be performed across multiple networked systems. A control process therefore references the process descriptor block and determines the bandwidth and resource requirements. The bandwidth and resource requirements are then compared to the device and system configurations and allocations to determine if the primitive can be performed using available bandwidth and resources in the device and devices coupled via the network.

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First Claim