Patents by Inventor Paul D. Nicholas

Paul D. Nicholas has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5757416
    Abstract: A multiplex frame format for transmitting digital data in a data transmission system comprises a PACKETS portion comprising a highly error-protected region and a region having only Reed Solomon encoding as an error protection measure, the PACKETS portion including low speed data. The frame format also comprises portions for transmitting medium (AUDIO) and high speed (VIDEO) data streams following the PACKETS portion. Prior to transmission, the composed frame comprising the PACKETS, AUDIO and VIDEO portions is interleaved and the BLOCK SYNC and FRAME SYNC are added. A multiplex structure control packet word of the PACKETS portion immediately follows FRAME SYNC. Thus, the FRAME SYNC word defines where interleaving begins. A demultiplexer in concert with a microcontroller of a decoder decodes the multiplex structure control word and related PACKETS and outputs digital data streams to related output peripheral processors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1998
    Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher H. Birch, Christian V. van Staden, Walter R. Brooks, Paul D. Nicholas, Steven S. Lawrence
  • Patent number: 5583562
    Abstract: A multiplex frame format for transmitting digital data in a data transmission system comprises a PACKETS portion comprising a highly error-protected region and a region having only Reed Solomon encoding as an error protection measure, the PACKETS portion including low speed data. The frame format also comprises portions for transmitting medium (AUDIO) and high speed (VIDEO) data streams following the PACKETS portion. Prior to transmission, the composed frame comprising the PACKETS, AUDIO and VIDEO portions is interleaved and the BLOCK SYNC and FRAME SYNC are added. A multiplex structure control packet word of the PACKETS portion immediately follows FRAME SYNC. Thus, the FRAME SYNC word defines where interleaving begins. A demultiplexer in concert with a microcontroller of a decoder decodes the multiplex structure control word and related PACKETS and outputs digital data streams to related output peripheral processors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1996
    Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher H. Birch, Christian V. Van Staden, Walter R. Brooks, Paul D. Nicholas, Steven S. Lawrence
  • Patent number: 5502499
    Abstract: A multiplex frame format for transmitting digital data in a data transmission system comprises a PACKETS portion comprising a highly error-protected region and a region having only Reed Solomon encoding as an error protection measure, the PACKETS portion including low speed data. The frame format also comprises portions for transmitting medium (AUDIO) and high speed (VIDEO) data streams following the PACKETS portion. Prior to transmission, the composed frame comprising the PACKETS, AUDIO and VIDEO portions is interleaved and the BLOCK SYNC and FRAME SYNC are added. A multiplex structure control packet word of the PACKETS portion immediately follows FRAME SYNC. Thus, the FRAME SYNC word defines where interleaving begins. A demultiplexer in concert with a microcontroller of a decoder decodes the multiplex structure control word and related PACKETS and outputs digital data streams to related output peripheral processors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 26, 1996
    Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher H. Birch, Christian V. van Staden, Walter R. Brooks, Paul D. Nicholas, Steven S. Lawrence
  • Patent number: 5420640
    Abstract: A receiver is provided for receiving a digital data stream over a communication path. The digital data is arranged as a sequence of frames, each frame including a plurality of lines of data. The beginning of each frame is indicated by a frame synchronization word; the beginning of each line is indicated by a horizontal synchronization byte. The data is interleaved by an encoder prior to transmission. The decoder contains circuitry for locating the horizontal and frame synchronization data and contains circuitry for deinterleaving the digital data. Both the synchronization locating circuitry and the deinterleaving circuitry require access to a memory, but not at the same time. Therefore, a single memory is used with the synchronization recovery circuitry and deinterleaving circuitry alternately addressing the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 30, 1995
    Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
    Inventors: Randy K. Munich, Tsai Lo, Paul D. Nicholas