Patexia seeks prior art for US Patent 5,974,464 (US ‘464), which allegedly describes a method of extracting data and control output signals from a serial data link at a video receiver, while the serial data link transmits its data over multiple parallel channels or signal reception paths.

The method accomplishes this by having a video receiver connected to each of the incoming data channels (or signal reception paths) with each channel having an associated:

• data recovery module to convert a serial data stream to a DC balanced sequence of characters, with each character having the same number of bits
• decoder to convert the DC balanced sequence of characters to a set of output signals
• panel interface logic to convert the set of output signals to a plurality of output signals and a plurality of output control signals, and pass each output signal to be transmitted on its own dedicated output line

Figure 4. Block Diagram of the Video Receiver

Questions

1. Was the reference filed or published before October 6th, 1995? (True/False)
2. Does the reference describe a video receiver coupled to at least two signal reception paths in order to receive a serial data stream, and return data and control signals?
3. Do each of the signal reception paths have a dedicated data recovery module to convert the serial data stream into a DC balanced sequence of characters?
4. Do each of the characters generated by the data recovery module have  the same number of bits?
5. Do each of the signal reception paths also have a dedicated decoder to convert the DC balanced sequence of characters into a set of output signals?
6. Do each of the signal reception paths finally include panel interface logic to combine the set of output signals into a plurality of output data and a plurality of control signals, each transmitted on a separate output line?

Glossary

• A DC balanced waveform is a waveform signal without a DC component, is not grounded, and is useful in communication systems to avoid voltage imbalances between components.