Mechanism for imposing a consistent delay on information sets received from a variable rate information stream

摘要

A mechanism is disclosed for imposing a delay on a variable rate information stream. A stream of information sets is received, where the stream has a variable information rate that can change from time period to time period. In a first time period, information sets are stored into a first buffer. In a second time period, information sets are stored into a second buffer. Because of the variable information rate, the number of information sets stored into the first and second buffers may differ. After a delay period has elapsed since the beginning of the first time period, the information sets in the first buffer are outputted. After a delay period has elapsed since the beginning of the second time period, the information sets in the second buffer are outputted. In this manner, a consistent delay is imposed on the information sets regardless of the information rate of the stream.