Patent attributes
Control apparatus to control operation of a data buffer to which data items are written according to a write pointer which advances in position in response to an input data item rate and from which data items are read according to a read pointer which advances in position in response to an output data item rate, comprises: a detector configured to detect an occupancy difference between a current buffer occupancy and a target buffer occupancy, in which the current buffer occupancy represents a difference between the read and write pointers; an output data item interpolator configured to interpolate a data item at an interpolated data buffer location displaced by a read offset displacement from a data buffer location pointed to by the read pointer; and output control circuitry configured, in response to a current occupancy difference exceeding a threshold occupancy difference, to change the read pointer from an initial read pointer to a target read pointer by a change amount so as to reduce the occupancy difference, the output control circuitry being configured to progressively vary the read offset displacement so as to define an interpolated data buffer location which progresses over the output of a transitional group of data items towards the location pointed to by the target read pointer; the output control circuitry being further configured, when the occupancy difference is less than the threshold occupancy difference and the interpolated data buffer location is aligned with the target read pointer, to inhibit operation of the output data item interpolator and to control output of an output data item from the data buffer location pointed to by the read pointer.
