what is a decoupler?

[pasau]

Hi, i have read most of the audio software design reference manuals, and most of the time, they come up with something called a decoupler. According to the USB audio software design guide, what the decoupler does is: "Manages delivery of audio packets between the endpoint buffer component and the audio components. It can also handle volume control processing."

I know this is a technical question, but it would really help me to understand what they mean by delivery. Can't the audio component simply read onto the buffer? Also, i have seen the use of a decoupler in an AVB design. Are they both the same thing? Personally, i think it has to do with queuing up samples into FiFo's but a more detailed explanation would be welcome. Thanks in advance!

[Berni]

Its just basically the read side of a FIFO. It grabs samples from the FIFO and sends them out a channel. It probably also does some interaction with the rest of the USB code. You proabobly could in theory get rid and interface to the FIFO directly if you really wanted to save 1 thread but its probably not worth it.

[infiniteimprobability]

Berni is correct.

I've put some more detail around this in your Q&A question

http://www.xcore.com/questions/2092/what-decoupler

[pasau]

thx a lot guys for nice answers