Satellite receiving system with transmodulating outdoor unit

• US 20030220072A1
• Filed: 05/22/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Coffin, Louis F. III
• Granted Patent: US 7,010,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/90 specially adapted for satellite broadcast receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite

Abstract

A home satellite receiving system employs a transmodulating outdoor unit (ODU) that tunes to multiple signals, demodulates those signals into streams of data packets, and filters the streams of data packets to select data packets pertaining to viewer-specified programs. The ODU then constructs an integrated bitstream from the selected data packets and modulates that bitstream for transmission to an indoor IRD. This allows transfer of multiple programs from different satellite sources to the indoor IRD over a single coaxial cable. The indoor IRD reconstructs the packet stream timing for the viewer-specified programs from the integrated bitstream.

Claims

1. A home satellite receiving system comprising:

a satellite receiver to receive multiple signals from one or more satellites;

an intermediary unit to aggregate the multiple signals received by the satellite receiver into a single bitstream for transmission over a local connector; and

a decoding unit connected to receive the single bitstream from the local connector and to decode the single bitstream.

2. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 1, wherein the decoding unit comprises an integrated receiver/decoder (IRD).

3. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 1, wherein the decoding unit is configured to reside indoors and the intermediary unit is configured to reside outdoors and proximal to the satellite receiver.

4. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 1, wherein the local connector comprises a coaxial cable.

5. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 1, wherein the intermediary unit comprises multiple tuners.

6. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 1, wherein the intermediary unit comprises:

multiple demodulators to demodulate ones of the signals into associated streams of packets;

a data aggregator to construct the single bitstream from the streams of packets; and

a remodulator to modulate the single bitstream for transmission to the decoding unit.

7. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 6, wherein the intermediary unit further comprises a filter to remove unwanted packets prior to construction of the single bitstream.

8. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 6, wherein the intermediary unit further comprises a filter to filter packets based on program identifiers in the packets that associate the packets with programs.

9. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 6, wherein the intermediary unit further comprises a time stamp component to timestamp the packets used to construct the single bitstream.

10. A home satellite receiving system comprising:

a receiver to receive multiple satellite signals; and

an outdoor unit connected to the receiver to demodulate the satellite signals into multiple corresponding streams of data packets, the outdoor unit being configured to form a single bitstream containing the data packets from the multiple streams and modulate the single bitstream for transmission to an indoor device.

11. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 10, wherein the outdoor unit demodulates the satellite signals according to a first modulation technique and modulates the single bitstream according to a second modulation technique that is different than the first modulation technique.

12. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 10, wherein the outdoor unit comprises:

multiple tuners to tune to the signals; and

multiple demodulators, each demodulator being associated with a corresponding tuner to demodulate the signal received by the corresponding tuner.

13. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 10, wherein the outdoor unit facilitates selection of the data packets to be included in the single bitstream based upon a program identifier.

14. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 10, wherein the outdoor unit comprises a packet filter to selectively filter data packets from inclusion in the single bitstream.

15. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 10, wherein the outdoor unit timestamps the data packets included in the single bitstream with a local time that can be used by the indoor device to reconstruct timing of streams of the data packets.

16. A home satellite receiving system comprising:

a receiver to receive multiple satellite signals; and

an outdoor unit connected to the receiver to demodulate the satellite signals into multiple corresponding streams of data packets, the outdoor unit being configured to select data packets from respective streams based on program identifiers that associate the data packets with programs.

17. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 16, wherein the outdoor unit is configured to form a single data stream containing the selected data packets from the multiple streams and modulate the single data stream for transmission to an indoor device.

18. A home satellite receiving system as recited in claim 16, wherein the outdoor unit timestamps the selected data packet with a local time.

19. In a satellite receiving system, an outdoor unit comprising:

multiple tuners to tune to different satellite signals;

multiple demodulators, each demodulator being associated with a corresponding tuner to demodulate an associated signal received by the corresponding tuner into a stream of data packets;

multiple demultiplexers, each demultiplexer being associated with a corresponding demodulator to select a subset of data packets from an associated stream of data packets output by the corresponding demodulator;

multiple queues, each queue being associated with a corresponding demultiplexer to store the subset of data packets selected by the corresponding demultiplexer;

a multiplexer to aggregate the data packets held in the queues into a single data stream; and

a remodulator to modulate the single data stream for local transmission.

20. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 19, wherein the demodulators employ a first modulation technique and the remodulator employs a second modulation technique different from the first modulation technique.

21. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 19, wherein each stream of data packets contains data packets for one or more programs, the demultiplexers being configured to select the subset of data packets according to program identifiers contained in the data packets, each program identifier identifying a program to which the data packet belongs.

22. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 21, further comprising a processor to provide the program identifier to the demultiplexers in response to viewer selection of a program.

23. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 19, further comprising a processor to provide tuning control information to the tuners.

24. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 19, further comprising a switch to connect multiple satellite receiver connectors with the multiple tuners.

25. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 19, further comprising multiple time stamping units, each time stamping unit being associated with a corresponding demultiplexer to time stamp the subset of data packets selected by the corresponding demultiplexer.

26. A home satellite receiving system comprising:

a satellite receiver;

an indoor decoding unit; and

the outdoor unit as recited in claim 19 coupled to the satellite receiver and to the indoor decoding unit, the outdoor unit being connected to the indoor decoding unit via a single cable over which the single data stream is transmitted.

27. In a satellite receiving system, an outdoor unit comprising:

tuning means for tuning to multiple satellite signals;

demodulating means for demodulating the multiple satellite signals into corresponding bitstreams;

aggregating means for forming a single bitstream from the multiple bitstreams; and

modulating means for modulating the single bitstream for transmission.

28. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 27, wherein the demodulating means and the modulating means employ different modulation schemes.

29. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 27, further comprising storage means for storing the bitstreams independent of one another, the aggregating means integrating the bitstreams from the storage means to form the single bitstream.

30. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 27, further comprising means for selecting content from the bitstreams to be included in the single bitstream based upon whether the content pertains to one or more viewer-specified programs.

31. A home satellite receiving system comprising:

a satellite receiver;

an indoor decoding unit; and

the outdoor unit as recited in claim 27, coupled to the satellite receiver and to the indoor decoding unit, the outdoor unit being connected to the indoor decoding unit via a single cable over which the single bitstream is transmitted.

32. In a satellite receiving system, an outdoor unit comprising:

tuning means for tuning to multiple satellite signals;

demodulating means for demodulating the multiple satellite signals into corresponding streams of data packets, each stream of data packets containing data packets for one or more programs; and

selecting means for selecting a subset of data packets from the streams based upon which programs the data packets belong.

33. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 32, wherein each data packet has a program identifier to associate the data packet with a program, and the selecting comprises choosing the subset of data packets according to program identifiers in the data packets.

34. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 32, further comprising means for queuing the subset of data packets selected from the streams.

35. An outdoor unit as recited in claim 32, further comprising:

means for constructing a single data stream from the subset of data packets selected by the selecting means; and

modulating means for modulating the single data stream for transmission.

36. A method comprising:

tuning to multiple satellite signals;

demodulating the signals into respective streams of data packets;

aggregating the data packets from the respective streams into a single data stream; and

modulating the single data stream for local transmission.

37. A method as recited in claim 36, wherein the demodulating and the modulating utilize different modulation schemes.

38. A method as recited in claim 36, further comprising selecting ones of the data packets from the respective streams for inclusion in the single data stream based upon program identifiers contained in the data packets.

39. A method as recited in claim 36, further comprising transmitting the single data stream over a single coaxial cable.

40. In a satellite receiving system having a receiver, an outdoor unit, and an indoor unit, a method for operating the outdoor unit comprising:

tuning to multiple satellite signals;

demodulating the signals into respective streams of data packets, each stream of data packets containing data packets for one or more programs; and

selecting ones of the data packets from the streams according to which programs the data packets belong.

41. A method as recited in claim 40, further comprising:

forming a single data stream from the selected data packets;

modulating the single data stream; and

transmitting the single data stream to the indoor unit.

42. In a satellite receiving system having a receiver, an outdoor unit, and an indoor unit, a method for operating the outdoor unit comprising:

tuning to multiple satellite signals being received by the receiver;

demodulating the signals into respective streams of data packets;

selecting subsets of the data packets from the respective streams;

time-stamping the selected data packets with a local timestamp;

queuing the selected data packets in respective queues;

forming a single data stream from the selected data packets stored in the queues;

modulating the single data stream; and

transmitting the modulated single data stream to the indoor unit.

43. A method as recited in claim 42, wherein the demodulating and the modulating utilize different modulation schemes.

44. A method as recited in claim 42, wherein the selecting is based on program identifiers contained in the data packets.

45. A method as recited in claim 42, wherein the timestamps are used by the indoor unit to reconstruct timing of the multiple streams of data packets.

46. A method as recited in claim 42, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the data stream over a single coaxial cable.