Methods and apparatus for efficient digital broadcast signaling in a wireless communications system
First Claim
1. A communications method comprising:
- operating a first base station transmitter to transmit program segments corresponding to a first program; and
operating a second base station transmitter, located adjacent said first base station transmitter, to transmit the same program segments of said first program as said first base station but with segments having the same information content being transmitted by said first and second base stations at different times.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
First and second transmitters transmit signals communicating the same information, e.g., program segment, but at different times. Different carriers may, but need not be, used by the different transmitters. If a wireless terminal can not recover broadcast segment information from one carrier, the wireless terminal can switch to another transmitter and recover the information, e.g., on another carrier, since the broadcasts are intentionally offset in time. In some embodiments, the timing is offset such that a single channel receiver is able to recover signals corresponding to the same program segment from two sources, and perform a decoding and information recovery using input from both sources, where recovery using input from a single source is not possible. Symbol level timing synchronization of base stations is not required thereby allowing for simpler implementations and/or lower overhead, as compared to systems which require base stations to be synchronized to the symbol timing level.
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Citations
69 Claims
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1. A communications method comprising:
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operating a first base station transmitter to transmit program segments corresponding to a first program; and
operating a second base station transmitter, located adjacent said first base station transmitter, to transmit the same program segments of said first program as said first base station but with segments having the same information content being transmitted by said first and second base stations at different times. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A communications system comprising:
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at least one set of stored program segments corresponding to a first program;
a first base station transmitter to transmit program segments corresponding to the first program;
a second base station transmitter, located adjacent said first base station transmitter, for transmitting at least some of the program segments of the first program transmitted by said first base station; and
a transmission time control module for controlling at least the second base station transmitter to transmit program segments at times which are different from the times at which program segments having the same information content are transmitted by said first base station transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A communications system, comprising:
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first base station transmitter means for transmitting program segments corresponding to a first program; and
second base station transmitter means, located adjacent said first base station transmitter, to transmit the same program segments of said first program as said first base station but with segments having the same information content being transmitted by said first and second base station transmitter means at different times. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A method operating a wireless terminal, comprising:
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receiving a first broadcast signal corresponding to a first program on a first carrier;
performing a first decoding operation on the first received broadcast signal;
determining if said first decoding operation was unsuccessful; and
if it is determined that said decoding operation was unsuccessful, tuning to a second carrier which is different from said first carrier. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A wireless terminal, comprising:
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a receiver for receiving broadcast signals transmitted on first and second carriers at different times;
a decoder coupled to said receiver for performing decoding operations on the received broadcast signals;
an decoding operation evaluation module for determining if decoding of a broadcast signal was unsuccessful; and
a control module for controlling said receiver to switch between said first and second carriers in response to said decoding operation evaluation module determining that a decoding operation was unsuccessful. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A wireless terminal, comprising:
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receiver means for receiving broadcast signals transmitted on first and second carriers at different times;
decoder means coupled to said receiver for performing decoding operations on the received broadcast signals;
decoding operation evaluation means for determining if decoding of a broadcast signal was unsuccessful; and
control means for controlling said receiver to switch between said first and second carriers in response to said decoding operation evaluation module determining that a decoding operation was unsuccessful. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
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45. A communications method comprising:
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operating a first base station to transmit information; and
operating a second base station, located adjacent said first base station, to transmit said information transmitted by said first base station, the information transmitted by said second base station being transmitted such that the same information is transmitted by said first and second base stations at different times. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A communications system comprising:
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a first base station including a first transmitter for transmitting information;
a second base station, located adjacent said first base station, including second transmitter for transmitting the same information transmitted by said first base station; and
a transmission time control module for controlling at least the second base transmitter to transmit the same information transmitted by said first base station transmitter but with a time difference from transmission by said first transmitter so that portions of said same information which have the same content are transmitted by said first and second transmitters at different times. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A computer readable medium embodying instructions for performing a method of operating a first base station transmitter and a second base station transmitter, the method comprising:
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operating the first base station transmitter to transmit program segments corresponding to a first program; and
operating the second base station transmitter, located adjacent said first base station transmitter, to transmit the same program segments of said first program as said first base station but with segments having the same information content being transmitted by said first and second base stations at different times. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A computer readable medium embodying instructions for performing a method of operating a wireless terminal, the method comprising:
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receiving a first broadcast signal corresponding to a first program on a first carrier;
performing a first decoding operation on the first received broadcast signal;
determining if said first decoding operation was unsuccessful; and
if it is determined that said decoding operation was unsuccessful, tuning to a second carrier which is different from said first carrier. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A computer readable medium embodying instructions for performing a method of operating a first base station transmitter and a second base station transmitter, the method comprising:
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operating the first base station to transmit information; and
operating the second base station, located adjacent said first base station, to transmit said information transmitted by said first base station, the information transmitted by said second base station being transmitted such that the same information is transmitted by said first and second base stations at different times. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification