Methods and apparatus for fragmenting system information messages in wireless networks

• US 20070104220A1
• Filed: 11/08/2005
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Charlebois, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,533,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26283 for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for sending system information (SI) associated with media directed to a device are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of fragmenting system information into a plurality of fragments, and transporting the fragments to a device. I another embodiment, a method for receiving system information associated with media directed to a device includes receiving system information fragments, and reassembling the fragments to recover the system information.

Claims

1. A method for sending system information messages expressed in a first language representation, associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

fragmenting at least one system information (SI) message into a plurality of fragments within the first language representation, wherein each fragment carries at least one root attribute of the SI message; and

transporting the fragments to a device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising encoding at least one fragment into a second language representation.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising fragmenting at least one of the fragments within the second language representation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said encoding comprises encoding the fragments from XML representation into binary representation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said fragmenting comprises fragmenting the system information if the system information has a larger size than a predetermined limit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined limit is determined based on at least one physical characteristic of the device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the physical characteristic comprises available memory on the device.

8. A method for receiving system information associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

receiving system information (SI) fragments, the fragments carrying at least one attribute of a parent SI message expressed in a first language representation; and

reassembling the fragments to recover the parent SI message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein if the fragments comprise fragments expressed in a second language representation, said reassembling comprises reassembling the fragments within the second language representation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein if the fragments comprise fragments encoded within the second language representation, further comprising decoding the fragments to the first language representation.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing each fragment on the device, wherein each fragment is sized suitably for the memory on the device.

12. An apparatus for sending system information messages expressed in a first language representation, associated with media directed to a device, comprising:

means for fragmenting at least one system information (SI) message into a plurality of fragments within the first language representation, wherein each fragment carries at least one root attribute of the SI message; and

means for transporting the fragments to a device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising means for encoding at least one fragments into a second language representation.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising means for fragmenting at least one of the fragments within the second language representation.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said means for encoding comprises means for encoding the fragments from XML representation into binary representation.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said means for fragmenting comprises means for fragmenting the system information if the system information has a larger size than a predetermined limit.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the predetermined limit is determined based on at least one physical characteristic of the device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the physical characteristic comprises available memory on the device.

19. An apparatus for receiving system information associated with media directed to a device, comprising:

means for receiving system information (SI) fragments, the fragments carrying at least one attribute of a parent SI message expressed in a first language representation; and

means for reassembling the fragments to recover the parent SI message.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said means for reassembling comprises means for reassembling the fragments within a second language representation if the fragments comprise fragments expressed in the second language representation.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for decoding the fragments to the first language representation if the fragments comprise fragments encoded within the second language representation.

22. A processor configured to perform a method for sending system information messages expressed in a first language representation, associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

fragmenting at least one system information (SI) message into a plurality of fragments within the first language representation, wherein each fragment carries at least one root attribute of the SI message; and

transporting the fragments to a device.

23. A processor configured to perform a method for receiving system information associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

receiving system information (SI) fragments, the fragments carrying at least one attribute of a parent SI message expressed in a first language representation; and

reassembling the fragments to recover the parent SI message.

24. A program resident in a machine-readable medium that, when executed, directs a machine to perform a method for sending system information messages expressed in a first language representation, associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

fragmenting at least one system information (SI) message into a plurality of fragments within the first language representation, wherein each fragment carries at least one root attribute of the SI message; and

transporting the fragments to a device.

25. A program resident in a machine-readable medium that, when executed, directs a machine to perform a method for receiving system information associated with media directed to a device, the method comprising:

receiving system information (SI) fragments, the fragments carrying at least one attribute of a parent SI message expressed in a first language representation; and

reassembling the fragments to recover the parent SI message.