Methods and apparatus to select tornado error correction parameters

• US 20070192663A1
• Filed: 02/10/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Liu, Charles, JiJina, Aspandyar, Hagberg, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 7,480,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/752
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/35 Unequal or adaptive error protection, e.g. by providing a different level of protection according to significance of source information or by adapting the coding according to the change of transmission channel characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/3761 using code combining, i.e. using combining of codeword portions which may have been transmitted separately, e.g. Digital Fountain codes, Raptor codes or Luby Transform [LT] codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/6508 Flexibility, adaptability, parametrability and configurability of the implementation

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to select Tornado forward error correction parameters for delivery systems are disclosed. A disclosed example system includes a transmitter station comprising a processor to select a Tornado error correction parameter based on an error correction configuration for a file and to indicate to a receiver the selected Tornado error correction parameter, and a Tornado error correction circuit to encode the file based on the selected Tornado error correction parameter.

Claims

1. A system comprising

a transmitter station comprising:

a processor to select a Tornado error correction parameter based on an error correction configuration for a file, and to indicate to a receiver the selected Tornado error correction parameter; and

a Tornado error correction circuit to encode the file based on the selected Tornado error correction parameter.

2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the error correction configuration is at least one of a business priority, a file size, a broadcast data rate, a file size inflation factor, a number of blocks per file, or an amount of overhead.

3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transmitter station transmits at least one of the Tornado error correction parameter or a value representative of the Tornado error correction parameter to a receiver station.

4. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter represents at least one of a selected Tornado error correction graph, a Tornado error correction node_block_size or a Tornado error correction data block size.

5. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transmitter station further comprises a memory to store a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the selected Tornado error correction parameter specifies one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

6. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the processor is to:

send a graph file to the receiver specifying a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs; and

select the Tornado error correction graph from the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein the graph file specifies one or more client identifiers that utilize the Tornado error correction graphs.

8. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transmitter station is a satellite broadcast transmitter.

9. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein the transmitter station further comprises:

a transport device to packetize and transmit the encoded file to the receiver;

a modulator to convert the encoded data to a modulated waveform; and

an uplink frequency converter to convert the modulated waveform to a frequency band suitable for transmission to at least one of a satellite or a satellite relay station.

10. A system as defined in claim 1, further comprising

a receiver station comprising:

a processing device to receive the Tornado error correction parameter; and

a Tornado error correction circuit to use the Tornado error correction parameter to decode a received version of the encoded file.

11. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the receiver station further comprises a memory to store a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter selects one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

12. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the processing device is to receive a graph file specifying one or more Tornado error correction graphs;

and update the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs based on the received file, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter selects one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

13. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the receiver station is a satellite broadcast receiver.

14. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein the receiver station further comprises:

a tuner to selectively receive a portion of a signal transmitted by at least one of a satellite or a satellite relay station; and

a demodulator to demodulate the received portion to a baseband signal.

15. A method comprising:

receiving a parameter representative of a desired error correction characteristic for a file;

selecting a Tornado error correction parameter based on the representative parameter;

encoding the file using the Tornado error correction parameter; and

transmitting the encoded file to a receiver.

16. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the desired error correction characteristic is at least one of a business priority, a file size, a broadcast data rate, a file size inflation factor, a number of blocks per file, or an amount of overhead.

17. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter represents at least one of a selected Tornado error correction graph or a node_block_size.

18. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising sending the Tornado error correction parameter to the receiver.

19. A method as defined in claim 18, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter is sent to the receiver in an announcement message that precedes in time the encoding of the data.

20. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein transmitting the encoded data to the receiver comprises:

segmenting the encoded file;

forming data frames from the segmented data;

packetizing the data frames; and

transmitting the packetized data frames to the receiver.

21. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising sending a graph file to the receiver specifying a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the Tornado error correction parameter selects one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

22. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein the graph file specifies one or more client identifiers that utilize the Tornado error correction graphs.

23. A method comprising:

receiving a parameter representative of a selected Tornado error correction graph;

receiving an encoded file; and

decoding the encoded file based on the selected Tornado error correction graph.

24. A method as defined in claim 23, wherein receiving the encode file comprises:

receiving packets;

combining a portion of data contained in the packets to create data frames; and

combining portions of the data frames to form the received encoded file.

25. A method as defined in claim 23, further comprising receiving an parameter representative of a node_block_size, wherein the decoding is also based on the additional parameter.

26. A method as defined in claim 23, further comprising maintaining a list of a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the representative parameter selects one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

27. A method as defined in claim 26, further comprising:

receiving a graph file specifying a second plurality of Tornado error correction graphs; and

updating the list based on the received graph file.

28. A method as defined in claim 26, wherein the list specifies one or more client identifiers that may utilize each of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

29. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

select a Tornado error correction graph based on a desired error correction characteristic;

indicate the selected Tornado error correction graph to a receiver;

encode a file using the selected Tornado error correction graph; and

transmit the encoded file to the receiver.

30. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 29, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to send a graph file to the receiver specifying a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the selected Tornado error correction graph is one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

31. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

receive a Tornado error correction graph selection;

receive an encoded file; and

decode the encoded file based on the selected Tornado error correction graph.

32. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 31, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

receive a graph file specifying one or more Tornado error correction graphs; and

update a list of a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs based on the received graph file, wherein the selected Tornado error correction graph is one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

33. An apparatus comprising:

a processor to receive a parameter indicative of a selected Tornado error correction graph;

a Tornado error correction circuit to decode received an encoded file based upon the selected Tornado error correction graph;

a memory to store a plurality of Tornado error correction graphs, wherein the selected Tornado error correction graph is one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

34. An apparatus as defined in claim 33, wherein the processor is to

receive a graph file specifying one or more Tornado error correction graphs;

and

update the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs based on the received graph file, wherein the selected Tornado error correction graph is one of the plurality of Tornado error correction graphs.

35. An apparatus as defined in claim 33, wherein the apparatus is a satellite broadcast receiver.

36. An apparatus as defined in claim 33, further comprising:

a tuner to selectively receive a portion of a signal transmitted by at least one of a satellite or a satellite relay station; and

a demodulator to demodulate the received portion to a baseband signal.