STREAMING AND BUFFERING USING VARIABLE FEC OVERHEAD AND PROTECTION PERIODS

• US 20070204196A1
• Filed: 02/13/2007
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digital Fountain Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Luby, Michael, Watson, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,136,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/751
• 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: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0083 Formatting with frames or packets; Protocol or part of protocol for error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal

Abstract

Data is streamed from a transmitter to a receiver, wherein streaming is transferring data with an assumption that the receiver will begin using the data before it is all transmitted and received and the streamed data includes forward error correction (“FEC”) and the rates of data consumption can vary. The transmitter has an input rate and a transmit rate and the two rates can be different and can change. At the receiver, there is a reception rate (at which the receiver receives data) and a consumption rate (at which the receiver uses up data for its output). The transmitter transmits using a transmit rate higher than the consumption rate and the extra bandwidth is usable for FEC protection and buffering. In some embodiments, the excess rate varies over a transmission period.

Claims

1. A communication system for streaming data, wherein data is streamed from a transmitter to a receiver such that the receiver can begin to use the streamed data before it is all received or transmitted, the transmitter comprising:

logic for encoding forward error correction (“

FEC”

) for the data to be transmitted, whereby a transmitted stream includes data and FEC information and the data is transmitted using a transmit rate that is greater than a consumption rate of the receiver.

2. A communication system for streaming data, wherein data is streamed from a transmitter to a receiver such that the receiver can begin to use the streamed data before it is all received or transmitted, the transmitter comprising:

logic for encoding forward error correction (“

FEC”

) for the data to be transmitted, whereby a transmitted stream includes data and FEC information;

logic for timing transmission such that, at least for part of the transmission, the input rate of the transmitter is greater than a consumption rate of the receiver; and

logic to vary the amount of FEC and/or input rate excess over the time of streaming transmission.