Terrestrial Transmitting Station for Transmitting a Terrestrial Broadcast Signal, Satellite-Aided Broadcast System and Receiver for a Satellite-Aided Broadcast System

• US 20080200114A1
• Filed: 06/14/2006
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forsching E.V.
• Original Assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forsching E.V.
• Inventors: Breiling, Marco, Heuberger, Albert, Eberlein, Ernst, Lipp, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,369,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/1851 Systems using a satellite or space-based relay H04B7/18508, H04B7/18521 take precedence; providing specific services H04B7/18523 - H04B7/18576
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/06 among broadcast stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/42 Arrangements for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/90 specially adapted for satellite broadcast receiving

Abstract

A terrestrial transmitting station for sending out a terrestrial broadcast signal includes a first receiver for receiving a signal to obtain a satellite receive signal, a second receiver for receiving a local signal to obtain a local receive signal and a signal combiner for combining the first receive signal with the local receive signal to form a combination signal. The signal combiner is implemented to generate the combination signal so that the combination signal is formed according to a hierarchical modulation, wherein the first receive signal is contained in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation and wherein the local receive signal is contained in an overlay layer of the hierarchical modulation. A terrestrial transmitting station further includes a transmitter for sending out the combination signal. A broadcast system includes a first transmitter and at least one terrestrial transmitting station. The information emitted from the satellite-based broadcast system may be received using an associated receiver. An inventive broadcast system allows adding a local information to a supraregionally emitted transmit signal in a frequency-efficient way.

Claims

1-63. -63. (canceled)

64. A broadcast system, comprising:

a first terrestrial transmitting station for sending out a first terrestrial transmit signal, having an associated first receiver for receiving a first transmit signal to obtain a first receive signal, an associated second receiver for receiving a first local signal to obtain a local receive signal, a signal combiner for combining the first receive signal with the local receive signal to form a combination signal, wherein the signal combiner is implemented to generate the combination signal so that the combination signal is formed according to a hierarchical modulation, wherein the first receive signal is included in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation, and wherein the local receive signal is included in an overlay layer of the hierarchical modulation, and a transmitter for sending out the first combination signal as the first terrestrial transmit signal; and

a second terrestrial transmitting station for sending out a second terrestrial broadcast signal, having an associated first receiver for receiving the first transmit signal to obtain an associated receive signal, an associated second receiver for receiving a second local signal, to obtain an associated local receive signal, an associated signal combiner for combining the receive signal with the associated local receive signal to form an associated combination signal, wherein the signal combiner is implemented to generate the associated combination signal so that the associated combination signal is formed according to a hierarchical modulation, wherein the associated receive signal is included in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation, and wherein the associated local receive signal is included in an overlay layer of the hierarchical modulation, and an associated transmitter for sending out the associated combination signal as the second terrestrial transmit signal,

wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station and the second terrestrial transmitting station are implemented to receive different local signals, and wherein the first local signal is different from the second local signal;

wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station and the second terrestrial transmitting station are implemented so that the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station and the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station comprise an equal carrier frequency and an equal modulation type;

wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station and the second terrestrial transmitting station are further implemented or arranged so that an overlapping area exists in which the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station and the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station constructively overlap regarding the base layer of the hierarchical modulation;

wherein the carrier frequency of the combination signals emitted from the terrestrial transmitting station is equal to a carrier frequency of a second transmit signal which is a satellite signal and which is receivable in the overlapping area;

wherein the first transmit signal comprises a payload data content including a payload data content of the second transmit signal;

wherein an information included in the base layer of the signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station is equal to an information included in the base layer of the second transmit signal; and

wherein the base layer of the hierarchical modulation of the second transmit signal is equal to the base layer of the hierarchical modulation of the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station.

65. The broadcast system according to claim 64, further including a satellite and a satellite base station,

wherein the satellite base station is implemented to transmit a first base station signal to the satellite,

wherein the satellite is implemented to pass on the first base station signal as a first satellite signal as to form a second satellite signal which is delayed compared to the first satellite signal by a predetermined delay time;

wherein the first satellite signal forms the first transmit signal; and

wherein the second satellite signal forms the second transmit signal.

66. A broadcast system according to claim 64, further comprising a satellite base station which is implemented to send a first base station signal and a second base station signal to the satellite,

wherein the satellite is implemented to pass on the first base station signal as a first satellite signal and to pass on the second base station signal as a second satellite signal,

wherein the satellite base station and the satellite are implemented so that the first satellite signal comprises a payload data content which includes a payload data content of the second satellite signal, and that the second satellite signal is delayed compared to the first satellite signal by a predetermined delay time;

wherein the first satellite signal forms the first transmit signal; and

wherein the second satellite signal forms the second transmit signal.

67. The broadcast system according to claim 66, which is implemented so that the first satellite signal and the second satellite signal comprise the same payload data content.

68. The broadcast system according to claim 65, wherein the satellite is implemented so that the second satellite signal comprises a greater signal strength than the first satellite signal.

69. The broadcast system according to claim 64, wherein the first receiver of the first terrestrial transmitting station is implemented to receive the first satellite signal, and wherein the first receiver of the second terrestrial transmitting station is implemented to receive the first satellite signal.

70. The broadcast system according to claim 64, wherein the satellite base station and the satellite are implemented so that the second satellite signal includes an information only in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation.

71. The broadcast system according to claim 64, wherein the satellite ground station and the satellite are implemented so that an information included in the base layer of the signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station is equal to an information included in the base layer of the second satellite signal.

72. The broadcast system according to claim 64, further including a second satellite.

73. The broadcast system according to claim 64, wherein the modulation type of the combination signal emitted from the terrestrial transmitting station is equal to the modulation type of the second signal regarding the base layer of the hierarchical modulation.

74. A broadcast system, comprising:

a first transmitter which is implemented to emit a first transmit signal; and

a first terrestrial transmitting station for sending out a first terrestrial transmit signal, having a first receiver for receiving the first transmit signal to obtain a first receive signal, a second receiver for receiving a first local signal to obtain a local receive signal, a signal combiner for combining the first receive signal with the local receive signal to form a combination signal, wherein the signal combiner is implemented to generate the combination signal so that the combination signal is formed according to a hierarchical modulation, wherein the first receive signal is included in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation, and wherein the local receive signal is included in a overlay layer of the hierarchical modulation, and a transmitter for sending out the first combination signal as the first terrestrial transmit signal.

75. The broadcast system according to claim 74, further including a second terrestrial transmitting station for sending out a second terrestrial broadcast signal having an associated first receiver for receiving the satellite signal to obtain an associated satellite receive signal, an associated second receiver for receiving a second local signal to obtain an associated local receive signal, an associated signal combiner for combining the satellite receive signal with the associated local receive signal to form an associated combination signal, wherein the signal combiner is implemented to generate the associated combination signal so that the associated combination signal is formed according to an hierarchical modulation, wherein the associated satellite receive signal is included in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation and wherein the associated local receive signal is included in an overlay layer of the hierarchical modulation, and an associated transmitter for sending out the associated combination signal as the second terrestrial transmit signal,

wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station and the second terrestrial transmitting station are implemented to receive different local signals.

76. The broadcast system according to claim 74, further including a satellite base station which is implemented to send a first base station signal to the satellite,

wherein the satellite is implemented to pass on the first base station signal as a first satellite signal and to form a second satellite signal which is delayed compared to the first satellite signal by a predetermined delay time.

77. The broadcast system according to claim 74, further comprising a satellite base station which is implemented to send a first base station signal and a second base station signal to the satellite,

wherein the satellite is implemented to pass on the first base station signal as a first satellite signal and to pass on the second base station signal as a second satellite signal,

wherein the satellite base station and the satellite are implemented so that the first satellite signal comprises a payload data content which includes a payload data content of the second satellite signal, and that the second satellite signal is delayed compared to the first satellite signal by a predetermined delay time.

78. The broadcast system according to claim 77, which is implemented so that the first satellite signal and the second satellite signal comprise the same payload data content.

79. The broadcast system according to claim 76, wherein the satellite is implemented so that the second satellite signal comprises a greater signal strength than the first satellite signal.

80. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the first receiver of the first terrestrial transmitting station is implemented to receive the first satellite signal and wherein the first receiver of the second terrestrial transmitting station is implemented to receive the first satellite signal.

81. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station, the second terrestrial transmitting station and the satellite are implemented so that the second satellite signal, the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station and the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station comprise an equal carrier frequency and an equal modulation type.

82. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the satellite base station and the satellite are implemented so that the second satellite signal includes an information only in a base layer of the hierarchical modulation.

83. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the satellite ground station and the satellite are implemented so that an information included in the base layer of the signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station is equal to an information included in the base layer of the second satellite signal.

84. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the satellite-aided broadcast system is implemented so that the base layer of the hierarchical modulation of the second satellite signal is equal to the base layer of the hierarchical modulation and the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station.

85. The broadcast system according to claim 74, which is further implemented so that the base layer of the hierarchical modulation of the second satellite signal is equal to the base layer of the hierarchical modulation of the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station.

86. The broadcast system according to claim 74, further including a second satellite.

87. The broadcast system according to claim 74, wherein the carrier frequencies of the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station and the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station are equal,

wherein the first local signal is different from the second local signal, and

wherein the first terrestrial transmitting station and the second terrestrial transmitting station are further arranged so that an overlapping area exists in which the combination signal emitted from the first terrestrial transmitting station and the combination signal emitted from the second terrestrial transmitting station overlap.