Satellite direct radio broadcast system
First Claim
1. A receiver for receiving a time domain multiplex downlink signal comprising a plurality of time division multiplex channels, the time division multiplex downlink signal having been generated from selected ones of a plurality of prime rate channels which are combined and multiplexed by a space segment, the space segment obtaining the prime rate channels from at least one uplink used to transmit information comprising prime rate channels from a number of broadcast stations, the receiver comprising:
- an antenna for receiving said downlink signal;
a demodulator for demodulating said downlink signal to recover a time division multiplex bit stream; and
a demultiplexer for demultiplexing said prime rate channels from said time division multiplex bit stream, said prime rate channels each comprising a control word indicating to which of a plurality of broadcast programs each said prime rate channel belongs, and for recombining said prime rate channels corresponding to a selected broadcast program using said control word in each of said prime rate channels corresponding to said broadcast program.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A satellite direct audio broadcast system includes a plurality of fixed-rate, uniform, frequency division multiple access ("FDMA") uplinks and a time division multiplexed ("TDM") downlink. Source audio channels may be divided among and transmitted through a selectable number of fixed-rate uplinks so as to have selectable audio quality at the receiver. Fixed-rate FDMA uplinks include information designating related channels as containing related source information. On-board the satellite baseband processing selects uplink information channels for inclusion into none, one or multiple TDM downlinks. Transmitted audio information may be scrambled, and authorization downloaded to receivers to permit descrambling for paid subscription service.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A receiver for receiving a time domain multiplex downlink signal comprising a plurality of time division multiplex channels, the time division multiplex downlink signal having been generated from selected ones of a plurality of prime rate channels which are combined and multiplexed by a space segment, the space segment obtaining the prime rate channels from at least one uplink used to transmit information comprising prime rate channels from a number of broadcast stations, the receiver comprising:
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an antenna for receiving said downlink signal; a demodulator for demodulating said downlink signal to recover a time division multiplex bit stream; and a demultiplexer for demultiplexing said prime rate channels from said time division multiplex bit stream, said prime rate channels each comprising a control word indicating to which of a plurality of broadcast programs each said prime rate channel belongs, and for recombining said prime rate channels corresponding to a selected broadcast program using said control word in each of said prime rate channels corresponding to said broadcast program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A receiver for receiving an encrypted, time domain multiplex downlink signal comprising a plurality of time division multiplex channels, the time division multiplex downlink signal having been generated from selected ones of a plurality of prime rate channels which are combined and multiplexed by a space segment, the space segment obtaining the prime rate channels from at least one uplink used to transmit information comprising prime rate channels from a number of broadcast stations, the receiver comprising:
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an antenna for receiving said downlink signal; a demodulator for demodulating said downlink signal to recover a time division multiplex bit stream; a demultiplexer for demultiplexing a plurality of prime rate channels from said time division multiplex bit stream, said prime rate channels each comprising a control word indicating to which of a plurality of broadcast programs each said prime rate channel belongs, and for recombining said prime rate channels corresponding to a selected broadcast program using said control word in each of said prime rate channels corresponding to said broadcast program; and a subscription service device operable to disable said receiver from descrambling said downlink signal until an authorization signal is provided to said receiver, and to enable said receiver to decrypt said downlink signal after said authorization signal is provided thereto. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of receiving a broadcast program at a receiver via a space segment, broadcast programs being transmitted as uniform rate channels in at least one uplink to the space segment, the space segment combining and multiplexing selected ones of the uniform rate channels into a time division multiplex downlink signal, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving the time division multiplex downlink signal from the space segment, the time division multiplex downlink signal comprising a plurality of the uniform rate channels corresponding to the broadcast program, each of the uniform rate channels having a control word indicating that the uniform rate channel is related to another uniform rate channel; demultiplexing the time division multiplex downlink signal to recover the uniform rate channels transmitted therein; and recombining the uniform rate channels corresponding to the broadcast program using the control word in each of said uniform rate channels corresponding to the broadcast program.
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14. A communication system for the broadcast and reception of programs comprising:
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a plurality of frequency division multiplex uplinks, each uplink including at least one information channel, the programs consisting of a variable number of uniform rate channels that are each characterized by a minimum signal rate, the information channel in each uplink comprising at least one uniform rate channel corresponding to a respective one of the programs, each uniform rate channel having a corresponding control word, the system being programmable to combine uniform rate channels corresponding to at least one program and located in different information channels into a digital signal group having a higher signal rate than the minimum signal rate and to provide the control word in each uniform rate channel in the digital signal group with at least one bit to indicate that the uniform rate channel belongs to the digital signal group; a space segment for receiving the uplinks, restoring data from the information channels to baseband data, and combining the baseband data from selected information channels into at least one time division multiplexed signal; and at least one time division multiplex downlink including the time division multiplexed signal; wherein each control word comprises data selected from the group consisting of data representing a number of related digital signal groups, data uniquely identifying the digital signal group to which a uniform rate channel associated with the control word belongs, data representing the number of the uniform rate channels in the corresponding digital signal group, data uniquely identifying the uniform rate channel corresponding to the control word, data representing a number of sub-ensembles constituting at least one digital signal group, data representing the number of uniform rate channels in a sub-ensemble, and data uniquely identifying a sub-ensemble.
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15. A communication system for the broadcast and reception of programs comprising:
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a plurality of frequency division multiplex uplinks, each uplink including at least one information channel, the programs consisting of a variable number of uniform rate channels that are each characterized by a minimum signal rate, the information channel in each uplink comprising at least one uniform rate channel corresponding to a respective one of the programs, each uniform rate channel having a corresponding control word, the system being programmable to combine uniform rate channels corresponding to at least one program and located in different information channels into a digital signal group having a higher signal rate than the minimum signal rate and to provide the control word in each uniform rate channel in the digital signal group with at least one bit to indicate that the uniform rate channel belongs to the digital signal group; a space segment for receiving the uplinks, restoring data from the information channels to baseband data, and combining the baseband data from selected information channels into at least one time division multiplexed signal; at least one time division multiplex downlink including the time division multiplexed signal; and a receiver configured to receive the time division multiplex downlink, to demultiplex the uniform rate channels transmitted in the time division multiplex downlink, and to recombine the selected information signals corresponding to the program using the control words.
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16. A method of broadcasting a program to at least one receiver via a space segment comprising the steps of:
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formatting a program into a plurality of uniform rate channels, each uniform rate channel having a corresponding control word indicating that the uniform rate channel is related to another uniform rate channel; modulating the uniform rate channels onto different ones of a plurality of frequency division uplinks; processing the uplinks via the space segment to recover the uniform rate channels as baseband data; routing the baseband data into selected time slots in at least one time division multiplex downlink signal; receiving the time division multiplex downlink signal from the space segment; demultiplexing the time division multiplex downlink signal to recover the uniform rate channels transmitted therein; and recombining the uniform rate channels corresponding to the program using the control word in each of the uniform rate channels corresponding to the program.
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Specification