Adaptive transmission system

• US 7,047,029 B1
• Filed: 09/10/2001
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Godwin, John P., Williams, Jim C., Loner, Patrick J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US09/950,511
• Time in Patent Office: 1,709 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.01, 455/3.02, 455/8, 455/9, 455/10, 455/11.1, 455/12.1, 455/13.4, 455427-430, 455/450, 455/452.1, 455/452.2, 455/501, 455504-506, 455/522, 455 631- 634, 455/67.13, 455/67.14, 342352-355, 342 26 A- 26 D, 342/26.R, 370/318, 725/63, 725/67, 725/68
• US Class Current: 455/505
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0017 where the mode-switching is based on Quality of Service requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/24 using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters

Abstract

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a computer memory structure adaptively controlling a transmission signal from a satellite to at least one terrestrial receiver in a terrestrial region is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving information describing a deleterious time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal to the terrestrial region; generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic which mitigates the undesirable aspects of the time-varying propagation characteristic; and transmitting the generated transmission signal from the satellite to the terrestrial receiver. The article of manufacture comprises a controller device tangibly embodying instructions to perform the method steps described above. The apparatus comprises a receiver for receiving information describing a time-varying signal propagation characteristic of the signal to the terrestrial region; a signal generator for adaptively generating a transmission signal having a transmission characteristic mitigating the propagation characteristic; and a transmitter for transmitting the generated transmission signal.

Claims

1. A method of adaptively controlling a transmission signal for transmission to at least one receiver in a terrestrial region, comprising the steps of:

receiving information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal in the terrestrial region;

generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic according to the time-varying propagation characteristic, comprising the steps of accepting a first information portion characterizable by a first priority and a second information portion characterizable by a second priority and selecting information from the first information portion and the second information portion according to the first priority and the second priority and the time-varying propagation characteristic; and

transmitting the generated transmission signal having the selected information to the receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic is derived from information independent of the transmitted signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic is received from an information source independent of the transmitter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of repeatedly receiving updated information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic and modifying the transmission signal in accordance with the updated information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal includes a predicted time-varying propagation characteristic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises the step of generating a predicted time-varying propagation characteristic from the received information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic; and

the step of generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic according to the time-varying propagation characteristic comprises the step of generating the transmission signal according to the predicted time-varying propagation characteristic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal to the terrestrial region comprises the step of receiving information regarding measured precipitation in the terrestrial region.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information regarding measured precipitation comprises rain intensity information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the rain intensity information is derived from radar measurements.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information portion comprises real-time program information and the second information portion comprises non real-time program information, and the step of selecting information from the first information portion and the second information portion according to the first priority and the second priority and the time-varying propagation characteristic comprises the steps of:

selecting teal-time information at a higher priority than the non-real time information.

11. An apparatus for transmitting an adaptively controlled signal to at least one receiver in a terrestrial region, comprising:

a receiver for receiving information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the signal in the terrestrial region;

a signal generator for adaptively generating a transmission signal having a transmission characteristic according to the propagation characteristic; and

a transmitter for transmitting the generated transmission signal to the receiver;

wherein the transmission signal includes a first information portion characterizable by a first priority and a second information portion characterizable by a second priority, and the signal generator includes a module for selecting information from the first information portion and the second information portion according to the first priority and the second priority and the time-varying propagation characteristic.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic is derived from information independent of the transmitted signal.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information describing the time-varying propagation characteristic is received from an information source independent of the transmitter.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the information comprises a measured precipitation in the terrestrial region.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the measured precipitation comprises rain intensity information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the rain intensity information is derived from radar measurements.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the signal generator module selects the real-time information at a higher priority than the non-real time information.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the signal generator is disposed at an uplink station; and

the transmitter comprises a frequency-translation communications repeater.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the signal generator is disposed in a communications repeater, and the signal generator comprises at least one power amplifier having a gain controllable via a command communications link from an uplink station.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the signal generator is disposed in a communications repeater, and the signal generator comprises at least one attenuator having an attenuation characteristic controllable via a command communications link from an uplink station.

21. An apparatus for adaptively controlling a transmission signal for transmission to at least one receiver in a terrestrial region, comprising:

means for receiving information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal in the terrestrial region;

means for generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic according to the time-varying propagation characteristic, the means for generating comprising means for accepting a first information portion characterizable by a first priority and a second information portion characterizable by a second priority; and

means for selecting information from the first information portion and the second information portion according to the first priority and the second priority and the time-varying propagation characteristic; and

means for transmitting the generated transmission signal having the selected information from the satellite to the terrestrial receiver.

22. A program storage device, readable by a computer, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of adaptively controlling a transmission signal for transmission to at least one receiver in a terrestrial region, the method steps comprising the steps of:

receiving information describing a time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal in the terrestrial region;

generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic according to the time-varying propagation characteristic, comprising the steps of

accepting a first information portion characterizable by a first priority and a second information portion characterizable by a second priority, and

selecting information from the first information portion and the second information portion according to the first priority and the second priority and the time-varying propagation characteristic; and

transmitting the generated transmission signal having the selected information to the receiver.