Mobile reception of digital video broadcasting—terrestrial services

• US 9,281,847 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Stockhammer, Thomas, Gozalvez Serrano, David, Gmez-Barquero, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Chung, Phung M
• Application Number:
  US12/714,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20100223533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,202 Days
• Field of Search: 714/776, 714/751, 714/752, 714/712, 714/762, 714/786, 714/E11.032
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/373 with erasure correction and erasure determination, e.g. for packet loss recovery or setting of erasures for the decoding of Reed-Solomon codes
• 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 1/0043 Realisations of complexity reduction techniques, e.g. use of look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/009 arrangements specific to transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2383 Channel coding or modulation of digital bit-stream, e.g. QPSK modulation arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by adapting the channel coding H04L1/0009; analogue front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4382 Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation analog front ends or means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line H04L27/0002

Abstract

A method of protecting data with application layer forward error correction in a communication system, wherein the communication system includes first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer forward error correction, and the method includes: determining a duration period; assembling packets of source data into source blocks corresponding to the duration period, each source block comprising a number of packets of source data; encoding the source blocks to generate encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data; and transmitting the packets of repair data.

Claims

1. A method of protecting data, to be transmitted from a transmitter configured for outputting electronic signals, with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the method comprising;

determining a duration period;

assembling packets of source data into source blocks corresponding to the duration period, each source block comprising a number of packets of source data;

encoding the source blocks, using an encoder, to generate encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data forming application layer FEC data;

parsing the source blocks into a first set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators;

parsing the encoded blocks into a second set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators; and

transmitting the packets of repair data, using the transmitter, with elementary stream indicators, including indicators that an FEC-enabled receiver recognizes as an FEC stream and a legacy receiver recognizes as a stream to be ignored, thereby allowing for a transmission directed at both FEC-enabled receivers and legacy receivers to be handled such that operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source data comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising separating or partitioning the packets of source data from a data stream.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of packets of repair data of an encoded block is greater than the number of packets of source data of a source block.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining which packets of source data from a data stream to assemble into source blocks, wherein at least some of the packets of source data from the data stream are not assembled into source blocks.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a protection amount for the source blocks, wherein the source blocks are encoded based on the protection amount.

7. A method of receiving data, with a receiver configured for receiving and processing electronic signals, protected with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the method comprising;

receiving packets of repair data using the receiver;

if packets are received and determined to be associated with an elementary stream not handled by the receiver, skipping such packets;

if packets are received and determined to be associated with an elementary stream indicated as containing packets of repair data providing application layer FEC data and the receiver is configured as an FEC-enabled receiver, processing the packets determined to be FEC data;

parsing packets from an elementary stream when packets are determined to be associated with the elementary stream and the elementary stream is indicated as containing source blocks, to form encoded blocks;

if the receiver is configured as an FEC-enabled receiver, assembling the received packets of repair data into additional encoded blocks, each additional encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data;

decoding the encoded blocks using a decoder to generate source blocks, each source block corresponding to a predetermined duration period and comprising a number of packets of source data;

if the receiver is configured as an FEC-enabled receiver and not all source data is decoded, using the additional encoded blocks to generate additional source data; and

assembling the packets of source data, and the additional source data, if available, to reproduce a transmitted data stream.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the transmitted data stream comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising separating or partitioning the packets of repair data from a received data stream.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the encoded blocks are decoded based on a predetermined protection amount.

11. An apparatus configured to protect data with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the apparatus comprising;

a processor configured to determine a duration period, and assemble packets of source data into source blocks corresponding to the duration period, each source block comprising a number of packets of source data;

an encoder communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to encode the source blocks to generate encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of application layer FEC repair data;

a parser for parsing the source blocks into a first set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators and for parsing the encoded blocks into a second set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators; and

a transmitter communicatively coupled to the encoder and configured to transmit the packets of repair data, with elementary stream indicators, including indicators that an FEC enabled receiver recognizes as an FEC stream and a legacy receiver recognizes as a stream to be ignored, thereby allowing for a transmission directed at both FEC-enabled receivers and legacy receivers would be handled such that operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the source data comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to separate or partition the packets of source data from a data stream.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the number of packets of repair data of an encoded block is greater than the number of packets of source data of a source block.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to determine which packets of source data from a data stream to assemble into source blocks, wherein at least some of the packets of source data from the data stream are not assembled into source blocks.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein

the processor is further configured to determine a protection amount for the source blocks;

and

the encoder is configured to encode the source blocks based on the protection amount.

17. An apparatus configured to receive data protected with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including devices with legacy receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the apparatus comprising;

a receiver configured to receive packets of repair data, wherein packets are received with indications of an associated elementary stream, at least one elementary stream being associated with source packets to be processed by legacy receivers and FEC-enabled receivers and at least one elementary stream being indicated as an elementary stream processed by FEC-enabled receivers and skipped by legacy receivers, to carry the packets of repair data;

an assembly module communicatively coupled to the receiver and configured to assemble the received packets of repair data into encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data; and

a decoder communicatively coupled to the assembly module and configured to decode the encoded blocks to generate source blocks, each source block corresponding to a predetermined duration period and comprising a number of packets of source data, wherein

the assembly module is further configured to assemble the packets of source data to reproduce a transmitted data stream.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a processor communicatively coupled to the receiver and configured to determine that an identifier associated with the repair data corresponds with a desired service.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein

the receiver is configured to receive the packets of repair data as part of a received data stream comprising the packets of repair data, packets of source data of the desired service, and packets of data of other services;

and

the apparatus further comprises a de-multiplexer communicatively coupled to the receiver and configured to de-multiplex the packets of repair data and the packets of source data of the desired service from the received data stream.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transmitted data stream comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the decoder is configured to decode the encoded blocks based on a predetermined protection amount.

22. An apparatus configured to receive data protected with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the apparatus comprising;

a receiver configured to receive packets of source data of a desired service and packets of repair data for the desired service, wherein the repair data is application layer FEC data and the repair data is for correcting errors in the source data of the desired service, thereby protecting the source data with application layer FEC;

a processor communicatively coupled to the receiver and configured to determine that a first identifier associated with the source data corresponds with the desired service, determine that a second identifier associated with the repair data does not correspond with the desired service, and discard the packets of repair data; and

an assembly module communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to assemble the packets of source data to reproduce a transmitted data stream of the desired service.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the transmitted data stream comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

24. A non-transitory computer program product for protecting data with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the non-transitory computer program product comprising;

a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing non-transitory processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to;

determine a duration period;

assemble packets of source data into source blocks corresponding to the duration period, each source block comprising a number of packets of source data;

encode the source blocks to generate encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data;

parse the source blocks into a first set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators;

parse the encoded blocks into a second set of elementary streams comprising one or more elementary streams having associated elementary stream indicators; and

transmit the packets of repair data, with elementary stream indicators, including indicators that an FEC-enabled receiver recognizes as an FEC stream and a legacy receiver recognizes as a stream to be ignored, thereby allowing for a transmission directed at both FEC-enabled receivers and legacy receivers would be handled such that operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC.

25. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 24, wherein the source data comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

26. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 24, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium is further configured to cause the processor to separate or partition the packets of source data from a data stream.

27. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 24, wherein the number of packets of repair data of an encoded block is greater than the number of packets of source data of a source block.

28. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 24, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium is further configured to cause the processor to determine which packets of source data from a data stream to assemble into source blocks, wherein at least some of the packets of source data from the data stream are not assembled into source blocks.

29. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 24, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium is further configured to cause the processor to determine a protection amount for the source blocks, wherein the source blocks are encoded based on the protection amount.

30. A non-transitory computer program product for receiving data protected with application layer forward error correction (“

FEC”

) in a communication system, the communication system including first devices with legacy receivers and second devices with FEC-enabled receivers, wherein operation of the legacy receivers is not affected by the application layer FEC, the non-transitory computer program product comprising;

a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing non-transitory processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to;

receive packets of repair data, wherein packets are received with indications of an associated elementary stream, at least one elementary stream being associated with source packets to be processed by legacy receivers and FEC-enabled receivers and at least one elementary stream being indicated as an elementary stream processed by FEC-enabled receivers and skipped by legacy receivers, to carry the packets of repair data;

assemble the received packets of repair data into encoded blocks, each encoded block comprising a number of packets of repair data;

decode the encoded blocks to generate source blocks, each source block corresponding to a predetermined duration period and comprising a number of packets of source data; and

assemble the packets of source data to reproduce a transmitted data stream.

31. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 30, wherein the transmitted data stream comprises Digital Video Broadcasting—

Terrestrial data.

32. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 30, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium is further configured to cause the processor to separate or partition the packets of repair data from a received data stream.

33. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 30, wherein the encoded blocks are decoded based on a predetermined protection amount.