Preamble for a digital television system

• US 9,414,110 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2008
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Citta, Richard W., Virag, David Emery, Canfield, Barth Alan, Lopresto, Scott Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Aghevli, Reza
• Application Number:
  US12/734,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20100296576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,856 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/005 Iterative decoding, including iteration between signal detection and decoding operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0055 MAP-decoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/006 Trellis-coded modulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0065 Serial concatenated codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0068 by puncturing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0226 sounding signals per se
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2365 Multiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2381 Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64315 DVB-H

Abstract

The present invention concerns a system for transmitting a plurality of modes of digital television signals within the same transmission channel where one transmission mode is more robust than another mode. The present invention also concerns a system for receiving and decoding such signals. More specifically, an aspect of the present invention involves a method and an apparatus for utilizing a proper length of preamble data for the improvement of reception. Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention involves a method and an apparatus for inserting a preamble into a proper place in a transmitted data stream relative to the filed synchronization data. Another aspect of the present invention involves a method and an apparatus for decoding trellis-coded data, using the predetermined preamble data.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a stream of video data packets; and

inserting a plurality of preamble packets into said stream of video data packets,

wherein said inserting is performed prior to an interleaving of video data contained within a resulting stream of data packets by convolutional interleaving,

wherein a length of said plurality of preamble packets in time is selected to correspond to a maximum delay of said convolutional interleaving,

wherein a number of said plurality of preamble packets before rate mode coding is 12, and

wherein said plurality of preamble packets are encoded with 12/52 rate mode to produce a preamble of two data blocks in length.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said convolutional interleaving is performed as part of an ATSC A/53 processing path.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said stream of data packets comprises MPEG packets.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of preamble packets comprise MPEG packets.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data contained in said plurality of preamble packets comprises pseudo noise generated based upon a polynomial equation.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of preamble packets comprise a header with a packet identifier that causes said plurality of preamble packets to be ignored by a legacy receiver.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said convolutional interleaving is performed by an ATSC A/52 convolutional byte interleaver.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said interleaving results in preamble data being spread over 104 segments of interleaved data.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a packet receiver operative to receive a stream of video data packets; and

a preamble packet inserter operative to insert a plurality of preamble packets into said stream of video data packets,

wherein said packet inserter performs packet insertion prior to processing by an interleaver that uses convolutional interleaving to interleave video data contained within a resulting stream of data packets,

wherein a length of said plurality of preamble packets in time inserted by said preamble packet inserter corresponds to a maximum delay introduced by said interleaver,

wherein a number of said plurality of preamble packets before rate mode coding is 12, and

wherein said plurality of preamble packets are encoded with 12/52 rate mode to produce a preamble of two data blocks in length.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said convolutional interleaving is performed as part of an ATSC A/53 processing path.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said stream of data packets comprises MPEG packets.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said plurality of preamble packets comprise MPEG packets.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the data contained in said plurality of preamble packets comprises pseudo noise generated based upon a polynomial equation.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said plurality of preamble packets comprise a header with a packet identifier that causes said plurality of preamble packets to be ignored by a legacy receiver.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said interleaver is an ATSC A/52 convolutional byte interleaver.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said interleaver spreads said preamble data over 104 segments of interleaved data.

17. An apparatus comprising:

first means for receiving a stream of video data packets; and

second means for inserting a plurality of preamble packets into said stream of video data packets,

wherein said second means is operative on said data stream prior to an operation by third means for interleaving video data contained within a resulting stream of data packets by convolutional interleaving,

wherein a length of said plurity of preamble packets in time is selected to correspond to a maximum delay of said convolutional interleaving,

wherein a number of said plurity of preamble packets before rate mode coding is 12, and

wherein said plurity of preamble packets are encoded with 12/52 rate mode to produce a preamble of two data blocks in length.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said convolutional interleaving is performed as part of an ATSC A/53 processing path.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said stream of data packets comprises MPEG packets.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said plurality of preamble packets comprise MPEG packets.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the data contained in said plurality of preamble packets comprises pseudo noise generated based upon a polynomial equation.

22. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said plurity of preamble packets comprise a header with a packet identifier that causes said plurity of preamble packets to be ignored by a legacy receiver.

23. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said packet interleaver is an ATSC A/52 convolutional byte interleaver.

24. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said packet interleaver spreads said preamble data over 104 segments of interleaved data.