Signaling protocol for satellite direct radio broadcast system

US6201798A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• WorldSpace Management Corporation · US

Inventors

• S. Joseph Campanella · Gaithersburg, US
• Ernst Eberlein · Erlangen, DE
• Olivier Courseille · Ramonville-Saint-Agne, FR
• Stefan Meltzer · Erlangen, DE
• Etienne Dunas · Toulouse, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 9, 1998
• Grant date: Mar 13, 2001
• Expiry date: Jul 9, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04H2201/19
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A satellite direct radio broadcast system is provided which assembles bits of broadcast programs into prime rate increments, several of which are assembled into a frame. Frames are divided into symbols which are demultiplexed into alternating ones of a plurality of prime rate channels. The prime rate channels are demultiplexed onto a corresponding number of broadcast frequencies for transmission to a satellite. The satellite payload switches the symbols into time division multiplexed (TDM) data streams. The receivers process the TDM streams using service control headers (SCHs) provided therein by broadcast stations. The SCHs facilitate transmission of different service components within broadcast channel frames, association of a primary broadcast channel with one or more secondary broadcast channels on a frame-to-frame basis, and the transmission of multiframe bit streams, or auxiliary data throughout a broadcast channel that are independent of a service, in contiguous or non-contiguous frames.