Digital television transmission with error correction

Abstract

A multimedia stream system includes a transmitter and a multimedia data stream receiver. The transmitter at receives raw multimedia data and generates uniform error correction data and a standard multimedia data stream. The multimedia data stream receiver receives the standard multimedia data stream containing encoded multimedia data and the uniform error correction data for error correction of encoded multimedia data.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 receiving data representing multimedia, and responsively transmitting an encoded multimedia stream to a destination via a lossy medium;   prior to transmitting the encoded multimedia stream to the destination,
 using a processor to generate unequal error protection information, the unequal error protection information providing error protection for different parts of the multimedia differently, and 
 using the processor to generate information sufficient for a receiver to map the unequal protection information to the different parts of the multimedia conveyed by the encoded multimedia stream; and 
   including the unequal error protection information as part of an enhancement stream and transmitting the enhancement stream to the destination via the lossy medium.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the encoded multimedia stream includes packets representing encoded audio information and packets representing encoded video information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the encoded multimedia stream represents an MPEG-compliant encoding of the data. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving and responsively transmitting includes receiving raw video data and using an encoder to convert the raw video data to an MPEG-compliant format, to generate the encoded multimedia stream. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving data includes receiving an MPEG compliant stream. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein using a processor to generate unequal error protection information includes parsing a MPEG-standard stream to select a subset specific packets from that stream, and generating the unequal error protection information for data represented by the specific packets. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the encoded multimedia stream also includes error protection information that is uniform for the data representing the multimedia. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the encoded multimedia stream is an MPEG-compliant stream, and where the MPEG-compliant stream includes uniform error protection information representing the data, the uniform error protection information comprising parity information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein transmitting the respective streams includes transmitting packets of the enhancement stream in a different order than packets of the encoded multimedia stream. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein using the processor to generate information sufficient for a receiver to map the unequal protection information to the different parts of the multimedia conveyed by the encoded multimedia stream includes using the processor to generate a selection map, and including the selection map and the unequal error protection information in the enhancement stream. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising using the processor to generate error correction data for correcting the unequal error protection information, and including the error correction data for correcting the unequal error protection information in the enhancement stream. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein transmitting the encoded multimedia stream includes transmitting the encoded multimedia stream over a first channel and wherein transmitting the enhancement stream includes transmitting the enhancement stream over a second channel. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein transmitting over the first channel and transmitting over the second channel are performed independently. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein transmitting of at least one of the encoded multimedia stream or the enhancement stream includes transmitting the at least one using a fixed-size frame structure. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein using the processor to generate the unequal error protection information includes selecting portions of a standard multimedia data stream in dependence upon importance of the respective portions for maintaining the quality of a resultant multimedia presentation. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the enhancement stream does not convey multimedia content. 
     
     
         18 . An apparatus comprising:
 a transmitter to transmit, responsive to the received data representing multimedia, an encoded multimedia stream to a destination via a lossy medium;   a processor to, prior to transmitting the encoded multimedia stream to the destination,
 generate unequal error protection information, the unequal error protection information providing error protection for different parts of the multimedia differently, 
 generate information sufficient for a receiver to map the unequal protection information to the different parts of the multimedia conveyed by the encoded multimedia stream, and 
 include the unequal error protection information as part of an enhancement stream; and 
   a transmitter to transmit the enhancement stream to the destination via the lossy medium.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the encoded multimedia stream includes packets representing encoded audio information and packets representing encoded video information. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the encoded multimedia stream represents an MPEG-compliant encoding of the data. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein:
 the data includes raw video data; and 
 the apparatus further comprises an encoder to convert the raw video data to an MPEG-compliant format, to generate the encoded multimedia stream. 
 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the data is in the form of an MPEG-compliant input stream and the apparatus further comprises a receiver to receive the MPEG-compliant input stream. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 22  wherein the processor is to generate unequal error protection information by parsing a MPEG-standard stream to select a subset specific packets from that stream, and wherein the processor is to generate the unequal error protection information for data represented by the specific packets. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein the encoded multimedia stream also includes error protection information that is uniform for the data representing the multimedia. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the processor is to generate information sufficient for a receiver to map the unequal protection information to the different parts of the multimedia conveyed by the encoded multimedia stream in at least partial form of a selection map, the processor to include the selection map and the unequal error protection information in the enhancement stream. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the transmitter that is to transmit the encoded multimedia stream is a first transmitter arranged to transmit the encoded multimedia stream over a first channel and wherein the transmitter that is to transmit the enhancement stream is a second transmitter arranged to transmit the enhancement stream over a second channel. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 26  wherein the first transmitter and the second transmitter are to transmit the encoded multimedia stream and the enhancement stream, respectively, independently from one another. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the processor is to generate the unequal error protection information by selecting portions of a standard multimedia data stream in dependence upon importance of the respective portions for maintaining the quality of a resultant multimedia presentation. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 18  wherein the enhancement stream does not convey multimedia content. 
     
     
         30 . An apparatus comprising:
 a transmitter to transmit, responsive to the received data representing multimedia, an encoded multimedia stream to a destination via a lossy medium;   means for, prior to transmitting the encoded multimedia stream to the destination, generating unequal error protection information, the unequal error protection information providing error protection for different parts of the multimedia differently;   means for, prior to transmitting the encoded multimedia stream to the destination, generating information sufficient for a receiver to map the unequal protection information to the different parts of the multimedia conveyed by the encoded multimedia stream;   means for generating an enhancement stream that includes the unequal error protection information; and   a transmitter to transmit the enhancement stream to the destination via the lossy medium.