EP2241043A1

EP2241043A1 - Method for transmitting data from a radiocommunication network infrastructure to user equipment and equipment for carrying out he method

Info

Publication number: EP2241043A1
Application number: EP08857983A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bessem Sayadi; Laurent Roullet
Original assignee: Alcatel Lucent SAS
Current assignee: Alcatel Lucent SAS
Priority date: 2007-12-05
Filing date: 2008-11-13
Publication date: 2010-10-20
Also published as: US20110131614A1; WO2009071781A1; FR2924878A1; US9043670B2

Abstract

In a radiocommunication infrastructure network, transmitting data organised in symbol sequences to a piece of receiving equipment over a number of radio connections, the data for transmission are encoded following an encoding scheme with error correction to produce a systematic set of symbols and a corresponding redundant set of symbols, the systematic symbols and a first sub-set of the set of corresponding redundant symbols are transmitted over a first radio connection amongst thee number of radio connections in broadcast mode and a sec0nd sub-set of the set of corresponding redundant symbols is transmitted over a second radio connection from amongst said number of radio connections distinct from the first.

Description

METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING DATA FROM ONE

INFRASTRUCTURE OF A RADIOCOMMUNTATION NETWORK

USER EQUIPMENT. AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION

PROCESS WORK

The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data in broadcast mode from an infrastructure of a radio communication network to user equipment, as well as equipment for implementing this method. It is advantageously used in the context of broadcasting to user equipment of multimedia content, for example video. Digital video broadcasting (DVB) systems, standardized by ETSI, are examples of such broadcasting systems. The DVB-H and DVBHSH systems, which are being specified, complement the functionality of the DVB-T terrestrial broadcasting system by offering the possibility of broadcasting multimedia content to mobile terminals. DVB-T and DVB-H systems are described in ETSI TR 101 190 vi.2.1, entitled "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); lmpiementatton guidelines fbr DVB terrestrial services; Transmission Aspects ", published by ETSI in November 2004 and ETSi EN 302304 v1.1.1. entitled "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Transmission System fbr Handheld Terminals (DVB-H) ", published by IΕTSI in November 2004, respectively, to which reference may be made.

In the context of the transmission of multimedia content to mobiles, offering a quality of service perceived by the user (satisfactory visual quality, low service interruption rate) satisfactory remains the main difficulty for broadcast service operators. The fading phenomena experienced by any signal transmitted over an air interface propagation channel cause a degradation in the quality of the received signal against which the channel coding techniques commonly used in digital radiocommunication systems allow some measure of protection.

Channel coding techniques typically include one or more encoding steps to protect the data to be transmitted. against transmission errors, and one or more steps of interleaving encoded streams to cause a transmission error to affect symbols distributed over a given set instead of affecting an adjacent group of symbols. The encoding is carried out according to an error correction code (in English FEC, for "Forward Error Protection"), as for example a Reed-Solomon code or any other technique of block coding.

On the one hand, the error correction coding makes it possible, for the broadcast of video signals, to provide an optimal signal quality for the end user, and on the other hand to reduce if not eliminate the service interruptions caused by fading holes.

Reed-Solomon codes are an example of bulk codes used for error-correcting coding in data transmission systems. The bulk codes are characterized in that the error correction code is calculated on a block, segment or data frame of predetermined length. A code of Reed-Sobmon is commonly referred to as a pair of parameters (n, k) where n is the size symbols (a symbol being typically an 8-bit byte) of the code word _"and k size block of data to be encoded, so that a codeword of size n symbols corresponds to k data symbols and nk redundancy symbols (also called parity symbols). The ratio k / n corresponds to the coding rate of the Reed-Solomon code. The maximum number of symbol errors that can be corrected by a Reed-Solomon code (n, k) is given by the ratio (nk) / 2. The maximum number of symbol erasures that can be corrected by a Reed-Solomon (nk) code is nk. For example, for a sequence of 100 bytes to which 10 bytes of redundancy are added, the Reed-Solomon decoder can recover up to 10 lost bytes (because, for example, fading phenomena mentioned above). The symbol loss correction capability is measured by the ratio 1 / (nk). The application of an error correction coding to the useful data to be transmitted is, however, at the cost of a reduction in the useful data transmission rate. In addition, this type of technique for protection against transmission errors does not completely immunize the transmitted data, especially in cases where the propagation channel has long fading which produces data loss over a long period of time given the correction capability of the code. When data loss or errors observed on the received data exceed the correction capacity of the error-correcting codes used, retransmissions of the lost or erroneous data may be used, for example in the context of automatic request procedures. repetition (in English "Automatic Repeat reQuest" ARQ) for data transmission systems using acknowledgment mechanisms But the current broadcasting systems do not offer by nature any upstream communication channel, called "return channel", from the receiving terminal to the broadcast infrastructure, or a return path of too low a rate to consider using it to issue data retransmission requests which prove to be effective, it is necessary to perform a effective compromise between the degree of protection of data transmitted in broadcast mode and the corresponding loss of useful data rate.

A main object of the invention is to provide a solution that is efficient in this regard.

An object of the present invention is to combine effective protection against transmission errors while ensuring a minimum quality of service data transmitted in a radiocommunicatioh system transmitting data including broadcast mode to mobile terminals.

The invention thus proposes a method for transmitting data from a radiocommunication network infrastructure to a receiving equipment on a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in a sequence of symbols, the method comprising an encoding step according to a diagram of data error correction coding to be transmitted to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols, a transmission step, on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode, of systematic symbols and of a first subset of ("set of corresponding redundancy symbols, as well as a step of transmitting, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first, a second subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols.

Thus, the redundancy symbols generated by the data error correcting encoding to be transmitted in broadcast mode are split into a plurality of subsets, of which at least two are transmitted over separate radio links. Only a subset of redundancy symbols is transmitted with at least some systematic symbols, a second set of redundancy symbols being transmitted on a second radio link. In fact, the use of the radio resources of the first radio link on which the systematic symbols and the first subset of redundancy symbols are transmitted is optimized, other redundancy symbols complementary to those of the first subset being transmitted to the receiving equipment on another radio link. Note that the allocation of redundancy symbols to different radio links can be performed dynamically, and in particular vary dynamically according to the radio conditions observed on the radio link on which the systematic symbols and the first subset of symbols are transmitted. redundancy. On the other hand, other redundancy symbols being transmitted on another radio link, they thus benefit from a transmission diversity that makes it possible to ensure different propagation conditions than those observed for the systematic symbols and the first one. subset of redundancy symbols. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the transmission on the second radio link of the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols is carried out in broadcast mode.

On the other hand, the first and second subsets of redundancy symbols may be identical or distinct. They may or may not include elements that are common to both subsets. They may also be chosen complementary so that their meeting constitutes the set of corresponding redundancy symbols. In another particular embodiment of the invention, the radiocommunication network infrastructure comprises first and second subsystems, the receiving equipment being able to receive data transmitted by the first and second subsystems, and the systematic symbols and the first subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols are transmitted in broadcast mode to the receiving equipment by the first subsystem, and the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols is transmitted by the second subsystem. According to this particular embodiment of the invention, the first subsystem may comprise a broadcast network infrastructure, which may for example be a multimedia content broadcasting network infrastructure of the DVB-H or DVB-SH type, and the second subsystem may comprise a cellular radio network infrastructure, which may for example be of the UMTS, WiMAX, CDMA2000 and / or LTE type.

According to this particular embodiment of the invention, the first subsystem may also include a satellite multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure, and the second subsystem may comprise a terrestrial multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure. the multimedia satellite broadcast network infrastructure and the terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting multimedia content being, for example, of the DVB-SH type.

In addition, the invention is applicable with a data encoding carried out according to a Reed-Solomon error correction code, or else another example, a Raptor type error correction code.

The invention further proposes a receiver equipment arranged to receive data transmitted from a radio network infrastructure over a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in sequence of symbols and encoded according to an error correction coding scheme to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols, which includes its first systematic symbol receiving means and a first subset of the set of redundancy symbols correspondents transmitted on a first radio among said plurality of radio link, in broadcast mode, second means for receiving a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted on a second radio link among said plurality of links radio, separate from the first radio link and symbol storage means of said second subassembly, and decoding means adapted to decode and correct the errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the first subassembly. corresponding set of redundancy symbols, the decoding means further being able to decode and correct the errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols.

The decoding means may further be arranged to determine whether the systematic symbols require additional correction after decoding and error correction by means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols, and to trigger decoding. and correcting errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols when decoding and correcting errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols.

On the other hand, the second means for receiving a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first radio link can be arranged to receive said radio link. second subset of redundancy symbols when transmitted in broadcast mode.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the receiving equipment is arranged to receive data transmitted from a radiocommunication network infrastructure comprising a first and a second subsystem, and the first reception means are arranged to receive data. systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by the first subsystem, while the second receiving means are arranged to receive the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted by the second subsystem. system.

In this particular embodiment of the invention, the first reception means may be arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a broadcast network infrastructure for example, a DVB-H or DVB-SH multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure, and the second reception means may be arranged to receive the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted by a radiocommunication cellular network infrastructure, for example of the UMTS, WiMAX, CDMA2000 and / or LTE type.

In this particular embodiment of the invention, the first reception means may also be arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a network infrastructure of broadcasting of multimedia content by satellite, and the second reception means can also be arranged to receive the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted by a terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting multimedia content, the infrastructure of a network for broadcasting multimedia content by satellite and the terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting multimedia content being, for example, of the DVB-SH type.

The decoding means of the receiving equipment may also be arranged to decode data encoded according to a Reed-Sotomoπ error correction code, or, for another example, to decode data encoded according to an error correction code. Raptor type.

This receiving equipment according to the invention can advantageously be integrated into a mobile radio communication station. The invention also proposes a radiocommunication network infrastructure arranged to transmit data to a receiver equipment on a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in a sequence of symbols, comprising encoding means capable of encoding according to a coding scheme. error corrector the data to be transmitted to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols, first transmission means, able to transmit, on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode, the systematic symbols and a first subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols, and second transmission means, capable of transmitting, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first, a second sub-group; set of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the second transmission means are able to transmit, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first, the second subset of the set of redundancy symbols. corresponding in broadcast mode. The radiocommunication network infrastructure according to the invention may furthermore comprise a first subsystem comprising the first transmission means and a second subsystem comprising the second transmission means. The first subsystem may include a broadcast network infrastructure, for example a DVB-H or DVB-SH type media broadcasting network infrastructure, including the first transmission means, and the second subsystem comprising a broadcast network infrastructure. radiocommunication cellular network infrastructure, for example of the UMTS, WiMAX, CDMA2000 and / or LTE type, comprising the second transmission means. The first subsystem may also include a satellite multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure comprising the first transmission means, and the second subsystem comprise a multimedia content broadcast terrestrial network infrastructure including the second transmission means, infrastructure broadcasting network of multimedia content by satellite and the terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting multimedia content being for example DVB-SU type

Moreover, the encoding means of the radiocommunication network infrastructure can be arranged to perform a data encoding according to a Reed-Solomon error correction code, or else another example of the Raptor type.

The invention also proposes a radiocommunication network infrastructure node arranged to transmit data to a receiving equipment on a plurality of radio links, comprising means for receiving data to be transmitted organized in a sequence of symbols, encoding means capable of encoding according to an error correcting coding scheme the data to be transmitted to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols, transmission means, arranged to transmit to a first radio transmission equipment of the infrastructure the systematic symbols and a first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols for transmission on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode, the beta said transmission means being further arranged to transmit to a second infrastructure radio transmission equipment a seco nd subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols for transmission on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first.

This infrastructure node according to the invention can advantageously be integrated in an IP encapsulating node of the DVB-H type, or in a "Network Head End" node of the DVB-SH type.

Finally, the invention proposes a computer program loadable in a memory associated with a processor, and comprising instructions for the implementation of a method as defined above during the execution of the program by the processor, and that a computer medium on which is recorded said program.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of non-exemplary embodiments. with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the architecture of a hybrid DVB-SH multimedia content broadcasting system to which the invention can advantageously be applied; FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an IPE node of a DYB-SH broadcast network infrastructure;

FIG. 3 illustrates the application of a first FEC type encoding to a sequence of symbols in a DVB-SH broadcast network infrastructure; FIG. 4 illustrates the application of a second FEC type encoding applied to MPE-FEC frames in a DVB-SH broadcast network infrastructure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an IFEC section generated by an IPE node of a DVB-SH broadcast network infrastructure in a particular embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a user equipment embodying the present invention in a particular embodiment.

The invention is particularly well suited, although not exclusively, to a DVB-SH type multimedia content broadcasting network, and is described hereinafter in its application to such a system. In addition, it is considered in the following, by way of non-limiting example, the multimedia content broadcast to the user equipment are videos.

The invention is however not limited to this type of content, and indeed relates to any type of multimedia content, including television or radio programs and audk content).

This application is illustrated by Figure 1, which shows a network infrastructure (10) hybrid radio broadcast content broadcasting, that is to say the satellite and satellite Ibis, type DVB-SH. The network (10) is particularly well suited for broadcasting multimedia content as part of the provision of mobile interactive multimedia services.

The multimedia content broadcasting network 10 comprises a content broadcast server 20, comprising a node (PE 21 ("IP Encapsulature") which transposes an input stream of IP datagrams ("Internet Protocol") carrying the multimedia contents into a DVB transport stream using a method multi-protocol encapsulation (MPE, for "MultMPrαtocol Encapsuiation"). The DVB transport stream is then transmitted to the DVB-SH modulator 22, having possibly been multiplexed with other DVB service streams. -SH 22 modulates and formats the signals received for transmission on the air interface by the TX module 23, to the satellite equipment 70 and / or directly to the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30.

The satellite equipment 70 retransmits the received signals on the one hand a radio link to the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30, and / bu on the other hand a radio link to the user equipment 40. The repeater / transmitter network Terrestrial 30 in turn retransmits the signals received to the user equipment 40.

Thus, certain contents can be transmitted directly from the satellite 70 to the user equipment 40 while other contents can be transmitted via the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30.

The multimedia content broadcast network 20 is also connected to an IP network 50 via the IPE node 21. The multimedia content broadcast to the user equipment is provided by a content provider node 60, also connected to the IP network. 50.

The user equipment 40 is a DVB-SH user equipment, for example a DVB-SH compatible mobile terminal. K is mufti-mode, in that it is adapted to receive content coming from different radio interfaces, and in this case to receive content diffused by the satellite channel and content diffused by the terrestrial channel (the satellite channels and terrestrial using separate frequency bands), as well as the corresponding respective signals. The invention is however not limited to this type of user equipment and is applicable to any fixed or mobile communication equipment (or mobile or cellular) capable of receiving data transmitted by a network infrastructure. radio transmitting data to user equipment on a first link broadcast radio as well as at least one second radio link, distinct from the first. Therefore, it may also be a liver phone, a desktop or portable computer, a receiver of multimedia content (eg a decoder, a residential gateway (or "c residential gateway") or a STB ("Set-Top Box")), when it is equipped with communication means, possibly terrestrial or satellite, capable of communication with a communication network infrastructure transmitting data to user equipment on a first link broadcast radio as well as at least one second radio link, distinct from the first.

The transmission chain of the DVB-SH broadcast network 10 comprises elements of layers 1 and 2 of the ISO model. The layer 2 (data link) comprises a channel coding stage, which performs an error correction encoding (in English FEC, for "Forward Error Correction") on the data to be transmitted. This data link layer is for example in the node IPE 2t.

Figure 2 illustrates the different functions performed within the IPE node 21.

The incoming stream of network layer datagrams (OSI level 3 layer) (it will be considered for the purposes of the present description that these are IP datagrams without being limiting) is processed by encapsulation means. , which encapsulate the IP datagrams entering blocks, called MPE sections (in English "Multi-Protocol Encapsulation sections"), according to a method described in sections 7 and 8 of ETSI EN 301 192, v 1.4.1, entitled "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); DVB specification for data broadcasting "and published by I ¹ ETSI in November 2004. Each MPE section contains a header, an encapsulated IP datagram, as well as parity bits obtained by calculating a CRC error detection code ( in English "Cyclic Redundancy Check") on the IP datagram and the en-tote. These encapsulation means correspond to the MPE module 202 in FIG.

The encoding of the MPE sections is then carried out by the encoding module 203, which performs a first MPE intra-section error correction encoding producing frames called MPE-FEC, followed by a second one. MPE-FEC iπter frame error correction encoding which produces frames called MPE-OFEC (for "MPE Outer-FEC").

The transmission of the signals by the multimedia content broadcasting system 10 is carried out according to a Time Division Multiplex (TOM) scheme of bursts, a burst being transmitted on a time slot. called "Time Slot". This bursty data transmission technique makes it possible to save the power consumption of the receiver equipment, which can be mobile terminals whose battery is a critical resource that should be saved as much as possible. to reconcile the so-called "time slicing" process, introduced in the DVB-H video content broadcast specification to hand-held mobile terminals, with the aim of transmitting burst data at a rate significantly higher than the bit rate required for transmission of multimedia content on an air interface, to allow the receiver (including a mobile terminal) to be awake only to receive the data during a burst, whose duration is limited in time. The module TS 204 in FIG. 2 thus forms bursts from the MPE-OFEC frames that it receives from the FEC 203 encoding module.

Returning to FIG. 1, the bursts produced by the IPE module 21 are transmitted to the DVB-SH modulator 22 to be modulated and shaped so as to be transmitted by the transmission module 23 to the satellite equipment 70 and / or to the repeater / terrestrial transmitter network.

FIG. 3 illustrates the application of a first FEC type encoding to a sequence of symbols (in the particular embodiment of the invention described below, it is considered that a symbol is a binary byte) formed by a set of network layer datagrams (OSI level 3 layer) carrying data to be encoded. First, there is a burst of datagrams (in English "datagram burst") formed by the sequence of symbols of the datagrams constituting the burst "starting with the first symbol of the header of the first datagram and ending with the last paytoad symbol of the last datagram. Each datagram of the burst is assigned an address pointing to the first symbol of the datagram. to uniquely identify each datagram in the burst. The input sequence of the channel encoder is organized in memory according to a logic matrix of C columns shown in FIG. 2 (C "191 for DVB-H or DVB-SH), by filling the logical matrix 1Q1 with the symbols of a burst of datagrams column by column, as illustrated in Figure 2. In what follows, the term "matrix", "matrix" or "logical matrix", a logical organization of data for the purpose of a specific treatment that does not presuppose in no way the organization of the data in a memory when the treatment is actually implemented within a device. The data to be encoded are thus logically organized in memory (memory 205 in FIG. 2) according to a matrix 101 called ADT ("Application Data Table"). The number R of lines of the logical matrix ADT is a parameter of the system, chosen in particular as a function of the length of the burst of input datagrams (R = 256, 512, 768 or 1024 for DVB-SH). This logic matrix is previously initialized with padding symbols, for example the null byte symbol, so that the last columns of the logical matrix ADT can be filled with filler symbols if the burst size datagrams is not enough to fully fill the ADT logical matrix. The maximum size in number of symbols of a burst of datagrams is moreover preferably chosen so as not to exceed the product of C by R. The data of the logical matrix ADT 101 are encode line by line, by calculation of a vector of parity symbols for each line. One of the objects of this matrix logical organization is the application of a block code to the data vectors constituted by the lines of the logical matrix ADT 101. The encoding of the lines can be carried out according to any method of block coding known per se, such as a Reed-Solomon type encoding or LDPC. ADT logical matrix is thus added a logical matrix of parity symbols (otherwise called redundancy symbols), called RSDT, each line of which corresponds to a vector of parity symbols resulting from an encoding, for example of Reed-Solomon type. (C + NC), of the corresponding line of the logical matrix ADT. The number of columns of the logical matrix RSDT 102 is equal to N (N ≈ 64 for DVB-H or DVB / SH). The lines of the logical matrix RSDT 102 are also called internal FECs (in English "inner FEC"), because they protect against the transmission errors the data of an ADT logical matrix 101, with a symbol error correction capability (a symbol being, in this example, a byte) equal to Corrective-Capacity - N / 2 (ie 32 bytes for DVB-H or DVB-SH). The logic matrix combining the logic matrices ADT 101 and RSDT 102 is also called the MPE-FEC frame.

The first FEC type encoding applied to the MPE sections at the output of the MPE module 202 is performed within the FEC encoding module 203, and produces a MPE-FEC frame sequence MPE-FEC * of sequential index k.

Figure 4 illustrates the application of a second FEC type encoding applied to MPE-FEC frames. In the illustrated example, the data of B consecutive MPE-FEC frames according to the sequence order in which they are produced by the MPE-FEC encoding module 203, are stored (in memory 205 in FIG. 2). B is preferably selected from C + N divisors. As illustrated in FIG. 4 (for which B is chosen equal to 3), where the data of B consecutive MPE-FEC frames are written in a bulk logical matrix of dimensions (2 * B-1) * (C + N) / B columns, and B ^* R lines, the data of each MPE-FEC frame being written respecting their logical matrix organization in the block matrix by applying to the sequence frame j an offset of R * j lines, and an offset of (C * j) / B columns, where j is an integer from 0 to B-1, a block code may be applied to the data vectors consisting of the elements of the columns of B consecutive MPE-FEC frames shifted. The encoding of the columns may be performed according to any block coding method known per se, such as a Reed-Solomon type encoding or LDPC. Thus, from the symbols of the B sub-matrices 303a, 303b and 303c, by the application of an error correction encoding algorithm, a matrix of parity symbols 304 is calculated. Block 304 of dimensions S * R lines (in the example illustrated by FIG. 4, S is chosen equal to 2) and (C + N) / B columns comprises the parity symbols of the encoding of the columns of the B blocks 303a, 303b, and 303c constituted by respectively consecutive MPE-FEC frame columns written in your logic block matrix 303. The columns of block 304 are also called external FEC (in English "outer FEC _*) because they protect against transmission errors occurring on multiple MPE-FEC frame. The data of this block can be organized in S sub-blocks of dimensions R rows and (C + N) / B columns, so as to add to an MPE-FEC frame S sub-blocks carrying parity symbols of B MPE frames -FEC previous. Figure 4 illustrates this FEC encoding mechanism with B = 3 MPE-FEC frames MPE-FEC _k . MPE-FEC _{k + 1} and MPE-FECK ₊₂ . In this example, the integer (C + N) is chosen from the multiples of 3. The data of the three MPE-FEC frames MPE-FECK, MPE-FEC _{k +} I and MPE-FECK _{+ 2} are written in the logical matrix in blocks 303 respecting their logical matrix organization described above, according to the scheme outlined above. The logical matrix in blocks [O _1.k ; O _2.k ] results from the encoding of the vectors constituted by the columns of rank 1+ (B-1) * (C + N) / B to C + N for the MPE-FEC MPE-FECk frame, from rank 1+ (C + N) / B to (B-1) * (C + N) / B for the MPE-FEC MPE-FECVi frame. and of rank 1 to (C + N) / B for the MPE-FEC frame MPE-FECW The symbols of the submatrix Ou and those of the submatrix O ₂ , ^ are associated with the frame MPE-FEC M PE -FECK ₊ 1, those of the sub-matrix Oi, _{k +} i and those of the submatrix O ₂ ^ are added to the MPE-FEC MPE-FECK ₊₂ frame. And so on. The MPE-FEC frames to which are added inter-frame redundancy sub-blocks MPE-FEC 0-ι.k + j and O ₂ , κ + ji are called MPE-OFEC frames.

This second FEC encoding of the MPE-FEC frames produced by the first encoding is carried out within the encoding module 203 in FIG. 2 in cooperation with the memory module 205. It is possible, to carry out this second encoding, advantageously to use the same schema. encoding only for the first encoding, ie the Reed-Sotomon encoding scheme described in section 9 of ETSI EN 301 192. It is thus advantageous to use the same encoding means, in particular if they are implemented in a hardware component, for inner-FEC encoding and outer-FEC encoding. The elements of the columns of the blocks 303a. 303b and 303c in the case where B is chosen equal to 3 can be written in an ADT data matrix on which is applied the Reed-Solomon encoding described in section 9.5.1 of ETSi EN 301 192. This method, previously described, makes it possible to generate up to N = 64 "FEC sections" (a FEC section consisting of the symbols of a column of the generated RSDT matrix). from the error correcting encoding of the symbols of the matrix ADT).

According to the invention, an error correction code is applied with a coding rate for generating a set of redundancy symbols. A first and second subset of the thus generated set of redundancy symbols is then determined. In this exemplary implementation of the invention, the FEC encoding module 203 generates N FEC sections, but communicates for transmission with the systematic data that N - COMP (COMP being chosen strictly less than N) to the module TS 204. Thus, 205 FEC sections which are not transmitted to the receiver equipment 40 with the systematic data are stored in memory. For example, if the data corresponding to a television channel content is broadcast by the DVB-SH infrastructure 10 to the receiving equipment 40 in direct reception by the satellite equipment 70, it will be transmitted with a subset of N- COMP FEC sections among the set of N FEC sections calculated on the MPE-FEC frames according to the second encoding scheme described above. This makes it possible to limit the use of the bandwidth of the direct link between the satellite 70 and the receiving equipment 70 for sending redundancy information while ensuring a certain degree of protection against the long fading that may occur on the satellite. this link. The complementary redundancy information, in this case the

COMP FEC sections, are transmitted to the receiver equipment 40 on another radio link, for example via the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30 which also transmits data to the receiver equipment 40. According to another example of implementation of the invention, 205 FEC sections which are not transmitted to the receiver equipment 40 are stored with the systematic data as well as the FEC sections which are transmitted to the receiver equipment 40 with the system data, and transmits the COMP + COMPi sections FEC to the receiver equipment 40 on another radio link, for example via the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30. According to another example of implementation of the invention, 205 COMP FEC sections which are not transmitted to the receiver equipment are stored in memory 40 with your systematic data, and COMP ₂ is transmitted from the COMP (COMP ₂ <COMP) FEC sections to the receiving equipment 40 on another radio link (for example via the repeater network / terrestrial transmitters 30), COMP ₂ being chosen depending on the radio resources available on the other radio link.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, this transmission, complementary redundancy information, performed via the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30, is also in broadcast mode. In this way, the receiving equipment 40 which faces long fading on the direct link with the satellite equipment 70 which generates non-recoverable data losses by the redundancy information transmitted with the data to be transmitted, can retrieve the information additional redundancy transmitted via the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30, in an attempt to correct the reception errors.

Signaling additional redundancy information transmitted over another radio link can for example conform to the SDP ( "Session Description Protocol") defined by I ¹ IETF in RFC2327 published by IÏETF in April 1998. These additional redundancy information can be transmitted with identification information of the content flow carried by the systematic symbols to which they correspond This identification information may for example consist of a stream identification identification address or flow broadcast session identification. This allows the receiving equipment 40 to associate the complementary redundancy information received on the other radio link with the systematic symbols and the first subset of redundancy symbols to which they correspond. it may seek to obtain additional redundancy information on another radio link, the encoding module 203 of TIPE 21 constitutes, from the FEC sections generated by encoding MPE-FEC frames. sections called "iFEC" (in English <c iFEC sections "). The structure of an iFEC section is illustrated in Figure 5. An iFEC section includes a header, a paytoad consisting of the symbols of one or more FEC sections, as well as parity bits obtained by calculation of a CRC error code (in English "Cyclic Redundancy Chβck") on the data and the header beta. It is thus possible to construct as many iFEC sections as there are FEC sections generated for the systematic symbols of an ADT matrix. The set of iFEC sections transmitted in a burst, and therefore not corresponding to additional redundancy information, constitutes an iFEC burst (in English "iFEC burst"). Each iFEC burst has a maximum number of iFEC sections indicated in the header of each iFEC. In addition, each iFEC section has in its header an index number j = 0 ... R-1 uniquely identifying it in the set of R possible iFEC sections of a burst. Finally, each IFFEC section carries in its header an iFEC burst index k ', which corresponds to the index k of data burst at which the iFEC burst corresponds.

Thus, when the user equipment 40 receives an iFEC burst including R-COMP iFEC sections, each IFFEC section indicating in its header that an iFEC burst can carry up to R iFEC sections, it can deduce that sections iFEC complements (at most COMP) were transmitted on a different radio link than the one on which it received the R - COMP sections iFEC. Another possibility without departing from the scope of the invention is to insert the number of iFEC sections contained in the iFEC burst into the header of each iFEC section of the burst. The processing of the header of the complementary iFEC sections received on another radio link makes it possible, by the index j of section FEC and the burst index k, to associate them with the sections iFEC that they complete.

This type of signaling of the presence or absence of additional redundancy information transmitted on another radio link can be, alternatively or additionally, advantageously effected by means of information on the effective coding rate with which the set redundancy information has been generated, which information can also be carried, for example, by the header of the iFEC sections. The comparison of this information with the number of iFEC sections received in an iFEC burst. With respect to the length of the sequence of encoded systematic symbols, may allow the terminal to deduce the presence of complementary redundancy information. Alternatively, it is also possible to transmit an actual coding rate information, that is to say corresponding to the number of redundancy symbols actually generated, and a signal coding rate information, that is to say corresponding to the number of redundancy symbols transmitted with the systematic symbols.

Figure 6 is a block diagram of a user equipment embodying the present invention according to a particular embodiment described below.

The user equipment 400 shown in FIG. 6 comprises means 402 for multiplexing / demultiplexing the signals received via the antenna means 401 on the one hand from the satellite 70, and on the other hand the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30. The multiplexing / demultiplexing means 402 transmit the signals received from the satellite to the satellite reception RF processing means 404, and the signals received from the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30 to the terrestrial transponder / terrestrial transmission processing means 403. . The radio processing means 403.405 perform all the radio processing on the bursts received from the terrestrial repeater / transmitter network 30 or the satellite, respectively, on the antenna means 401, and transmit the received signals to the DVB-SH demodulation means 406. carrying your gusts. The demodulation means 406 transmit to the IP decapsulation means 407 bursts of data after demodulation of the received signals carrying the bursts. The demodulation means 406, desencapsulation device 407, memory module 409 and the processor means are connected to an internal communication bus 410. The IP decapsulation means 407 handles the processing of the layers 1 (physical layer) and 2 (data link). ), and include time slicing processing means 407a which reconstruct from the received bursts a continuous stream of received data, and channel decode means 407b.

The physical processing means 407a process the signals demodulated methods carrying the bursts received from the demodulation means 406 to produce a sequence of MPE-OFEC frames. They furthermore process the demodulated signals carrying complementary iFEC sections received from the demodulation means 406 and record these complementary sections received in memory 409 at an address communicated to the channel decoding means 407b, or alternatively, transmit these complementary sections directly to the channel 407b decoding means. The MPE-OFEC frames received from the physical layer processing means 407a are stored in memory 409 and then processed by the channel decoding means 407b to determine whether they have been received correctly or not. If an MPE-OFEC frame is correctly received and a decoded MPE section has been produced, the data of the MPE section carrying the multimedia content is transmitted to the media playback means 411 by means of the internal data transmission bus. 410, possibly via the memory 409. S) the MPE-OFEC frame is not correctly received, it may possibly be recovered or corrected thanks to the redundancy information carried by the following MPE-OFEC frames and / or previous , within the limit of the correction capacity of this redundancy information. Beyond this, the decoding means analyzes the signaling information accompanying the received redundancy information to determine whether additional redundancy information has been transmitted on another radio link. If this is the case, the FEC decoding means recover the complementary redundancy information in order to reiterate the decoding process with all the redundancy information received on the various radio links.

Claims

R EV ENDIC AT IONS

A method of transmitting data from a radio network infrastructure to a receiving equipment over a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in a symbol sequence, the method comprising the steps of:

• Encoding according to an error correcting coding scheme the data to be transmitted to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

Transmitting, on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode, the systematic symbols and a first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

- Transmit, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, separate from the first, a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols.

The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links a second subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols is in a broadcast mode.

The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first and second subsets of redundancy symbols are distinct.

A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the corresponding first and second subsets of redundancy symbols are complementary so that their union constitutes the set of corresponding redundancy symbols.

5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the radio network infrastructure comprises first and second subsystems, the receiving equipment being able to receive data transmitted by the first and second subsystems, and in which the systematic symbols and the first subsetβ of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols are transmitted in broadcast mode to the receiving equipment by the first subsystem, and the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols are transmitted by the second subsystem.

The method of claim 5, wherein the first subsystem comprises a broadcast network infrastructure, and the second subsystem comprises a cellular radio network infrastructure.

The method of claim 3, wherein the broadcast network infrastructure is a DVB-H or DVB-SH type multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure, and the cellular radio network infrastructure is of UMTS type. , WiMAX ₁ CDMA2000 and / or LTE.

The method of claim 5, wherein the first subsystem comprises a satellite multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure, and the second subsystem comprises a terrestrial multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure.

The method of claim 8, wherein the satellite multimedia broadcast network infrastructure and the terrestrial media broadcast network infrastructure are of the DVB-SH type.

The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the encoding of the data is performed according to a Reed-Solomon error correction code.

11. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the encoding of the data is performed according to a corrector error code Raptor type.

Receiving equipment arranged to receive data transmitted from a radio network infrastructure over a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in sequence of symbols and encoded according to an error correction coding scheme for producing a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols, the receiving equipment comprising:

first means for receiving systematic symbols and a first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode;

second means for receiving a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted on a second radio link from said plurality of radio links distinct from the first radio link and means for storing symbols of said second sub-link; -together ;

decoding means capable of decoding and correcting the errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

said decoding means being furthermore able to decode and correct the errors on the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols.

Receiver equipment according to claim 12, wherein the decoding means is further arranged to determine whether the systematic symbols require additional correction after decoding and error correction by means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the set. corresponding redundancy symbols, and triggering the decoding and error correction of the received systematic symbols by means of redundancy symbols of the second subset of corresponding redundancy symbols when the decoding and error correction of the received systematic symbols means of redundancy symbols of the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols.

Receiving equipment according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the second receiving means of a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted on a second radio link of said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first radio link are arranged to receive said second subset of redundancy symbols when transmitted in broadcast mode.

Receiving equipment according to any one of claims 12 to 14 arranged to receive data transmitted from a radiocommunication network infrastructure comprising first and second systems, the first reception means being arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by the first subsystem, and the second receiving means being arranged to receive the second subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols transmitted by the second subsystem.

Receiving equipment according to claim 15, wherein the first receiving means is arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a broadcast network infrastructure. and said second receiving means is arranged to receive the second subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols transmitted by a cellular radio network infrastructure.

The receiving equipment of claim 16, wherein the first receiving means is arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a broadcast network infrastructure of multimedia content of the DVB-H or DVB-SH type, and the second reception means are arranged to receive the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted by a cellular radio communication network infrastructure is of UMTS type, WiMAX, CDMA20Q0 and / or LTE.

The receiving equipment of claim 15, wherein the first receiving means is arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a broadcast network infrastructure of multimedia content by satellite, and the second reception means are arranged to receive the second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols transmitted by a terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting multimedia content.

Receiver equipment according to claim 15, wherein the first receiving means is arranged to receive systematic symbols and the first subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols transmitted in broadcast mode by a broadcast network infrastructure. DVB-SH satellite multimedia content, and the second reception means are arranged to receive the second subset of the corresponding set of redundancy symbols transmitted by a terrestrial network infrastructure for broadcasting DVB-type multimedia content. SR

20. Receiving equipment according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the decoding means are further arranged to decode data encoded according to a Reed-Sotomon error correction code.

Receiving equipment according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the decoding means are further arranged to decode encoded dataβ according to a Raptor error correction code.

22. Mobile radio communication station comprising receiving equipment according to any one of claims 12 to 21.

23. A radio network infrastructure arranged to transmit data to a receiver equipment on a plurality of radio links, said data being organized in a sequence of symbols, comprising:

encoding means capable of encoding according to an error correction coding scheme the data to be transmitted in order to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

First transmission means capable of transmitting on a first radio link among said plurality of radio links, in broadcast mode the systematic symbols and a first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

second transmission means, able to transmit, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first, a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols.

Radiocommunication network infrastructure according to claim 23, wherein the second transmission means are adapted to transmit, on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first, the second subset of the set of radio links. corresponding redundancy symbols in broadcast mode.

25. Radio network infrastructure according to any one of claims 23 and 24, comprising a first subsystem comprising the first transmission means and a second subsystem comprising the second transmission means.

The radio network infrastructure of claim 25, wherein the first subsystem comprises a broadcast network infrastructure comprising the first transmission means, and the second subsystem comprises a cellular radio network infrastructure including the second subsystem means of transmission.

The radio network infrastructure of claim 26, wherein the broadcast network infrastructure is a DVB-H or DVB-SH type multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure, and the cellular radio network infrastructure. is of type UMTS, WiMAX, CDMA2000 and / or LTE.

The radio network infrastructure of claim 25, wherein the first subsystem comprises a satellite multimedia content broadcast network infrastructure comprising the first transmission means, and the second subsystem comprises a terrestrial network infrastructure. broadcasting multimedia content comprising the second transmission means.

The radio network infrastructure of claim 28, wherein the multimedia broadcast satellite network infrastructure and the terrestrial media broadcast network infrastructure are of the DVB-SH type.

30. Radio network infrastructure according to any one of claims 23 to 29 "wherein the encoding means are arranged to perform a data encoding according to a Reed-Solomon error correction code.

31. Radio network infrastructure according to any one of claims 23 to 29, wherein the encoding means are arranged to perform a data encoding according to a Raptor type error correction code.

A radiocommunication network infrastructure node arranged to transmit data to a receiving equipment over a plurality of radio links, comprising:

means for receiving data to be transmitted organized in a sequence of symbols; encoding means capable of encodβr according to an error correction coding scheme the data to be transmitted in order to produce a set of systematic symbols and a set of corresponding redundancy symbols;

transmission means, arranged to transmit to the first radio transmission equipment of the infrastructure the systematic symbols and a first subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols for transmission on a first radio link among said plurality of links radio, in broadcast mode;

- Iβsdlts transmission means being further arranged to transmit to a second radio transmission equipment of the infrastructure a second subset of the set of corresponding redundancy symbols for transmission on a second radio link among said plurality of radio links, distinct from the first.

An IP encapsulator node of the DVB-H type comprising an infrastructure node according to claim 32.

34. Network Head End node of the DVB-SH type comprising an infrastructure node according to claim 32.

35. Computer program, loadable in a memory associated with a processor, and including instructions for the implementation of a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 tors of the execution of said program by the processor.

36. Computer medium on which a program is recorded according to claim 35.