Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/10—Flow control; Congestion control
  • H04L47/28—Flow control; Congestion control in relation to timing considerations
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/242—Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/10—Flow control; Congestion control
  • H04L47/24—Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
  • H04L47/2416—Real-time traffic
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/10—Flow control; Congestion control
  • H04L47/28—Flow control; Congestion control in relation to timing considerations
  • H04L47/283—Flow control; Congestion control in relation to timing considerations in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/10—Flow control; Congestion control
  • H04L47/29—Flow control; Congestion control using a combination of thresholds
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/40—Network security protocols
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/4302—Content synchronisation processes, e.g. decoder synchronisation
  • H04N21/4305—Synchronising client clock from received content stream, e.g. locking decoder clock with encoder clock, extraction of the PCR packets
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client 
  • H04N21/63—Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing
  • H04N21/643—Communication protocols
  • H04N21/6437—Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/28—Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for compensating jitter on data packets by clock time derived time stamping upon transmission of the data packets resulting in transmission time stamps.
• the present invention also relates to a transmission system comprising a transmitter and a receiver mutually coupled through a transmission medium, the transmitter comprising a transmitter wall clock and transmission time stamping means coupled to the transmitter wall clock for time stamping the data packets upon their transmission to the receiver, and to a transmitter, to a receiver and to signals used in the above mentioned transmission system, which is suited for applying the above method.
• Such a method and transmission system are known from US 6,259,694 Bl .
• a source packet is used, in for example a Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) system, which source packet includes a 4 byte source packet header and 188 bytes of transport stream data.
• the source packet header 25 bits represent time stamps utilized for suppressing jitter when for example Moving Picture Experts Group - Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) data is transmitted by means of isochronous packet (IP) communication through a transmission medium to a receiver.
• the receiver comprises a storage device, such as a First In First Out (FIFO) buffer memory for storing received data packets.
• FIFO First In First Out
• the buffer memory must have such a size that it is capable of absorbing jitter on the received data packets, which is introduced by the transmission medium.
• the method according to the invention is characterized in that the jitter is compensated based on a comparison between the transmission time stamps and generated reception time stamps of the data packets, and that the reception time stamps are derived from the same clock time as whereof the transmission time stamps are derived.
• the transmission system is characterized in that the receiver comprises a receiver wall clock which is similar to the transmitter wall clock, a reception time stamping means coupled to the receiver wall clock for generating time stamps upon reception of the data packets, and jitter compensating means coupled to the reception time stamping means for compensating jitter on the data packets. Due to the fact that the same clock time in the so called wall clock or the same mutually related clock time values are used for deriving the transmission time stamps and the reception time stamps, a meaningful comparison can be made to provide reliable information about the jitter actually experienced after transmission of the data packets to the receiver. The thus provided time delay information provides a basis for calculating a required minimum and maximum buffer size, for absorbing the practically experienced jitter at the receiver end in the transmission medium.
• IP Isochronous Protocol
• An embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the data packets are isochronous packets containing one or more transport stream packets.
• this embodiment provides a high time stamp efficiency, because there is only one transmission or reception time stamp for one LP packet, which IP packet may for example comprise 7 Transport Stream (TS) packets.
• IP packet may for example comprise 7 Transport Stream (TS) packets.
• TS Transport Stream
• a further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that an additional jitter compensation mechanism is applied on the transport stream packets present in the IP packets.
• a remaining jitter of the individual TS packets within the IP packets is compensated further by means of the additional jitter compensation mechanism.
• the earlier jitter compensation and the additional jitter compensation work on a different and mutually independent ISO communication layer.
• a still further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that at least some of the transport stream packets comprise an associated time stamp which drives a phase locked loop in the additional jitter compensation mechanism.
• a still further embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the associated time stamp is included in a PCR packet, which preferably is the first packet in an isochronous protocol packet.
• Advantageously jitter on the PCR packet is small if the PCR packet is first packet in the IP packet. Consequently the PLL frequency will be very accurate.
• Another embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that the associated time stamps depend on the comparison between the transmission time stamps and generated reception time stamps of the data packets. If the j itter of individual transport packets within the isochronous protocol packets is not limited, the accurate time delay which is the result of the time stamp comparison can be used to provide effective inter L? packet jitter compensation.
• the transport stream packets may have a variable bit rate, which still means that within an IP packet the bit rate is fixed, but that the time between IP packets may be different.
• the transport stream packets may also comprise so called partial TS packets, which means that some TS packets are left out of the IP packet.
• the method according to the invention can still be applied, without requiring an excessive buffer size.
• the jitter compensation method and transmission system according to the invention will be elucidated further together with their additional advantages, while reference is being made to the appended drawing, wherein similar components are being referred to by means of the same reference numerals.
• Fig. 1 shows a block diagram including several possible embodiments of a transmission system according to the invention
• Fig. 2 a graph representing the amount of bytes communicated to a buffer memory used in a receiver for application in the transmission system if Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows MPEG transport stream packets having a variable bit rate for communication through the transmission system of Fig. 1.
• Fig. 1 shows a transmission system 1 comprising a transmitter 2, and a receiver 3 interconnected through a so called packed switched network 4, such as for example the Internet.
• a so called packed switched network 4 such as for example the Internet.
• data packets are transmitted independently from one another from the transmitter 2 through the network 4 to the receiver 3. Every data packet sent over the network 4 experiences a different delay before ending up in some receiver buffer, whereby even the order of the received packets may have been changed.
• this provides a problem, because at the receiver output the order of the packets has to be right and their mutual time delay should be within tight tolerances; for MPEG the maximum time tolerance is 500 nsec.
• the transmitter 2 comprises a data-source 6 of for example an MPEG-2 Transport Stream consisting of MPEG-2 TS packets on a time base, which is derived from a generally 27 MHz clock or counter reference, here called System Time Clock (STC).
• An MPEG transport stream may consist of several programs, each containing audio, video and system transport stream packets.
• the transport stream packets from the audio, video or elementary system streams are multiplexed in the transport stream in such way that no buffer underflow or overflow occurs. It is important that the timing relation of the individual packets is kept, then it is guaranteed that no buffer underflow or overflow occurs.
• the TS packets may be included in IP packets, whereby one or more, for example 7 TS packets are encapsulated in one IP packet to form a so called Real Time Protocol (RTP) type IP packet.
• RTP Real Time Protocol
• the maximum size of the IP packet is limited to 1500 bytes then a maximum of 7 TS packets can be packet in one IP packet.
• a 4 byte application time stamp derived from the 27 MHz counter is added to a TS packet for creating a TS packet having the form of a so called source packet. This time stamp is used to compensate jitter on the individual packets.
• the IP packet may be provided with a transmission time stamp from transmission time stamping means 7, coupled to the transmitter wall clock 5.
• the actual transmission time stamp may for example represent the moment whereon the first byte of the IP packet is delivered to the transmitter.
• the IP packets are now sent over the network 4 and upon receipt at the receiver 3 reception time stamping means 8 coupled to a receiver wall clock 9 provide reception time data to for example calculating means 10.
• the calculating means 10 calculate the time delay between transmission and reception of the IP packet, based on the receiver wall clock 9, which indicates a time which has the same basic time reference as the transmitter wall clock 5.
• the calculated time delay is used in jitter compensating means 11 to compensate for transmission jitter and generally accumulated delays -such as buffer delays- on the IP packets.
• the required size of the buffer is then equal to the maximum bit rate multiplied by the maximum delay of the LP packets.
• the relation between the amounts of required buffer storage bytes at the receiver 3 over time is graphically represented in Fig. 2. From left to right the Fig. 2 shows: input to the transmitter 2, indicated 'A'; input to the receiver 3, indicated 'B'; and output from the receiver 3, indicated 'C. Horizontally A minus C provides the instantaneous delay, while vertically the instantaneous buffer content can be found, which must be stored in the buffer in order to coop with the delay. If required minimum and maximum buffer sizes can be derived there from.
• Fig. 3 shows examples of MPEG transport stream packets having a variable bit rate, which packets are suited for transmission through the system 1.
• each first TS packet contains one Program Clock Reference (PCR), which may be filled with time stamp data, corresponding to the STC and in particular the aforementioned transmission time stamp data.
• PCR Program Clock Reference
• the multiplexing of the transport stream packets is in such a way that the bit rate between two succeeding PCR packets is constant. This is a property of the so called 'Full' transport stream.
• After selecting one program of the transport stream the bit rate can be reduced by removing the non-used transport stream packets from the non-used programs. This way a partial transport stream is created.
• bit rate on interfaces is reduced and the storage capacity, when storing a selected program, is also reduced.
• To avoid buffer problems in a decoder (underflow / overflow) it is needed to keep the same timing of the selected transport stream packets on the STC time base. Now the bit rate between two succeeding PCR packets is not constant anymore.
• not all IP packets have to be provided with a PCR packet. If for example the distance between succeeding Pars is less than 100 msec, often less than 40 msec, and at a bit rate of 2 Mbyte/sec, there are in the former case 200 Kbytes between the two Par's, this is about 1000 transport stream packets and then it is clear that not all IP packets do contain a PCR packet. It is shown in Fig. 2 that during period ta the bit rate is higher than during the period tb.
• the system 1 may further comprise transport stream jitter compensating means 12, which are coupled to the jitter compensating means 11 in order to compensate jitter on TS packets present within the IP packets.
• the transport stream jitter compensating means 12 may include a Phase Locked Loop (PLL), apart from a required system buffer.
• PLL Phase Locked Loop
• the PLL may be locked on the input PCRs as associated time stamps for creating a stable and accurate oscillator frequency with the help whereof the jitter between TS data packets included in the IP packets can be reduced. Jitter on the PCR packet is small if the PCR packet is first packet in the DP packet, and then the PLL frequency will be very accurate.
• the PLL or counter in the receiver 3 would encounter too much jitter and would not receive reliable synchronization data. It is for this case and for the case where it is avoided to create a new partial transport stream, that the 4 byte application time stamp is added to every TS packet, as is known in the art, in order to then specify an application dependent time.
• the PLL may be replaced by a counter which is set to the PCR in the MPEG transport stream.
• the time stamp in front of every transport stream packet is used to compensate jitter on the individual transport stream packets. This method is used for 'Full' as well as 'Partial' transport streams.
• the calculated time delay time defined by the transmission time stamp and the reception time stamp of the LP packet can be used to set the PCR.
• This kind of packet is repeated at regular intervals to avoid drifting away from 27 MHz clock and wall clock.
• the other IP packets contain a 27 MHz time stamp together with a payload e.g. 7 transport stream packets.
• the transmitted transport stream packets do not contain an MPEG time stamp in front of the packet then, first the PCR packets are placed in the correct position of the STC time base. For restoring a full transport stream at the receiver 3 all the data packets between two PCRs are stored in a system buffer. Then the packets are equally distributed over the interval between the two PCRs. For this method the buffer needs to be quite large, i.e. a few hundred Kbytes.
• a new partial transport stream is derived by simulating the contents of audio and video buffers.
• a new compliant partial transport stream is made, which does not provide overflow or underflow of the buffers.
• the transmitted transport stream packets comprise an MPEG time stamp in front of the packet then, jitter on every packet can be compensated by using this time stamp.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
• Synchronisation In Digital Transmission Systems (AREA)

Priority Applications (6)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (14)

Families Citing this family (26)

Citations (4)

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• 2003
  • 2003-07-04 AU AU2003244983A patent/AU2003244983A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-07-04 KR KR1020057001041A patent/KR100994940B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-07-04 WO PCT/IB2003/002992 patent/WO2004010670A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2003-07-04 US US10/521,255 patent/US7526000B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-07-04 CN CN038171201A patent/CN1669290B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-07-04 EP EP03738455A patent/EP1525733A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-07-04 JP JP2004522613A patent/JP2005534219A/ja active Pending

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Non-Patent Citations (5)

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