This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0159000, filed Nov. 18, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.
The present invention relates generally to technology for transmitting/receiving a broadcast signal, and more particularly to technology for transmitting/receiving a broadcast signal to which a combination of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology and Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology is applied.
Terrestrial broadcast systems based on ATSC 3.0 standards include Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology and Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology. Also, although not included in the current terrestrial broadcast systems, a combination of the two technologies may further improve transmission efficiency.
In a method of combining the two technologies in consideration of compatibility with an existing transmitter, a core layer signal is transmitted in the same manner as in the existing method and MIMO technology is applied only to an enhanced layer signal before transmission thereof. However, the existing transmission signaling has a problem in that it cannot describe a combination of MIMO technology and LDM technology.
Accordingly, in order to enable an existing receiver to receive a core layer signal and enable a receiver to which the combined technology is applied to operate normally, it is necessary to design transmission signaling so as to transfer new information without affecting the existing method.
An object of the present invention is to improve the performance of a broadcast system to which MIMO technology and LDM technology are applied.
Another object of the present invention is to efficiently improve the performance of a broadcast system and provide various services when a signal, in which MIMO technology and LDM technology are combined, and signaling information for accessing the signal are transmitted.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast service, to which a combination of MIMO technology and LDM technology is applied, while maintaining compatibility with existing receivers.
Yet another object of the present invention is to enable an existing terminal, to which combined technology is not applied, to receive a terrestrial broadcast signal including a core layer signal and to acquire transmission information in the same manner as before.
In order to accomplish the above objects, a method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to the present invention includes generating first signaling information indicating whether Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is applied to an enhanced layer by Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology; generating second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method when the MIMO technology is applied to the enhanced layer; and generating a broadcast signal using the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Here, the first signaling information for the first subframe of the broadcast signal may be included in L1-Basic signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal, and the first signaling information for a current subframe subsequent to the first subframe in the broadcast signal may be included in L1-Detail signaling of the preamble.
Here, the second signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling.
Here, the second signaling information may include information about whether a stream-combining technique is applied to a physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer, whether an IQ polarization interleaving technique is applied to the physical layer pipe, and whether a phase-hopping technique is applied to the physical layer pipe.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, upon receiving the broadcast signal, a first receiver, which supports only the LDM technology, may reconstruct only a signal transferred through a core layer and process a signal transferred through the enhanced layer as a noise signal.
Here, a second receiver, which supports both the LDM technology and the MIMO technology, may reconstruct not only the signal transferred through the core layer but also the signal transferred through the enhanced layer based on the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Also, a method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to another embodiment of the present invention includes generating first signaling information indicating whether Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is applied to an enhanced layer by Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology; generating second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method when the MIMO technology is applied to the enhanced layer; and generating a broadcast signal using the first signaling information and the second signaling information. The first signaling information may be included in L1-Detail signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, the first signaling information and the second signaling information may be generated only for a subframe to which the LDM technology is applied, among all subframes of the broadcast signal.
Also, an apparatus for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first signaling information generation unit for generating first signaling information indicating whether Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is applied to an enhanced layer by Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology; a second signaling information generation unit for generating second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method when the MIMO technology is applied to the enhanced layer; and a broadcast signal generation unit for generating a broadcast signal using the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Here, the first signaling information for the first subframe of the broadcast signal may be included in L1-Basic signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal, and the first signaling information for a current subframe subsequent to the first subframe in the broadcast signal may be included in L1-Detail signaling of the preamble.
Here, the second signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling.
Here, the second signaling information may include information about whether a stream-combining technique is applied to a physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer, whether an IQ polarization interleaving technique is applied to the physical layer pipe, and whether a phase-hopping technique is applied to the physical layer pipe.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, upon receiving the broadcast signal, a first receiver, which supports only the LDM technology, may reconstruct only a signal transferred through a core layer and process a signal transferred through the enhanced layer as a noise signal.
Here, a second receiver, which supports both the LDM technology and the MIMO technology, may reconstruct not only the signal transferred through the core layer but also the signal transferred through the enhanced layer based on the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Also, an apparatus for transmitting a broadcast signal according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a first signaling information generation unit for generating first signaling information indicating whether Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is applied to an enhanced layer by Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM) technology; a second signaling information generation unit for generating second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method when the MIMO technology is applied to the enhanced layer; and a broadcast signal generation unit for generating a broadcast signal using the first signaling information and the second signaling information. The first signaling information may be included in L1-Detail signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, the first signaling information and the second signaling information may be generated only for a subframe to which the LDM technology is applied, among all subframes of the broadcast signal.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Repeated descriptions and descriptions of known functions and configurations which have been deemed to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention will be omitted below. The embodiments of the present invention are intended to fully describe the present invention to a person having ordinary knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains. Accordingly, the shapes, sizes, etc. of components in the drawings may be exaggerated in order to make the description clearer.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Terrestrial broadcasting has adopted Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) in order to considerably increase transmission capacity compared to a Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) system without adding frequency resources. Currently, terrestrial broadcasting including ATSC 3.0 employs MIMO technology, which uses two antennas for each of transmission and reception. MIMO technology may be considered the addition of different transmission media in a space by adding transmission and reception antennas, and an increased amount of data can be transferred by the increased number of antennas, whereby transmission efficiency may be improved. Also, transmission quality may be improved through diversity gain, which can be obtained by transferring the same data through different paths. Accordingly, the use of MIMO may almost double a transmission rate when compared with existing SISO for the same bandwidth, and may enable a 8K-UHD (Ultra-High Definition) broadcast service as well as a 4K-UHD broadcast service.
Also, terrestrial broadcasting has adopted transmission (physical-layer) signal multiplexing technology, which enables two or more broadcast services transmitted over a single broadcast channel to have different broadcast service coverage areas and to be received in different environments. Typically used multiplexing technology includes Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) and Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), which use orthogonality of transmission resources. Here, thanks to advancements in signal-processing technology, Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM), through which two or more broadcast services can be individually provided without maintaining orthogonality of transmission resources, has been recently adopted. LDM is technology for transmitting two different broadcast signals with the same or different power levels by sharing time and frequency resources, and the two broadcast signals can be reconstructed at the receiving end using a characteristic that the two broadcast signals have different levels of reception quality.
LDM based on sharing of orthogonal transmission resources may improve transmission efficiency by a maximum of 30% compared to existing TDM or FDM. The current terrestrial broadcast system applies LDM using only two layers. Among these two layers, the layer corresponding to a higher power level and a signal having robust reception performance is called a Core Layer (CL), and the other layer is called an Enhanced Layer (EL). Generally, the core layer is used to provide a broadcast service for the case in which image quality is expected to be low and reception conditions are poor, such as mobile broadcasting for smartphones or media terminals in vehicles, and the enhanced layer is used to provide a high-definition service suitable for large screens, such as televisions in a household, and in fixed reception environments.
Terrestrial broadcast systems adopted to date support transmission for MIMO technology and for LDM technology separately, but do not support transmission technology in which the two technologies are combined.
First, referring to
Input data 1 transferred using a core layer is transmitted using only transmission antenna 1.
Input data 2, transferred using an enhanced layer, is divided into two different streams through a BICM and MIMO module 120 by applying MIMO thereto. Here, one of the streams applies LDM thereto by being combined with a core layer, and the other one thereof applies LDM by matching the power ratio thereof to the enhanced layer combined with the core layer, without being combined with the core layer.
Also, the respective signals are transferred to transmission antennas 1 and 2 via a framing and interleaving module and a waveform generation module.
Also, referring to
Input data 1 transferred using a core layer is transmitted using both transmission antennas 1 and 2.
As in the embodiment of
However, in the embodiment of
First, referring to
The reception terminal illustrated in
Also, referring to
The reception terminal illustrated in
For example, the reception terminal illustrated in
In another example, the reception terminal illustrated in
When MIMO is applied only to an enhanced layer, as in the embodiments of
However, the receiver configured as shown in the embodiment of
Accordingly, a broadcast signal according to the embodiments illustrated in
Hereinafter, a process of transmitting and receiving a broadcast signal for signaling information about whether MIMO is applied to an enhanced layer and information about the method of applying MIMO to the enhanced layer, which have not been defined elsewhere, will be described in detail.
Referring to
Referring to
For example, a transmission unit transfers minimum transmission information for decoding a current preamble 620 using a bootstrap 610, and transfers L1-signaling of a subframe 630 for transferring current channel information and actual payload data using the preamble 620.
L1-signaling includes L1-Basic signaling 621 and L1-Detail signaling 622.
The L1-Basic signaling 621 may include information for describing a broadcast signal transmission structure, a reference time, information for understanding the overall transmission structure of a first subframe, and the like.
Here, each subframe may be combined with Physical Layer Pipes (PLPs), which are multiple payload data groups having different signal qualities through multiplexing.
Accordingly, information about the overall transmission structure of subframes subsequent to the first subframe and a transmission method applied to the PLPs of all of the subframes including the first subframe may be transferred using the L1-Detail signaling 622.
Here, because MIMO can be applied to each subframe, first signaling information may be configured for each subframe.
Here, first signaling information for the first subframe of a broadcast signal is included in the L1-Basic signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal, and first signaling information for the current subframe, subsequent to the first subframe, in the broadcast signal may be included in the L1-Detail signaling of the preamble.
For example, signaling about the method of transmitting a broadcast signal by applying a combination of MIMO and LDM to the first subframe may be defined as shown in
According to L1B_first_sub_mimo_ldm defined in
In another example, signaling about the method of transmitting a broadcast signal by applying a combination of MIMO and LDM to a current subframe subsequent to the first subframe may be defined as shown in
According to L1D_mimo_ldm defined in
Also, in the method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, when MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer, second signaling information indicating the MIMO application method is generated at step S520.
Referring to
Here, the second signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling of the preamble.
That is, the second signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling 622 illustrated in
Here, the second signaling information may include information about whether stream-combining is applied to the Physical Layer Pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer, whether IQ polarization interleaving is applied to the physical layer pipe, and whether phase-hopping is applied to the physical layer pipe.
Hereinafter, signaling information about the method of applying the technical details of MIMO to the physical layer pipe of an enhanced layer will be described in detail with reference to
For example, signaling indicating whether stream-combining is applied to the physical layer pipe of an enhanced layer may be defined as shown in
According to L1D_plp_el_mimo_stream_combining defined in
In another example, signaling indicating whether IQ polarization interleaving is applied to the physical layer pipe of an enhanced layer may be defined as shown in
According to L1D_plp_el_mimo_IQ_interleaving defined in
In another example, signaling indicating whether phase-hopping is applied to the physical layer pipe of an enhanced layer may be defined as shown in
According to L1D_plp_el_mimo_PH defined in
Because these three types of signaling defined in
Also, in the method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, a broadcast signal is generated using the first signaling information and the second signaling information at step S530.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each Physical Layer Pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, upon receiving a broadcast signal, a first receiver, which supports only LDM, may reconstruct only a signal transferred through a core layer and process a signal transferred through an enhanced layer as a noise signal.
Here, in order to enable an existing receiver like the first receiver to receive a core layer signal normally, it is necessary to maintain L1-signaling information and the configuration thereof to be the same as the existing one. Here, when the transmission structure is configured as shown in
Accordingly, when information about whether MIMO is applied to an enhanced layer and information about the MIMO application method are added so as to follow the existing signaling information of L1-Basic signaling and L1-Detail signaling, transmission and reception to which a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied may be implemented without affecting the existing receiver.
Table 1 and Table 2 below illustrate an example of signaling capable of providing information about a combination of MIMO and LDM, without affecting signaling that has to be acquired by an existing receiver.
First, Table 1 illustrates an example of L1_Basic_Signaling, including L1B_first_sub_mimo_ldm signaling indicating whether a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied to a first subframe.
Also, Table 2 illustrates an example of L1-Detail signaling, including L1D_mimo_ldm signaling, indicating whether a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied to a subframe subsequent to the first subframe and L1D_plp_el_mimo_stream_combining signaling, L1D_plp_el_mimo_IQ_interleaving signaling, and L1D_plp_el_mimo_PH signaling, which indicate the method of applying MIMO to the physical layer pipe of the enhanced layer of the subframe.
Here, the signaling about the method of applying MIMO may be transmitted only when a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied.
Here, an existing receiver, such as the first receiver, may read L1-Basic signaling illustrated in Table 1 to L1B_first_sub_sbs_last, which is the part that is interpretable thereby, and interpret the same to operate based thereon, and may process the remainder, including L1B_first_sub_mimo_ldm, as L1B reserved. Also, the existing receiver may read L1-Detail signaling illustrated in Table 2 to L1D_bsid, which is the part that is interpretable thereby, and interpret the same to operate based thereon, and may regard the remainder as L1D_reserved.
Accordingly, the existing receiver, like the first receiver, determines that LDM is applied to the received terrestrial broadcast signal although MIMO is not applied thereto, thereby decoding only a core layer signal.
Here, because MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer signal of the terrestrial broadcast signal, the existing receiver may recognize the enhanced layer signal as noise that cannot be decoded.
Here, a second receiver, which supports both LDM and MIMO, may reconstruct not only the signal transferred through the core layer but also the signal transferred through the enhanced layer based on the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
For example, the second receiver, having multiple reception antennas to which a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied, may acquire information about whether MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer of the first subframe through L1B_first_sub_mimo_ldm signaling of L1-Basic signaling according to the embodiment of Table 1. Also, when multiple subframes are present, whether MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer of a subsequent subframe can be seen through L1D_mimo_ldm signaling of L1-Detail signaling according to the embodiment of Table 2.
When the second receiver recognizes application of MIMO to the enhanced layer through the two types of signaling, the method of applying the technical details of MIMO to the physical layer pipe of the enhanced layer in the subframe may be checked through L1D_plp_el_mimo_stream_combining signaling, L1D_plp_el_mimo_IQ_interleaving signaling, and L1D_plp_el_mimo_PH signaling.
Here, when MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer of a certain subframe, the second receiver receives signals using two reception antennas and performs channel estimation for all of the paths through which the MIMO signals are transmitted (e.g., a channel from transmission antenna 1 to reception antenna 1, a channel from transmission antenna 1 to reception antenna 2, a channel from transmission antenna 2 to reception antenna 1, and a channel from transmission antenna 2 to reception antenna 2), thereby decoding the signals.
Through the above-described method for transmitting a broadcast signal, the performance of a broadcast system to which MIMO and LDM are applied may be improved.
Also, when a signal in which MIMO and LDM are combined is transmitted and when signaling information for accessing the signal is transferred, the performance of a broadcast system may be efficiently improved, and various services may be provided.
Hereinafter, a method for transmitting a broadcast signal that includes first signaling information, indicating whether MIMO is applied to an enhanced layer by LDM, in the L1-Detail signaling of the preamble thereof will be described in detail with reference to Table 3 and
As described above, in the method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, first signaling information indicating whether MIMO is applied to an enhanced layer by LDM is generated.
Also, in the method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, when MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer, second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method is generated.
Also, in the method for transmitting a broadcast signal according to an embodiment of the present invention, a broadcast signal is generated using the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Here, the first signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal or only for a subframe to which LDM is applied, among all of the subframes of the broadcast signal.
Table 3 below illustrates an example in which information about a transmission and reception method to which a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied is configured using only L1-Detail signaling.
MIMO based on ATSC 3.0 is not applied to a preamble.
Also, because signaling related to application of LDM and the method therefor is presented in L1-Detail signaling, information about a combination of MIMO and LDM may be specified merely by changing the configuration of L1-Detail signaling, as shown in the embodiment in Table 3.
Here, L1D_mimo_ldm, which is an embodiment of signaling indicating whether a combination of MIMO and LDM is applied to the current subframe, including the first subframe, may be defined as shown in
That is, L1B_first_sub_mimo_ldm and L1D_mimo_ldm according to the embodiments in
Therefore, the embodiment of Table 3 has an advantage in that it can reduce a change in the configuration of signaling information recognizable by an existing receiver because L1_Basic signaling is the same as that used for current terrestrial broadcast transmission.
For example, when the existing receiver illustrated in
In another example, when a receiver, which supports a combination of MIMO and LDM as illustrated in
Also, the embodiment of the L1-Detail signaling in Table 3 may be used as signaling indicating whether MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer only of the subframe to which LDM is applied.
Because information about whether LDM is applied to each subframe can be acquired from signaling information interpretable by an existing receiver (that is, signaling information to L1D_bsid), L1D_mimo_ldm, which is an example of signaling indicating whether MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer only of the subframe to which LDM is applied, may be defined as shown in
According to L1D_mimo_ldm defined in
Here, when the value of L1D_mimo_ldm signaling is 1, the transmitter according to an embodiment of the present invention may additionally transmit information about the method of application of MIMO to the enhanced layer according to the embodiments of
Therefore, there is an advantage in that transmission efficiency may be improved by reducing the number of pieces of signaling information.
Referring to
The first signaling information generation unit 1510 generates first signaling information indicating whether Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) is applied to an enhanced layer by Layered-Division Multiplexing (LDM).
Here, the first signaling information for the first subframe of a broadcast signal may be included in L1-Basic signaling of the preamble of the broadcast signal, and the first signaling information for a current subframe subsequent to the first subframe in the broadcast signal may be included in L1-Detail signaling of the preamble.
Also, the first signaling information may be included in L1-Detail signaling of a preamble of the broadcast signal.
The second signaling information generation unit 1520 generates second signaling information indicating an MIMO application method when MIMO is applied to the enhanced layer.
Here, the second signaling information may be included in the L1-Detail signaling.
Here, the second signaling information may include information about whether stream-combining is applied to the physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer, whether IQ polarization interleaving is applied to the physical layer pipe, and whether phase-hopping is applied to the physical layer pipe.
The broadcast signal generation unit 1530 generates a broadcast signal using the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Here, the first signaling information may be generated for each subframe of the broadcast signal, and the second signaling information may be generated for each physical layer pipe (PLP) corresponding to the enhanced layer.
Here, upon receiving a broadcast signal, a first receiver, which supports only LDM, may reconstruct only a signal transferred through a core layer, and may process a signal transferred through an enhanced layer as a noise signal.
Here, a second receiver, which supports both LDM and MIMO, may reconstruct not only a signal transferred through a core layer but also a signal transferred through an enhanced layer based on the first signaling information and the second signaling information.
Using the above-described apparatus for transmitting a broadcast signal, the performance of a broadcast system to which MIMO and LDM are applied may be improved.
Also, when a signal in which LDM and MIMO are combined is transmitted and when signaling information for accessing the signal is transferred, the performance of a broadcast system may be efficiently improved, and various services may be provided.
Referring to
Here, the first signaling information generation unit 1510, the second signaling information generation unit 1520, and the broadcast signal generation unit 1530 illustrated in
Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in which methods implemented using a computer or instructions executable in a computer are recorded. When the computer-readable instructions are executed by a processor, the computer-readable instructions may perform a method according to at least one aspect of the present invention.
According to the present invention, the performance of a broadcast system to which MIMO technology and LDM technology are applied may be improved.
Also, the present invention may efficiently improve the performance of a broadcast system and provide various services when a signal in which MIMO technology and LDM technology are combined and signaling information for accessing the signal are transmitted.
Also, the present invention may provide a broadcast service, to which a combination of MIMO technology and LDM technology is applied, while maintaining compatibility with existing receivers.
Also, the present invention may enable an existing terminal, to which combined technology is not applied, to receive a terrestrial broadcast signal including a core layer signal and to acquire transmission information in the same manner as before.
As described above, the method for transmitting a broadcast signal for signaling information about a combination of LDM and MIMO and the apparatus using the method according to the present invention are not limitedly applied to the configurations and operations of the above-described embodiments, but all or some of the embodiments may be selectively combined and configured, so that the embodiments may be modified in various ways.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2021-0159000 | Nov 2021 | KR | national |
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10-1223605 | Jan 2013 | KR |
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Entry |
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Advanced Television Systems Committee, “ATSC Standard: Physical Layer Protocol”, A/322, Jan. 20, 2021. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230155634 A1 | May 2023 | US |