Patent Application
20090066848
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to a method and system for monitoring and controlling the switching of a back-up encoder at a local collection facility from a remote facility of a signal collection and uplinking system.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Satellite broadcasting of television signals has increased in popularity. Satellite television providers continually offer more and unique services to their subscribers to enhance the viewing experience. Providing reliability in a satellite broadcasting system is therefore an important goal of satellite broadcast providers. Providing reliable signals reduces the overall cost of the system by reducing the number of received calls at a customer call center.
In satellite broadcasting systems, users have come to expect the inclusion of local channels in addition to the channels broadcast for the entire Continental United States. Collecting the channels may be performed in various manners, including providing a manned station that receives the signals. The signals may be uplinked from various locations. Providing manned stations increases the labor costs and thus increases the overall cost of the service.
The present disclosure provides a means for monitoring and controlling a receiver decoder circuit module in a signal collection system at a central facility.
In one aspect of the invention, a method includes forming a broadcast signal in response to a first channel signal received at a primary receiver and a primary encoder of a local collection facility, monitoring the local collection facility at a remote facility, tuning a back-up receiver to the first channel, generating a back-up receiver signal at the back-up receiver for the first channel, communicating the back-up receiver signal to the remote facility from the local collection facility, displaying the back-up receiver signal and switching the broadcast signal to correspond to the back-up receiver signal.
In a further aspect of the invention, a system includes a local collection facility that has a primary receiver and a primary encoder forming a broadcast signal in response to a first channel signal received at the receiver. The system also includes a remote facility having a monitoring system monitoring the local collection facility at the remote facility. A back-up receiver at the local facility tuning to the first channel, generating a back-up receiver signal for the first channel and communicating the back-up receiver signal to the remote facility from the local collection facility. The monitoring system displays the back-up receiver signal. The remote facility switches the broadcast signal to correspond to the back-up receiver signal.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
As used herein, the term module, circuit and/or device refers to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A or B or C), using a non-exclusive logical or. It should be understood that steps within a method may be executed in different order without altering the principles of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure is described with respect to a satellite television system. However, the present disclosure may have various uses including satellite data transmission and reception for home or business uses. The system may also be used in a cable system or wireless terrestrial communication system.
Referring now to
The collection and communication system 10 includes a central facility or Network operations center (NOC) 14 and a plurality of regional or remote uplink facilities (RUF) 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D, 16E and 16F. In a non-satellite system the facilities may be referred to as a remote facility. The regional or remote uplink facilities 16A-16F may be located at various locations throughout a landmass 18 such as the continental United States, including more or less than those illustrated. The regional or remote uplink facilities 16A-16F uplink various uplink signals 17 to satellite 12. The satellites downlink signals 19 to various users 20 that may be located in different areas of the landmass 18. The users 20 may be mobile or fixed users. The uplink signals 17 may be digital signals such as digital television signals or digital data signals. The digital television signals may be high definition television signals, standard definition signals or combinations of both. Uplinking may be performed at various frequencies including Ka band. The present disclosure, however, is not limited to Ka band. However, Ka band is a suitable frequency example used throughout this disclosure. The central facility or NOC 14 may also receive downlink signals 19 corresponding to the uplink signals 17 from the various regional or remote uplink facilities and from itself for monitoring purposes. The central facility 14 may monitor and control the quality of all the signals broadcast from the system 10.
The central facility 14 may also be coupled to the regional or remote uplink facilities through a network such as a computer network having associated communication lines 24A-24F. Each communication line 24A-F is associated with a respective regional or remote uplink site 16. Communication lines 24A-24F are terrestrial-based lines. As will be further described below, all of the functions performed at the regional or remote uplink facilities may be controlled centrally at the central facility 14 as long as the associated communication line 24A-F is not interrupted. When a communication line 24A-F is interrupted, each regional or remote uplink site 16A-F may operate autonomously so that uplink signals may continually be provided to the satellite 12. Each of the regional or remote uplink and central facilities includes a transmitting and receiving antenna which is not shown for simplicity in
Each of the regional or remote uplink facilities 16A-16F may also be in communication with a local collection facility collectively referred to with reference numeral 30. As illustrated in
The local collection facilities 30 are used for collecting local television stations in various designated marketing areas (DMA). As is illustrated, local collection facility 30A is located in DMA1 and local collection facility 30B is located in DMA2. For simplicity, only two DMAs are illustrated. However, each local collection facility may be located in a DMA.
The local collection facilities 30 may be in communication with each remote uplink facility 16 through a communication network 32. As will be described below, the communication network 32 may be an internet protocol (IP) network. The signals from the local collection facilities 30 may thus be video-over-IP signals. Each of the remote uplink facilities 16 are in communication with each local collection facility 30 through the communication network 32. As is illustrated, local collection facility 30A is in communication with the remote uplink facility 16A through communication network 32A, while local collection facility 30B is in communication with the remote uplink facility 16A through communication network 32B, and so on.
Referring now to
Primary site 40 and diverse site 42 may also receive signals from GPS satellites 50. GPS satellites 50 generate signals corresponding to the location and a precision timed signal that may be provided to the primary site 40 through an antenna 52 and to the diverse site 42 through an antenna 54. It should be noted that redundant GPS antennas (52A,B) for each site may be provided. In some configurations, antennas 44 and 46 may also be used to receive GPS signals.
A precision time source 56 may also be coupled to the primary site 40 and to the diverse site 42 for providing a precision time source. The precision time source 56 may include various sources such as coupling to a central atomic clock. The precision time source 56 may be used to trigger certain events such as advertising insertions and the like.
The primary site 40 and the diverse site 42 may be coupled through a communication line 60. Communication line 60 may be a dedicated communication line. The primary site 40 and the diverse site 42 may communicate over the communication line using a video-over-Internet protocol (IP).
Various signal sources 64 such as an optical fiber line, copper line or antennas may provide incoming signals 66 to the local collection facility 30. Incoming signal 66, as mentioned above, may be television signals. The television signals may be over-the-air high-definition signals, over-the-air standard television signals, or high or standard definition signals received through a terrestrial communication line. The incoming signals 66 such as the television signals may be routed from the local collection facility 30 through the communication network 30 to the primary site 40, or the diverse site 42 in the event of a switchover. The switchover may be manual or a weather-related automatic switchover. A manual switchover, for example, may be used during a maintenance condition.
Users 20 receive downlink signals 70 corresponding to the television signals. Users 20 may include home-based systems, business-based systems or multiple dwelling unit systems. As illustrated, a user 20 has a receiving antenna 72 coupled to an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) 74 that processes the signals and generates audio and video signals corresponding to the received downlink signal 70 for display on the television or monitor 76. It should also be noted that satellite radio receiving systems may also be used in place of the IRD 74. The integrated receiver decoder 74 may be incorporated into or may be referred to as a set top box.
The user 20 may also be a mobile user. The user 20 may therefore be implemented in a mobile device or portable device 80. The portable device 80 may include but are not limited to various types of devices such as a laptop computer 82, a personal digital assistant 84, a cellular telephone 86 or a portable media player 88.
Referring now to
In addition to the receiver circuit modules 104A-D, a back-up receiver circuit module 106 may also be coupled to the splitters 102. Also, a monitor receiver circuit module 108 may be included at the local collection facility 108.
The receiver circuit modules generally 104, 106 and 108 include a tuner module 110 and a decoder module 112. The receiver circuit module 104 is used to tune, demodulate and decode the over-the-air signals. The tuner may be fixed-tuned to a particular channel or may be adjustable. The receiver circuit modules 104A-D are suitable for fixed tuning. The back-up receiver module 106 and monitor receiver circuit module 108 are particularly suited for multi-channel tuning. The receiver circuit modules, as will be described below may include an ATSC receiver or an NTSC receiver. In ATSC form the receiver receives an MPEG2 signal. The decoding may thus be MPEG2 decoding.
The receiver circuit modules 104 may generate a high definition serial digital interface signal (HD SDI) and an asynchronous serial interface (ASI) signal.
The back-up receiver circuit module 106 and the monitor receiver module 108 may be in communication with an antenna switch 114. The antenna switch 114 is in communication with the splitters 102 which are in communication with the antennas 100. The antenna switch 114 may be used to communicate the output of a particular antenna to the back-up receiver decoder 106 and the monitor receiver decoder 108. The back-up receiver decoder 106 may also generate both an HD SDI signal and an ASI signal. The monitor receiver module 108 may be used to generate only an ASI signal.
A serial digital interface router 120 may also be provided. The serial digital interface router 120 may be a high definition serial digital interface router. The router 120 may receive local feeds 118 directly from the local channel providers. The feeds may also be in MPEG2 format. These may be provided through a wire or optical fiber. The router 120 routes the channel signals received from the local feeds 118 to the receiver circuit modules 104, 106, 108 where received signals are decoded from MPEG2 format.
The received signals are processed and encoded into a format such an MPEG4 format in the encoders 124A-D. A back-up encoder 126 associated with the backup receiver decoder may also be provided.
The output of the encoders 124A-D, 126 are in communication with a primary multiplexer 128 and a back-up multiplexer 130. The primary multiplexer 128 an the back-up multiplexer 130 multiplex the encoded signals and provide them to a primary network adapter 132 and a back-up network adapter 134. Both the primary network adapter 132 and the back-up network adapter 134 may be in communication with the primary multiplexer 128 and the back-up multiplexer 130. The network adapters 132, 134 receive the multiplexed signals and format them into an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) configuration. An ATM configuration typically includes cells of a fixed size with a header of 5 bytes and a payload of 48 bytes. The header may include a generic flow control field, a virtual path identifier, a virtual channel identifier, a payload type, a cell loss priority, and a header error control. Once the multiplexed signals are converted into an ATM format, the primary network adapter 132 or the back-up network adapter 132 routes the ATM signals through a primary ATM switch 136 or a back-up ATM switch 138. The primary ATM switch 136 and the back-up ATM switch 138 are used to route the ATM cells formed by the primary or network adapter from an input port to an output port to provide a connection between the switches 136 or 138 and the remote facility 16.
The local collection facility 30 may also include a monitoring integrated receiver decoder (MIRD) 140. The output of the monitoring IRD 140 may be provided to an MIRD encoder 142. The IRD 140 may also be referred to as a set top box. The monitoring IRD 140 receives downlinked satellite signals and converts these signals to a decoded signal (HD SDI, for example). The MIRD encoder 142 encodes the signals in a format such as MPEG 4 format.
The output of the monitor IRD encoder 142 may be provided to an ASI router 144. The ASI router 144 may route input signals from the decoders 104A-D, the back-up receiver decoder 106, the monitor receiver decoder 108 and the monitoring IRD encoder 142. The signals are routed through the router 144 for monitoring at a monitoring system, as will be described below. The monitoring system may also control the devices mentioned above through the router 144. Controlling may be switching to a backup. The monitoring system may also be in communication with the encoder 124A-D and 126, the multiplexers 128, 130 and the ATM switches 136-148. The output of the router is provided to a monitor network adapter 146 and a primary monitor ATM switch 148. The monitor network adapter 146 adapts the signal to the ATM format. The ATM format signals provided to the primary monitor ATM switch 148 which in turn communicates through the ATM backhaul 32.
Referring now to
A primary modulator 222 and a back-up modulator 224 receive the transport stream from the respective primary ATPS 218 or the back-up ATPS 220. The primary modulator 222 and the back-up modulator 224 modulate the transport stream and generate an RF signal at a frequency such as an L-band frequency. An RF switch 226 may be referred to as an intermediate frequency switch 226. The RF switch provides one output signal to the uplink RF system 228. The uplink signal may then be communicated to the satellite 12 of
A monitoring system 230 may be in communication with a monitor ATM switch 232 and a monitor network adapter 234 for communicating with the various local collection facilities. In addition, the monitoring system 230 may be in communication with the primary ATPS 218, the back-up ATPS 220, the primary modulator 222 and the back-up modulator 224. In addition, the monitoring system 230 may be in communication with the router 144 illustrated in
It should be noted that multiple local collection facilities 30 may be coupled to a remote collection facility 16.
It should be noted that the diverse uplink facility or diverse site 54 illustrated in
Referring now to
The remote uplink facility 16 may generate monitoring display 350 as well. The monitoring displays 350 may also be used to control the various functions at the local collection facilities. The monitoring displays may be in communication with the monitor router 310.
The network operation center 14 may include an ASI router 330 for the selection of signals from a particular remote uplink facility. The ASI signals may be routed to an ATSC decoder 332 and a monitor IRD 334. The ATSC decoder 332 may provide the signals to a monitor router 336. A monitor wall 338 may be used to generate monitoring signals for use at the network operation center. A workstation 340 may also receive the signals from the network operation center monitor router 336. The ATSC decoders 332 and the monitor IRDs 334 may provide the signals to a quality assurance (QA) room 342. Screen displays at the monitor wall 338, the workstation 340 and the quality assurance room 342 are used for monitoring the various remote uplink facilities. The workstation 340 may also be used for control purposes. Signals are provided to the remote uplink facility and ultimately to the local collection facilities should a problem arise with the signals. Ultimately the control signals may be communicated back through the network 32.
The network operation center 14 may also include multiple workstations 340 as well as a large monitor wall 338. The workstations 340 may have access to various control surfaces that can configure the monitor walls 338 as well as signals fed to the various monitors at the station.
Control of the on-air failure recovery devices as well as the monitoring functions for every LCF and RUF are accomplished through control surfaces such as touch screens and keyboards together with a GUI at the workstations 340 in the network operation center 14. The control surfaces may be application-specific and present the status and control options for various multiple configurations for the application. The quality assurance room 342 may not have any control functions therein. The monitors 350 may be coupled to the monitor network encoders 315 for displaying various views from the remote uplink facility and the local collection facilities.
It should be noted that if an ATM network is used for the signals, an ATM switch and network adapter may be provided prior to the ASI router 330. Further, the decoders 332 may be MPEG decoders since the signal may be in MPEG form when received from the remote uplink facility.
Referring now to
In
Referring now to
In step 514, the method includes commanding the monitor ASI router 302 of
Referring back to step 518, if the signal is an ASI signal, the back-up receiver module is switched to the particular ASI input. After step 524, the back-up receiver is tuned in step 522.
In step 526, the local collection facility ASI router is commanded to switch to the back-up receiver input to monitor the channel feed output at the network adapter. In step 528, a preview of the back-up signals is provided at the remote uplink facility. As mentioned above, the signal may also be provided to the network operation center.
In step 530, other channels are prevented to switch to the back-up receiver. In step 532, if the signal is not acceptable a preview is continued in step 528. In step 532, if the previewed signal is acceptable a switch to the back-up receiver is performed in step 534. In step 538, the monitoring system commands the system to mirror and switch to the back-up encoder if available. Mirroring means communicating any of the set-up configuration parameters from the receiver circuit module in question to the backup receiver circuit module. In step 538, if verification is received that the back-up encoder has been employed in the broadcast signal. In step 540, a notification is provided to the operation that a successful transition to the back-up encoder is provided.
Referring now to
In step 612, a compression system and monitoring system is used associated with the channel is identified. In step 614, if a back-up multiplexer is not available the system ends in step 615. In step 614, if a back-up multiplexer is available a command is communicated to the monitoring system controller. In step 618, a switch to the back-up multiplexer is generated while the primary multiplexer is disabled. In step 620, a verification is provided to the operator that a successful switch to the multiplexer has been provided.
In step 622, a notification is provided to the operator that a successful switch to the back-up multiplexer is provided.
It should be noted that the above method may also be used to switch from the back-up multiplexer to the primary multiplexer.
Referring now to
In step 716, the primary ATM circuit for the LCF to RUF connection is torn down. In step 718, a new ATM circuit from the back-up network adapter is created. In step 720, a verification may be provided to the network operator that a successful switch from the primary network adapter to the back-up network adapter has been performed by creating and tearing down a new ATM circuit and the primary ATM circuit. In step 720, a verification may be generated. In step 722, the operator of the system may be notified.
Those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, the specification and the following claims.
