The invention refers to a transmission arrangement according to the prior art portion of claim 1, to a first mobile transmitter according to claim 12, and to a second mobile transmitter according to claim 21, which mobile transmitters can be used in the transmission arrangement.
A transmission arrangement according to the preamble of claim 1 is known as an ordinary mobile phone transmission system, whereby a mobile phone interacts with a receiver for transmitting phone calls. However, the invention is not limited to mobile phones. More general, it is about transmitters comprising a smartphone operating system, such as e.g. tablets.
Object of the invention is to expand the transmission arrangement in a way that it is suitable for e.g. reporter purposes, the known transmission arrangement has the disadvantage, that it is not suitable for reporter purposes. However, to make this possible, the known transmission arrangement is further characterized according to the features of claim 1. The first transmitter is characterized according to claim 12 and the second mobile transmitter is characterized according to claim 21. Preferred exemplary embodiments of the transmission arrangement and the transmitters are characterized by the dependent claims.
The invention is based on the following inventive idea.
Until now, the transmission arrangement transmits the signals only via one way. For reportage purposes, in particular for live broadcasting, it is important to transmit the signals without errors.
The invention is intended to realize a robust mobile transmission by means of 100 percent 2-way-redundance with off-the-shelf hardware, namely two mobile transmitters, such as e.g. smartphones and an app for recording. The app for transmitting, the usability and the operation method of the reporter and of the receiver remains unrevised. By means of the separated/redundant transmission connections, a flawless IP transmission can be ensured, even at a (not uninterruptible) cell-handover (a switch of the mobile transmitter from one mobile radio cell to another) or at a black-out of a network.
It should be mentioned, that it is already known to transmit an information signal by means of two or more radio broadcasting transmission paths. In particular, it is referred to U.S. Pat. No. 7,948,933. Here, the transmission is carried out by means of professional devices. Normally, such devices are not directly available. However, a transmission by means of mobile phones is not mentioned.
It also should be mentioned, that a smart phone for reporter purposes is already known from a product of LiveU Inc., the Smartgrip product. This product bears the disadvantage that an additional device is permanently required for connecting the smartphone with a Wi-Fi or a MiFi network.
It also should be mentioned, that a receiver for receiving of the first and the third IP transmission signals and for processing these transmission signals is already known, too. Products of Protonet of Prodys or the product C11 of Mayah are applicable.
Finally, it should be noted that US20120327846 discloses a transmission arrangement provided with two mobile transmitters to transmit an information signal to a receiver. However, both transmitter transmit their transmission signals via the same transmission network. This makes the transmission of the information signal very vulnerable for breakdown of the network. Contrary to this, according to the invention, the first and second transmitters transmit their transmission signals via different transmission networks.
Therefore, breakdown of one of the networks does not harm the transmission of the information signal to the receiver
The objects of the present invention are achieved as described in the attached claims, which are considered an integral part of the present description.
In the following description of the figures, the invention is illustrated in more detail by means of several exemplary embodiments.
It shows:
The first and third transmission paths should run via different transmission networks. This means that, as an example, the first transmission path could run via a 3G transmission network, whilst the third transmission path could run via a 4G transmission network, or vice versa. Or, the first transmission path could run via a first mobile telephone provider, whilst the third transmission path could run via a different mobile telephone provider. Or, the first transmission path could run via a mobile telephone provider and the third transmission path could run via a WLAN hotspot, or vice versa.
The first information signal, e.g. in form of a data compressed audio signal, such as a MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) encoded or AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoded signal, can be applied to the input unit, in this case in form of an input terminal 120, of the transmitter 102. However, it should be mentioned that also other information signals, such as digital video signals, can be applied to the transmitter and can be transmitted to the receiver 104.
The transmitter 102 contains a converter unit 122 which stores the first information signal provided at the input 120 in subsequent blocks, and which converts the subsequent blocks of the information signal into subsequent IP information blocks. In
In addition, depending on the exact type of the first transmission path 106, further headers can be inserted at the beginning, which, in case of a 3G or 4G transmission path, are indicated as 3G layer (3G LYR) or 4G layer (4G LYR) in
The first mobile transmitter 102 is further provided with a second converter unit 126. The converter unit 126 is adapted to convert the first information signal provided at the input terminal 120 into a second transmission signal and to transmit the second transmission signal to the second transmitter 108 via the second transmission path 110. The second transmission path is, in general, an IP transmission path, e.g. a WiFi transmission path. The second transmission path 110 can also be, e.g., a BT (Bluetooth) transmission path. If applicable, establishing the communication between the two transmitters 102 and 108 can be facilitated by using a QR code or NFC (Near Field Communication), as will be discussed later.
In the converter unit 126, the first information signal can be converted to an error correction signal, or particularly not converted to an error correction signal. In the latter case, and assuming the second transmission path 110 is also an IP transmission path, the subsequent blocks of the first information signal are converted into subsequent IP information blocks. An exemplary embodiment of the IP information blocks is shown in
In the exemplary embodiment of the first transmitter 102, two separate antennas 124a and 124b are provided in the antenna arrangement 124. However, this is not required. The two first and second transmission signals can also be emitted by means of a shared antenna, assuming the shared antenna is suitable for emitting the two signals.
In case the audio information in the converter unit 126 is converted into an error correction signal, a second transmission signal is generated, as shown as an example in
The error correction indicator FEC specifies that and how the first information signal has to be error corrected when received. The conversion in the converter unit 126 can be implemented in different ways. In a first exemplary embodiment, the conversion implies that the first information signal is stored in the IP information blocks IPB3 amended. Thus, the error correction indicator FEC has a determined value.
In a second exemplary embodiment, the conversion in the converter unit 126 implies that a XOR processing step is carried out on subsequent blocks of the first information signal. For example, a XOR processing step is carried out on directly subsequent blocks of the first information signal. Carrying out the XOR processing step on two blocks of the first information signal spaced apart N blocks from each other is also possible. N may be a distinct integer, such as 1, 2, 3, . . . . Depending on the value of N, the error correction indicator in the FEC header hence comprises a different value.
XOR processing steps between information blocks are known per se. Hence, a detailed description is not necessary.
The IP headers in the IP information blocks IPB3 in the second transmission signal according to
In another exemplary embodiment of the first transmitter 102, for example, a Bluetooth transmission path with the second transmitter 108 is realized. In this case, the converter unit 126 generates a second transmission signal as shown in
The second mobile transmitter 108 of the transmission arrangement 100 in
The error correction indicator FEC states that and how the first information signal is to be error corrected when it is received at the receiver 104. The conversion in the converter unit 134 into an error correction signal can be realized in different ways, as already specified before. In a first exemplary embodiment, the conversion in the converter unit 134 implies that the changed first information signal is stored in the IP information blocks IPB4. The error correction indicator in the FEC header hence has a determined value.
In a second exemplary embodiment, the conversion in the converter unit 134 implies that a XOR processing step is carried out on subsequent blocks of the first information signal.
For example, a XOR processing step is carried out on directly subsequent blocks of the first information signal. Carrying out the XOR processing step on two blocks of the first information signal spaced apart N blocks from each other is also possible. N may be a distinct integer, such as 1, 2, 3, . . . . Depending on the value of N, the error correction indicator in the FEC header hence comprises a different value.
The converter unit 134 is further adapted to convert the second destination IP addresses in the IP headers of the second transmission signal 204 into the first destination IP addresses, which are stored in the IP header of the information blocks IPB4 in the third transmission signal according to
In the exemplary embodiment in which the second mobile transmitter 108 receives a transmission signal 301 according to
In another exemplary embodiment in which the second mobile transmitter 108 receives a transmission signal according to
In yet another exemplary embodiment in which the second transmitter 108 receivers a transmission signal according to
The operation method of the receiver 104 is discussed in the following. As mentioned above, a receiver suitable for this application is already known per se. The receiver 104 contains a receiving antenna arrangement 150, in this exemplary embodiment with a first receiving antenna 150a for receiving the transmission signal 202 transmitted via the first transmission path 106 and a second receiving antenna 150b for receiving the transmission signal 301 transmitted via the second transmission path 112. Antenna amplifiers 150c and 150d may be provided to amplify the received transmission signals which are fed to a signal processing unit 152. The received transmission signals are decoded in the signal processing unit 152, i.e. the information content as contained in the Payload block parts of the IP information blocks IPB1 (see
If errors are detected in the received transmission signal 202, an error correction is carried out in the processing unit 152 by replacing a damaged information block in the transmission signal 202 with an error-free information block of the transmission signal 301 which corresponds to said damaged information block.
If the error correction conversion carried out at the transmission end means nothing else than that the information signal is transmitted amended via the second transmitter 108 to the receiver 104, the error correction on the receiver end means nothing more than replacing an defective or missing information block in the transmission signal 202 with the information block of the transmission signal 301 which corresponds to the defective or missing information block.
If the error correction conversion, as carried out on the sending end, e.g., is realized by means of a linkage of subsequent information blocks, at first, an inverted linkage should be carried out in the receiver to obtain the individual information blocks, wherein, again, a defective or missing information block in the transmission signal 202 can be replaced with the information block of the transmission signal 301 which corresponds to the defective or missing information block.
The functioning according to the invention can be realized within a SIP Proxy unit (app) which thus may be installed in the first transmitter 102. A setup as shown by means of the transmitter 502 in
Since the SIP protocol in general supports an error correction, an error protection can be added to the signalling without the necessity of the transmitter application in the first transmitter 102/502 to support the error correction itself. The RTP communication is hence lopped in and diverted by the SIP Proxy unit 510 and transmitted to the second transmitter 108/508 as an error corrected transmission signal (assuming the error correction is already carried out in the first transmitter 102/502).
As already mentioned above, the first information signal may, e.g., be a data compressed audio signal, such as a MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) encoded or AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoded signal. It was mentioned furthermore, that also other information signals, such as digital video signals, can be provided to the first transmitter and transmitted to the receiver 104. Because video signals in general comprise a big data volume, the data transmission paths 110 and 112 (see
In the following, establishing the transmission path 110 between the first transmitter 102 and the second transmitter 108 by means of an initiation step via NFC or QR code is discussed. Furthermore, information is transmitted from the first transmitter 102 to the second transmitter 108 by means of said initiation step, in order that the third transmission path 112 between the second transmitter 108 and the receiver 104 can be established. The first transmission path 106 is established by a call from the first transmitter 102 to the receiver 104, including a request to the receiver 104 to send a (first) destination IP address and a first and second UDP port address of said receiver. An initiation step is started by holding the first and the second transmitter close to each other, whereby information is transmitted between the two transmitters 102 and 108 by means of NFC (Near Field Communication). The information e.g. contains
Thus, for the first transmitter 102 it is possible to establish the first transmission path 106 to the receiver 104 and the second transmission path 110 to the second transmitter 108, whereby the second transmitter 108 is capable to establish the third transmission path 112 with the receiver 104.
In another exemplary embodiment, instead of using NFC, the initiation step can be started by creating a QR code on a screen of the first transmitter 102, which is read by the second transmitter 108. Thus, the information mentioned above can be exchanged between the two transmitters for establishing the two transmission paths 110 and 112.
It should be mentioned that first calling the receiver 104 with the transmitter 102 for transmitting the destination address and the two port addresses is not essential. This may also take place later, namely after the initiation step. Thus, the destination address and the second port address have to be transmitted later.
Further implementation details will not be described, as the man skilled in the art is able to carry out the invention starting from the teaching of the above description.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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TO2014A000102 | Feb 2014 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2015/052562 | 2/6/2015 | WO | 00 |