Patent EA-001040-B1 (EA)
Title: Satellite direct radio broadcast system
Inventor: CAMPANELLA S JOSEPH
IPC: H04H20/00
Filed: 1996-12-06
Abstract: 1. A communication system comprising: a plurality of frequency division uplinks, each uplink comprising an information channel; a space segment receiving the uplinks, restoring data from the information channels in the uplinks to baseband data, and combining data from selected information channels into at least one time division multiplex signal; at least one time division multiplex downlink comprising a time division multiplex signal; and a broadcast station for transmitting a source signal divided among selected ones of the plurality of frequency division uplinks, each of the selected uplinks comprising information designating the selected uplinks as related. 2. The communication system of claim 1 including a plurality of uniform-rate uplinks. 3. The communication system of claim 1 wherein the uplinks each comprise at least one uniform rate channel and an audio source program is divided among a plurality of uniform rate channels. 4. The communication system of claim 3 wherein the audio source program is characterized by one of a plurality of qualities of service for broadcasting the audio signal comprising amplitude modulated monaural signal quality, frequency modulated monaural signal quality, frequency modulated stereo signal quality, and optical disc stereo signal quality. 5. The communication system of claim 1 further including a radio receiving a time division multiplexed downlink and generating an output from a selectable plurality of uniform rate information channels. 6. The communication system of claim 1 wherein the broadcast station transmits an audio signal as a plurality of related frequency division uplinks, each uplink including information designating the uplinks as related. 7. The communication system of claim 1 wherein the broadcast station transmits scrambled audio signals as a plurality of related frequency division u plinks, each uplink including information designating the uplinks as related. 8. The system of claim 1 further including a satellite control station that commands the space segment to reconfigure routing of selected uplink information channels into the downlink. 9. The system of claim 1 further including a satellite control station that commands the space segment to reconfigure routing of selected uplink information channels into a plurality of downlinks. 10. The communication system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of time division multiplex downlinks. 11. The communication system of claim 10 further comprising a satellite control station that commands the space segment to route selected uplink information channels into selected ones of the plurality of time division multiplex downlinks. 12. The communication system of claim 1 wherein the information channel comprises data selected from the group consisting of paging signals, video, graphic images, database data, file transfer data, maps and text. 13. A radio receiver for use in a communication system, said communication system including a plurality of frequency division uplinks and a time division multiplex downlink, said downlink including information from related uplinks, said radio receiver comprising: a demodulator,  demultiplexer; and a decoder that generates a composite output signal from information from a relat ed ensemble of uplinks. 14. The receiver of claim 13 for use in a communication system, said system including a plurality of scrambled frequency division uplinks, said receiver further including a selectable control device that descrambles a scrambled uplink in response to an authorizing signal. 15. A communication system for the broadcast and reception of programs comprising: a plurality of frequency division multiplex uplinks, each uplink including at least one information channel, the programs consisting of a variable number of uniform rate channels that are each characterized by a minimum signal rate, the information channel in each uplink comprising at least one uniform rate channel corresponding to a respective one of the programs, each uniform rate channel having a corresponding control word, the system being programmable to combine uniform rate channels corresponding to at least one program and located in different information channels into a digital signal group having a higher signal rate than the minimum signal rate and to provide the control word in each uniform rate channel in the digital signal group with at least one bit to indicate that the uniform rate channel belongs to the digital signal group; a space segment receiving the uplinks, restoring data from the information channels to baseband data, and combining the baseband data from selected information channels into at least one time division multiplexed signal;and at least one time division multiplex downlink including the time division multiplexed signal. 16. The system of claim 15 wherein each control word comprises data selected from the group consisting of bits representing a number of related digital signal groups, bits uniquely identifying the digital signal group to which a uniform rate channel associated with the control word belongs, bits representing the number of the uniform rate channels in the corresponding digital signal group, bits uniquely identifying the uniform rate channel corresponding to the control word, bits representing a number of sub-ensembles constituting at least one digital signal group, bits representing the number of uniform rate channels in a sub-ensemble, and bits uniquely identifying a sub-ensemble. 17. The system of claim 15 further comprising a receiver configured to receive the time division multiplex downlink, to demultiplex the uniform rate channels transmitted in the time division multiplex downlink, and to recombine the selected information signals corresponding to the program using the control words. 18. A method of broadcasting a program to at least one receiver via a space segment comprising the steps of: formatting a program into a plurality of uniform rate channels, each uniform rate channel having a corresponding control word indicating that the uniform rate channel is related to another uniform rate channel; modulating the uniform rate channels onto different ones of a plurality of frequency division uplinks; processing the uplinks via the space segment to recover the uniform rate channels as baseband data; and routing the baseband data into selected time slots in at least one time division multiplex downlink signal. 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the routing step comprises the step of routing the baseband data into selected time slots in selected ones of a plurality of time division multiplex downlink signals. 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of generating control signals to dynamically control routing of baseband data into one of the downlink signals by the space segment. 21. The method of claim 18 wherein the formatting step comprises the step of combining an audio program with ancillary data selected from the group consisting of paging signals, video, graphic images, database data, file transfer data, maps and text into a number of related uniform rate channels. 22. The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of: receiving the time division multiplex downlink signal from the space segment; demultiplexing the time division multiplex downlink signal to recover the uniform rate channels transmitted therein;  and recombining the uniform rate channels corresponding to the program using the control words. 23. A receiver for receiving a time domain multiplex downlink signal comprising a plurality of time division multiplex channels, the receiver comprising: an antenna for receiving said downlink signal; a demodulator for demodulating said downlink signal to recover a time division multiplex bit stream; and a demultiplexer for demultiplexing a plurality of prime rate channels from said time division multiplex bit stream, said prime rate channels each comprising a control word indicating to which of a plurality of broadcast programs each said prime rate channel belongs, and for recombining said prime rate channels corresponding to a selected broadcast program using said control words. 24. The receiver of claim 23 wherein each of said prime rate channels is a uniform rate channel. 25. The receiver of claim 24 wherein different numbers of said uniform rate channels are combined to create respective ones of said plurality of broadcast programs having different bit rates, said receiver being operable to recover said uniform rate channels corresponding to said selected broadcast program using said control word in each of said uniform rate channels. 26. The receiver of claim 25 wherein said plurality of broadcast programs are characterized by different qualities of service corresponding to said different bit rates. 27. The receiver of claim 26 wherein said selected broadcast program is characterized by a quality of service selected from a group of qualities of service consisting of amplitude modulated monaural signal quality, frequency modulated monaural signal quality, frequency modulated stereo signal quality, and optical disc stereo signal quality. 28. The receiver of claim 23 wherein said selected broadcast program comprises a first group of prime rate channels in said plurality of prime rate channels corresponding to an audio program and a second group of prime rate channels in said plurality of prime rate channels corresponding to an ancillary program, said control word in each o f said prime rate channels of said first group and said second group comprising data relating said first group and said second group to said selected broadcast program and said prime rate channel corresponding to said control word to one of said first group and said second group. 29. The receiver of claim 28 wherein said ancillary program comprises at least one type of data selected from the group consisting of video, text, graphics, paging signals, database data, and file transf