Patent ID: 7764608

Claim:
A transmission formatting arrangement comprising: a plurality of inputs each for receiving a data stream; a coding stage or a shaper having a plurality of inputs each for receiving data from the data streams, and a plurality of outputs that each form a variable rate bit stream, wherein the coding stage comprises a plurality of data encoders or transcoders which each encode or transcode one of the data streams to generate an encoded or transcoded variable rate bit stream or a plurality of flow controllers which each form a variable rate bit stream by flow control of a data source, and wherein the coding stage varies operation of the encoders or flow controllers to ensure that the sum of the plurality of variable rate bit streams is less than a predetermined maximum bit rate; a multiplexer which combines the output variable rate bit streams of the coding stage and/or the shaper to form an output stream; a modulation stage that uses a plurality of different modulation schemes to modulate the bit streams onto an output bearer; and a controller that controls an amount of data arriving at the modulation stage, the controller generating an amount of dummy data as an input, and wherein the transmission formatting arrangement further comprises a filter which removes the dummy data before the modulation stage.