Patent ID: 6847659

Claim:
A method for reconfiguring protocol data when reducing a multiplexed data stream, comprising the steps of: receiving at a transcoder an inbound multiplexed data stream having: an all-inclusive program association table (PAT) identified by a first packet identifier (PID); and an all-inclusive protocol base PID stream identified by a second PID; a plurality of pre-defined multiplexed data stream subgroups, each subgroup carrying one or more services; one or more hidden PATs, each of said hidden PATs being associated with an allowable predefined combination of said multiplexed data stream subgroups and identified by a PID chosen from a first set of PIDs; and a hidden protocol data (HPD) base PID stream corresponding to each hidden PAT, each HPD base PID stream identified by a PID chosen from a second set of PIDs; selecting one hidden PAT corresponding to a desired multiplexed data stream subgroup combination; determining the protocol data makeup of the desired multiplexed data stream subgroup combination from the HPD base PID stream corresponding to the selected hidden PAT; discarding one or more of the all-inclusive PAT, the all-inclusive protocol base PID stream, any unused hidden PATs and HPD base PID streams, and any subgroups not contained in the desired multiplexed data stream subgroup combination; re-mapping the selected hidden PAT to a first predetermined PID; re-mapping the HPD base PID stream corresponding to the selected hidden PAT to a second predetermined PID; and outputting the re-mapped PAT and the re-mapped HPD base PID stream from the transcoder with the desired multiplexed data stream subgroup combination.