Patent ID: 7342968

Claim:
A method for transmitting a program bearing systems layer signal comprising a plurality of sequential segments of systems layer information, each of at least some of the systems layer segments of the plurality comprising a segment of an elementary stream representing at least part of the program, and a segment of information specific to the systems layer but not any elementary stream, the method comprising the steps of: (a) maintaining a dynamically updated model that relates an ES bit rate of the elementary stream in the system layer segments of the plurality to a SYS bit rate of ones of the systems layer segments of the systems layer stream, (b) generating a first target value related to a target for one of the ES or SYS bit rates, (c) generating from the model and first target value, a second target value related to a target for the other of the ES and SYS bit rates, and (d) controlling the generation of the sequential segments of the systems layer signal in an attempt to transmit the elementary stream and systems layer segments at bit rates corresponding to the first and second target values, so as to generate a rate-controlled output systems layer signal comprising the elementary stream and systems layer segments at bit rates controlled corresponding to the first and second target values.