Patent ID: 7249291

Claim:
A method for communicating the content of a live data stream to a receiver using a plurality of channels comprising one or more main channels having at least two sub-channels, the method comprising: receiving a first segment of a live data stream, the first segment, S 0 , containing first segment data; applying a forward error correction algorithm the first segment data to produce a corresponding transmit block, T 0 ; dividing the T 0 block into two or more T 0 sub-blocks, wherein each of the two or more T 0 sub-blocks comprise substantially distinct FEC-encoded first segment data; transmitting a first of the two or more T 0 sub-blocks to a receiver on a first main sub-channel; receiving a second segment of the live data stream, the second segment, S 1 , containing second segment data; applying a forward error correction algorithm to the second segment data to produce a transmit block T 1 ; dividing the T 1 block into two or more T 1 sub-blocks, wherein each of the two or more T 1 sub-blocks comprises substantially distinct FEC-encoded second segment data; transmitting substantially concurrently, the second of the two or more T 0 sub-blocks on the first main sub-channel and a first of the two or more T 1 sub-blocks on a second main sub-channel.