Wideband direct-to-home broadcasting satellite communications system and method

A method for transmitting programming content in a direct-to-home satellite communications system, comprising:

• receiving and encoding a plurality of signals of programming content;
• multiplexing a plurality of the encoded signals in a wideband format;
• and
• uplinking the multiplexed encoded signals,
• whereby the plurality of encoded signals are transmitted in a wideband transponder.

A direct-to-home satellite broadcasting system, comprising:

• a contribution network;
• a broadcast center;
• an uplink facility;
• a space segment;
• and
• consumer equipment for receiving satellite broadcast signals.

Consumer equipment for a direct-to-home satellite communications system, comprising:

• a tuner/demodulator;
• and
• a wideband demultiplexer receiving signals from the tuner/demodulator,
• wherein different demultiplexed signals can be fed simultaneously into different playback devices from the wideband demultiplexer.

A method for scheduling transmission of real-time and non-real time content in a communications system, comprising:

• allocating a start time for transmitting a plurality of real-time content, each having a respective bit rate;
• determining a remaining bandwidth available for satellite communications after deducting transmission of the real-time content and system information;
• and
• scheduling non-real time content according to file size for concurrent transmission with real-time content,
• whereby instantaneous remaining capacity is minimized.

A satellite broadcasting system, comprising:

• a broadcast center for encoding program content for transmission in a transport stream, wherein the broadcast center includes software-based encoders;
• and
• a transponder for transmission of program content from the broadcast center,
• wherein the software-based encoders enable generation of signals with different encoding standards within the transport stream.

A method for scheduling transmission of content in a broadcasting system, comprising:

• reading a schedule of content to be transmitted, wherein each item of content is grouped into a plurality of segments, and for each segment of each item of content,
• (i) if the item of content to be transmitted is real-time content,
• sending the real-time content to the playout buffer during the period of time scheduled for playback, and
• calculating the remaining bandwidth available after transmission of the real time content;
• (ii) if the item of content to be transmitted is a carousel,
• calculating the block size, number of blocks and repetition rate to fit within the available bandwidth based upon the file size and bandwidth allocation,
• sending blocks of the non-linear carousel to the playout buffer, and
• calculating the remaining bandwidth available after transmission of the carousel content;
• and
• (iii) if the item of content is a file,
• transmit a percentage of the file according to the available bandwidth and priority associated with transmission of the file,
• wherein the schedule is re-read after each calculation of the remaining bandwidth available.

A direct-to-home satellite broadcasting system, comprising:

• a broadcast center;
• an uplink facility;
• a space segment;
• and
• consumer equipment for receiving satellite broadcast signals, wherein the consumer equipment includes a transmitter for providing a return channel.