Transmission frame structure for a satellite digital audio radio system

A transmission frame representing data embodied in a transmission signal having a center frequency and at least one carrier wave, the transmission frame comprising:

• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field;
• a global information field;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and cluster control information.

A transmission frame representing data embodied in a transmission signal having a center frequency and at least one carrier wave, the transmission frame comprising:

• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster channel synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit cluster synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information which are duplicates of each other.

A transmission frame representing data embodied in a transmission signal having a center frequency and at least one carrier wave, the transmission frame comprising:

• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit cluster synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits and wherein the cluster synchronization word is the same for each of the M clusters of data;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits and wherein the global channel information word represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information, which are duplicates of each other, and wherein the cluster control information represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded, and wherein each of the at least k program channels represents audio-encoded data.

A receiver comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a received transmission frame, the received transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field;
• a global information field;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and cluster control information;
• and
• a demultiplexer for separating out each of the M clusters of data.

A receiver comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a received transmission frame, the transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit channel synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information which are duplicates of each other;
• and
• a demultiplexer for separating out each of the M clusters of data.

A receiver comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a received transmission frame, the transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit cluster synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits and wherein the cluster synchronization word is the same for each of the M clusters of data;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits and wherein the global channel information word represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information, which are duplicates of each other, and wherein the cluster control information represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded, and wherein each of the at least k program channels represents audio encoded data;
• and
• a demultiplexer for separating out each of the M clusters of data.

A transmitter comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a transmission frame, the transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field;
• a global information field;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and cluster control information;
• and
• a modulator for transmitting the transmission frame.

A transmitter comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a transmission frame, the transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit channel synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information which are duplicates of each other;
• and
• a modulator for transmitting the transmission frame.

A transmitter comprising:

• circuitry that provides a base-band signal representing a transmission frame, the transmission frame comprising
• an interleaved sequence of cluster segments, the cluster segments taken from M clusters of data, each cluster of data comprising J cluster segments, where M>1 and J>1;
• wherein each cluster segment of a respective cluster comprises:
• a cluster synchronization field comprising at least c bits taken from a (J)(c) bit cluster synchronization word not larger than (J)(c) bits and wherein the cluster synchronization word is the same for each of the M clusters of data;
• a global channel information field comprising a g bits taken from a global channel information word not larger than (J)(g) bits and wherein the global channel information word represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded;
• and
• a program cluster segment of a program cluster, wherein the program cluster represents at least k program channels, where k>1, and two fields of cluster control information, which are duplicates of each other, and wherein the cluster control information represents data first block coded and then convolutionally coded, and wherein each of the at least k program channels represents audio encoded data;
• and
• a modulator for transmitting the transmission frame.