VSB transmission system for processing supplemental transmission data

A VSB supplemental data processor for use with a VSB transmission system to provide a supplemental data signal and an MPEG data signal thereto, wherein the VSB transmission system modulates at least one data field comprising a plurality of segments that includes at least one segment formed from the supplemental data signal and at least one segment formed from the MPEG data signal, the VSB supplemental data processor being configured to preprocess the supplemental data signal, the VSB supplemental data processor comprising:

• a forward error correction coder that codes only the supplemental data signal;
• a null bits inserter for inserting a plurality of null bits to only the supplemental data signal subjected to the forward error correction coder;
• a header inserter for inserting a header to only the supplemental data signal having the null bits inserted therein;
• and
• a multiplexer for multiplexing the MPEG data signal and the supplemental data signal having the header inserted thereto in at least one of a predetermined multiplexing ratio and unit.

A method for supplemental data packet and an MPEG data packet in a VSB transmitter comprising a VSB supplemental data processor and a VSB transmission system, the method comprising the steps of:

• preprocessing the supplemental data packet, the preprocessing step comprising:
• subjecting only the supplemental data packet comprising a first preset number of bytes to a Reed-Solomon coding and adding a Reed-Solomon parity data comprising a second preset number of bytes to the supplemental data packet;
• interleaving the coded supplemental data packet;
• inserting null bits into only the interleaved supplemental data packet for producing at least one supplemental data packet comprising a third preset number of bytes;
• adding an MPEG header comprising a fourth preset number of bytes to each one of the supplemental data packets;
• and
• multiplexing the MPEG data packet with the preprocessed supplemental data packet at a preset multiplexing ratio;
• and
• modulating the data multiplexed at the preset multiplexing information ratio through the VSB transmission system.