Generating and communicating source identification information to enable reliable communications

摘要

A method of generating Source Identification information from a source packet stream and reliably transmitting the Source Identification information from a source to a destination over a communications channel is provided. The method operates on a set of source packets, wherein Source Identification information for each source packet to be transmitted is derived and delivered with the Source Identification information of all or most other source packets of an associated source block. The method includes techniques to minimize the network bandwidth required to deliver Source Identification information and techniques to overcome network impairments. When combined with FEC techniques, retransmission techniques, or combinations of FEC techniques and retransmission techniques, the methods described herein allow receivers to recover lost source packets, while simultaneously ensuring that the original source packets are not modified and thereby ensuring backwards compatibility for legacy receivers.

主权项

1. A method for generating and transmitting source identification data for source data, wherein the source data has been divided into K source data units, wherein K is greater than one, wherein the source identification data can be used to identify the position of source data units relative to other source data units and to identify lost or corrupted source data units, the method comprising:
generating source identification data from the K source data units; transmitting a first data stream to a receiver, wherein the first data stream comprises a set of the source data units, wherein the first data stream does not have the source identification data; and transmitting a second data stream to the receiver, wherein the second data stream comprises the source identification data, wherein the second data stream is distinct from the first data stream, wherein the source identification data is distinct from the set of the source data units transmitted on the first data stream, and wherein the source identification data is usable to identify source data units in the set of source data units transmitted on the first data stream.