Broadcast receiver and method

摘要

A television broadcast receiver comprises demodulator circuitry, host circuitry and an interface formed between the demodulator circuitry and the host circuitry. The demodulator circuitry is arranged in operation to receive a broadcast signal carrying a plurality of data streams on a respective plurality of data physical layer pipes and one or more common physical layer pipes, each of the data physical layer pipes carrying at least a unique portion of a corresponding one of the data streams, and the common physical layer pipes carrying a common portion of two or more of the plurality of data streams. The demodulator circuitry is arranged to identify each of the data physical layer pipes and the common physical layer pipes present in the broadcast signal and to determine an association between the common physical layer pipes and the data physical layer pipes, and to store the determined association between the common physical layer pipes and the data physical layer pipes in a data store. The demodulator circuitry is arranged to communicate an identification of each of the data physical layer pipes present in the broadcast signal to the host circuitry via the interface. The host circuitry is arranged in operation to communicate, to the demodulator circuit via the interface, an identification of a selected data physical layer pipe which carries a desired one of the plurality of data streams. The demodulator circuitry is arranged in operation to determine, from the stored association between the data physical layer pipes and the common physical layer pipes, a common physical layer pipe associated with the selected data physical layer pipe, to extract, from the broadcast signal, the selected data physical layer pipe and the determined associated common physical layer pipe, and to combine the extracted data physical layer pipe and common physical layer pipe to obtain the desired one of the plurality of data streams for output. By handling the common physical layer pipes at the demodulation circuitry rather than at the host circuitry, the amount of data crossing the interface between the demodulator circuitry and the host circuitry can be reduced. The television receiver can be used for receiving television signals generated in accordance with, for example, the DVB-T2 standard.