Importance

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Abstract

In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a degree of hierarchical modulation can be varied as a function of satellite position, which can be related to time of day, and where such hierarchical modulation can be a combination of phase and amplitude shifts. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as each satellite in a multiple satellite system broadcasting to North America moves towards a D-node or an A-node position, the offset angle of a phase-based hierarchical modulation scheme can be varied. Thus, in exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the lowest satellite position in the sky can have the lowest offset angle for overlay bits, which offset angle can, for example, progressively increase as the position of the satellite in the sky increases. At a satellite's highest point in the sky, the overlay offset angle can, for example, thus be at its maximum. To aid a receiver to receive such varying overlay modulated data, the value of a varying overlay offset angle (for each satellite) can be embedded in an Overlay Identification Marker (OIM) in the bit stream broadcast by that satellite. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention each satellite broadcast receiver can thus decode each satellite's signal, knowing its respective instantaneous overlay offset angle. The receiver can then use this information to appropriately correct MRC weightings (weighting more heavily the (higher lying) satellite with the higher degree of Layer 2 modulation) before it is MRC combined across various received signal streams. Similar methods can be implemented for other overlay modulation techniques, and the method can be extended to a broadcast system using N satellites, each having a varying degree of Layer 2 modulation.

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First Claim