Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving packet in communication system

10958376 ยท 2021-03-23

Assignee

Inventors

Cpc classification

International classification

Abstract

A method for transmitting a packet for N data streams in a communication system is provided. The method includes dividing each of the data streams into data payloads and adding a header for discriminating between the N data streams to each of the data payloads, determining, from the source packet flow, an FEC source formed by source packets generated from an (NM) number of data streams, distinguishing at least one source packet block, generating a source symbol block from the at least one distinguished source packet block, generating a repair symbol block formed by at least one repair symbol, determining a repair flow ID for identifying a repair flow formed by the repair symbols generated from the FEC source packet flow, generating an FEC repair packet by adding a header to each of the repair symbols of the repair flow, and transmitting the source packet and the FEC repair packet.

Claims

1. A method of receiving a forward error correction (FEC) repair packet in a broadcasting system, the method comprising: receiving the FEC repair packet; and recovering a source symbol block from the FEC repair packet, wherein the FEC repair packet is generated by converting a source packet block comprising a plurality of packets into to source symbol block and encoding the source symbol block using a FEC code, wherein the FEC repair packet comprises a packet header and a repair FEC payload identification (ID), wherein the packet header comprises information on a FEC type indicating a type of FEC scheme used for the encoding, a packet ID and a packet sequence number for distinguishing packets that comprise a same packet ID, and wherein a value of the packet sequence number starts from an arbitrary value and is incremented by one for each of the packets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the FEC type indicating a predetermined value, the repair FEC payload ID comprises: information on a sequence number indicating the lowest packet of at least one packet having the same packet ID in the source symbol block which is protected by the FEC repair packet, and information on a number of the at least one packet.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving FEC configuration information including information indicating a coding structure applied for the source packet block.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a network topology and a data flow according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) media transport (MMT) system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(4) FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an MMT packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(5) FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of configuration information included in an MMT package according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(6) FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating formats of a source packet, a source symbol, and a forward error correction (FEC) repair packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(7) FIGS. 5B and 5C are block diagrams illustrating formats of a source payload, a source symbol, and an FEC repair packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(8) FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet header and an FEC repair payload identification (ID) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(9) FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet header for a source packet, an MMT packet header for an FEC repair packet, and an FEC repair payload ID thereof, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(10) FIG. 6C is a diagram illustrating a format of an FEC repair payload ID including FEC configuration info according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(11) FIG. 6D is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet for an AL-FEC message and an AL-FEC message that includes FEC configuration info according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(12) FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating a method of configuring a source packet flow according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(13) FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a method of configuring two FEC source packet flows from a source packet flow, and generating a repair flow for each FEC source packet flow, and an MMT packet header and an FEC repair payload ID, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(14) FIG. 8A is a block diagram illustrating a transmitter for packet protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(15) FIG. 8B is a block diagram illustrating a transmitter for payload protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(16) FIG. 9A is a block diagram illustrating a receiver for packet protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

(17) FIG. 9B is a block diagram illustrating a receiver for payload protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

(18) FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operations of configuring a source symbol block according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(19) Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(20) The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

(21) The terms words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

(22) It is to be understood that the singular forms a, an, and the include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to a component surface includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

(23) By the term substantially it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

(24) First, the terminologies used in the present disclosure are listed in Table 2 as provided below.

(25) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Terms Descriptions access unit smallest media data entity to which timing information can be attributed asset any multimedia data entity that is associated with a unique identifier and that is used for building a multimedia presentation code rate ratio between the number of source symbols and the number of encoding symbols encoding symbol unit of data generated by the encoding process encoding symbol set of encoding symbols block FEC code algorithm for encoding data such that the encoded data flow is resilient to data loss FEC encoded flow logical set of flows that consist of an FEC source flow and one or more associated FEC repair flows FEC payload ID identifier that identifies the contents of a MMT packet with respect to the MMT FEC scheme FEC repair flow data flow carrying repair symbols to protect and FEC source flow FEC repair packet MMT packet along with repair FEC payload identifier to deliver one or more repair symbols of a repair symbol block FEC source flow flow of MMT packet protected by an MMT FEC scheme FEC source packet MMT packet along with source FEC payload identifier media fragment fragment of a media processing unit unit media processing generic container for independently decodable unit timed or non-timed data this is media codec agnostic MMT entity software and/or hardware implementation that is compliant to a profile of MMT MMT FEC scheme forward error correction procedure that defines the additional protocol aspects required to use an FEC scheme in MMT MMT packet formatted unit of the media data to be delivered using the MMT protocol MMT payload formatted unit of media data to carry MMT packages and/or signaling messages using either the MMT protocol or an Internet application layer transport protocols (e.g. RTP) MMT protocol application layer transport protocol for delivering MMT payload over IP networks MMT receiving MMT entity that receives and consumes media entity data MMT sending MMT entity that sends media data to one or more entity MMT receiving entities non-timed data media data that do not have inherent timeline for the decoding and/or presenting of its media content package logical collection of media data, delivered using MMT repair FEC payload FEC payload ID for repair packets ID repair symbol encoding symbol that contains redundancy information for error correction repair symbol block set of repair symbols which can be used to recover lost source symbols source FEC payload FEC payload ID for source packets ID source packet segmented set of FEC source flow that is to be block protected as a single block source symbol unit of data to be encoded by an FEC encoding process source symbol set of source symbols generated from a single block source packet block timed data any data that has inherent timeline information for the decoding and/or presentation of its media contents

(26) Hereinafter, parity and repair are interchangeably used to indicate the same meaning.

(27) FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a network topology and a data flow according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(28) Referring to FIG. 1A, the network topology includes a host A 102 that operates as a transmitter and a host B 108 that operates as a receiver, and the host A 102 and the host B 108 may be connected through one or more routers 104 and 106. The host A 102 and the host B 108 are connected to the routers 104 and 106 through Ethernet 118 and 122, and the routers 104 and 106 are connected to each other through an optical fiber, satellite communication, or other possible means 120. A data flow between the host A 102 and the host B 108 may proceed through a link layer 116, an Internet layer 114, a transport layer 112, and an application layer 110.

(29) Referring to FIG. 1B, the application layer 110 may generate data 130 to be transmitted, through an application layer forward error correction (AL-FEC). The data 130 may be real time protocol (RTP) packet data that is obtained by dividing data that is compressed in an audio/video (AV) codec end using a RTP, or Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) media transport (MMT) packet data according to MMT. By the transport layer 112, the data 130 may be converted into, for example, a user datagram protocol (UDP) packet 132 to which a UDP header is inserted. The internet layer 114 may generate an Internet protocol (IP) packet 134 by adding an IP header to the UDP packet 132, and the link layer 116 may configure a frame 116 to be transmitted by adding, to the IP packet 134, a frame header 136 and a frame footer 138 as needed.

(30) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a MMT system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(31) Referring to FIG. 2, the diagram on the left of FIG. 2 illustrates the configuration of an MMT system, and the diagram on the right of FIG. 2 illustrates the detailed structure of a delivery function.

(32) A media coding layer 205 compresses audio and/or video data, and transmits the compressed data to an encapsulation function layer (E. layer) 210.

(33) The encapsulation function layer 210 packages the compressed audio/video data in the form similar to a file format, and transfers the same to a delivery function layer 220.

(34) The delivery function layer (or D layer) 220 formats an output of the encapsulation function layer 210 into an MMT payload, adds an MMT transmission packet header thereto, and transmits the same in the form of an MMT transmission packet to a transport protocol layer 230. Alternatively, the delivery function layer 220 transfers, to the transport protocol layer 230, the output of the encapsulation function layer 210 in the form of an RTP packet using an existing RTP protocol. Subsequently, the transport protocol layer 230 converts the same using one transmission protocol out of the UDP and the transmission control protocol (TCP), and transmits the same to an IP layer 240. The IP layer 240 converts the output of the transport protocol layer 230 into an IP packet, and transmits the same using an IP protocol.

(35) According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, protection of a multimedia multiplexing transport protocol (MMTP) packet, an MMT payload, or payload data is possible.

(36) A control function layer (C. layer) 200 manages a presentation session and a delivery session.

(37) FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an MMT package according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(38) Referring to FIG. 3, an MMT package 310 is transmitted and received to/from a client 350 through a delivery function layer (D. layer) 330-1 and 330-2 of a network, and may include MMT assets 303-1 to 303-3, composition information 301, and transport characteristics 305-1 and 305-2. The MMT package 310 and the client 350 can communicate with a controller 370.

(39) In addition, the MMT package 310 may include functionality and operations for utilizing configuration information. The configuration information may be formed of a list of the MMT assets 303-1 to 303-3, the composition information 301, and the transport characteristics 305-1 and 305-2.

(40) Description information describes the MMT package 310 and the MMT assets 303-1 to 303-3. The composition information 301 may help the consumption of the MMT assets 303-1 to 303-3. The transport characteristics 305-1 and 305-2 may provide a hint for transferring the MMT assets 303-1 to 303-3.

(41) The MMT package 310 describes a transport characteristic for each MMT asset. The transport characteristics 305-1 and 305-2 include error resiliency information, and simple transport characteristic information for a single MMT asset may or may not be lost. In addition, transport characters 305-1 and 305-2 may include quality of service (QOS); a permissible degree of loss and a permissible degree of delay) of each MMT asset.

(42) FIG. 4 illustrates a structure of configuration information and subordinate information thereof, included in an MMT package according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(43) Referring to FIG. 4, the configuration information includes package identification information 312, asset list information 314 associated with assets that form the package, composition information 316, transport characteristics 318, contents, and additional information, and may provide structural information that indicates where and how the component elements are included in the package.

(44) FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating formats of a source packet, a source symbol, and an FEC repair packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(45) Referring to FIG. 5A, a source packet (=MMTP packet) is formed of an MMT packet header, an MMT payload header, and a payload (data). A source symbol is generated by adding a possibly padding to a source packet. An amount of padding data (all 00h), which is given by an AL-FEC message or corresponds to a difference from a certain size of a repair symbol, may be added. An FEC repair packet may be formed of a repair symbol that is generated from a source symbol block through an MMT packet header, an FEC repair payload ID, and FEC encoding.

(46) FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating formats of a source payload, a source symbol, and an FEC repair packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(47) Referring to FIG. 5B, a source Payload (=MMT Payload) is formed of an MMT payload header and a payload (data). A source symbol is generated by adding a possibly padding to a source payload. An amount of padding data (all 00h), which is given by an AL-FEC message or corresponds to a difference from a certain size of a repair symbol, may be added. An FEC repair packet may be formed of a repair symbol that is generated from a source symbol block through an MMT packet header, an FEC repair payload ID, and FEC encoding.

(48) FIG. 5C is a block diagram illustrating formats of a source payload, a source symbol, and an FEC repair packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(49) Referring to FIG. 5C, a source payload (=MMT Payload) is formed of an MMT payload header and a payload (data). A source symbol is generated by adding a possibly padding to a source payload. An amount of padding data (all 00h), which is given by an AL-FEC message or corresponds to a difference from a certain size of a repair symbol, may be added. An FEC repair packet may be formed of a repair symbol that is generated from a source symbol block, through an MMT packet header, an FEC repair payload ID, and FEC encoding.

(50) FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet header and an FEC repair payload ID according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(51) An MMT packet header for a source packet and an FEC repair packet may include a packet_ID field and a packet sequence number field.

(52) Referring to FIG. 6A, the packet_ID sets information identifying a data stream that includes a payload that a corresponding MMTP packet transmits. When the corresponding MMTP packet transmits data of an asset, a packet_ID that is mapped to an asset ID of the asset through a message package table (MPT) of a signaling message, is set in the field. When the corresponding MMTP packet transmits a repair symbol of a repair flow, a packet_ID that is mapped to a repair flow ID through an AL-FEC message, is set in the field.

(53) The packet sequence number indicates the sequence numbers of the packets having an identical packet_ID value. When an asset is transmitted, a sequence number increases by 1 from a number based on a transmission order of the packets that transmit data of the corresponding asset.

(54) An FEC repair payload ID includes SS_Start_Seq_Nr [1] to SS_Start_Seq_Nr [n], L[1]/SSB_Length [1] to L[n]/SSB_Length [n], repair symbol ID (RS_ID), and additionally includes RSB_Length for block codes based an FEC code (e.g., low density parity check (LDPC), RS) (when a rateless FEC code, such as Raptor or RaptorQ uses RSB_Length, the number of lost repair symbols of a repair symbol block may be measured from RSB_Length).

(55) SS_Start_Seq_Nr [i] (i=1, 2, . . . , # of packet_IDs) sets a packet sequence number of a first source packet in a source packet block of an i.sup.th data stream out of data streams included in the source packet block that is protected by the FEC repair packet. The sequence of data streams is identical to the order of packet_IDs listed for a source packet flow, which are mapped to a packet_ID set in the FEC repair packet, which is provided from the AL-FED Message.

(56) L[i] is assigned with 2 bits, and a value for adjusting the size of SSB_Length Field.

(57) SSB_Length [i] (=6+8L[i] bits) (i=1, 2, . . . , # of packet_IDs) indicates the number of source symbols for i.sup.th data streams out of the data streams included in a source packet block protected by an FEC repair packet.

(58) RS_ID indicates a position number of a repair symbol of the FEC repair packet in a repair symbol block, and starts from 0 and increases by 1.

(59) RSB_Length indicates the number of repair symbols included in a repair packet block including the FEC repair packet.

(60) The sequence of data streams is identical to the order of packet IDs listed for a source packet flow, which are mapped to corresponding packet_IDs set in the FEC repair packet, which is provided from the AL-FED Message.

(61) FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet header for a source packet, an MMT packet header for an FEC repair packet, and an FEC repair payload ID thereof according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(62) Referring to FIG. 6B, the descriptions thereof are identical to that of FIG. 6A, except that a packet sequence number of an MMT packet header for an FEC repair packet is changed with an (RS_ID) of an FEC repair payload ID.

(63) FIG. 6C is a diagram illustrating a format of an FEC repair payload ID including FEC Configuration Info according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(64) Referring to FIG. 6C, FEC Configuration Info may include # of packet_IDs, List of packet_IDs, source symbol block generation mode (SSBG_MODE), FEC Code Point, FEC Coding Structure, and Size of Repair Symbol as briefly described below. Although not illustrated, time information associated with a duration of an FEC source or repair packet block (e.g., a difference in time between the transmissions of a first source packet and a last source packet or the number of packets therebetween) is additionally included. # of packet_IDs: the number of data streams included in a source packet block protected by the FEC repair packet; List of packet_IDs: a list of packet_IDs that identifies data streams included in a source packet block protected by the FEC repair packet; SSBG_MODE: a source symbol generation mode, SSBG_MODE0 or SSBG_MODE1; FEC coding structure: a coding structure that is applied to a source packet block that is protected by the FEC repair packet, which may be classified as One Stage, Two Stage, and LA-FEC; FEC code point: an FEC code used for generating the FEC repair packet; and Size of repair symbol: a size of a repair symbol of a repair symbol block including the FEC repair packet.

(65) Other information associated with the FEC repair payload ID is identical to the descriptions provided in FIG. 6B.

(66) FIG. 6D is a diagram illustrating formats of an MMT packet for an AL-FEC message and an AL-FEC message including FEC Configuration Info according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(67) Referring to FIG. 6D, the FEC configuration info is identical to the descriptions of FIG. 6C. The AL-FEC message includes a message ID, a length field, # of FEC Flows, and FEC configuration info for each FEC flow.

(68) FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating a method of generating a source packet flow according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(69) Referring to FIG. 7A, when three assets A, B, and C (e.g., non-timed data or timed data, such as audio data, video data, text, file, and the like) exist, an MMT packet flow (source packet flow) is configured by dividing each asset into data of a certain size, and adding an MMT payload header and an MMT packet header to each data. Each of the assets A, B, and C are separated into five data payloads, and a header including a packet_ID and a packet sequence number is added to each data payload. Packet_ID=0 that identifies the packets of Asset A, packet_ID=1 that identifies the packets of Asset B, and packet_ID=2 that identifies the packets of Asset C, are assigned. A packet sequence number based on each packet_ID that increase by 1 is allocated. An MMT packet header is an example of the header.

(70) FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating a method of configuring two FEC source packet flows from a source packet flow, and generating a repair flow for each FEC source packet flow, and an MMT packet header and an FEC repair payload ID, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(71) Referring to FIG. 7B, from the source packet flow generated in FIG. 7A, an FEC source packet flow 1 generates an FEC source packet block 1 (or source symbol block) formed of source packets generated from assets A and B, and an FEC source packet flow 2 generates an FEC source packet block 2 (source symbol block) formed of source packets generated from assets B and C, and each proceeds with FEC encoding. Accordingly, an FEC source packet block may be converted into a source symbol block based on one of the SSBG_MODEs provided in the descriptions with reference to FIG. 10. FEC encoding is performed thereto so that an FEC repair packets that transmit a repair symbol are generated. Information associated with an MMT payload header and an FEC repair payload ID of the FEC repair packet are described through the embodiment based on FIGS. 6A and 6B. Although not illustrated, under the assumption that the locations of source packets in a source packet block are determined based on an order of transmission when a source symbol block is generated from a source packet block, the location of a source symbol corresponding each source packet may be different in the source symbol block. Source symbols need to be arranged in a source symbol block based on the order of packet_IDs specified in the FEC repair payload ID of a repair packet. For example, in the case where a source packet block is formed of assets A and B, although source packets for asset A and asset B are mixed together in the source packet block, the source symbols for asset A need to be arranged first and then the source symbols for asset B need to be arranged in the source symbol block, or vice versa. Subsequently, the number of packet_IDs included in the source packet block (or source symbol block) and packet_IDs that are mapped to assets corresponding to a disposition sequence are listed in the FEC repair payload ID of the FEC repair packet. Alternatively, when a desired FEC source packet flow is configured from the source packet flow as illustrated in FIG. 7B, and each source packet block (or source symbol block) is configured, packets for asset A need to be arranged first in a source packet block (or source symbol block), and then, packets for asset B need to be arranged, and the number of packet_IDs and packet_IDs based on a disposition sequence are listed. Actually, a source packet flow is a stream of source packets based on an order of transmission. Accordingly, it is preferable that source packets, which correspond to a packet_ID of a source packet that is transmitted first out of the source packets for each source packet block, need to be arranged first in a source packet block (or source symbol block), and then, source packets corresponding to a subsequent packet_ID need to be arranged.

(72) FIGS. 8A and 8B are block diagrams illustrating a transmitter for packet protection and for payload protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(73) Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, first, a data stream is processed through segmentation, payloadization, packetization, and is transmitted by a transmitter as a packet stream. An MMT may be assigned to, for example, data stream=asset. Segmentation divides data into data of a certain size. Payloadization adds a header to the data. Information that reconfigures the data from a packet received in a receiving end is stored in the header, which corresponds to, for example, an MMT payload. Packetization adds an MMT packet header to an MMT payload. The MMT packet header has a packet_ID and a packet sequent number, and thus, may be utilized for FEC.

(74) When packet protection is performed, MMT packets, to which FEC protection is to be applied, may be input into a source symbol block generator under the control of an FEC controller. The source symbol block generator generates a source symbol block from MMT packets (source packets) (please refer to the example of FIG. 10), an FEC encoder receives a source symbol block and generates repair symbols, and each repair symbol is transmitted as an FEC repair packet, by adding an MMT packet header and an FEC repair payload ID thereto. Here, the MMT packet header and the FEC repair payload ID are formed of fields illustrated in FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, according to the method.

(75) The payload protection is identical to the previous descriptions, except that a source symbol block is input instead of an MMT payload or payload data.

(76) After payloadization is performed, that is, after an MMT payload header is added, an MMT packet header is added, and the AL-FEC message is transmitted as a packet that is different from data.

(77) FIGS. 9A and 9B are block diagrams illustrating a receiver for packet protection and for payload protection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(78) Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, when a packet is received, it is determined whether the packet is a source packet or an FEC repair packet. When many types of source packets (e.g., when an MMT packet including a separate source symbol ID (SS_ID) (conventional disclosure) and an MMT packet that does not include a separate SS_ID (present disclosure) coexist) and may types of FEC repair packets (e.g., an FEC repair packet of the conventional disclosure and an FEC repair packet of the present disclosure coexist) coexist, information distinguishing the packets is included in an MMT packet header, and a receiver distinguishes each packet based on the same. Through de-packetization (e.g MMT De-packetization or Parse), de-payloadization (MMT payload depayloadization or parse), and de-segmentation, data stream is repaired again. When packet protection is applied, the operations of the receiver may recognize basic information associated with FEC configuration required for FEC decoding, from an AL-FEC message. When a received packet is a repair packet, the receiver recognizes: a repair symbol of the repair packet; a packet_ID included in an MMT packet header; # of packet_IDs, List of packet_IDs, List of SS_Start_Seq_Nrs, and List of SSB_Length[ ] listed in an FEC repair payload ID; and source packets protected by the corresponding repair packet from another information, and inputs a corresponding source packet (MMT packet) into an encoding symbol generator. The encoding symbol generator converts the source packet into a source symbol based on a given SSBG mode, and configures a repair symbol together with an encoding symbol block. An FED decoder repairs a lost source symbol using the repair symbol, obtains a source packet, and transmits the same to a de-packetization block.

(79) Except for repairing a payload as opposed to a packet, payload protection is identical to packet protection from the perspective of utilizing information of an MMT packet header and information of an FEC repair payload ID of an FEC repair packet.

(80) FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operations of configuring a source symbol block according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(81) Referring to FIG. 10, an operation of generating a source packet block (or source symbol block) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. An FEC source packet flow (=1 source packet block) is configured with packets corresponding to two packet_IDs, that is, packet_ID=0 or 1, which are selected from a flow of packets formed of three types of packet_IDs. A source symbol block is generated by arranging the packets having packetID=0 first, and then, arranging the packets having packet_ID=1. In the case where a source packet is converted into a source symbol, when the lengths of the source packets are different from each other, a padding is required (SSBG_MODE1). When the lengths of the source packets are identical, no padding is required (SSBG_MODE0).

(82) As described above, the present disclosure may provide a high-quality service. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a receiver distinguishes each data stream based on stream distinguishing information included in an FEC packet or control information that is different from that of a source packet; recognizes a repair stream generated for FEC protection of each data stream; smoothly performs FEC decoding; and generates a repair flow with respect to a certain number of data streams included in a generated source packet flow, without affecting a source packet.

(83) While the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.