Time-interleaved simulcast and redundant intra picture insertion for reducing tune-in delay in DVB-H

Tune-in delay is the time elapsed from the instant a program is chosen, until the rendering of the chosen program begins. This paper provides an analysis of various components that affect tune-in delay and discusses methods to reduce this delay, in the Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) systems. In DVB-H, time-slicing, and misalignment of random access units relative to the time-sliced burst boundaries are the major contributors to tune-in delay. Two methods, namely time-interleaved simulcast and redundant intra picture insertion, are proposed for reducing tune-in delay. Simulcasting is a transmission mechanism, where multiple programs of the same source material are coded in different qualities, and transmitted simultaneously. The receivers choose the most appropriate of the simulcasted programs, matching its capabilities, to be consumed. In the proposed time-interleaved simulcast method, the delay caused due to DVB-H time-slicing is reduced. It is done so, by transmitting time-sliced bursts of the simulcast programs maximally apart from each other. The proposed redundant intra picture insertion method reduces the delay related to alignment of random access pictures with time-slice boundaries. Theoretical results show that the proposed methods provide up to 60% reduction in tune-in delay. ©2007 IEEE