Media Transmission by Cooperation of Cellular Network and Broadcasting Network

Future media transmission as a consistent target is pursued by both next mobile communication system (5G) and advanced digital terrestrial television system. High data rate and flexibility are major considerations for future media transmission. Broadcasting network facilitates high-efficiency transmission of popular or live video in large area, and while, cellular network tends to provide personalized and localized services with a unicast/multicast model. The broadcast-like scheme emerges in 5G to resolve the high demand for bandwidth. However, it requires high deployment cost and imposes much interference on unicast/multicast services. In this paper, a cooperative structure of cellular network and broadcasting network using cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is proposed. The expenses of constructing hybrid network can be significantly cut down by applying the centralization and virtualization of C-RAN. Besides, technical approaches for 3GPP and ATSC cooperation in physical layer is detailed. Dedicated return channel (DRC) of broadcasting network is proposed to enable seamless interaction between broadcasters and few users in a remote area with high expense of cellular tower deployment. To loosen the real-time physical layer pipes period restriction of DRC system, three alternative periods are investigated to provide more flexibility to broadcasters.