LG Electronics, Harris Corporation Submit MPH(TM) In-Band Mobile DTV Technology for ATSC's Mobile Standard

LG Electronics, Harris Corporation Submit MPH(TM) In-Band Mobile DTV Technology for ATSC's Mobile Standard

Proven Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld system provides robust delivery

WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LG Electronics Inc. and Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), joint developers of the Mobile-Pedestrian Handheld (MPH(TM)) in-band mobile digital television system, submitted a proposal to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for a standard that would enable broadcasters to provide high-quality digital television (DTV) signals to a wide range of mobile and portable devices. The ATSC is an international, non-profit organization developing voluntary standards for digital television systems.

The ATSC Technology and Standards Group requested proposals from companies offering systems aimed at facilitating the delivery of DTV programming and data to mobile, pedestrian and handheld devices via the digital broadcast signal. LG and Harris submitted a proposal detailing their technology for the delivery of mobile and handheld DTV, which is backward-compatible to the current standard.

The broadcast and consumer electronics industries have identified mobile and handheld DTV as important new opportunities for the future of local broadcasting - providing new revenue streams for device manufacturers and broadcasters, and new services to customers. These new mobile and handheld services, using ATSC-compatible broadcast transmissions, can help spur the adoption of handheld devices by consumers who want value-added services that are currently not available through regular broadcast TV delivery models. With MPH(TM), consumers can view their favorite programs from local broadcasters, watch movies and sports, check local news and weather information and access pay services - even when traveling in fast-moving vehicles or using handheld video devices away from home.

Developed by Harris Corporation and LG Electronics Inc. and its U.S. research subsidiary, Zenith, the MPH(TM) in-band mobile DTV system provides robust DTV signals to mobile, pedestrian and handheld devices. Harris, a known leader of television transmission systems, and LG Electronics, a leading developer of receiver systems and DTV standards, designed MPH(TM) to be fully compatible with the ATSC A/110 standard for distributed transmission. As such, the system provides a highly compatible, commercially deployable system that has already been accomplished, tested and demonstrated.

Until now, reliable reception of signals transmitted by terrestrial broadcasters has not been possible in fast-moving vehicles or pedestrian handheld devices such as mobile phones or laptop computers. Unlike the cellular-based approach, MPH(TM) technology uses only the single, existing transmitter from commercial and public broadcasters. For broadcasters, this new technology enables new and potentially lucrative revenue streams.

"As long-time, active members of the ATSC and key players in the development and marketplace implementation of digital television, LG Electronics, its U.S. R&D lab and Harris look forward to working closely with our fellow ATSC members and with ATSC staff on mobile DTV," said Dr. H.G. Lee, president and CTO of LG Electronics. "We share the ATSC's enthusiasm for this promising new technology, which we believe will enhance and complete the digital television experience for consumers and broadcasters alike."

"In light of the sense of urgency surrounding this next generation of DTV technology, Harris and LG look forward to participating in the ATSC mobile DTV process while continuing to work with broadcasters and other stakeholders to develop a robust, mobile terrestrial DTV market," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Harris Broadcast Communications Division. "The MPH(TM) system strikes the right balance for broadcasters looking to deliver both high- definition programming to fixed receivers and programming and datacasting to mobile and handheld devices."

MPH(TM) is a multiple-stream system, with the main service stream for existing DTV and HDTV services, and the MPH(TM) stream for one or more mobile, pedestrian and/or handheld services. Key attributes of the MPH(TM) system include:

-- Backward compatibility with the existing ATSC 8-VSB transmission and
receiving equipment,
-- Capability to receive broadcast signals at high (mobile) speed with a
single antenna,
-- Use of practical, small handheld receivers without the need for
multiple antennas,
-- Power savings in handheld receivers,
-- Flexibility in both data rates and robustness,
-- Data-rate efficiency, and
-- Use of advanced video and audio coding in the MPH(TM) stream.

Another advantage of the MPH(TM) system is that it does not require outside service providers or spectrum-pooling arrangements.

In their response to the ATSC RFP, Harris and LG Electronics provided a technical overview of the MPH(TM) system, which enhances a portion of the ATSC broadcast symbol stream for increased capability in the areas of Doppler and multipath. "The enhancement is achieved by a combination of improved forward error correction (FEC) and added training signals. The MPH system uses time multiplexing of legacy 'main' or 'normal' transport packets with enhanced packets, such that the only modification to the main packets is their timing. In addition, the enhanced packets and added training signals are coded so as to be compatible with legacy FEC, assuring 100 percent backward compatibility with legacy receivers. Legacy receivers regard the MPH(TM) packets as NULL packets whose content is ignored."

Other excerpts from the RFP response: "The special physical layer processing of MPH(TM) data has been designed so it can all take place at the transmission exciter, without special processing at the service multiplexer. The service multiplexer needs only to be set up to provide all the main and enhanced data as part of a normal ATSC packet stream, with sufficient NULL packets to allow for addition of FEC symbols in the exciter. The existing single legacy studio-transmitter link is all that is required," the companies explained to the ATSC.

"MPH(TM) is highly flexible in its use of data capacity, and can be controlled statically or dynamically to take from less than 200 kbps (e.g., for a single audio or data service), up to multiple Mbps (when only a single SD program is required in the main channel). The MPH(TM) stream itself can consist of a single or multiple services, and the use of MPH(TM) places no restrictions on use of the main stream for a single HD or multiple HD and/or SD programs. There is no hard limit to the number of MPH(TM) services allowed; there is only a total data rate limitation. MPH(TM) has also been designed for full compatibility with the ATSC A/110 standard for Distributed Transmission (single-frequency networks)," according to the RFP response.

About LG Electronics USA, Inc.

LG Electronics USA, Inc. is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $48.5-billion global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of digital display and digital media products, digital appliances and mobile phones under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. LG's U.S. R&D subsidiary Zenith Electronics in Lincolnshire, Ill., is a long-time leader in consumer electronics technologies and a pioneer in digital HDTV, having developed the "VSB" digital transmission system at the heart of the ATSC DTV Standard adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. Zenith's Emmy-award-winning technologies include TV remote control, stereo TV, flat CRTs and HDTV. Zenith merged with LG Electronics in 1999. For additional information, please visit www.zenith.com and www.LGusa.com.

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of over $4 billion and more than 15,000 employees - including more than 6,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications(TM) products, systems, and services for global markets, including government communications, RF communications, broadcast communications, and wireless transmission network solutions. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

All trademarks are held by their respective owners.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: kelly.mctavish@harris.com

Source: LG Electronics Inc.

CONTACT: Laura Whitaker, Vice President, Communications of Harris
Broadcast Communications Division, +1-408-782-1201, laura.whitaker@harris.com;
or John Taylor, Vice President, Public Affairs of LG Electronics USA, Inc.,
+1-847-941-8181, jtaylor@lge.com

Web site:

http://www.harris.com/
http://www.zenith.com/
http://www.lgusa.com/

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