The Real‐Time Interface for Transport Streams

This chapter discusses the need of a real‐time interface for the delivery of transport streams. The choice for a maximum value for the jitter in byte arrival of a transport stream and the consequences thereof for the receiver, are also discussed. For decoder manufacturers and for more general interoperability reasons it is desirable that a real‐time interface is designed for the delivery of system streams. An agreed upon real‐time interface, met by practical networks, ensures that ‘universal’ system decoders can be designed, suitable for each network with delivery characteristics within the constraints of this interface. The sizes of the transport buffer and the buffer following the transport buffer in the applicable branch in the transport‐system target decoder (T‐STD) are adapted to accommodate for the jitter. Jitter can have an impact on the clock regeneration circuitry needed to regenerate the system time clock (STC) in receivers.