Hierarchical modulation is the signal processing techniques for multiplexing and modulating multiple data streams into one single symbol stream, where base-layer symbols and enhancement-layer symbols are synchronously overplayed before transmission.
Hierarchical modulation suffers from serious inter-layer interference (ILI) with impact on the achievable symbol rate.
Offset hierarchical QAM modulation: Layered offset hierarchical QAM modulation scheme enhances the high priority stream error performance by reducing the intersymbol interference from the superimposed symbols of the low priority stream. The scheme shifts the symbols of the two priority layers by half the symbol duration, whereas the detector performs multi-stage maximum-likelihood detection with interference cancellation.
Further Reading: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6600712 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, VOL. 17, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2013, Layered Offset Hierarchical QAM Modulation for Intersymbol Interference Reduction, by Martin Zamkotsian, Kostas P. Peppas, Member, IEEE, F. Lazarakis, and Panayotis G. Cottis