FEC (forward error correction) decoder with dynamic parameters

• US 8,484,538 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2007
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Hiroshi, Kwentus, Alan Y., Krafft, Stephen Edward, Eddy, Kevin M., Jaffe, Steven T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baker, Stephen M
• Application Number:
  US11/823,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20070256001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,204 Days
• Field of Search: 714/774, 714/775, 714/776
• US Class Current: 714/774
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/114 Shuffled, staggered, layered or turbo decoding schedules
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/2927 Decoding strategies
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/2948 Iterative decoding H03M13/2957 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18582 Arrangements for data linking, i.e. for data framing, for error recovery, for multiple access
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0039 other detection of signalling, e.g. detection of TFCI explicit signalling H04L1/0046, H04L27/0012 and H04L25/0262 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0065 Serial concatenated codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0066 Parallel concatenated codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/007 Unequal error protection for format H04L1/0078; for codes per se H03M13/35
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0072 Error control for data other than payload data, e.g. control data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0075 Transmission of coding parameters to receiver H04L1/0023 takes precedence

Abstract

FEC (Forward Error Correction) decoder with dynamic parameters. A novel means by which FEC parameters may be encoded into, and subsequently extracted from, a signal stream to allow for adaptive changing of any 1 or more operational parameters that govern communications across a communication channel. FEC parameters are encoded directly into a data frame such that the data frame is treated identical to all other data frames within the signal stream. When the data frame actually includes FEC parameters, it is characterized as a CP (Control Packet) type. For example, when decoding an MPEG stream, an MPEG block that includes FEC parameters, that MPEG block is characterized as a CP MPEG block. The means by which FEC parameters are encoded and extracted from the signal stream allows for much easier adaptive modification of the manner by which signal are encoded, modulated, and processed within a communication system.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a demodulator to process a signal thereby generating a plurality of blocks that includes a first block followed by a second block followed by a third block;

a decoder to;

decode the first block using a first decoding parameter; and

detect a second decoding parameter in the first block; and

a parameter extraction module to extract the second decoding parameter from the first block; and

wherein;

the decoder is to decode the second block using at least one additional decoding parameter extracted from at least one block preceding the first block;

the decoder is to decode the third block using the second decoding parameter.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the first block is a CP (Control Packet);

the second block is a first FEC (Forward Error Correction) block; and

the third block is a second FEC block.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

when the decoder decodes the first block, the decoder is operable to indicate no error to the parameter extraction module thereby indicating that the first block is a CP (Control Packet); and

when the decoder decodes the second block, the decoder is operable to indicate an error to the parameter extraction module thereby indicating that the second block is an FEC (Forward Error Correction) block.

4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

at least one additional block that is interposed between the second block and the third block.

5. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the first decoding parameter and the second decoding parameter is a code rate, a constellation scaling parameter, a de-interleaver parameter, a RS (Reed-Solomon) block length, or a number of MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) blocks within the plurality of blocks.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of blocks that is provided to the decoder is a plurality of TBs (Turbo Blocks); and

the decoder is operable to decode the plurality of TBs thereby generating a plurality of MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) blocks.

7. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the parameter extraction module is operable to extract a plurality of decoding parameters that includes the second decoding parameter from the first block; and

the decoder includes a plurality of modules such that each module is governed by at least one decoding parameter within the plurality of decoding parameters.

8. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a medium access controller (MAC) that is coupled to receive output from the decoder.

9. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the second decoding parameter is processed using a translation table thereby identifying a plurality of decoding parameters; and

the decoder includes a plurality of modules such that each module is governed by at least one decoding parameter within the plurality of decoding parameters.

10. The communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the communication device is implemented within at least one of a one-way satellite communication system, a two-way satellite communication system, and an HDTV (High Definition Television) communication system.

11. A communication device, comprising:

a demodulator to process a signal thereby generating a plurality of blocks that includes at least one FEC (Forward Error Correction) block and at least one CP (Control Packet);

a decoder to;

decode a first subset of the plurality of blocks using a first plurality of decoding parameters; and

detect the at least one CP within the plurality of blocks based on an error flag associated with the at least one CP indicating different parameters therein relative to the at least one FEC block; and

a parameter extraction module that, based upon the detection of the at least one CP by the decoder, extracts a second plurality of decoding parameters from the at least one CP; and

wherein;

the decoder decodes a second subset of the plurality of blocks using the second plurality of decoding parameters.

12. The communication device of claim 11, wherein:

at least one FEC block is interposed between the first subset of the plurality of blocks and the second subset of the plurality of blocks;

the first subset of the plurality of blocks includes only the at least one CP; and

the second subset of the plurality of blocks is a plurality of FEC blocks.

13. The communication device of claim 11, wherein:

the at least one CP includes an overlap descriptor that indicates a number of FEC blocks that are interposed between the first subset of the plurality of blocks and the second subset of the plurality of blocks.

14. The communication device of claim 11, wherein:

the parameter extraction module, based upon the detection of the at least one CP by the decoder, is operable to extract an index from the at least one CP;

the parameter extraction module is operable to process the index using a translation table to extract the second plurality of decoding parameters from the at least one CP; and

the decoder includes a plurality of modules such that each module is governed by at least one decoding parameter within the second plurality of decoding parameters.

15. The communication device of claim 11, wherein:

the communication device is implemented within at least one of a one-way satellite communication system, a two-way satellite communication system, and an HDTV (High Definition Television) communication system.

16. A method for decoding a signal, the method comprising:

processing a signal thereby generating a plurality of blocks that includes a first block followed by a second block followed by a third block;

decoding the first block using a first decoding parameter;

detecting a second decoding parameter in the first block;

extracting the second decoding parameter from the first block;

decoding the second block using at least one additional decoding parameter extracted from at least one block preceding the first block; and

decoding the third block using the second decoding parameter.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the first block is a CP (Control Packet);

the second block is a first FEC (Forward Error Correction) block; and

the third block is a second FEC block.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

at least one of the first decoding parameter and the second decoding parameter is a code rate, a constellation scaling parameter, a de-interleaver parameter, a RS (Reed-Solomon) block length, or a number of MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) blocks within the plurality of blocks.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

processing the second decoding parameter using a translation table thereby identifying a plurality of decoding parameters; and

employing a plurality of decoding modules to decode the third block such that each module is governed by at least one decoding parameter within the plurality of decoding parameters.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the method is performed within a communication device; and

the communication device is implemented within at least one of a one-way satellite communication system, a two-way satellite communication system, and an HDTV (High Definition Television) communication system.