Importance

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Abstract

Received signal quality (bit error rate) estimates for a communication channel are provided by a receiver apparatus which is connected to the communication channel and which includes a convolutional decoder providing an estimate of a transmitted data frame and an associated final decision metric. The bit error rate estimate is generated by a bit error rate estimation circuit which includes a memory containing values for mapping the final decision metric to a corresponding bit error rate estimate. The bit error rate estimate may be provided to a control node of the communication channel which may use the provided estimate to take a corrective action such as determining whether a handover to a different communication channel should be initiated based upon the bit error rate. The communication channel may be an allocated channel of a cellular radio communication network servicing a mobile terminal receiver apparatus with the control nodes being the base stations of the cellular network. The convolutional decoder may be a Viterbi decoder.

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First Claim