Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A novel method and apparatus for efficiently coding and decoding data in a data transmission system is described. A concatenated coding scheme is presented that is easily implemented, and that provides acceptable coding performance characteristics for use in data transmission systems. The inventive concatenated channel coding technique is well suited for small or variable size packet data transmission systems. The technique may also be adapted for use in a continuous mode data transmission system. The method and apparatus reduces the complexity, cost, size and power consumption typically associated with the prior art channel coding methods and apparatuses, while still achieving acceptable coding performance. The present invention advantageously performs concatenated channel coding without the necessity of a symbol interleaver. In addition, the present invention is simple to implement and thereby consumes much less space and power that do the prior art approaches. The present invention not only eliminates the need for a symbol interleaver between the outer and inner codes, but it also enjoys a drastically reduced implementation complexity of the inner code Viterbi decoder. The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an inner code having short length block codes derived from short constraint length convolutional codes utilizing trellis tailbiting and a decoder comprising four four-state Viterbi decoders having a short corresponding maximum length. The inner code preferably comprises short block codes derived from four-state (i.e., constraint length 3), nonsystematic, punctured and unpunctured convolutional code. One significant advantage of the preferred embodiment of the present concatenated coding technique is that packet data transmission systems can be designed to have variable coding gains and coding rates.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim