Digital data decoder that derives codeword estimates from soft data

摘要

A forward error correction decoder receives a received word comprising a plurality of characters. The decoder also receives a reliability value for each character. The decoder calculates a syndrome for each member of the set of possible received words by transforming each member with the parity check matrix. Members of the set having the same syndrome are grouped together into cosets. A weight based on the reliability value is then assigned to each member in each coset. The weight is defined to be the number of low reliability, non-zero characters in each member of the set of possible received words. For each coset, the member that has the lowest weight is selected as a coset leader. A syndrome is computed for the soft codeword by transforming it with the parity check matrix. The coset leader with the same syndrome as the received word is subtracted from the received word resulting in a codeword estimate.