EP0663775A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for communicating multilevel modulated data using concatenated coding
Assignee: Arris Technology Inc
•
Filing: 1995-01-14
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2015-01-14
Abstract
Abstract An outer symbol error correcting code is concatenated with a punctured multidimensional trellis code to provide an optimal scheme for communicating digital television signals in a standard (e.g., approximately six MHz) bandwidth channel via a cable television network or the like. An input signal (10) is encoded using an outer symbol error correcting code (12) to produce successive blocks. Each block comprises N seven-bit coded symbols of which M represent information to be communicated and the remaining N-M coded symbols comprise error correcting information. M/N is either 120/126, 121/127 or 122/128. The blocks are interleaved (18), and may be supplemented with control symbols (19) that include a synchronization pattern for M/N = 121/127 or M/N = 122/128. The interleaved blocks are convolutionally encoded using an inner trellis code (20) having a punctured rate 4/5 (sixty-four QAM) or 3/4 (sixteen QAM). The output symbols are multilevel modulated (21) for transmission over a communication path (26) using, for example, sixteen or sixty-four QAM. The transmitted symbols are decoded using a trellis decoder (32), deinterleaved (34), and further decoded in an outer symbol error decoder (36) concatenated with the inner trellis decoder (32).
Inventors
- 👤 Zheng Huang
- 👤 Chris Heegard
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 04:19
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N21/00; H04N21/20; H04N21/23; H04N21/238; H04N21/2383; H04L; H04L1/00; H04L1/004; H04L1/0056; H04L1/0057; H03; H03M; H03M13/00; H03M13/03; H03M13/05; H03M13/13; H03M13/15; H03M13/151; H03M13/1515; H03M13/25; H03M13/253; H03M13/256; H03M13/29; H04L1/0041; H04L1/0045; H04L1/0054; H04L1/0059; H04L1/006; H04L1/0064; H04L1/0065; H04L1/0071; H04L27/00; H04L27/32; H04L27/34; H04L27/3405; H04L27/3416; H04L27/3427; H04L27/38; H04N19/00; H04N19/85; H04N19/89; H04N21/40; H04N21/43; H04N21/438; H04N21/4382
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
137 words
A method for concatenating an outer symbol error correcting code with a multidimensional trellis code for use in communicating digital data within a standard bandwidth television channel, comprising the steps of: encoding an input signal using said outer symbol error correcting code to produce successive blocks, each block comprising N seven-bit coded symbols of which M coded symbols represent information to be communicated and the remaining N-M coded symbols comprise error correcting information, wherein M/N is one of 120/126, 121/127, and 122/128; interleaving the symbols in said blocks for transmission in an interleaved order to minimize the effects of burst errors when recovering the input signal after transmission; convolutionally encoding said blocks using a rate 4/5 or 3/4 inner trellis code to provide output symbols; and multilevel modulating the output symbols for transmission over a communication path.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said outer symbol error correcting code comprises a Reed-Solomon algorithm.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 or 2 wherein: said multilevel modulating step modulates said output symbols on I and Q components of a 64 QAM constellation; and said inner trellis code provides five three-bit output symbols from two of said seven-bit coded symbols for modulation on one of said I and Q components.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 or 2 wherein: said multilevel modulating step modulates said output symbols on I and Q components of a 16 QAM constellation; and said inner trellis code provides four two-bit output symbols from one of said seven bit coded symbols for modulation on one of said I and Q components.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
89 words
A method for decoding the multilevel modulated output symbols provided in accordance with one of claims 1 to 4 comprising the steps of: receiving and demodulating said output symbols from said communication path; decoding the demodulated output symbols using a rate 4/5 or 3/4 decoding algorithm to recover said blocks of seven-bit coded symbols; deinterleaving the recovered blocks; and decoding the seven-bit coded symbols in the deinterleaved blocks using an algebraic symbol error correcting algorithm that corresponds to said outer symbol error correcting code to recover said input signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method in accordance with claim 5 wherein: said outer symbol error correcting code comprises a Reed-Solomon algorithm; said multilevel modulating step uses one of 16 QAM and 64 QAM to modulate said output symbols; said decoding algorithm is a Viterbi decoding algorithm; and said algebraic symbol error correcting algorithm is a Reed-Solomon decoding algorithm.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
87 words
A method in accordance with one of claims 1 to 6 in which said digital information is communicated with control data including synchronization data within said standard bandwidth television channel, comprising the further step of: providing a seven-bit control symbol for each frame of ten blocks when M/N is 122/128, the addition of said control symbols effectively lowering the ratio of M/N to an actual information to transmitted data ratio of 120/126; wherein said control symbols are convolutionally encoded with said blocks during said convolutional encoding step.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
72 words
A method in accordance with one of claims 1 to 6 in which said digital information is communicated with control data including synchronization data within said standard bandwidth television channel, comprising the further step of: providing a seven-bit control symbol for each frame of twenty blocks when M/N is 121/127, the addition of said control symbols effectively lowering the ratio of M/N to an actual information to transmitted data ratio of 120/126.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
113 words
A method for decoding the multilevel modulated output symbols provided in accordance with claim 7 or 8 comprising the steps of: receiving and demodulating said output symbols from said communication path; decoding the demodulated output symbols using a rate 4/5 or 3/4 decoding algorithm to recover said blocks of seven-bit coded symbols and said control symbols; stripping said control symbols from said recovered blocks; deinterleaving the recovered blocks after said control symbols have been stripped therefrom; and decoding the seven-bit coded symbols in the deinterleaved blocks in response to said control symbols, using an algebraic symbol error correcting algorithm that corresponds to said outer symbol error correcting code to recover said input signal.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
146 words
An encoder for concatenating an outer symbol error correcting code with a multidimensional trellis code to efficiently communicate digital data within a standard bandwidth television channel using multilevel modulation, comprising: an outer symbol error encoder for encoding an input signal to produce successive data blocks, each block comprising N seven-bit coded symbols of which M coded symbols represent information to be communicated and the remaining N-M coded symbols comprise error correcting overhead, wherein M/N is one of 120/126, 121/127, and 122/128; means for interleaving the symbols in said blocks for transmission in an interleaved order to minimize the effects of burst errors when recovering the input signal after transmission; a rate 4/5 or 3/4 trellis encoder concatenated with said outer symbol error encoder for convolutionally encoding said blocks to provide output symbols; and means for multilevel modulating the output symbols for transmission over a communication path.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
An encoder in accordance with claim 10 wherein said outer symbol error encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon encoder.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
53 words
An encoder in accordance with claim 10 or 11 wherein: said modulating means modulate said output symbols on I and Q components of a 64 QAM constellation; and said trellis encoder provides five three-bit output symbols from two of said seven-bit coded symbols for modulation on one of said I and Q components.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
54 words
An encoder in accordance with claim 10 or 11 wherein: said modulating means modulate said output symbols on I and Q components of a 16 QAM constellation; and said trellis encoder provides four two-bit output symbols from one of said seven bit coded symbols for modulation on one of said I and Q components.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
85 words
An encoder in accordance with one of claims 10 to 13 in which said digital information is communicated with control data including synchronization data within said standard bandwidth television channel, further comprising: means for providing a seven-bit control symbol for each frame of ten blocks when M/N is 122/128, the addition of said control symbols effectively lowering the ratio of M/N to an actual information to transmitted data ratio of 120/126; wherein said control symbols are convolutionally encoded with said blocks in said trellis encoder.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
71 words
An encoder in accordance with one of claims 10 to 13 in which said digital information is communicated with control data including synchronization data within said standard bandwidth television channel, further comprising: means for providing a seven-bit control symbol for each frame of twenty blocks when M/N is 121/127, the addition of said control symbols effectively lowering the ratio of M/N to an actual information to transmitted data ratio of 120/126.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
114 words
A decoder for decoding the convolutionally encoded blocks provided by the encoder of claim 14 or 15 further comprising: means for receiving and demodulating said output symbols from said communication path; an inner decoder for decoding the demodulated output symbols using a rate 4/5 or 3/4 decoding algorithm to recover said blocks of seven-bit coded symbols and said control symbols; means for stripping said control symbols from said recovered blocks; means for deinterleaving the recovered blocks after said control symbols have been stripped therefrom; and an outer symbol error decoder concatenated with said inner decoder for decoding the blocks from said inner decoder in response to said control symbols to recover said input signal.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
86 words
A decoder for decoding the convolutionally encoded blocks provided by the encoder of one of claims 10 to 13 comprising: means for receiving and demodulating the output symbols from said communication path; an inner decoder for decoding the demodulated output symbols using a rate 4/5 or 3/4 code to recover said blocks of seven-bit coded symbols; means for deinterleaving the recovered blocks; and an outer symbol error decoder concatenated with said inner decoder for decoding the blocks from said inner decoder to recover said input signal.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
46 words
A decoder in accordance with claim 17 wherein: said outer symbol error encoder comprises a Reed-Solomon encoder; said modulator is one of a 16 QAM and 64 QAM modulator; said inner decoder is a Viterbi decoder; and said outer symbol error decoder is a Reed-Solomon decoder.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
52 words
An encoder in accordance with one of claims 10 to 15 wherein said interleaver means comprise a 2 n /N interleaver, where n is an integer from 1 to 6 and 2 n represents the maximum burst length to be dispersed over the N seven-bit coded symbols in one of said blocks.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
115 words
A decoder for multilevel modulated digital data communicated in a standard bandwidth television channel comprising: means for receiving and demodulating convolutionally encoded output symbols from a communication path; an inner decoder for decoding the demodulated output symbols using a rate 4/5 code to recover interleaved blocks of data, each block comprising N seven-bit coded symbols of which M coded symbols represent information to be recovered and the remaining N-M coded symbols comprise error correcting overhead, wherein M/N is one of 120/126, 121/127, and 122/128; means for deinterleaving the recovered blocks; and an outer symbol error decoder concatenated with said inner decoder for decoding the blocks from said inner decoder to recover a transmitted information signal.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
A decoder in accordance with claim 20 wherein: said multilevel modulated digital data is one of 16 QAM and 64 QAM data; said inner decoder is a Viterbi decoder; and said outer symbol error decoder is a Reed-Solomon decoder.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
76 words
A decoder in accordance with claim 20 or 21 wherein: M/N is either 122/128 or 121/127; said inner decoder also recovers a seven-bit control symbol for each frame of F blocks, where F=10 when M/N is 122/128 and F=20 when M/N is 121/127, said control symbols effectively lowering the ratio of M/N to an actual information to transmitted data ratio of 120/126; and said deinterleaving means deinterleave the recovered blocks after stripping said control symbols therefrom.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.