Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 35
Claim 1
Independent Claim
77 words
Communication apparatus including a level selector for developing analog levels in response to digitized symbols, and means responsive to said analog levels for communicating signals to a remote quantizer, where levels of the signals communicating to the remote quantizer are set to correspond to quantization levels of the remote quantizer, the improvement comprising: an encoder responsive to an applied digital signal for developing said digitized symbols, where said digitized symbols comport with a preselected error correcting code.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
77 words
Communication apparatus including a level selector for developing analog levels in response to digitized symbols, and means responsive to said analog levels for communicating signals to a remote quantizer, where levels of the signals communicating to the remote quantizer are set to correspond to quantization levels of the remote quantizer, the improvement comprising: an encoder responsive to an applied digital signal for developing said digitized symbols, where said digitized symbols comport with a preselected error correcting code.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means, responsive to signals derived from said quantizer for adjusting signals levels developed by said level selector.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said error correcting code is a block code.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
The apparatus of claim 3 where a sequence of symbols is developed from a contiguous block of bits of said applied digital signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said error correcting code is a convolutional code.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said encoder comprises a mapper which, in response to every A bits of said applied signal that are applied to the mapper develops B sets of bits, where each set of bits contains C bits which comprise the most significant bits of the symbols, where A, B, and C are integers.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 6 where the mapper is a fractional bit rate mapper.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
11 words
The apparatus of claim 6 where A/B is a mixed fraction.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing bits which comprise the least significant bits of said symbols and which contain redundancy adapted to enable error correction.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
48 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: first coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing the least significant bits of said symbols; and second coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing the next to least significant bits of said symbols.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
82 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: first coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing the least significant bits of said symbols, where said least significant bits of said symbols comport with a first preselected error correcting code; and second coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing the next to least significant bit of said symbols, where said next to least significant bits of said symbols comport with a second preselected error correcting code.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 11 where said first preselected error correcting code is different from said second preselected error correcting code.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 11 where said first preselected error correcting code is more capable at correcting errors than said second preselected error correcting code.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
104 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: first coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing groups of bits comprising the least significant bits of said symbols, where said least significant bits of said symbols comport with a first preselected error correcting code; and second coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing middle groups of bits comprising the bits of said symbols that are between said least significant bits of said symbols and said most significant bits of said symbols, where said middle groups of bits of said symbols comport with a second preselected error correcting code.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
109 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: first coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing groups D of bits, where said groups D comport with a first preselected error correcting code; and second coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing groups E of bits, where said middle groups of bits of said symbols comport with a second preselected error correcting code; where each of said symbols is a concatenation of the C bits from the mapper and the bits from groups E, and D, in order, where the C bits of the mapper comprise the most significant bits of each symbol.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
141 words
The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising: first coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing groups D of bits, where said groups D comport with a first preselected error correcting code; and second coding means responsive to bits of said applied signal for developing groups E of bits, where said middle groups of bits of said symbols comport with a second preselected error correcting code; means for developing groups F from preselected bits of said applied signal; and means for forming symbols from said groups D, E, and F, and the C bits from the mapper, where each of said symbols is a concatenation of the C bits from the mapper and the bits from groups F, E, and D, in order, where the C bits of the mapper comprise the most significant bits of each symbol.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
82 words
The apparatus of claim 1 where said encoder comprises a fractional bit rate mapper and coding means and where, according to a preselected routing schema, some bits of said applied digital signal are applied to said fractional bit rate mapper to develop sets A of bits, and some bits of said applied digital signal are applied to said coding means to develop sets B of bits, where sets A of bits and sets B of bits combine to drive the level selector.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
12 words
The apparatus of claim 17 where said coding means performs multi-level coding.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 17 where said coding means performs multi-level coding to create sets B of bits, each set B comprises two subsets, and one of the subsets comports with a first preselected error correction code, and the other of the subsets is unencoded.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
51 words
The apparatus of claim 17 where said coding means performs multi-level coding to create sets B of bits, each set B comprises two subsets, and one of the subsets comports with a first preselected error correction code, and the other of the subsets comports with a second preselected error correction code.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 20 where said first preselected error correction code is a block code, and said second preselected error correction code is a parity code.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 20 where said first preselected error correction code is a convolution code, and said second preselected error correction code is a parity code.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 20 where said first preselected error correction code is a convolution code, and said second preselected error correction code is a block code.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 17 where said coding means performs multi-level coding to create sets B of bits, each set B comprises three subsets, and one of the subsets comports with a first preselected error correction code, another of the subsets comports with a second preselected error correction code, and a third of the subsets is uncoded.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
149 words
Decoding apparatus for developing a stream of output symbols comprising: means for receiving a stream of received symbol levels that is related to a stream of transmitted symbols; means for subtracting interference estimate levels from said stream of received symbol levels to develop subtractor output symbol levels, and a decoder responsive to said means for subtracting, having a first stage that identifies the most likely sequence of transmitted symbols corresponding to said stream of received symbols based on a first error correcting code associated with a first set of bits of a label related to the subtractor output symbol levels, and a second stage responsive to the first stage and employing a second error correcting code associated with second set of bits of a label related to the subtractor output symbol levels, for developing said stream of output symbols that corresponds to the most likely sequence of transmitted symbols.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
149 words
Decoding apparatus for developing a stream of output symbols comprising: means for receiving a stream of received symbol levels that is related to a stream of transmitted symbols; means for subtracting interference estimate levels from said stream of received symbol levels to develop subtractor output symbol levels, and a decoder responsive to said means for subtracting, having a first stage that identifies the most likely sequence of transmitted symbols corresponding to said stream of received symbols based on a first error correcting code associated with a first set of bits of a label related to the subtractor output symbol levels, and a second stage responsive to the first stage and employing a second error correcting code associated with second set of bits of a label related to the subtractor output symbol levels, for developing said stream of output symbols that corresponds to the most likely sequence of transmitted symbols.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
38 words
The decoding apparatus of claim 25 where the first stage identifies the most likely sequence of transmitted symbols with the aid of metrics that are related to the distance between said subtractor output symbol levels and preselected thresholds.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
16 words
The decoding apparatus of claim 25 where the first error correcting code is a block code.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
16 words
The decoding apparatus of claim 25 where the first error correcting code is a convolutional code.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
21 words
The decoding apparatus of claim 25 where the first error correcting code is more robust than the second error correcting code.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
16 words
The decoding apparatus of claim 25 where the second error correcting code is a parity code.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 25 where the first set of decoded bits is the least significant bit.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of claim 25 where the first set of decoded bits is the least significant bit and the second set of bits the next to least significant bit.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
40 words
The apparatus of claim 25 where the first stage determines the first set of bits of each symbol in said stream of output symbols, and the second stages determines remaining bits of each symbol in said stream of output symbols.