Discovision Associates

Anthony Peter Claydon

William P Robbins

Anthony Mark Jones

Mark Barnes

Helen Rosemary Finch

Richard J Gammack

Andrew Peter Kuligowski

Adrian Philip Wise

Martin William Sotheran

David Andrew Barnes

Nicholas Birch

Colin Smith

Donald William Patterson

Kevin D Dewar

Charles Dunlop MacFarlane

Thomas Foxcroft

Richard James Thomas

Kevin J Boyd

Jonathan Parker

David Huw Davies

The invention provides a decoder of symbols of received data, the data being encoded according to a convolutional encoding scheme and transmitted through a communications channel. The data is punctuated according to a puncturing matrix, and has a plurality of state values which describe a sequence of state transitions. The decoder has a generation unit that accepts the received data for calculating metrics of the transitions thereof. A selector responsive to the generation unit selects a path of transitions corresponding to the path produced by a transmitter of the data stream. A traceback unit maintains historical information representative of sequential decision operations of the selector. A counter is provided for counting illegal state transitions of the path selected by the selector, and a control unit, responsive to the counter, determines a puncture rate and adjusts a puncture phase of the received data. The decoder can be used in a VLSI receiver circuit which is adapted to the reception of QPSK modulated data.

Error detection and correction system for a stream of encoded data

An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in select stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stages to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystems circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.

Method for storing video information

A method and apparatus are disclosed for determining the boundaries of guard intervals of data symbols being received in a coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexed signal. Temporal samples separated by an interval of an active interval of a data symbol are associated in pairs, and difference signals obtained. The dispersion of a first comparison block of difference signals is determined, and compared to the dispersion of a second comparison block of difference signals, the second comparison block being displaced from the first comparison block by n samples. An F ratio is calculated for the dispersions of the two blocks. F ratios are iterated in a succession of comparison blocks, and a signal representing the F ratios subjected to peak detection. The peaks represent the boundaries of the symbol's guard interval. This information is utilized in synchronizing an FFT window for subsequent signal reconstruction.

Timing synchronization in a receiver employing orthogonal frequency

A CMOS Reed-Solomon decoding circuit calculates syndromes, executes a Berlekamp algorithm, performs a Chien Search, and corrects a delayed version of the received data according to a calculated magnitude of error. The circuit is optimized in terms of chip territory and circuit complexity. Signals are provided to indicate uncorrectable packet errors and other transmission errors.

Signal processing apparatus and method

An MPEG video decompression method and apparatus utilizing a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system, including memory addressing, transforming data using a common processing block, time synchronization, asynchronous swing buffering, storing of video information, a parallel Huffman decoder, and the like.

Token-based adaptive video processing arrangement

A RAM implementation of asynchronous swing buffering is provided in which two buffers are operated asynchronously; one is written while the other is read. Accordingly, this allows for a data stream having a fast rate of through-put to be resynchronized to another rate, while still maintaining a desired rate. In the invention, the write control and read control both have state indicators for communicating which buffer they are using and whether the controls are waiting for access or are, in fact, accessing that buffer.

Technique for implementing a swing buffer in a memory array

Video decompression

A multi-standard video decompression apparatus has a plurality of stages interconnected by a two-wire interface arranged as a pipeline processing machine. Control tokens and DATA Tokens pass over the single two-wire interface for carrying both control and data in token format. A token decode circuit is positioned in certain of the stages for recognizing certain of the tokens as control tokens pertinent to that stage and for passing unrecognized control tokens along the pipeline. Reconfiguration processing circuits are positioned in selected stages and are responsive to a recognized control token for reconfiguring such stage to handle an identified DATA Token. A wide variety of unique supporting subsystem circuitry and processing techniques are disclosed for implementing the system.

Data pipeline system and data encoding method

A CMOS integrated signal processing system for a sampling receiver includes a timing recovery circuit, wherein an on-chip numerically controlled oscillator is operative at periods T that are initially equal to the nominal baud rate of the signals controls a sinc interpolator receiving samples at the sampling rate. A loop filter is coupled to the sinc interpolator and to the numerically controlled oscillator. The arrangement is capable of handling various symbol rates. The system includes a circuit for carrier recovery, having a second on-chip numerically controlled oscillator, a digital derotation circuit responsive to the second numerically controlled oscillator, accepting an in phase component and a quadrature component of the sampled signals. An adaptive phase error estimation circuit is coupled in a feedback loop.

Signal processing system

An integrated CMOS circuit is disclosed for deinterleaving transmitted data packets. The circuit operates with a RAM buffer that is no larger than a block of interleaved data. An optimized addressing scheme is provided that minimizes on-chip hardware. The circuit provides an orderly initialization of the buffer, and a suitable emptying process during a channel change or other interruption of data flow.

Arrangement for processing packetized data

A CMOS integrated signal processing system for a sampling receiver includes a timing recovery circuit, wherein an on-chip numerically controlled oscillator is operative at periods T that are initially equal to the nominal baud rate of the signals controls a sinc interpolator receiving samples at the sampling rate. A loop filter is coupled to the sinc interpolator and to the numerically controlled oscillator. The arrangement is capable of handling various symbol rates. The system includes a circuit for carrier recovery having a second on-chip numerically controlled oscillator, a digital derotation circuit responsive to the second numerically controlled oscillator, accepting an in phase component and a quadrature component of the sampled signals. An adaptive phase error estimation circuit is coupled in a feedback loop.

An integrated digital communication system utilizing multilevel vestigial sideband transmission is provided. The communication system receives a multi-level pulse-amplitude modulated digital signal from a limited bandwidth channel. The system includes processing stages which demodulate, sample and filter the incoming signal prior to recovery of the digital data. Other stages recover the timing and lock on to the frequency and phase of the transmitted signal, as well as provide for automatic gain control. An adaptive equalizer, error correction circuitry, and an output interface recover the digital data and provide for transfer to other devices.

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Bath, United Kingdom

Anthony Peter Claydon