The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 22, 2009
Filed:
Jan. 10, 2007
John S. Thomson, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Paul J. Husted, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Ardavan Maleki Tehrani, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Jeffrey M. Gilbert, Santa Clara, CA (US);
William J. Mcfarland, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Lars E. Thon, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Yi-hsiu Wang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
John S. Thomson, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Paul J. Husted, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Ardavan Maleki Tehrani, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Jeffrey M. Gilbert, Santa Clara, CA (US);
William J. McFarland, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Lars E. Thon, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Yi-Hsiu Wang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Atheros Communications, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A Viterbi decoding system interprets bits in received QAM constellations as many-valued parameters rather than binary valued parameters. It performs the Viterbi algorithm using these many-valued parameters to provide results superior to hard decision decoding. Rather than applying a hard 0-1 function to the QAM data, the system uses a non-stepped linear or curved transfer function to assign values to the bits. In another aspect, a system differentiates between data bits based on their estimated reliability, giving more emphasis to decoding reliable bits than unreliable bits using any of a variety of techniques. By differentiating between god and bad bits and de-emphasizing or ignoring unreliable bits, the system can provide a significant reduction in uncorrectable errors and packet loss.