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:
May. 29, 2012
Filed:
Jun. 15, 2009
Michael Maiuzzo, Queenstown, MD (US);
Michael Maiuzzo, Queenstown, MD (US);
Sentel Corporation, Alexandria, VA (US);
Abstract
A method for decoding forward error correction (FEC) encoded data. A stream of units of FEC encoded bits are received, where the units are derived from a transmitted signal, where each unit represents a one-bit data value, and where each unit includes correctness bits. Preferably, the stream of units of FEC encoded bits are decoded by using the quality level of bits to perform soft-decision convolution decoding on the stream of units of FEC bits, where the soft-decision convolution decoding produces, for block decoding, a stream of symbols made up of bits. Subsequences of units that are prone to erroneous soft-decision convolution decoding are detected by determining, for the sub-sequences whether the distribution of quality bits indicate the units are below a threshold level of correctness, and by comparing characteristics of that distribution to a given set of characteristics predetermined to be prone to result in incorrect decoding.