Method of encoding and decoding, encoder and decoder

Abstract

Embodiments of this application provide a method and device of encoding and decoding. The method includes: obtaining a first code block (CB) and a second CB, and the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB includes m information bits and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB; and transmitting the first CB and the second CB. According to this application, the technique of using correlated bits between multiple CBs within a transmission block is applied to a MIMO transmission system, where the multiple CBs are from different MIMO antennas, respectively, which helps to increase the accuracy of CB transmission in the MIMO transmission system and reduces the word error rate (WER) of the CBs.

Description

METHOD OF ENCODING AND DECODING, ENCODER AND DECODERTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a method of encoding and decoding, an encoder and a decoder.BACKGROUND

[0002] Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is a type of wireless communication technology that uses multiple antennas on both transmitting and receiving ends to improve the reliability and efficiency of data transmission. By using multiple antennas, MIMO technology can send and receive multiple streams of data simultaneously, which can increase the overall data rate of wireless communication systems.

[0003] In New Radio (NR), polar codes and low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are used for most of channels. In 5G NR, LDPC codes are used for the data transmission for mobile broadband (MBB) services and polar codes are used for the control signaling. Polar codes are a type of error-correcting code that can be used to transmit data over noisy communication channels. To further improve the performance of polar codes, a technique called dynamic frozen bits can be used. Frozen bits are bits that are predetermined to always have a fixed value (either 0 or 1) and are not used to transmit any data. In dynamic frozen bit polar codes, instead of initializing polar codes frozen positions with predefined zero or one values, the polar codes with dynamic frozen bits set some of the frozen bits to a combination of previous information bits, which influences the code specter. A type of polar codes with dynamic frozen bits shared among several transmission code blocks is defined as inter-frame coding. On this basis, the values of frozen bits are set dynamically in order to make two successive frames correlated. The correlation between the successive frames is used to correct the errors in the highly unreliable unfrozen bits of a failed decoded frame. It was found experimentally that there existsan optimal value of dynamic frozen bits m that leads to the lowest error probability.

[0004] However, in current MIMO transmission system, code blocks (CBs) inside the transmission block make no use of possible correlation between the blocks, the CBs transmitted in parallel within MIMO are processed independently, which reduces the decoding success rate of the CBs transmitted in parallel. Furthermore, in the prior art the approach of estimating the optimal value of dynamic frozen bits consists of conducting time-consuming simulations, requires carrying out computationally demanding simulations for each channel type, code parameter, and only considers polar coded transmission, so the approach is poorly applicable.

[0005] In view of this, a method of encoding and decoding for solving the above problem needs to be proposed urgently.SUMMARY

[0006] Embodiments of the present application provide a method of encoding and decoding using correlated bits for parallel CB transmission within MIMO system applicable to various transmission channels, such as fading channels. These embodiments propose a method to estimate the optimal value of dynamic frozen bits to replace existing complex time-consuming simulations.

[0007] According to a first aspect, this application provides a method of encoding. The method is applied to a MIMO transmission system. The method includes:

[0008] obtaining a first code block and a second CB, the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to differentMIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB comprises m information bits mapped to the secondCB; and transmitting the first CB and the second CB.

[0009] For example, the first CB and the second CB belong to the same transport block.

[0010] In another example, the first CB and the second CB are modulated by any modulation, such as BPSK, QPSK, QAM or other.

[0011] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the technique of using correlated bits between multiple CBs within a transmission block is applied to the MIMO transmission system, where the multiple CBs are from different MIMO antennas, respectively,which helps to increase the accuracy of CB transmission in the MIMO transmission system and reduces the word error rate (WER) of the CBs recovery.

[0012] In some possible implementations, the obtaining the first CB and the second CB includes: determining a value of m based on a first bound associated with a first noise variance and a second bound associated with a second noise variance, where the first bound and the second bound respectively indicate an upper limit and a lower limit on transmission WER. Both the first bound and the second bound are determined by any one of the following approximation algorithms comprising gaussian approximation (GA), normal approximation (NA) or Meta- converse (MC), and the first noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the first CB, and the second noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the second CB; determining the m information bits based on the value of m; and mapping the m information bits to the second CB.

[0013] It should be noted that the value of m changes dynamically in different application scenarios.

[0014] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, determining the WERs and the bounds corresponding to the two CBs with correlated bits, and determining the value of m based on the WERs and the bounds is performed by online theoretical calculations, thus replacing time consuming simulations, and improving computational efficiency.

[0015] In some possible implementations, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, the determining the value of m based on the first bound associated with the first noise variance and the second bound associated with the second noise variance includes: determining the value of m according to the following equations:

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019] where Pe(N, K, σ1) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and including K information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is σ1, Pe(N, K + m , σ2) indicates the probability that the second CB with length N and including K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is σ2, Pe(N, K - m, σ1)indicates the probability that the first CB with length N and including K- m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is a\,p\ indicates the probability of the first CB being wrongly re-decoded given that the second CB is decoded correctly, p2indicates the probability of both CBs being wrongly decoded, and m* indicates the calculated value of m.

[0020] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the method of determining the WERs and bounds corresponding to the two CBs with correlated bits, and determining the value of m based on the WERs and the bounds by deterministic equations replaces time consuming simulations, and improves computational efficiency.

[0021] In some possible implementations, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are MIMO fading channel with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission, the determination of the value of m based on the first bound associated with the first noise variance and the second bound associated with the second noise variance includes: determining the value of m according to the following equations:

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

[0026] where W indicates a zero-forcing decision based on channel matrix H of the channel, Pe(N, K, σ1*) indicates the probability that the first CB with length N and including K information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*, Pe(N, K + m, σ2*) indicates the probability that the second CB with length N and including K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is updated to σ2*, Pe(N,K - m, σ1*) indicates the probability that the first CB with length N and including K-m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*, p1indicates the probability of the first CB being wrongly re-decoded given that the second CB is decoded correctly, p2indicates the probability of both CBs being wrongly decoded, and m* indicates the calculated value of m, and σ1* orσ2* are determined by the following relation:where wi, indicates the ithrow of W, σ1indicates the first noise variance, and σ2indicates the second noise variance.

[0027] For example, the evaluation of optimal value of m* as m* = arg minm(p1+ p2)requires the computation of the argument of minimum of ( p1+ p2). The value of m might appear real and the rounding operation is required. The following approaches to rounding may be considered.

[0028] In one implementation, rounding to the closest smaller integer is performed. If m*= 2.3 or 2.5 or 2.8, then, perform rounding to closest smallest integer, m* = 2.

[0029] In one implementation, rounding to the closest bigger integer is performed. If m* =2.3 or 2.5 or 2.8, then, perform rounding to closest smallest integer, m* = 3.

[0030] In one implementation, rounding to the closest integer is performed. If m* = 2.3, then m* = 2, if m* = 2.8, then m* = 3. If m* = 2.5, then, round m* to 2.

[0031] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the method of determining the WERs and bounds corresponding to the two CBs with correlated bits, and determining the value of m based on the WERs and the bounds by deterministic equations replaces time consuming simulations and improves computational efficiency.

[0032] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to the most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is LDPC encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB.

[0033] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to the most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the second CB comprises n information bits, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to the most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB. The values of m and n might be greater than or equal to 0.

[0034] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the method of encoding can be applied in a variety of encoding scenarios, thus increasing the applicability of the method of encoding.

[0035] According to a second aspect, this application provides a method of decoding. The method is applied to a MIMO transmission system, and the method includes:

[0036] receiving a first CB and a second CB, where the first CB and the second CB areencoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to differentMIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB comprises m information bits, the second CB comprises n information bits, and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB; and decoding of the first CB and the second CB is performed using n information bits of the secondCB and m information bits of the first CB, correspondingly.

[0037] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the technique of using correlated bits between multiple CBs within a transmission block is applied to the MIMO transmission system, where the multiple CBs are from different MIMO antennas, respectively, which helps to increase the accuracy of CB transmission in the MIMO transmission system and reduces the WER of the CBs recovery.

[0038] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, these m information bits are the m least reliable information bits of the first CB mapped to the most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is the LDPC encoding, these m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB mapped to random positions of the second CB, the value of n is equal to the value of m.

[0039] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB.

[0040] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the method of encoding can be applied in a variety of encoding scenarios, and correspondingly, the method of decoding can be applied in a variety of decoding scenarios, thus increasing the applicability of the method of decoding.

[0041] In some possible implementations, the decoding of the first CB and the second CB according to the n information bits of the second CB and to the m information bits of the firstCB, correspondingly includes: decoding the first CB; and if the first CB is decoded correctly, decoding of the second CB by considering the m information bits known; if the first CB is decoded incorrectly, decoding the second CB considering m information bits unknown; in thecase of the second CB is decoded correctly, re-decoding the first CB by considering the n information bits known; and if both the first CB and the second CB are decoded incorrectly, considering both the first CB and the second CB as wrongly decoded.

[0042] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, in the case that the first CB is incorrectly decoded, the first CB may be re-encoded based on correlated bits between the first CB and the second CB, thereby helping to increase the probability of correct decoding of theCB.

[0043] According to a third aspect, this application provides an apparatus of encoding. The apparatus is applied to a MIMO transmission system, the apparatus includes: an encoding unit, configured to obtain a first CB and a second CB, the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, m information bits from the first CB are mapped to the second CB; and a transmitting unit, configured to transmit the first CB and the second CB.

[0044] In some possible implementations, the encoding unit is specifically configured to determine the value of m based on a first bound associated with a first noise variance, a second bound associated with a second noise variance, where the first bound and the second bound indicate an upper limit and a lower limit of a transmission WER. Both the first bound and the second bound are determined by any one of the following approximation algorithms comprising gaussian approximation, normal approximation and Meta-converse, and the first noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the first CB, and the second noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the second CB; determining m based on calculated bounds; and mapping the m information bits to the second CB.

[0045] In some possible implementations, the channels used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are AWGN channel, and the encoding unit is specifically configured to determine the value of m according to the equations (1) to (3) as previously described.

[0046] In some possible implementations, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, and the encoding unit is specifically configured to determine the value of m according to the equations (4) to (7) as previously described.

[0047] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is LDPC encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the firstCB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB.

[0048] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB.

[0049] According to a fourth aspect, this application provides an apparatus of decoding.The apparatus is applied to a MIMO transmission system, and the apparatus includes:

[0050] a receiving unit, configured to receive a first CB and a second CB, where the firstCB and the second CB are encoded by the same scheme, the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB comprises m information bits mapped to the second CB, and the second CB comprises n information bits mapped to the firstCB; and a decoding unit, configured to decode the first CB using n information bits of the second CB and the second CB using m information bits of the first CB.

[0051] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is the LDPC encoding, m information bits are m random information bits of the firstCB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB.

[0052] In some possible implementations, in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, m information bits are the m least reliable information bits of the first CB mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, and n information bits are the n least reliable information bits of the second CB mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB. The values of n and m might be the same (n = m) or different. The values of m and n might be greater than or equal to 0.

[0053] In some possible implementations, the encoding unit is specifically configured todecoding the first CB; and if the first CB is decoded correctly, the second CB is decoded considering m information bits known; if the first CB is decoded incorrectly, the second CB is decoded considering the m information bits unknown; if the second CB is decoded correctly, the first CB is re-decoded considering the n information bits known; and if both the first CB and the second CB are decoded incorrectly, both the first CB and the second CB are considered to be wrongly decoded.

[0054] According to a fifth aspect, an apparatus including a processor and a memory is provided. The processor is connected to the memory. The memory is configured to store instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions. When the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor is enabled to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0055] According to a sixth aspect, this application provides a communication system, which includes the apparatus in any possible implementation of the third aspect and the fourth aspect, as well as the apparatus in any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0056] According to a seventh aspect, this application provides a computer readable storage medium, which includes instructions. When the instructions run on a processor, the processor is enabled to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0057] According to an eighth aspect, this application provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0058] In some possible implementations, all or a part of the above computer program code can be stored on a first storage medium. The first storage medium can be packaged together with the processor or separately with the processor.

[0059] According to a ninth aspect, this application provides a chip system, which includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke the computer program from the memory and run the computer program, so that an electronic device on which the chip system is disposed performs the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect.DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0060] One or more embodiments are exemplarily described by corresponding accompanying drawings, and these exemplary illustrations and accompanying drawings constitute no limitation on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are illustrated as similar elements, and the drawings are not limited to scale, in which:

[0061] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transport block segmentation.

[0062] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional code block scheme.

[0063] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of inter-frame polar coding.

[0064] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a method 400 of encoding.

[0065] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method 500 for obtaining a first CB and a secondCB.

[0066] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a total error probability (Pr) and a value of number of correlated bits(m).

[0067] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a method 700 of decoding.

[0068] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based on polar codes.

[0069] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB.

[0070] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based on polar codes.

[0071] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based onLDPC.

[0072] FIG. 12 is another schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB.

[0073] FIG. 13 is another schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based on polar codes.

[0074] FIG. 14 is another schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB.

[0075] FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1500 of encoding.

[0076] FIG. 16 is another schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1600 of decoding.DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0077] In order to understand features and technical contents of embodiments of the present disclosure in detail, implementations of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the attached drawings are only for reference and illustration purposes, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure. In the following technical descriptions, for ease of explanation, numerous details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. One or more embodiments, however, may be practiced without these details. In other cases, well-known structures and apparatuses may be shown simplified in order to simplify the drawings.

[0078] Related technologies and concepts are introduced here firstly in order to better understand the technical solution proposed by the present application.

[0079] MIMO technology is a type of wireless communication technology that uses multiple antennas on both the transmitting and receiving ends to improve the reliability and efficiency of data transmission. By using multiple antennas, MIMO technology can send and receive multiple streams of data simultaneously, which can increase the overall data rate of wireless communication systems. MIMO technology can be used in combination with coding and modulation schemes to further improve the performance of wireless communication systems. Channel coding is a technique that adds redundancy to the data being transmitted, which can help to detect and correct errors that may occur during transmission. By using channel coding technology together with MIMO, future wireless communication systems can achieve high data rate transmission, which is essential for applications such as video streaming, online gaming, and other data-intensive tasks. In 5G networks, a combination of LDPC and polar coding schemes are used with MIMO to achieve high data rates and reliable transmission. The modulation schemes used in 5G networks include Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK),Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) such as 16-QAM and 64-Q AM, which can be usedin different combinations to optimize data rates and signal quality. Overall, the use of MIMO technology in combination with coding and modulation schemes is an effective way to achieve high-speed, reliable communication in wireless networks. By optimizing the use of available resources, wireless communication systems can achieve higher data rates and better network performance, which is essential for applications such as high-definition video streaming, online gaming, and other data-intensive tasks.

[0080] In 5G mobile communication systems, a transport block (TB) refers to a block of data that is transmitted over the air interface between the base station and the user equipment.The size of the transport block depends on various factors, such as the modulation and coding scheme used, the channel conditions, and the quality of service requirements. The transport block is the basic unit of data that is transmitted over the air interface in a 5G network. It contains both user data and control information such as error correction codes, channel quality indicators, and other information needed for reliable transmission. The size of the transport block is variable and can be adjusted dynamically based on the channel conditions and the signal-to-noise ratio. In 5G networks, the transport blocks are transmitted using a combination of advanced technologies such as MIMO, beamforming, and other optimization techniques.This allows for higher data rates and improved reliability of the communication, which is essential for applications such as high-definition video streaming, virtual and augmented reality, and other data-intensive tasks.

[0081] In 5G mobile communication systems, the transport block is typically assigned the unique modulation and coding scheme (MCS). This is because the modulation and coding scheme used for the transport block is optimized based on the channel conditions, signal-to- noise ratio, and quality of service requirements of the communication. Assigning a single MCS to the transport block allows for efficient use of the available resources and ensures that the transmission is optimized for the specific channel conditions. Using multiple MCSs for a single transport block can result in inefficient use of the available resources. Additionally, using a single MCS for the transport block makes it easier to implement and manage the communication system. It simplifies the design of the system and reduces the complexity of the communication process, which can lead to faster and more reliable communication.

[0082] The use of a single modulation and coding scheme per transport block in 5Gnetworks has certain disadvantages, although they may not be significant in most cases. Some of the potential disadvantages are:

[0083] 1. Suboptimal Performance: Assigning a single MCS to the transport block based on the channel conditions may result in suboptimal performance if the channel conditions change during the transmission. In such cases, a different MCS may be more appropriate, but there is no provision to switch to a different MCS within a single transport block.

[0084] 2. Inefficient Use of Resources: In some cases, assigning a single MCS to the transport block may result in inefficient use of the available resources. For instance, if the channel conditions are good, a higher MCS can be used to achieve higher data rates, but this is not possible if a single MCS is used.

[0085] 3. Lack of Flexibility: Using a single MCS per transport block may limit the flexibility of the communication system. For instance, it may not be possible to allocate different MCSs to different users based on their specific requirements.

[0086] 4. Increased Delay: In some cases, using a single MCS per transport block may result in increased delay due to the need for retransmission of the data if errors occur. This delay may be higher than that of a system that can switch between different MCSs based on channel conditions.

[0087] Overall, while the use of a single MCS per transport block in 5G networks is generally effective and efficient, there may be certain cases where it may not be optimal.

[0088] In NR, polar codes and LDPC codes are used for most of channels. In 5G NR, LDPC codes are used for the data transmission for MBB services and polar codes are used for the control signaling. LDPC codes are attractive from an implementation perspective, especially at multi-gigabits-per-second data rates. The LDPC codes considered for NR use a rate-compatible structure unlike the LDPC codes used in other wireless technologies. This permits the transmission at different code rates and for HARQ operation. NR employs polar codes for the physical layer control signaling where the information blocks are relatively small compared to data transmission.

[0089] Polar codes are a type of error-correcting code that can be used to transmit data over noisy communication channels. The polar encoding procedure is based on the phenomenon of channel polarization, the essence of which is that by some transformations, the informationtransmission channel can be split into two sets of subchannels, the error probability of which either tends to zero or tends to one when the code length tends to infinity. Given the emerging properties of subchannels, the data bits are transmitted through the most reliable subchannels and some predetermined data bits, usually zeros, through the least reliable subchannels.

[0090] To further improve the performance of polar codes, a technique called dynamic frozen bits can be used. Frozen bits are bits that are predetermined to always have a fixed value(either 0 or 1) and are not used to transmit any data. In polar codes with dynamic frozen bits, instead of initializing polar codes frozen positions with predefined zero or one values, the polar codes with dynamic frozen bits set some of the frozen bits to a combination of previous information bits, which influences the code specter. A type of polar codes with dynamic frozen bits shared among several transmission code blocks is defined as inter-frame coding. According to the studies on successive cancellation flip decoding in failed decoding scenarios, the first error usually occurs in unfrozen bits with low reliability, or the bits with small average loglikelihood ratio (LLR) values. Once the error is corrected, the probability of successful decoding increases. Based on this finding, the inter-frame polar coding scheme with dynamic frozen bits for successive code block transmission was proposed. The values of frozen bits are set dynamically in order to make two successive frames correlated.

[0091] The dependency between the successive frames is used to correct the errors in the highly unreliable unfrozen bits of a failed decoded frame. It was found experimentally that there exists an optimal value of dynamic frozen bits m that leads to the lowest error probability.

[0092] Empirically, it was shown that there is a specific value of tn with which the lowest block error rate (BLER) performance can be achieved. This is due to the fact that for small values of m, there are not enough additional frozen bits to help the re-decoding process of a failed decoded frame, while for large values of m, too many frozen bits are considered as unfrozen to decode a frame, so there exists an optimal value of dynamic frozen bits m that leads to the lowest error probability.

[0093] In order to improve the overall reliability of the transmission and ensures that the data is delivered accurately and efficiently, it is possible to assign MCS per transport block.

[0094] Transport blocks can be quite large, so they are often divided into smaller code blocks (CBs) to make transmission more efficient.

[0095] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transport block segmentation, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional code block scheme.

[0096] These CBs (Code block #1, Code block #2, and Code block #3) are of equal size and all CBs in a transport block (TB) share the same MCS parameters, i.e., (N, K): codes of length N and include K information bits. This means that the modulation and coding scheme used for each CB in the TB is the same, ensuring that all CBs are transmitted with the same level of reliability. The TB carries CRC (cyclic redundancy check) codes which are also known as TB-CRC, correspondingly, each CB in the TB carries CRC codes which are also known asCB-CRC, and the last CB contains the TB-CRC.

[0097] By dividing transport blocks into smaller code blocks, the system can better handle errors. If one code block is lost or corrupted during transmission, the receiver can still recover the data from the other code blocks in the transport block. This improves the overall reliability of the transmission and ensures that the data is delivered accurately and efficiently.

[0098] Furthermore, consider polar codes of length N constructed based on reliability sequence with indices in where the bits index v, is less reliable than bit indexThe classical polar coding scheme divides all N source bits into two sets according tov and the number ofunfrozen bits K. Unfrozen bits set contains the indicesof K bits with higher reliabilities, and those of the remaining N- K bits from frozen bits setIn order to achieve a reasonable error-correction performance for polar codeswith finite length, a CRC of length r is concatenated with polar codes and CA-SCL decoding is used. The r CRC bits and the K- r information bits are assigned to the bits with indices inThe frozen bits with indices in T are fixed to predefined values known to the decoder.

[0099] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of inter- frame polar coding.

[0100] In the inter-frame polar coding scheme with dynamic frozen bits for AWGN channel the values of frozen bits are set dynamically in order to make two consecutive frames (CB#1, CB#2) correlated. Each frame that is sent after another contains a set of information bits from the preceding frame. The optimal value of correlated bits m is found experimentally by simulations. Let denote the set of m most reliable frozen bits anddenote the set of m most unreliable unfrozen bits. Note thatand It is possible to assign the most reliable frozen bits of a frame with the mostunreliable unfrozen bits of its preceding frame and we keep the remaining frozen bits as zeros.

[0101] The optimal value of correlated bits for AW GN channel is estimated by simulations.In the prior art the code blocks in the transport block are encoded with error correcting code of the same code rate.

[0102] 5G systems do not have an ability to assign several MCS values for code blocks, due to throughput restrictions and system setup. This may lead to several drawbacks such as suboptimal performance, inefficient use of resources, lack of flexibility, increased delay. In the current MIMO system, the code blocks inside the transport block make no use of possible correlation between the blocks, and no flexibility in assigning code rates within transport block, and in the prior art the approach of using the correlated bits was not considered for parallel CB transmission within MIMO, and the correlated bits were adopted to sequential code block transmission only in AWGN channel. Furthermore, in the prior art the approach of estimating the optimal value of dynamic frozen bits consists of conducting time-consuming simulations, and requires carrying out computationally demanding simulations for each channel type, code parameter, and only considers polar coded transmission.

[0103] In view of the above, embodiments of the present application provide a method for encoding and decoding, which uses the correlated bits for parallel CB transmission withinMIMO system and is applicable to various transmission channels, and proposes a method to estimate the optimal value of dynamic frozen bits to replace existing complex time-consuming simulations.

[0104] A part of channel coding pipeline of scheme that consists of CRC attachment, code block segmentation, forward error correction is considered. Code block segmentation breaks the TB as delivered by the previous layer into smaller code blocks (CBs) with discrete size options. This stage also adds two CRCs: one at TB level and one for each CB. The channel coding is performed using forward error correcting codes (polar codes, LDPC codes). SpecificModulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) value is assigned to a transport block. All CBs in the transport block share the same MCS parameters (rate, modulation).

[0105] Correspondingly, the transmission of several CBs is considered with errorcorrecting code appended with CRC. After the decoding, the CRC check is performed. The correlated bits notion is carried out once the decoding of one of the CBs is failed. If the otherblock with the corresponding copied bits was decoded correctly, the additional bits are used to perform re-decoding by treating correlated bits from the correct block as known during the re- decoding of the incorrect block.

[0106] The following describes the proposed solution of the present application in more detail.

[0107] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a method 400 of encoding.

[0108] The method 400 is applied to a MIMO transmission system, and specifically includes the following steps as shown in FIG. 4.

[0109] Step 410: obtaining a first CB and a second CB, and the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB includes m information bits, and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB.

[0110] In some embodiments, the first CB and the second CB belong to the same transport block.

[0111] It should be noted that the m information bits are the correlated bits in the above- mentioned embodiment.

[0112] Step 420: transmitting the first CB and the second CB.

[0113] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the technique of using correlated bits between multiple CBs within a transmission block is applied to the MIMO transmission system, where the multiple CBs are from different MIMO antennas, respectively, which helps to increase the accuracy of CB transmission in the MIMO transmission system and reduces the WER of the CBs recovery.

[0114] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method 500 for obtaining a first CB and a secondCB. As shown in FIG. 5, the method 500 specifically includes the following steps.

[0115] Step 510: determining a value of m based on a first bound associated with a first noise variance and a second bound associated with a second noise variance, where the first bound and the second bound respectively indicate an upper limit and a lower limit of a transmission WER. Both the first bound and the second bound are determined by any one of the following approximation algorithms comprising GA, NA and MC, and the first noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the first CB, and the second noisevariance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the second CB.

[0116] It should be noted that the value of m changes dynamically in different application scenarios.

[0117] Step 520: determining m information bits based on the calculated value of m.

[0118] Step 530: mapping m information bits to the second CB.

[0119] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, determining the WERs and the bounds corresponding to the two CBs with correlated bits, and determining the value of m based on the WERs and the bounds is performed by online theoretical calculations, thus replacing time consuming simulations, and improving computational efficiency.

[0120] In some embodiments, multiple schemes exist for encoding the first CB and the second CB, and different encoding schemes correspond to different ways of mapping m information bits and different content of m information bits.

[0121] In some embodiments, in the case that the encoding method is polar encoding, m information bits are the m least reliable information bits of the first CB mapped to the most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding method is LDPC encoding, m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB mapped to random positions of the second CB.

[0122] In one embodiment, the polar encoding can be applied to the scenario of cross block encoding. In the case that the encoding method is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the second CB includes n information bits, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB.

[0123] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, method 400 and method 500 can be applied in a variety of encoding scenarios, thus increasing the applicability of method400 and method 500.

[0124] According to the above embodiments of method 500, it is possible to approximateWER by using bounds.

[0125] For example, consider the experimental transmission from two transmitting antennas (Nt= 2), and arbitrary number of receiving antennas Nrfor some fixed channelconditions. Two code blocks are arranged between two transmitting antennas. In this example, the information bits from one code block are copied to the other code block.

[0126] Suppose the first CB carries K information bits and is encoded with (N, K?) error correcting code. The second CB carries K information bits and m additional information bits are taken from the information bits of the first CB. Additional bits are placed to the most reliable frozen bits of the second CB. The second CB is encoded using (N, K+m) error correcting code.In total m information bits from the first CB are additionally encoded in the second CB.

[0127] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a total error probability (Pr) and a value of the number of correlated bits (m).

[0128] The simulation shows that the total error probability and the choice of optimal value of number of correlated bits m* (observed by experiments) is approximated by three curves:

[0129] 1) The probability (Pr) of the second CB being decoded incorrectly given that the first CB decoded correctly.

[0130] 2) The probability of the first CB being decoded incorrectly given that the secondCB decoded correctly.

[0131] 3) The probability of the first and the second CBs being decoded incorrectly.

[0132] The visual representation of the curves is presented in FIG. 6.

[0133] As for the probability of the second CB being re-decoded incorrectly given that the first CB decoded correctly, in this case that the probability of the first CB decoded correctly and the second CB decoded incorrectly is evaluated. It is tried to recover the second CB using m additional bits from the first CB. The probability (Pr( )) of the first CB being correctly decoded is Pr(1stcorrect) = 1 - Pe(N, K), where Pe(N, K) is the WER of (N, K) code decoding. The probability of the second CB being decoded incorrectly is Pr(2stincorrect) = Pe(N, K + And the probability of the second CB being recovered incorrectly given first CB is decoded correctly is Pr(2ndincorrect| 1stcorrect). It is assumed that these probabilities are independent.

[0134] Then, the probability Pr(1stcorrect, 2ndincorrect) is estimated as:

[0135] Pr(1stcorrect, 2ndincorrect) = Pr(1stcorrect)Pr(2stincorrect)Pr(2ndincorrect|1stcorrect)

[0136] = (1 - Pe(N, K))Pe(N, K + m)Pe(N, K)

[0137] where Pe(N, K) is the WER of the (N, K)-code. According to experiments, thisprobability is close to a constant, thus it may be omitted in the further computations.

[0138] The probability of the first CB being re-decoded incorrectly given that the secondCB decoded correctly corresponds to the situation of the first CB decoded incorrectly and the second CB decoded correctly. It is tried to recover the first CB using m additional bits from the second CB. The probability (Pr) of the first CB being decoded incorrectly decoded is Pr(1stincorrect) = Pe(N, K), where Pe(N, K) is a word error probability of (N, K) code being decoded incorrectly. The probability of the second CB being decoded correctly is Pr(2stcorrect) = 1 - Pe(N, K + m). And the probability of the first CB being recovered incorrectly given the second CB is decoded correctly is Pr(1stincorrect|2ndcorrect). It is assumed that the probabilities are independent. The first CB is still decoded incorrectly (m is not enough).

[0139] Then, the probability Pr(2ndcorrect, 1stincorrect) is estimated as:

[0140] Pr(2ndcorrect, 1stincorrect) = Pr(1stincorrect)Pr(2stcorrect)Pr(1stincorrect|2ndcorrect)

[0141] = Pe(N, K)(1 - Pe(N, K) + m))Pe(N, K- m)

[0142] The case of the first and the second CBs being decoded incorrectly appears when the first CB is decoded incorrectly and the second CB is also decoded incorrectly. Assume the events are independent.

[0143] Then, the probability Pr(1stincorrect, 2ndincorrect) is estimated as:

[0144] Pr(1stincorrect, 2ndincorrect) = Pr(1stincorrect)Pr(2stincorrect)

[0145] = Pe(N, K)Pe(N, K + m)

[0146] Such an approach may be carried out for arbitrary number of code blocks.

[0147] In some embodiments, the Pe values may be calculated experimentally by conducting Monte-Carlo simulation. It is proposed to avoid these high complexity simulations by presenting a structured algorithm to approximate the Pe curves by theoretical calculations using asymptotic WER bounds.

[0148] According to the above embodiments of method 500, the structured algorithm includes: Meta-converse, Normal approximation, Gaussian approximation bound forSuccessive Cancellation decoding, or Union bound.

[0149] It should be understood that if tight WER bounds are known, then the estimation of the number of correlated bits will be tight.

[0150] The WER Pe(N, K) also takes the noise variance σ as an argument. So, for AWGN channel, the noise variance can be fed to the probability estimation as is Pe(N, K, σ1), where z is the CB index. For flat fading channel the noise variance has to be recalculated by the following approach considering the multiplicative channel attenuating factor: given channel matrix H, the zero-forcing decision is written as based on the W, the updated noise variancewhere w, is the ithrow of W.

[0151] Correspondingly, embodiments of the present application provide a method for decoding.

[0152] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a method 700 of decoding.

[0153] Method 700 is applied to a MIMO transmission system, and specifically includes the following steps as shown in FIG. 7.

[0154] Step 710: receiving a first CB and a second CB, where the first CB and the secondCB are encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB includes m information bits, the second CB includes n information bits, and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB.

[0155] Step 720: decoding the first CB and the second CB according to the m information bits of the first CB and the n information bits of the second CB.

[0156] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the technique of using correlated bits between multiple CBs within a transmission block is applied to the MIMO transmission system, where the multiple CBs are from different MIMO antennas, respectively, which helps to increase the accuracy of CB transmission in the MIMO transmission system and reduces the WER of the CBs.

[0157] In some embodiments, multiple schemes exist for encoding the first CB and the second CB, and different encoding schemes correspond to different ways of mapping the m information bits to the second CB, the different content of the m information bits and the different content of the n information bits.

[0158] In some embodiments, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is theLDPC encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and aremapped to random positions of the second CB, and the value of n is equal to the value of m.

[0159] In one embodiment, the polar encoding can be applied to the scenario of cross block encoding. In the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB, the values of m and n might be the same (m = ri) or different. The values of m and n might be greater than or equal to 0.

[0160] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, the first CB and the secondCB can be encoded in a variety of encoding methods, thereby increasing the applicability of method 700 correspondingly.

[0161] In some embodiments, it is possible to decode the first CB and the second CB according to the m information bits and the n information bits by the following approach:

[0162] decoding the first CB; and

[0163] if the first CB is decoded correctly, decoding the second CB by considering m information bits known;

[0164] if the first CB is decoded incorrectly, decoding the second CB by considering m information bits unknown;

[0165] if the second CB is decoded correctly, re-decoding the first CB by considering the n information bits known; and

[0166] if both the first CB and the second CB are decoded incorrectly, considering both the first CB and the second CB wrongly decoded.

[0167] According to the above-mentioned technical solution, in the case that the first CB is incorrectly decoded, the first CB may be re-encoded based on correlated bits between the first CB and the second CB, thereby helping to increase the probability of correctly decoding theCB.

[0168] For ease of understanding, the method of encoding and decoding proposed in embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction withFIG. 8 to FIG. 15.

[0169] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based onpolar codes. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB. In this embodiment, the encoding scheme is achieved by polar non-systematic encoder with SC or SCL decoder with list size L.

[0170] As shown in FIG .8 and FIG. 9, as for encoder side, the first CB is encoded by using (N, K) polar code, the second CB is encoded by using (N, K+m) polar code, where the first CB includes the m information bits , the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, and the firstCB and the second CB are modulated by any modulation, such as BPSK, QPSK, QAM or other.And then, the first CB and the second CB are transmitted over the AWGN channel.

[0171] As shown in FIG. 8, as for decoder side, firstly, the first CB is being decoded. If the first CB is decoded correctly, m additional bits are considered as known bits to decode the second CB. In one embodiment, the m additional bits are the m information bits of the first CB.If the first CB is being decoded incorrectly, decoding of the second CB is performed considering the m additional bits from the first CB unknown. If the decoding of the second CB is successful, m bits from the second CB are used to re-decode the first initially incorrectly decoded CB.Otherwise, both CBs are considered wrongly decoded.

[0172] In order to calculate the optimal number of correlated bits m in the scenario of FIG.9, the following procedure will be used. The noise variances and bound are provided as an input.At first, the WER of the first CB being incorrectly re-decoded given the correct decoding of the second CB is computed based on given bound and noise variances σ1and σ2. Secondly, the WER of both CBs being incorrectly decoded is computed based on given bound and noise variances σ1and σ2. Finally, the optimal value of the number of correlated bits is estimated as the argument of the minimum of two WER sums.

[0173] Based on the above description, the value of m is determined according to the following equations:

[0174]

[0175]

[0176]

[0177] where indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and Kinformation bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is <7i, Pe(N, K + m, ai)indicates a probability that the second CB with length A and K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is σ2, Pe(N, K - m, σ1) indicates the probability that the first CB with length A and K-m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is σ1, p1indicates the WER of the first CB being incorrectly re-decoded given the correct decoding of the second CB, p2 indicates the WER of both CBs being incorrectly decoded, and the m* indicates the calculated value of m.

[0178] FIG. 10 is another schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB. In this embodiment, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, the fading channel is MIMO fading channel with OFDM transmission, and the encoding scheme is achieved by polar non-systematic encoder with SC or SCL decoder with list size L.

[0179] As shown in FIG. 10, as for encoder side, the first CB is encoded by using (N, K) polar codes, and the second CB is encoded by using (A, X) polar codes, where the first CB includes the m information bits, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, and the firstCB and the second CB are modulated by any modulation, such as BPSK, QPSK, QAM or other.And then, the first CB and the second CB are transmitted over a fading channel.

[0180] Similar to the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 8, as for decoder side, firstly, the first CB is being decoded. If the first CB is decoded correctly, m additional bits are used to decode the second CB. In one embodiment, the m additional bits are the m information bits of the first CB. If the first CB is being decoded incorrectly, decoding of the second CB is carried out considering m additional bits from the first CB unknown. If the decoding of the second CB is successful, m bits from the second CB are used to re-decode the first initially incorrectly decoded CB. Otherwise, both CBs are marked as wrongly decoded.

[0181] In order to calculate the optimal number of correlated bits m in the scenario of FIG.10, the following procedure will be used. The noise variances and bound are provided as an input. At first, WER of the first CB with parameters (N, K) is computed based on given bound and noise variance σ1. Secondly, the WER of second CB with parameters (A, K + m) is computed based on given bound and noise variance σ2. Finally, the optimal value of the number of correlated bits is estimated as the argument of the minimum of two WER sums.

[0182] Based on the above description, the value of m is determined according to the following equations:

[0183]

[0184]

[0185]

[0186]

[0187] where W indicates a zero-forcing decision based on channel matrix H of the channel, Pe(N, K, σ1*) indicates a probability that the first CB with length TV and K information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*, Pe(N, K + m, σ2*) indicates a probability that the second CB with length TV and K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is updated to σ2*, Pe(N, K- m, σ1*) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and K-m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*, p1indicates the WER of the first CB being incorrectly re-decoded given the correct decoding of the second CB, p2 indicates the WER of both CBs being incorrectly decoded; and m* indicates the calculated value of m, and σ1* or σ2* are determined by the following relation:

[0188] where w, indicates the ithrow of W, σ1indicates the first noise variance, and indicates the second noise variance.

[0189] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based onLDPC. FIG. 12 is another schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the first CB to the second CB. In this embodiment, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are the fading channel or the AWGN channel, and the encoding scheme is achieved by LDPC encoder with BP decoder with / -iterations.

[0190] As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, as for encoder side, the first CB is encoded by using (N, K) LDPC code, and the second CB is encoded by using (N, K+m) LDPC code. ForLDPC codes, the positions of the correlated bits may be chosen arbitrarily from information positions, m bits from random positions of the first CB are mapped to random positions of the second CB, where the m information bits are from random positions of the first CB, and the first CB and the second CB are modulated by any modulation, such as BPSK, QPSK, QAM or other. And then, the first CB and the second CB are transmitted over the fading channel or theAWGN channel.

[0191] As shown in FIG. 11, as for decoder side, firstly, the first CB is being decoded. If the first CB is decoded correctly, m additional bits are used to decode the second CB. In one embodiment, the m additional bits are the m information bits. If the first CB is being decoded incorrectly, decoding of the second CB is carried out considering m additional bits from the first CB unknown. If the decoding of the second CB is successful, m bits from the second CB are used to re-decode the first initially incorrectly decoded CB. Otherwise, both CBs are marked as wrongly decoded.

[0192] In order to calculate the optimal number of correlated bits m in the scenario of FIG.12, the following procedure will be used. The noise variance and bound are provided as an input.At first, WER of the first CB with parameters (N, K) is computed based on given bound and noise variance σ1. Secondly, the WER of second CB with parameters (N, K + m) is computed based on given bound and noise variance σ2. Finally, the optimal value of the number of correlated bits is estimated as the argument of the minimum of two WER sums.

[0193] Based on the above description, in the case that the channel used to transmit the firstCB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are AWGN channel, the value of m is determined according to the equations (1) to (3), and in the case that the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, the value of m is determined according to the equations (4) to (6).

[0194] FIG. 13 is another schematic diagram of a flow of encoding and decoding CBs based on polar codes. FIG. 14 is another schematic diagram of mapping m information bits of the firstCB to the second CB. In this embodiment, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are the fading channel or the AWGN channel, and the encoding scheme is achieved by polar non-systematic encoder with SC or SCL decoder with list size L.

[0195] As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, as for encoder side, m least reliable information bits of the first CB are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB and n least reliable information bits of the second CB are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB. The values of n and m may be the same (n = m) or different. The first CB is encoded using (N, K+n) polar codes, the second CB is encoded using (N, K+m ) polar codes.

[0196] As shown in FIG. 14, as for decoder side, if n = m the order of decoding may be chosen arbitrarily. Firstly, the first CB is being decoded. If the first CB is decoded correctly, m additional bits are used to decode the second CB. In one embodiment, the m additional bits are the m information bits. If the first CB is being decoded incorrectly, decoding of the second CB is performed considering m additional bits from the first CB unknown. If the decoding of the second CB is successful, n bits from the second CB are used to re-decode the first initially incorrectly decoded CB. In one embodiment, the n bits from the second CB are the n information bits. Otherwise, both CBs are marked as wrongly decoded.

[0197] Based on the above description, in the case that the channel used to transmit the firstCB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are AWGN channel, the value of m is determined according to the equations (1) to (3), and in the case that the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, the value of m is determined according to the equations (4) to (6). In one embodiment, in the case thatthe method of determining the value of n can be the same as determining the value of m.

[0198] In some embodiments, the evaluation of optimal value of m* as m* = arg minm(p1+ p2) requires the computation of the argument of minimum of (p1+ p2). The value of m might appear real and the rounding operation is required. The following approaches to rounding may be considered.

[0199] In one embodiment, rounding to the closest smaller integer is performed. If m* =2.3 or 2.5 or 2.8, then, perform rounding to closest smallest integer, m* = 2.

[0200] In one embodiment, rounding to the closest bigger integer is performed. If m* = 2.3 or 2.5 or 2.8, then, perform rounding to closest smallest integer, m* = 3.

[0201] In one embodiment, rounding to the closest integer is performed. If m* = 2.3, then

[0202] In some embodiments, when the number of transmitting antennas is greater than 2, the antennas can be separated into two groups, and code blocks from one group willshare their bits with code blocks from another group by the above-mentioned technical solution.

[0203] FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1500 of encoding according to an embodiment of this application. The apparatus 1500 can be mounted in an encoder.

[0204] As shown in FIG. 15, the apparatus 1500 includes: an encoding unit 1510,configured to obtain a first CB and a second CB, and the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, where the first CB and the second CB correspond to differentMIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB includes m information bits and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB; and a transmitting unit 1520, configured to transmit the firstCB and the second CB.

[0205] In one embodiment, the encoding unit 1510 is specifically configured to determine the value of m based on the first bound associated with the first noise variance, the second bound associated with the second noise variance, where the first bound and the second bound respectively indicate an upper limit and a lower limit on transmission WER. Both the first bound and the second bound are determined by any one of the following approximation algorithms comprising gaussian approximation, normal approximation and Meta-converse, and the first noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the first CB, and the second noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the second CB; determine m information bits based on the calculated value of m; and map the m information bits to the second CB.

[0206] In one embodiment, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are AWGN channel, and the encoding unit 1510 is specifically configured to determine the value of m according to the equations (1) to (3) as previously described.

[0207] In one embodiment, the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, the encoding unit 1510 is specifically configured to determine the value of m according to the equations (4) to (7) as previously described.

[0208] In one embodiment, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; in the case that the encoding scheme is LDPC encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB; or in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the secondCB includes n information bits, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of thesecond CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB.

[0209] FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of another apparatus 1600 of decoding according to an embodiment of this application. The apparatus 1600 can be mounted in an decoder.

[0210] As shown in FIG. 16, the apparatus 1600 includes: a receiving unit 1610, configured to receive a first CB and a second CB, wherein the first CB and the second CB are encoded by the same scheme, the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively; m information bits from the first CB are mapped to the second CB, n information bits from the second CB are mapped to the first CB; and a decoding unit 1620, configured to decode the first CB and the second CB according to the m information bits of the first CB and the n information bits of the second CB.

[0211] In one embodiment, in the case that the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; in the case that the encoding scheme is the LDPC encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB, the value of n is 0; or in the case that the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB; and the values of m and n may be equal (m = n) or differ. The values of m and n might be greater than or equal to 0.

[0212] In one embodiment, the encoding unit 1510 is specifically configured to decode the first CB; and if the first CB is decoded correctly, decode the second CB by using the m information bits ; if the first CB is decoded incorrectly, decode the second CB without the m information bits; if the second CB is decoded correctly, re-decode the first CB by using the n information bits; and if both the first CB and the second CB are decoded incorrectly, mark both the first CB and the second CB as wrongly decoded.

[0213] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the steps in the foregoingmethods.

[0214] Optionally, all or a part of computer program code can be stored on a first storage medium. The first storage medium can be packaged together with a processor or separately with a processor.

[0215] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes an input / output interface, at least one processor, at least one memory, and a bus. The at least one memory is configured to store instructions, and the at least one processor is configured to invoke the instructions of the at least one memory to perform operations in the methods in the foregoing embodiments.

[0216] In the embodiments of the present application, “at least one” means one or more, and “a plurality of’ means two or more. The term “and / or” describes an association relationship between associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character “ / ” generally indicates an “or” relationship between the associated objects. “At least one of the following” and a similar expression thereof refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of one item or a plurality of items. For example, at least one of a, b, and c may indicate: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c may be singular or plural.

[0217] A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some of the processes of the methods in the embodiments may be implemented by a computer program instructing related hardware. The program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program runs, the processes of the methods in the embodiments are performed. The foregoing storage medium may include: a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a read-only memory(ROM), or a random-access memory (RAM).

[0218] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merely an example. For example, the unit division is merely logical function division and may be other division in actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutualcouplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0219] The units described as separate parts may be or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may be or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

[0220] In addition, functional units in the embodiments of this application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

[0221] The foregoing descriptions are merely specific implementations of this application, but are not intended to limit the protection scope of this application. Any variation or replacement readily figured out by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application shall fall within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method of encoding, applied to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission system, characterized by comprising: obtaining a first code block (CB) and a second CB, the first CB and the second CB being encoded by the same scheme, wherein the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, the first CB comprises m information bits, and the m information bits are mapped to the second CB; and transmitting the first CB and the second CB.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining the first CB and the second CB comprises: determining a value of m based on a first bound associated with a first noise variance and a second bound associated with a second noise variance, wherein the first bound and the second bound respectively indicate an upper limit and a lower limit on transmission word error rate (WER), and both the first bound and the second bound are determined by any one of approximation algorithms comprising gaussian approximation (GS), normal approximation(NA) and Meta-converse, and the first noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the first CB, and the second noise variance is a noise variance of a channel used to transmit the second CB; determining the m information bits based on the value of m; and mapping the m information bits to the second CB.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, and the determining the value of m based on the first bound associated with the first noise variance and the second bound associated with the second noise variance comprises: determining the value of m according to the following equations:(3) wherein Pe(N, K, σ1) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and K information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is σ1, Pe(N, K + m, σ2) indicates a probability that the second CB with length N and K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is σ2, Pe(N, K- m, σ1) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and K-m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is σ1, p1indicates the probability of the first CB being wrongly re-decoded given that the second CB is decoded correctly, p2indicates the probability of both CBs being wrongly decoded, and m* indicates the value of m.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the channel used to transmit the first CB and the channel used to transmit the second CB are fading channel, and the determining the value of m based on the first bound associated with the first noise variance and the second bound associated with the second noise variance comprises: determining the value of m according to the following equations:wherein W indicates a zero-forcing decision based on channel matrix H of the channel, Pe(N, K, σ1*) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and K information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*, Pe(N, K) + m, σ2*) indicates a probability that the second CB with length N and K+m information bits is wrongly decoded where the second noise variance is updated to σ2*, Pe(N, K- m, σ1*) indicates a probability that the first CB with length N and K-m information bits is wrongly decoded where the first noise variance is updated to σ1*,p1indicates the probability of the first CB being wrongly re-decoded given that the second CB is decoded correctly, p2indicates the probability of both CBs being wrongly decoded, m* indicates value of m, and σ1* or σ2* are determined by the following relation: wherein wiindicates the ithrow of W, σ1indicates the first noise variance,and σ2indicates the second noise variance.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or wherein the encoding scheme is low-density parity-check (LDPC) encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits of the first CB on least reliable positions are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, n information bits of the second CB on least reliable positions are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB.

7. A method of decoding, applied to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission system, characterized by comprising: receiving a first code block (CB) and a second CB, wherein the first CB and the secondCB are encoded by the same scheme, wherein the first CB and the second CB correspond to different MIMO antennas, respectively, m information bits of the first CB are mapped to the second CB, and n information bits from the second CB are mapped to the first CB; and decoding the first CB and the second CB according to the m information bits of the firstCB and the n information bits of the second CB, correspondingly.

8. The method according to claims 7, wherein the encoding scheme is polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB; or wherein the encoding scheme is low-density parity-check (LDPC) encoding, the m information bits are m random information bits of the first CB and are mapped to random positions of the second CB.

9. The method according to 7, wherein the encoding scheme is cross block encoding based on polar encoding, the m information bits are m least reliable information bits of the first CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the second CB, the n information bits are n least reliable information bits of the second CB and are mapped to most reliable frozen bit positions of the first CB, and the values of n and m might be the same (n = m ) or different.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, the decoding the first CB and thesecond CB according to the m information bits of the first CB and the n information bits of the second CB comprises: decoding the first CB; and if the first CB is decoded correctly, decoding the second CB by considering the m information bits known; if the first CB is decoded incorrectly, decoding the second CB by considering the m information bits unknown; if the second CB is decoded correctly, re-decoding the first CB by considering the n information bits known; and if both the first CB and the second CB are decoded incorrectly, marking both the first CB and the second CB wrongly decoded.

11. An encoder, characterized by comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is connected to the memory; wherein the memoiy is configured to store instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions; and when the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor is enabled to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

12. A decoder, characterized by comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is connected to the memory; wherein the memory is configured to store instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions; and when the processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor is enabled to perform the method according to any one of claims 7 to 10.