Signal transfer method and sender

Abstract

The invention concerns a signal transfer method for the transmission and reception of encoded signals between at least one sender and multiple receivers over a common communication channel, the method comprising the following steps: providing at least two separate streams, namely at least a first stream and a second stream, of information to be encoded and simultaneously transmitted over the channel by the sender, wherein the first stream is for a first receiver and comprises at least one first stream-block (m1) and the second stream is for a second receiver and comprises at least one second stream-block (m2); encoding at least the first stream as a first signal (u) and the second stream as a second signal (v) and transmitting an addition of the first signal (u) with the second signal (v) over the channel; wherein: encoding of the first stream (all m1) is delayed with respect to encoding the second stream, wherein at least one first stream-block (m1) of the first stream and at least one second stream-block (m2) of the second stream at least partially time-overlap, which is defined as overlap with respect to time; wherein one second stream-block (m2) of the second stream is encoded to be a second block-code using a first coding method; and after said second stream-block (m2) is encoded, encoding one first stream-block (m1) of the first stream using, at least partially, a dirty-paper-coding method. The invention further concerns a sender (100) configured to perform the signal transfer method.

Description

[0001] Signal Transfer Method and Sender

[0002] Description

[0003] The invention concerns a signal transfer method for the transmission and reception of encoded signals between at least one sender and multiple receivers over a common communication channel. The invention further concerns a sender, especially a transceiver, configured to perform the signal transfer method.

[0004] Background of the Invention

[0005] Field of the Invention

[0006] The invention relates to digital communication systems, in particular wireless networks, which often rely on a shared medium between users. In a wireless downlink scenario, a base station needs to send different data to each user or subscriber. Due to the shared medium, all users receive the full transmissions. This typically requires either the base station to schedule and coordinate with the users or the users to decode all information in a transmission regardless if they are the intended receiver.

[0007] Prior Art

[0008] In the prior art, there is a multitude of known signal transfer methods for addressing these problems.

[0009] For example, from CN101286824B, a pre-coding method and system in MIMO system with multiple users is known. From EP1597883B1, controlled superposition coding in multi-user communication system is known. From EP2149217B1, methods and apparatus for improved utilization of air link resources in a wireless communications system are known. From EP3207656B1, a wireless communication utilizing a unified air interface is known. From EP3244674B1 an asynchronous uplink method, terminal and base station are known. From EP3662597B1 transmission of data by multiple users over shared resources based on structured superposition coding is known. From EP3791688B1, small data transmission with non-orthogonal multiple access is known. From US8626177B2, a method of implementing superposition coding for a forward link in a wireless communication system is known.

[0010] Supplementary Background Information

[0011] In certain cases, the base station can use linear inverse precoding, so-called space-division multiplex, to separate the data streams for each user. This typically requires a large number of antennas and a suitable geometry of the antenna array and the mobile network. In cases where this is not possible, wireless communications standards instead rely on methods like time-division multiplex, frequency-division multiplex, code-division multiplex, or orthogonal frequency-division multiplex. All of these multiplex methods assign one unique user to each available resource unit, e.g., frequency channel, code book, time slot. This is often called orthogonal signaling. In each resource unit, the respective user knows that the all of the received transmission is for him. This requires active scheduling at the base station as well as coordination between base station and users to communicate this schedule. Except for space-division multiplex if applicable, these methods are typically suboptimal from a data rate per transmit power perspective. In the literature, there exist coding-based non-linear precoding methods which do not perform multiplexing. These schemes allow multiple users per resource unit and can thus increase energy efficiency as one transmission can serve multiple users at the same time. They are often described as non-orthogonal, interference cancelling, or superposition coding.

[0012] At the decoder of any user, the code words generated by the encoders for the other users act as interference. For the special case of combining via addition and an additive noise channel, the received symbol is y = u + v + n where u and v are the symbols from the code words of user 1 and 2, respectively, and n is the noise symbol. In other words, for the decoder of user 1 , the code word v for user 2 as well as the noise n degrade u.

[0013] With superposition coding, many users need to decode multiple messages. E.g., if the base station allocates more power to the code word u of user 1 , then user 2 needs to decode first the message for user 1 before he can decode his own message. This procedure is called successive cancellation decoding.

[0014] Gelfand-Pinsker Coding

[0015] With Gelfand-Pinsker (GP) Coding, also known as dirty paper coding (DPC), the encoder for user 1 performs the same operation as for superposition coding. The encoder for user 2, on the other hand, can consider the first code word as known interference. Thus, in the addition example, the second encoder also sees the channel y = u + v + n, but this time u is known to the second encoder in advance. At the decoders of either user, only the desired code word needs to be decoded.

[0016] In the state of the art, Gelfand-Pinsker coding is only ever considered with interference known for the full code word. As these non-orthogonal strategies rely on coding, they typically operate on whole blocks of symbols.

[0017] In particular, for methods resembling Gelfand-Pinsker coding or superposition coding, the transmitter employs distinct encoders for each receiver. The code words generated by these are then combined, e.g., by addition, to one transmit sequence.

[0018] In known existing implementations, the code words are of equal length and align with each other when being combined.

[0019] For Gelfand-Pinsker coding, it is important for the interference to be known in advance for the whole block. This is required in order to make use of that knowledge optimally.

[0020] All of these methods make the (common) assumption that base station and subscribers are synchronized. I.e., decoders know where in their received sequence a code block starts and ends.

[0021] Similar problems and solution approaches exist for the uplink, or multiple access, scenario. There, each individual user needs to send data to the base station. For non-orthogonal multiple access, one differentiates between synchronous networks, where it is possible to align each transmitters code word and so-called unsourced random access, where there is no or only minimal synchronization between transmitters. With synchronized transmitters, the code words of each transmitter are typically aligned, similar to the downlink scenario. Additionally, one technique of shifting code words, sometimes referred to as controlled asynchronism, is known, c.f. US8422955B2 and US8442441B2. There, the synchronized transmitters deliberately offsets their code word with respect to the other transmitters’ code words. This enables decoding gains at the receiver thanks to improved successive cancellation decoding.

[0022] Technical Problem Underlying the Invention

[0023] The foregoing described and prior known methods have the following disadvantages.

[0024] Implementable information rates of the coding depend on the degree of cooperation between the encoders. With aligned, block-based combination, an encoder either has all the information available for use or none. Therefore, the information rates achievable with this system are limited. Thus, the prior known solutions do not optimally exhaust the Shannon limit for a channel capacity. Summary

[0025] It is an object of the present invention to overcome these deficiencies. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a signal transfer method which can achieve high information transfer rates advantageously close to channel capacity.

[0026] The solution of these objects is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claim. The dependent claims contain advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0027] In particular, the solution of these objects is achieved by the signal transfer method according to claim 1. The dependent claims contain advantageous embodiments of the present invention.

[0028] The signal transfer method of claim 1 is suited for and adapted to the transmission and reception of encoded signals between at least one sender and multiple receivers over a common communication channel. The method comprises the following steps.

[0029] At least two separate streams of information to be encoded are provided. Thereof, at least a first stream and a second stream are provided. These are simultaneously transmitted over the channel by the sender. The first stream is for a first receiver and comprises at least one first stream-block, which is a block of information of the first stream. The second stream is for a second receiver and comprises at least one second stream-block, which is a block of information of the second stream.

[0030] The (at least) first stream is encoded as a first signal and the (at least) second stream is encoded as a second signal. Then, an addition of the first signal with the second signal is transmitted over the channel. In other words, the first signal and the second signal are added (functionally for example g(u,v) = u + v, but other functional examples of superposition and / or folding are possible) together and then transmitted over the common channel.

[0031] In the encoding:

[0032] The first stream is delayed with respect to encoding the second stream. Therein, at least one first stream-block of the first stream and at least one second stream-block of the second stream at least partially time-overlap, which is defined as overlap with respect to time. Time- overlap may preferably also be understood as having (at least) portions which are simultaneous in time.

[0033] Further therein, one second stream-block of the second stream is encoded to be a second block-code using a first coding method. Further, after said second stream-block is encoded, one first stream-block of the first stream is encoded. Said first stream-block is encoded at least partially using a dirty-paper-coding method. In other words, after the second stream- block is encoded using a first coding method, dirty-paper-coding is at least partially used to encode one first stream-block of the first stream. Therein, the first stream-block is encoded entirely, with at least a portion thereof being encoded using the dirty-paper-coding method.

[0034] Thereby, channel capacity is advantageously exhausted by the present signal transfer method.

[0035] For the nomenclature, the following is noted. “First stream-block” is a stream-block of the first stream, and “second stream-block” is a stream-block of the second stream. To denote a number or order of blocks, for instance a “first first stream-block” will be referred to, which is the first block out of all first stream-blocks, i.e. the very first block of the first stream, and likewise for the second stream.

[0036] Preferably, the term “delayed” above is with respect to a start of encoding. In other words, starting encoding of the first stream is delayed with respect to starting encoding the second stream.

[0037] Further preferably, the term “after said second stream-block is encoded” preferably refers to the second stream-block being fully or completely encoded, i.e. can preferably mean “after said second stream-block is entirely encoded” or “after encoding of the second stream-block is finished (entirely)”. In this regard, it is noted that blocks, i.e. stream-blocks, are always encoded to code-words in their entirety at once. However, the method or information underlying the encoding of a block may be split, i.e. partially one portion and a remaining portion together encoding one block to a code-block or codeword.

[0038] Advantageously, the above referring to “at least two separate streams” is preferably to mean the following. In general, the present signal transfer method is employable in Ml MO-systems and methods. In such cases, transmitter, receiver each or both have multiple antennas. Thereby, multiple (for example virtual) streams are generated between one transmitter and one receiver out of the foregoing. These streams can either be parallel or can depend on one another. In the parallel case, Gelfand-Pinsker coding (in the following, either “DPC” or “GP coding” is used interchangeably) is not necessary between streams of separate receivers, and GP coding is employed only on streams of different receivers. In the case that the streams of a receiver are designed with dependencies, GP coding is used between all streams, i.e. between transmitters and receivers as well as between antennas. In any case in which GP Coding is used, the present invention can be employed, i.e. time-shifted GP coding of claim 1.

[0039] Furthermore, a communication network with multiple transmitter and receivers is possible. This is commonly referred to as “interference channel”. In such cases, in which cooperation between the transmitters is allowed or used, the resulting communication method is similar to GP Coding. The present invention can also be employed towards such cases. Such an example can be for example different encoders per receiver in a base station.

[0040] Preferably, in some embodiments, the foregoing described method of encoding one second stream-block of the second stream to be a second block-code using a first coding method and afterwards encoding at least partially one first stream-block of the first stream using DPC can alternate between one another. For example, as will be shown in embodiments below, generally these encoding methods can alternate such that in a next step, another second stream-block of the second stream is encoded (as another, additional second block-code) using dirty-paper-coding method (.e. DPC). This will be referred to herein as “alternating time- shifted GP coding” or “alternating time-shifted DPC”.

[0041] In particular, in the aforementioned alternating time-shifted DPC according to some embodiments of the invention, particularly only the first (in time) second stream-block of the second stream is encoded using a first coding method (such as a regular point-to-point method as in polar, LDPC, turbo, convolutional, as will be discussed below). Afterwards, there is always at least partial time-overlap. Thus, afterwards, for each code-word from each stream DPC can be used for each receiver. In other words, the encoding using a first coding method for the very first second stream-block of the second stream is done due to being in time before the very first first stream-block (i.e. the first block of all the first stream-blocks, i.e. the first of all blocks of the first stream), where conventional DPC is not possible. Once having encoded the very first second stream-block using the first coding method, it is possible to generate and use side-information for DPC for all further encoding. In other words, the first coding method is preferably used as an initialization of encoding the first stream and the second stream, which are time-shifted against one another, i.e. delayed.

[0042] Of course, the code-words for the first stream can be encoded using a different method than the code-words for the second stream. Further preferably, the first code-word from the first stream can be encoded with a different DPC method than the DPC method for encoding the second code-word of the second stream.

[0043] In some embodiments, during the at least partial DPC of the first stream-block of the first stream, information of the second block-code is used as a primary side-information for the at least partial dirty-paper-coding of the first stream-block of the first stream. In other words, DPC commonly employs side-information for encoding.

[0044] In a preferable embodiment, the time-overlapping portion of the second block-code of the second stream-block is used as the primary side-information for the DPC of the first stream- block. Thus, the first stream-block can be encoded via DPC using side-information of the already-encoded (first coding method) first second stream-block.

[0045] Preferably, during the at least partial DPC of the first stream-block of the first stream, the first stream-block is encoded only partially, especially not completely, using the partial DPC method. In particular, it should be noted that blocks are always encoded entirely simultaneously, i.e. blocks are encoded and generated at once. In this embodiment, however, the DPC method is only used for a partial portion of the block. In particular, the DPC method using the side-information of the already-encoded first second stream-block is only used for partial encoding via DPC of the first stream-block of the first stream, and different or other side-information is used for another part or portion thereof. In some exemplary cases, another DPC method is used for the another part or portion thereof.

[0046] In such a case, preferably, a remaining part of the first stream-block may be encoded using the DPC method with auxiliary side-information. The auxiliary side-information is preferably different side-information with respect to the primary side-information. In other words, for one portion of DPC encoding the first stream-block, the primary side-information is used, and for another (at least one further) portion of DPC encoding the first stream-block, auxiliary side- information is used. Herein, encoding of partial DPC and remaining part, with primary and auxiliary side-information, are carried out at the same time since it is a single code word.

[0047] For example, the auxiliary side-information comprises a probability distribution dependent on the second stream. Preferably, the probability distribution is for example one out of P(ulv), P(ulv), P(u,v), P(u), and P(v), with u being a code word of the (encoded) first stream and v being a code word of the (encoded) second stream, i.e. the first signal and second signal.

[0048] In further examples, primary and / or auxiliary side-information may include for example:

[0049] - channel state information from uplink / downlink reciprocity, channel estimation, and pilot symbols;

[0050] - channel state information reported back to the transmitter by the receiver;

[0051] - channel state information and / or known transmit sequences from other network cells in the case of cooperating base stations and / or cloud random access networks (C-RAN);

[0052] - side-information in the form of higher-layer feedback ,e.g., from ARQ (automatic repeat request).

[0053] Preferably, the first coding method is point-to-point coding. Examples thereof are for example polar-coding and / or Low-Density-Parity-Check-coding (LDPC). In preferable embodiments, the DPC is polar code-based DPC and / or lattice-based DPC and / or Costa precoding and / or Tomlinson-Harashima precoding and / or Vector-perturbation by Hochwald. The foregoing listed coding methods, i.e. the first coding method examples and the DPC examples are conventionally well-known to the skilled person and will thus not be explained in detail.

[0054] Preferably, the first stream and the second stream are respectively bit streams.

[0055] Further preferably, in some embodiments, a bit-size respectively of the at least one first stream-block of the first stream and of the at least one second stream-block of the second stream are the same. Preferably, all blocks of all streams are of the same sizes.

[0056] In one embodiment, preferably, the encoding of the first stream and the second stream is delayed such that the partial overlap is 50%. In other words, the entire first second stream- block of the second stream is encoded to be the second block-code (the first in time) using the first coding method, and afterwards, the first first stream-block of the first stream is encoded to 50% using the DPC method, particularly using the side-information of 50% of the second block-code already encoded (as an initialization). The second half of the first first stream-block is preferably encoded using the auxiliary side-information and DPC method. Then, afterwards, the second second stream-block is encoded based on DPC and using the foregoing second half of the first first stream-block as side-information, and so on. This time- shifted alternating encoding can then be repeated until the end of the streams is reached. On the other hand, in general, the present method is not limited to aforementioned 50%, and it is an advantage of the invention in that the amount of partial overlap is easily adaptable, especially over commonly known GP coding with Time-Sharing.

[0057] The invention furthermore concerns a sender, especially a transceiver, comprising a control unit configured to perform the signal transfer method according to any one or a combination of the above embodiments.

[0058] The foregoing described preferable embodiments and configurations may be combined.

[0059] Further details, advantages, and features of the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the figures. Therein:

[0060] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0061] Fig. 1 shows a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a signal transfer method according to the present invention; and

[0062] Fig. 2 shows a transceiver according to the present invention. Description of the Embodiments

[0063] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 1.

[0064] Therein, Fig. 1 shows a diagram illustrating the embodiment of a signal transfer method according to the present invention. In particular, shown in Fig. 1 is a diagram of encoding signals u, v respectively over time, with positive time advancement shown from left to right in Fig. 1.

[0065] The signal transfer method is for the transmission and reception of encoded signals between at least one sender, for example a transceiver 100 (see also Fig. 2), and multiple receivers 102 over a common communication channel. The sender may for example be a base station, and the multiple receivers 102 may for example be mobile phones.

[0066] Herein, as an example, two receivers 102 each receive one signal u, v. In other words, in the present signal transfer method, two separate streams are provided, namely a first stream and a second stream of information to be encoded and simultaneously transmitted over the channel by the sender. The first stream is for a first receiver 102 and comprises at least one first stream-block, denoted rm. The second stream is for a second receiver 102 and comprises at least second stream-block, denoted m2.

[0067] In Fig.1 , the stream-blocks respectively have an index mx, x being 1 or 2, denoting their correspondence to the first or second stream. Furthermore, they have an additional index m‘, denoting their enumeration in time (for example, m(t1+1)follows m(t1). The first and second stream-blocks rm, m2 each and all comprise a bit-length of n bits.

[0068] As can be taken from Fig. 1 , the first stream, comprising all first stream-blocks rmis encoded as a first signal u. The second stream, comprising all second stream-blocks m2, is encoded as a second signal v. It is emphasized that in the illustration of Fig. 1 , the streams shown in the figure are not streams of messages mx, i.e. are not stream-blocks, but represent streams of encoded code words (code-blocks), which form the signals u and v.

[0069] Herein, the first signal u and the second signal v are added together to g(u,v) and transmitted simultaneously over the channel.

[0070] For illustration in Fig. 1 , the stream-blocks rm, m2 respectively are shown as separated by through-lines (versus further stream-blocks rm, m2), whereas individual bits n of each stream- block rm, m2 are shown separated in dashed lines.

[0071] As can be taken from Fig. 1 , during the encoding of the present method, encoding of the first stream of all stream-blocks rm is delayed with respect to encoding the second stream of all second stream-blocks m2. As shown by the hashed individual bits, the first stream is delayed such that at least one, in the present embodiment all, first stream-block rm and second stream-block m2 partially time-overlap, which is defined as overlap with respect to time.

[0072] In the present embodiment, three (or correspondingly n-3) bits of each of the first stream- block rm and the second stream-block m2 overlap with each other. However, this is merely to be understood as a visualization. In common real-world implementations, n may range between orders of magnitudes of 100 to 10000, with a size of the overlap also in these orders of magnitude.

[0073] Further in the encoding, starting illustratively on the left of Fig. 1 with the first fully shown stream-blocks rm, m2 (i.e. rm(t1), m2(t2)), the first second stream-block rri2(t2) is encoded using a first coding method, which in the present embodiment is a point-to-point encoding method such as polar coding, so as to generate a second block-code. The second block-code is a codeword of the second signal v to be sent to and received / decoded by a receiver.

[0074] Then, after this second stream-block rri2(t2) is encoded as the second block-code, the first stream-block rm(t1+1) is partially encoded using a dirty-paper-coding method, i.e. DPC, also referred to as Gelfand-Pinsker coding (GP coding). Therein, the time-overlapping bits of the second stream-block rri2(t2), which are shown hashed, are used as side-information for the partial DPC. This side-information resulting from the overlapping bits will also be referred to as “primary side-information”.

[0075] As shown in Fig. 1, the primary side-information in the present embodiment is Pu|v, which is a probability distribution for first signal u given a certain second signal v. This is known to the sender and included as primary side-information.

[0076] Since the overlap, as shown by the hashed bits, is only partial in the present embodiment, the first stream-block rm(t1+1) is encoded only partially using said dirty-paper-coding method with the primary side-information. The remaining part (i.e. n-3 of mi(t1+1)) is encoded using a dirty-paper-coding method with auxiliary side-information which is different from the primary side-information. In the present embodiment, the auxiliary side-information is Pu, which is a probability distribution for u. In other words, the remaining part of the first stream-block rm (t1 +1 ) is encoded so as to follow the probability distribution Pu, known to the sender, for the first signal u. This probability distribution Pu can be calculated for example based on aforementioned Pu|v of the first three (overlapping, hashed) bits with the given v of m2(t2).

[0077] Thereby, the first second stream-block rri2(t2) is encoded using point-to-point coding, and the (in this explanation) first first stream-block mi(t1+1) is encoded using DPC or GP coding based on information on the first second stream-block m2(t2). Of course, as demonstrated in Fig. 1 , since the present embodiment concerns streams of information, particularly bit-streams, these described stream-blocks rm, m2 can be at the beginning, the end, or anywhere in between within the first stream and the second stream.

[0078] In the present invention, it is advantageous if the foregoing described encoding of the first stream-block rm and of the second stream-block m2 is carried out with the very first corresponding blocks of the first stream and of the second stream. In other words, preferably, the very first second stream-block is rri2(t2) and is encoded using point-to-point encoding as an initialization, and then the very first first stream-block is rm(t1+1) is encoded using DPC based on side-information on the very first second stream-block m2(t2).

[0079] In the present embodiment, after the aforementioned encoding of the first stream-block rm(t1 +1), the second second stream-block m2(t2+1) is encoded. Herein, the second second stream-block m2(t2+1) is encoded using the DPC method. Further herein, side-information used for this encoding with DPC method is partially Pv|u, which is also known to the sender, and is based on the code-word of rm(t1 +1), i.e. the overlap therewith (non-hashed bits n of rm(t1+1)). The remaining portion of the second second stream-block m2(t2+1) is encoded using DPC method with Pv as side-information, which can be calculated based on Pv|u and given u.

[0080] This alternating, after initialization with point-to-point coding of the first very second stream- block rri2(t2) is herein referred to as “time-shifted alternating Gelfand-Pinsker” encoding. This is repeated until the first stream comprising all first stream-blocks ml and the second stream comprising all second stream-blocks m2 are encoded. Then, these are added, for example functionally with g(u,v) = u + v, or via another superposition or folding function, and transmitted via the common channel to both receivers 102.

[0081] Thereby, this signal transfer method achieves high information transfer rates advantageously close to channel capacity.

[0082] Fig. 2 shows a transceiver 100 according to the present invention. The transceiver 100 comprises a control unit 101 configured to perform the foregoing described signal transfer method. The control unit 101 may be connected to one or more antennas and / or other shared medium such as (multi-mode) optical fiber networks, underwater acoustic communication, powerline communication, etc. (not shown). The transceiver 100, via the control unit 101 , transmits the encoded and added signal g(u,v) = u + v to multiple receivers 102.

[0083] In addition to the foregoing written explanations, it is explicitly referred to figure 1 , wherein the figure in detail shows the embodiment of the signal transfer method of the invention. Furthermore, the following background and invention information is referred to (copyright & source indication: ’’Time-Shifted Alternating Gelfand-Pinsker Coding for Broadcast Channels” Constantin Runge, Gerhard Kramer 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)):

[0084] Time-Shifted Alternating Gelfand-Pinsker Coding for Broadcast Channels

[0085] Abstract— A coding scheme for broadcast channels (BCs) is ■ II. PRELIMINARIES proposed that shifts the users’ code blocks by different amounts of time and applies alternating Gelfand-Pinsker encoding. The A. Notation scheme achieves all rate tuples in Marton’s region for two Random variables are written in upper case, such as X. The receiver BCs without time-sharing or rate-splitting. Simulations alphabet, distribution, and realization of X are written as X, with short polar codes show that the method reduces the gap to capacity as compared to time-sharing. Pxand x, respectively. If Fyt|x is stochastically degraded with respect to Fya|x we write Pypx Figx. An index set is denoted by [nJ := {1, . . . , nJ. Strings (xi, . . . ,scn) of

[0086] I. INTRODUCTION symbols are denoted as xn. String concatenation is denoted as and gn(xn) := . ,g{xn)).

[0087] Broadcast channels (BCs) model the downlink of wireless The expressions E[X], H(X), H(X|K), and I(X; F) refer cellular systems. A practical approach to avoid interference to the expectation of X, the entropy of X, the conditional is orthogonalizing transmission, e.g., by time-division multi- entropy of X given Ytand the mutual information (MI) of X plexing, frequency-division multiplexing, or inverse preceding. and F, respectively. The binary entropy function is denoted The best-known rates for BCs, up to multi-letter coding that ft2(p) = -plog2p - (1 - p) log2(l - p) for 0 < p < 1, and is considered impractical, are achieved with Marton coding Ji2(0) = hafl) = 0. The conditional Bhattacharyya parameter which simultaneously bins two or more random codebooks; is defined as (see

[0020] ) see [1, p, 259], [2], [3], However, Marton coding also seems impractical, and implementations use binning with individual (D codebooks, called Gelfand-Pinsker (GP) coding [4], Capacity- and satisfies (see

[0020] , [21, Lemma 6]) achieving GP coding can be implemented by polar codes [5] for joint shaping and error control [6], For example, the z(x|y)2< H(X|F) < z(x|y) (2) authors of [7] apply polar codes to binary symmetric GP z(x(y, s,) < F(x|y) (3) channels; the paper [8] polarizes two random variables concur- rently; the paper [9] uses polar codes for probabilistic shaping where X, Y, S ~ PXYS- The string xnis said to be e-typical and GP coding; the authors of

[0010] use a chaining construction; with respect to Pxif the thesis

[0011] uses polar latices; and the papers

[0012] ,

[0013] ,

[0088] |X(a|a;”) / n - Px(a)| < ePx(a), for all a e X

[0014] use scalar lattices and probabilistic shaping.

[0089] GP coding for BCs achieves the comer points of Marton’s where 7V(a|a:n) is the number of times the letter a occurs region. The other rate points may be achieved by time- in the string x". The set of length-n e-typical strings with sharing or rate-spliting

[0015] , similar to multi-access chan- respect to Pxis denoted as T*(PX)- We write PJ = (Rx)nnels (MACs) with successive cancellation (SC) decoding. For for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) strings. MACs, a simple scheme has the transmiters use time-shifted encoding

[0016] and SC decoding. This approach has a lower B. BCs delay than time-sharing in general and is simpler than rate- A two-receiver discrete memoryless BC

[0022] has a condi- spliting. A related idea is block-offset encoding and SC tional distribution with input X and two outputs Yltdecoding, which can improve rates, e.g., for multi-access relay Yz. An (n, Ri, R%) code is a triple consisting of one encoder channels

[0017] and noisy network coding

[0018] ,

[0019] . and two decoders where the encoder maps a message pair

[0090] This paper studies a dual of the MAC scheme in

[0016] , (mi. mj) € [2n-B1] x [2nR,J to a transmit string xnand each which we call time-shifted alternating (TSA) GP encoding. decoder k e {1, 2} maps its channel observation yj € Simulations suggest that polar codes are well-suited for the to an estimate rhk € [2”‘RltJ. Marton’s region of rate pairs approach. The paper is organized as follows. Section II reviews (i?i, Rz) for a fixed Puvx *s(seeP],

[0023] and also

[0024] ) notation, Marton’s region, and GP coding. Section III performs

[0091] < < lR ri), H2< I(V; F2), (4) TSA-GP encoding using random codes, and Section IV uses polar codes. Section V concludes the paper. Ri + Rs ^KU^ + Ky^ - KUi V) (5)

[0092] Figure 2. TSA-GP coding. The yellow region signifies GP encoding, and the white region point-to-point encoding. Time-s aring can achieve any point in Marton s reg on y transmitting at each comer point for some fraction of the time. Figure I. Capacity region of the Blackwell channel

[0025] , The blue and yellow However, if the reliability constraints require similar code regions are achievable with conventional GP coding, each corresponding to word lengths for both receivers, the delay is approximately one encoding order. a multiple of the code word lengths. This makes time-sharing impractical for low-delay transmissions. On the other hand, rate-spliting splits one message into two messages and treats Theorem 1. TSA-GP encoding achieves all rate points in the BC as a three-receiver channel, which incurs additional Marton’s region. complexity for code design and at the encoder and decoders. Proof. For the BC i x 6* the distribution Puv, a function j : U x V —> X, as well as overlap lengths 0 < w < n and

[0093] III. TSA ENCODING WITH RANDOM CODES n2= „ —ni. We transmit messages mi € [2nH1J, m2€

[0094] Time-sharing has each code word generated by a usual |2»«2 j [Q receivers 1 and 2, respectively. For «i = 0 or n2= encoder or a GP encoder. TS A coding instead introduces an 0, TS A coding is identical to GP coding for the comer points. offset between the receiver blocks. The encoders for each We assume ni, n2 > 0 in the following. receiver perform GP encoding in the first part of their blocks, Code Construction: For receiver 1, choose 2n-R1+ni-Ri where the interference of the other receiver’s codeword is i.i.d. code words f € [2nia»J, with P^1known, and a usual encoding in the second part; see Fig. 2. and 2nR1i.i.d. a”3(mi) with Pp. For receiver 2, choose

[0095] Again, two encoders produce unand Let »i < n be the i.i.d. vB2(m2iZ2), ft G [2B2fl2], with Jf2and shift of the blocks of receiver 2. Then, when m is encoded, 2n*3i.i.d. vni(m2) with Pp. the last ni symbols of the previous vnoverlap with the first nj Encoding: The encoder maps mi, m2to pairs («"' , u"2), symbols of the unto be encoded. The encoder for receiver 1 (wn2, vni), respectively, in an alternating manner. Given a assumes the first ni states are known and treats the remaining previous m2and a current mi, the encoder chooses an h n — nj states as unknown. Similarly, the encoder for receiver such that (uni(mi Jj), vni(m2)) € Tf1(Puv) and transmits 2 assumes the first n — n2states are known and treats the a:”1= pS1(uS1(mi, li),vB1(ma)). Similarly, given a previous remaining ni states as unknown. mi and a current m2, the roles are reversed, i.e., the encoder chooses such that (un2(mi), vn2(m,2, l2)) G T™2(Puv) A, Polar Codes and transmits ®Bs= ffn3(un,(mi)t®n2(m2tfe)). In both Polar codes are linear block codes defined via the self- cases, if there is no jointly typical string, set 4 = 1, k = 1, 2. inverse, linear polar transform Gnwith

[0096] Decoding: Given yf = [y J1, receiver 1 finds indices rhi, 4 such that (uni(fhi € 7^ni(Pizy) and "1 01 ®

[0097] ®Iog2 nPUY)- Receiver 2 proceeds analog-n= a;”G“1, G (14) 3 , j / ” ) € T*2( 1 1 ously with < =

[0098] Analysis: The encoder uses standard GP encoders, which where F®kis the fc-fold Kronecker product of F. For strings are likely to succeed if R'k> 1(0; F) and is large for k = Xnand Ynwe introduce the notation 1, 2. Suppose (uni, v”1, y"1) € T'F1(PuvYi ) and consider the < 4} (15) event Ej of finding wrong estimates mi, li. We have 0 < p < |. These index sets polarize [6, Eqs, (38), (39)], i.e., where the events fQP(m, l) — {(uni(m, / ),« / ”1) e we have and £lrect(m) = {(u"2(m),^) e T^Wny } are independent, and lime_>o 4(e) — 0. For the event £2 of finding erroneo i di t i 2 i il rl h pr

[0099] One usually has Xn~ Bern(|) for polar codes.

[0100] Defining a and combining our results we obtain an

[0101] This polarization property can be used for coding by consid- achievable region of ering the polar transform xnof the code word xnas follows.

[0102] Ri < 1(17; Ki) - a 1(17; F) (12) The bits x* on positions i 6 £x|r» can be estimated reliably given previous xj, j € [i — 1]. An encoder thus places data

[0103] J?2< I(V; y2) - (l - a) I(£7; V) (13) into the positions in £X|y- The remaining, so-called frozen, with Ri + R2< 1(17; yi) + I(V; y2) - W; V). > bits xt, i € W^jy, are fixed to 0. An SC decoder successively computes estimates of ij given yn: at every position i, either

[0104] The above scheme requires no time-sharing or rate-splitting, Xi — 0 is known, or 2, can be estimated reliably. The error and few blocks are needed to approach a desired rate tuple. probability of the entire decoding procedure goes to 0 as For example, consider the target fraction and N are integers. With time-sharing, the average rates are close to the desired rate tuple only if the number of blocks is a B, Polar Codes for Probabilistic Shaping and GP Coding multiple of N or significantly larger than N. Thus, the number The polar transform can be used to construct codes that of data bits for receiver k with time-sharing is a multiple of emulate a distribution Px* = Eh PxtM- Consider, e.g., the N • nRk- On the other hand, TSA coding requires N to be a i.i.d. case Fx»y» = PxPy\x- '®® “W26divisor of the block length n, i.e., the number of data bits is a and Z(Xi[X‘-1). The bits xtwith i € Hx have entropy close multiple of nF*, without the extra factor N. This difference is to 1 and can carry one bit of information each. The shaping bits important for large If , e.g., when a fine-grained control of data Xi with i € £'x, have entropy mostly significantly less than 1. rates is needed. If N does not divide n, then a* can be closely This means Xn~ Px™ induces a non-uniform distribution on approximated by some fraction for most practical Hock these bits given I*-1. Encoding is performed by first fixing lengths. Also, time-sharing and rate-splitting require multiple £i = 0, i € WX|r, and placing data into xt, i € M, with rates for different blocks, while the TSA rates are the same M = £x|y TiWx- An SC decoder then computes probabilities for each block which simplifies coding. and samples x, ~ Fx4|x4-l> *e£x ■ Th® receiver is similar to the one for polar codes with uniform X. The bits with i € Hx

[0105] IV. TSA ENCODING WITH POLAR CODES are estimated using an SC decoder given y". The bits at Cx

[0106] We demonstrate the practicality of TSA coding via polar must be decoded with the same SC decoder and randomness codes. Polar codes achieve the comer points of Marton’s as at the encoder. Since £x4 £X|y» therateis [6] region using the schemes from [9],

[0010] . TSA polar encoding modifies these schemes. lim - 1 M| = H(X) - H(X|K) (21)

[0107] Figure 3. Simulated decoder error probabilities vs. back-off from sum capacity C = log23 bpcu over the Blackwell channel using SCL-32 decoding. The time-sharing fraction is a = 1 / 2 so Ri = Ry.

[0108] REFERENCES and V|(U = 1) ~ Ber(O). The corner rates are 2 / 3 bpcu [1] I. Csiszdr and J, KOrner, Information Theory: Coding Theorems for for the GP coded user and « 0.918 bpcu for the marginally Discrete Memoryless Channels. Budapest: Akad&niai Kiadd, 1981.

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[0030] , The degree of

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[0131] List of Reference Numerals ml first stream-block m2 second stream-block t1 , t2...t2+1 time index u first signal v second signal g(u,v) combined signal

[0132] 100 transceiver

[0133] 101 control unit 102 receiver

Claims

Claims1. Signal transfer method for the transmission and reception of encoded signals between at least one sender (100) and multiple receivers (102) over a common communication channel, the method comprising the following steps:- providing at least two separate streams, namely at least a first stream and a second stream, of information to be encoded and simultaneously transmitted over the channel by the sender (100), wherein the first stream is for a first receiver (102) and comprises at least one first stream-block (mi) and the second stream is for a second receiver (102) and comprises at least one second stream-block (m2);- encoding at least the first stream as a first signal (u) and the second stream as a second signal (v) and transmitting an addition (g(u,v)) of the first signal (u) with the second signal (v) over the channel; wherein:- encoding of the first stream is delayed with respect to encoding the second stream, wherein at least one first stream-block (m-i) of the first stream and at least one second stream-block (m2) of the second stream at least partially time-overlap, which is defined as overlap with respect to time; wherein- one second stream-block (m2) of the second stream is encoded to be a second block-code using a first coding method; and- after said second stream-block (m2) is encoded, encoding one first stream-block (mi) of the first stream using, at least partially, a dirty-paper-coding method.

2. Signal transfer method according to claim 1 , wherein, during the at least partially dirty- paper-coding of the first stream-block (mJ of the first stream, information of the second block- code is used as a primary side-information for the at least partially dirty-paper-coding of the first stream-block (mJ of the first stream.

3. Signal transfer method according to claim 2, wherein, during the at least partially dirty- paper-coding of the first stream-block (mJ of the first stream, the primary side-information is the portion of the second block-code of the second stream-block (m2) which time-overlaps with the first stream-block (mJ.

4. Signal transfer method according to claims 2 or 3; wherein, during the at least partially dirty-paper-coding of the first stream-block (mJ of the first stream, the first stream-block (mJ is encoded only partially, especially not completely, using the partial dirty-paper-coding method with the primary side-information.

5. Signal transfer method according to claim 4, wherein, with the partial dirty-paper- coding of the first stream-block (mJ with the primary side-information, a remaining part of thefirst stream-block (mi) is encoded simultaneously using the dirty-paper-coding method with auxiliary side-information.

6. Signal transfer method according to claim 5 with claim 2, wherein the auxiliary side- information is different from primary side-information.

7. Signal transfer method according to claim 6, wherein the auxiliary side-information comprises at least one of a probability distribution out of P(ulv), P(ulv), P(u,v), P(u), and P(v).

8. Signal transfer method according to any one of the foregoing claims, wherein the first coding method is point-to-point-coding such as polar-coding and / or and / or Low-Density- Parity-Check-coding.

9. Signal transfer method according to any one of the foregoing claims, wherein the dirty- paper-coding is Costa precoding and / or Tomlinson-Harashima precoding and / or Vector- perturbation by Hochwald and / or polar code-based dirty paper coding and / or lattice-based dirty paper coding.

10. Signal transfer method according to any one of the foregoing claims, wherein the first stream and the second stream are bit streams.

11. Signal transfer method according to claim 10, wherein a bit-size respectively of the at least one first stream-block (mJ of the first stream and the at least one second stream-block (m2) of the second stream are the same.

12. Sender (100), for example a transceiver, comprising a control unit (101 ) configured to perform the signal transfer method according to any one of the foregoing claims.

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