Soft-Decision Decoder Scaling for Full Quantizer Dynamic Range
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Solution Overview
Problem
Soft decision decoders face inefficiency due to unused quantizer levels in varying communication environments, leading to wasted dynamic range and reduced reliability of received signals.
Innovation Solution
A decoding device with a scaling unit, quantizer, and scaling coefficient generating unit that adjusts received signals to maximize the quantizer's dynamic range, ensuring even distribution of signal levels and improved reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a quantizer with fixed levels is used in soft decision decoding, then the decoder can determine signal reliability through quantization levels, but the quantizer's dynamic range is wasted when signal values predominantly fall at certain specific levels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the quantizer's input range adaptable through a scaling unit. The quantizer transitions from a fixed static configuration to a dynamic one where the input range is adjusted based on received signal characteristics. This allows the quantizer to optimize its dynamic range utilization for different signal conditions while maintaining multiple quantization levels for reliability assessment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of the quantizer's input range by introducing a scaling unit that adjusts the range before quantization. By modifying the scaling factor based on signal statistics (such as variance or power), the system optimizes how the quantizer utilizes its dynamic range, ensuring that quantization levels are effectively distributed across the actual signal distribution rather than wasting capacity on unused ranges.
2Device complexity
If the quantizer levels remain unchanged in varying communication environments, then the quantizer structure remains simple, but the generated quantized signal falls predominantly at certain specific quantizing levels with other levels unused
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamics by adding a scaling unit that adapts the quantizer's input range based on signal conditions. This allows the system to optimize quantization efficiency for different communication environments without fundamentally changing the quantizer's core structure, maintaining a balance between complexity and performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameter of the quantizer by adjusting the input range through scaling. This simple parameter adjustment allows the quantizer to efficiently utilize its levels across varying signal conditions, improving productivity without adding complex structural elements to the quantizer itself.
3Ease of operation
If a slicer is added in front of the hard decision decoder, then the received signal can be judged as 1 or -1 based on threshold, but the reliability information of the received signal is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary scaling unit between the received signal and the quantizer. This scaling unit prepares the signal by adjusting its range to match the quantizer's optimal input range, enabling the quantizer to produce meaningful multi-level outputs that preserve reliability information. The scaling unit acts as a mediator that transforms the raw signal into a form that maximizes the quantizer's ability to convey both decision and reliability information.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a decoding device. The decoding device includes a scaling unit for adjusting a received signal according to a scaling coefficient to generate a scaled signal; a quantizer coupled to the scaling unit for generating a quantized signal by quantizing the scaled signal; a soft decision decoder coupled to the quantizer for decoding the quantized signal to generate a decoded signal; and a scaling coefficient generating unit coupled to the scaling unit for generating the scaling coefficient according to a system information of the decoding device.