LDPC Variable Node Scoring to Cut Routing Delay in Decoding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hard-decision LDPC code decoders have lower error correction performance and higher throughput issues due to routing delays in passing messages among nodes, especially with less computationally intensive types of LDPC codes.
Innovation Solution
Assigning scores to variable nodes based on the count of unsatisfied check nodes, updating these nodes, and iteratively revising check nodes to improve error correction performance without explicit message passing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If hard-decision LDPC code decoders are used, then bandwidth consumption is reduced and computational cost is lowered, but error correction performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter representation from binary hard decisions to multi-level soft information (scores) that capture reliability metrics. Variable nodes store scores indicating the likelihood of bit errors, and check nodes compute scores based on unsatisfied parity checks. This parameter transformation enables hard-decision decoders to achieve soft-decision-level error correction performance while maintaining lower computational complexity.
2Quantity of substance
If hard-decision LDPC code decoders are used, then bandwidth requirements are reduced, but error correction performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified copy of soft-decision functionality within the hard-decision decoder architecture. Instead of implementing full soft-decision message passing, the system uses score variables that copy the essential reliability information needed for error correction. This score-based representation captures the critical aspects of soft information while requiring significantly less bandwidth than full soft-decision implementations.
3Productivity
If traditional hard-decision decoders with explicit message passing are used, then decoding can be performed, but routing delays reduce throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the explicit message passing step from the decoding process. Traditional LDPC decoders require iterative message passing between variable and check nodes, which introduces routing delays. The invention directly computes check node scores from variable node scores and received data, bypassing the message passing infrastructure entirely. This extraction of the message passing step removes the associated routing delays and improves throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for error correcting code (ECC) decoding. A score module is configured to assign a score to a variable node of low density parity check (LDPC) code decoder. The LDPC code decoder may include a plurality of variable nodes associated with a plurality of check nodes. The plurality of variable nodes may correspond to bits of a received code word. The score for the variable node may be based on a count of unsatisfied check nodes associated with the variable node. A variable node update module is configured to update the variable node based on the score. A check node update module is configured to update one or more of the check nodes based on the updated variable node.