Multi-Channel ECC Interleaving for Channel Failure Recovery

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Solution Overview

Problem

Data communication between devices is prone to failures such as intermittent or persistent high bit-error-rate (BER) channels and fully broken channels, leading to suboptimal networking performance and potential system replacement, necessitating a reliable and fault-tolerant data communication scheme.

Innovation Solution

A method involving error correction coding blocks with interleaving across multiple channels and a backup-channel hot swapping mechanism, utilizing both time scheduling and spatial multiplexing to ensure data recovery even in the event of channel failures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If data is transmitted through multiple channels without reliability scheme, then bandwidth utilization is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to channel failures

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebandwidth utilizationVSAvoidsystem reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The data message is segmented into multiple error correction coding blocks, and each block is further divided into multiple data units that are distributed across different channels. This segmentation ensures that channel failures affect only portions of the data, not the entire transmission, thereby maintaining reliability while utilizing multiple channels for bandwidth.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically changes the interleaving map parameters based on channel conditions and failure scenarios. By adjusting the mapping between data units and channels, the system adapts to maintain reliability while optimizing bandwidth utilization across available channels.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If error correction coding is applied to all data units, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage recovery capabilityVSAvoidASIC area

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of applying complex error correction to every single data unit, the system applies error correction coding at the block level, where multiple data units form one codable block. This partial application of error correction reduces complexity while maintaining reliability, as the ECC operates on aggregated blocks rather than individual units.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

Multiple data units are merged into single error correction coding blocks before transmission. This combining allows the error correction mechanism to operate more efficiently on aggregated data, reducing the overall complexity of the error correction system while maintaining the ability to recover from channel failures.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Device complexity

If traditional error correction coding is used without interleaving, then implementation is simpler, but fault tolerance deteriorates when multiple channels fail

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimplementation simplicityVSAvoidfault tolerance

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces a spatial dimension to error correction by interleaving data units across multiple channels before transmission. This dimensional approach distributes risk across different physical paths, enabling the system to tolerate multiple channel failures simultaneously while maintaining relatively simple error correction coding at the receiver.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Solution Approach 2:

The interleaving map is pre-configured to anticipate potential channel failure scenarios. By preliminarily arranging data units across channels in a failure-resilient pattern before transmission begins, the system achieves fault tolerance without requiring complex real-time decision-making, thus maintaining implementation simplicity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Reliability

If backup channels are added for hot swapping, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and power consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefault toleranceVSAvoidpower consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The interleaved data structure acts as an intermediary mechanism that provides fault tolerance without requiring physical backup channels. By distributing data across multiple active channels with intelligent mapping, the system achieves reliability equivalent to having backup channels while avoiding the continuous power consumption associated with maintaining idle backup transmission paths.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12476735B2Error-resistant data communication using multiple channels

Publication Date: 2025.11.18 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A transmission method comprising: encoding a message into error correction coding blocks, each comprising a different portion of the payload bits of the message and a respective plurality of error correction bits; and applying an interleaving map to error correction coding blocks, such that for each error correction coding block, different bits of the error correction coding block are mapped to different channels, each channel thus being used to transmit bits from a respective selection of multiple of the error correction coding blocks. Thus, for at least one channel failure scenario in which at least one of the plurality of channel fails leaving a plurality of remaining channels, enough bits will remain on the remaining channels to enable correction of the message based on the error correction coding.