Partial Soft Bit Read for Higher-Throughput LDPC Decoding

The patent divides the soft bit data into multiple subcodes corresponding to different ECC codewords. Instead of transferring all soft bit data uniformly, only selected subcodes are transferred based on syndrome weight thresholds. This segmentation allows the system to focus resources on the most error-prone portions of the data, improving decoding performance where needed while minimizing unnecessary data transfers that would reduce throughput.

The patent implements partial soft bit read by transferring only a portion of the soft bit data rather than all of it. The controller determines which subcodes to transfer based on syndrome weight calculations, transferring only those subcodes that exceed error thresholds. This partial action provides sufficient soft bit information for improved decoding while reducing the data transfer burden on the bus, thereby maintaining higher throughput compared to full soft bit page read operations.

The patent extracts only the necessary soft bit information from the complete soft bit data set. By calculating syndrome weights and comparing them against thresholds, the system identifies which subcodes contain the most critical error information. Only these extracted subcodes are transferred to the ECC engine, eliminating the need to transfer redundant soft bit data that would consume bus bandwidth without providing additional decoding benefit.

The patent applies different quality levels of soft bit information transfer to different portions of the data. Instead of uniform transfer, each subcode is evaluated individually based on its syndrome weight, and transfer decisions are made locally for each subcode. This allows high-priority subcodes with high error probabilities to receive full soft bit information while lower-priority subcodes receive reduced or no soft bit information, optimizing the balance between information completeness and throughput.