Systems and Methods for Auto Scaling in a Data Processing System

A method for auto-scaling intrinsic processing values, the method comprising:

• performing a data detection on a data input to yield a detected output, wherein the data detection yields a first interim value and a second interim value;
• combining at least the first interim value and the second interim value to yield a precursor value;
• comparing the precursor value with a threshold value to yield a comparison result;
• modifying a scaling factor based at least in part on the comparison result;
• scaling the first interim value by the scaling factor to yield a scaled interim value;
• and
• generating a soft output corresponding to the scaled interim value, wherein the soft output is include in the detected output.

A storage device, the storage device comprising:

• a storage medium maintaining information;
• a read/write head assembly operable to sense the information and to provide a corresponding continuous signal;
• an analog front end circuit operable to process the continuous signal to yield an analog input;
• an analog to digital converter circuit operable to convert the analog input to yield a set of digital samples;
• an equalizer circuit operable to equalize the digital samples to yield an equalized output;
• and
• a data detection circuit operable to perform a data detection on the equalized output to yield a detected output, wherein the data detection circuit includes:
• a scaling circuit operable to scale a branch metric value by a scaling factor to yield a scaled output;
• a soft output calculation circuit operable to calculate a soft output based at least in part on the scaled output, wherein the detected output includes the soft output;
• and
• a factor calculation circuit operable to modify the scaling factor based at least in part on the soft output.