Slot-interleaved decoding of concatenated convolutional coding in mobile/hand-held digital television receivers

A receiver for concatenated convolutionally coded (CCC) transmissions of M/H-service data transversely Reed-Solomon-coded within RS Frames and subsequently encapsulated in 187-byte MHE packets time-division multiplexed with other 187-byte packets conveying trellis-coded main-service data within digital television (DTV) signals;

• said DTV signals being (207, 187) Reed-Solomon coded and convolutionally interleaved before being transmitted as 8-level vestigal-sideband amplitude-modulated (8-VSB) radio-frequency carrier waves;
• M/H Groups of said CCC transmissions of M/H-service data reposing in one or more of sixteen respective M/H Slots in each sub-Frame of each of a succession of consecutive M/H Frames;
• said sixteen respective M/H Slots in each successive sub-Frame considered as being consecutively numbered #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15 in the order in which they occur for transmission;
• said CCC transmissions of M/H-service data intended to be received and decoded by mobile and hand-held receivers collectively referred to as M/H receivers, said receiver being an M/H receiver comprising:
• a tuner for receiving a selected one of 8-VSB DTV signals broadcast at radio frequencies and converting it to a baseband DTV signal comprising said M/H Groups of said CCC transmissions of M/H-service data in ones of said M/H Slots superposed on successive data fields of convolutionally byte-interleaved 207-byte data segments;
• a plurality of CCC decoding apparatuses each connected for decoding selected ones of said M/H Groups of CCC transmissions of M/H-service data contained in respective sets of M/H Slots in each successive M/H sub-Frame in said baseband DTV signal, thereby to produce respective sets of CCC decoding results descriptive of transversely Reed-Solomon-coded M/H-service data, none of said plurality of CCC decoding apparatuses decoding Groups of said CCC transmissions of M/H-service data contained in temporally consecutive M/H Slots in said baseband DTV signal;
• a decoder for Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding of a type used for transversely Reed-Solomon coding M/H-service data within each of said RS Frames, said decoder for Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding having an input port for receiving codewords of said transversely Reed-Solomon coding M/H-service data as received subject to having byte errors incurred during transmission, and said decoder for Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding having an input port for supplying at least selected portions of said codewords of said transversely Reed-Solomon coding M/H-service data after correction of said byte errors;
• and
• byte-organized memory for temporarily storing received RS Frames of transversely Reed-Solomon-coded M/H-service data, said byte-organized memory operable to have sections of byte-storage locations therewithin written row-by-row by a write input signal generated by time-division multiplexing said respective sets of CCC decoding results descriptive of transversely Reed-Solomon-coded M/H-service data, said byte-organized memory further operable to have said byte-storage locations therewithin read column-by-column for supplying codewords of transversely Reed-Solomon coding M/H-service data to said input port of said decoder for Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding.