# US 2014/0192857 A1 · Enhanced buffering of soft decoding metrics > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0192857 A1 - Document ID: US20140192857A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/147,540 - Filed: 2014-01-05 - Published: 2014-07-10 - Earliest claimed: 2013-01-04 - Assignees: Marvell World Trade Ltd. - Applicants: Marvell World Trade Ltd. - Inventors: Yona Perets; Daniel Yellin - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140192857A1 ## CPC - H04W 28/06: Optimizing {the usage of the radio link}, e.g. header compression, information sizing {, discarding information (system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365)} - H03M 7/30: Compression (speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N); Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction - H03M 7/60: {General implementation details not specific to a particular type of compression} - H03M 13/6588: {Compression or short representation of variables} - H04L 1/00: Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received {(correcting synchronisation H04L7/00)} - H04L 1/1819: {with retransmission of additional or different redundancy} - H04L 69/04: Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC - H04L 1/1845: {Combining techniques, e.g. code combining} - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H03M: CODING; DECODING; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL (using fluidic means F15C4/00; optical analogue/digital converters G02F7/00; coding, decoding or code conversion, specially adapted for particular applications, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. G01D, G01R, G06F, G06T, G09G, G10L, G11B, G11C, H04B, H04L, H04M, H04N; ciphering or deciphering for cryptography or other purposes involving the need for secrecy G09C) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method includes, in a receiver, computing soft decoding metrics for decoding a received signal. The soft decoding metrics are stored in compressed form in a memory buffer. The soft decoding metrics in the compressed form are retrieved from the memory buffer, the retrieved soft decoding metrics are decompressed, and the received signal is decoded using the decompressed soft decoding metrics. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: in a receiver, computing soft decoding metrics for decoding a received signal; storing the soft decoding metrics in a compressed form in a memory buffer; and retrieving the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form from the memory buffer, decompressing the retrieved soft decoding metrics and decoding the received signal using the decompressed soft decoding metrics. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form comprises encoding the soft decoding metrics using a compression codebook. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, wherein encoding the soft decoding metrics comprises adapting the compression codebook depending on a statistical distribution of the soft decoding metrics. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, wherein encoding the soft decoding metrics comprises selecting the compression codebook from a plurality of predefined compression codebooks based on a property of the received signal. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form comprises indicating unoccupied regions in the memory buffer, and wherein retrieving the compressed soft decoding metrics comprises skipping the indicated regions. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiver comprises a downlink receiver of a mobile communication terminal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiver comprises an uplink receiver of a base station. ### Claim 8 A telecommunication apparatus, comprising: a memory, which is configured to hold a memory buffer for storing soft decoding metrics; and processing circuitry, which is configured to compute the soft decoding metrics for decoding a received signal, to store the soft decoding metrics in a compressed form in the memory buffer, to retrieve the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form from the memory buffer, to decompress the retrieved soft decoding metrics and to decode the received signal using the decompressed soft decoding metrics. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to store the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form by encoding the soft decoding metrics using a compression codebook. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to adapt the compression codebook depending on a statistical distribution of the soft decoding metrics. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to select the compression codebook from a plurality of predefined compression codebooks based on a property of the received signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to store the soft decoding metrics in the compressed form by indicating unoccupied regions in the memory buffer, and to skipping the indicated regions when retrieving the compressed soft decoding metrics. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) A mobile communication terminal comprising the apparatus of claim 8. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) A base station comprising the apparatus of claim 8. ### Claim 15 (depends on 8) A chipset for processing signals, comprising the apparatus of claim 8. ### Claim 16 A method, comprising: in a receiver, computing soft decoding metrics, wherein each soft decoding metric belongs to one of multiple decoding processes of a received signal; in a memory buffer, allocating a common region and multiple process-specific regions corresponding respectively to the decoding processes; dividing each soft decoding metric into a most-significant portion and a least-significant portion, storing the most-significant portion in the process-specific region corresponding to a decoding process to which the soft metric belongs, and storing the least-significant portion in the common region; and decoding the received signal using at least the most significant portions of the soft decoding metrics stored in the memory buffer. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method according to claim 16, wherein decoding the received signal comprises: when the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of a given decoding process are available in the common region, decoding the received signal using both the most-significant portions and the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of the given decoding process; and when the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of a given decoding process are not available in the common region, decoding the received signal using only the most-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of the given decoding process. ### Claim 18 A telecommunication apparatus, comprising: a memory, which is configured to hold a memory buffer for storing soft decoding metrics, wherein each soft decoding metric belongs to one of multiple decoding processes of a received signal; and processing circuitry, which is configured to compute the soft decoding metrics, to allocate in the memory buffer a common region and multiple process-specific regions corresponding respectively to the decoding processes, to divide each soft decoding metric into a most-significant portion and a least-significant portion, to store the most-significant portion of each soft decoding metric in the process-specific region corresponding to the decoding process to which the soft metric belongs and to store the least-significant portion of each soft decoding metric in the common region, and to decode the received signal using at least the most significant portions of the soft decoding metrics stored in the memory buffer. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to decode the received signal by: when the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of a given decoding process are available in the common region, decoding the received signal using both the most-significant portions and the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of the given decoding process; and when the least-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of a given decoding process are not available in the common region, decoding the received signal using only the most-significant portions of the soft decoding metrics of the given decoding process. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) A mobile communication terminal or base station comprising the apparatus of claim 18. ### Claim 21 (depends on 18) A chipset for processing signals in a mobile communication terminal, comprising the apparatus of claim 18.