# US 2018/0321902 A1 · Soft decision audio decoding system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0321902 A1 - Document ID: US20180321902A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/030,545 - Filed: 2018-07-09 - Published: 2018-11-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-09-03 - Assignees: Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. - Applicants: Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. - Inventors: Robert Mamola - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180321902A1 ## CPC - G06F 3/165: {Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path} - G10L 19/00: Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis (in musical instruments G10H) - G10L 19/005: Correction of errors induced by the transmission channel, if related to the coding algorithm - H03M 13/4138: {soft-output Viterbi algorithm based decoding, i.e. Viterbi decoding with weighted decisions} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - 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) ## Abstract A soft decision audio decoding system for preserving audio continuity in a digital wireless audio receiver is provided that deduces the likelihood of errors in a received digital signal, based on generated hard bits and soft bits. The soft bits may be utilized by a soft audio decoder to determine whether the digital signal should be decoded or muted. The soft bits may be generated based on the detected point and a detected noise power, or by using a soft-output Viterbi algorithm. The value of the soft bits may indicate confidence in the strength of the hard bit generation. The soft decision audio decoding system may infer errors and decode perceptually acceptable audio without requiring error detection, as in conventional systems, as well as have low latency and improved granularity. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of receiving an audio signal represented by a digital signal, comprising: detecting a sequence of symbols of a constellation associated with a digital modulation scheme in the digital signal from a received RF signal, wherein the sequence of symbols represents bits of the audio signal; determining a likely transmitted sequence of symbols based on error in the complex plane determined from running the detected sequence of symbols through a Viterbi algorithm; generating hard bits based on the determined likely transmitted sequence of symbols; generating soft bits based on a degree of closeness of the sequence of symbols to known legal sequences of symbols determined from running the sequence of symbols through a soft-output Viterbi algorithm; determining whether to decode the digital signal into a digital audio signal, based on the soft bits; generating the digital audio signal based on the digital signal, if it is determined to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal; and generating a muted digital audio signal, if it is determined not to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein generating the soft bits comprises determining an approximate log likelihood ratio indicating a confidence in a strength of the generated hard bits, based on the degree of closeness of the sequence of symbols to known legal sequences. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal comprises: decoding the digital signal into codeword bits; identifying a first subset of the codeword bits representing a high perceptual importance of the audio signal and a second subset of the codeword bits representing a low perceptual importance of the audio signal; generating a codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword with zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein: generating the digital audio signal comprises generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; generating the muted digital audio signal comprises generating the muted digital audio signal based on the codeword with the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the digital audio signal comprises generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein: determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal comprises: decoding the digital signal into bits; generating a PCM audio sample from the bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating a zero PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is less than the predetermined threshold; generating the digital audio signal comprises generating the digital audio signal based on the PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; and generating the muted digital audio signal comprises generating the muted digital audio signal based on the zero PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal comprises: decoding the digital signal into codeword bits; identifying a first subset of the codeword bits representing the audio signal with a minimally perceptually acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and second subset of the codeword bits representing the audio signal with an SNR in excess of the minimally perceptually acceptable SNR established by the first subset; generating a codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword with zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein: generating the digital audio signal comprises generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; generating the muted digital audio signal comprises generating the muted digital audio signal based on the codeword with the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the digital audio signal comprises generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 8 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2: further comprising: decoding the digital signal encoded with a forward error correction (FEC) code; and modifying the soft bits based on the decoded digital signal; wherein determining whether to decode the digital signal comprises determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal, based on the modified soft bits. ### Claim 9 A system for receiving an audio signal represented by a digital signal, comprising: (1) a detector configured for detecting a sequence of symbols of a constellation associated with a digital modulation scheme in the digital signal from a received RF signal, wherein the sequence of symbols represents bits of the audio signal; (2) a demodulator configured for: determining a likely transmitted sequence of symbols based on error in the complex plane determined from running the detected sequence of symbols through a Viterbi algorithm; generating hard bits based on the determined likely transmitted sequence of symbols; and generating soft bits based on a degree of closeness of the sequence of symbols to known legal sequences of symbols determined from running the sequence of symbols through a soft-output Viterbi algorithm; (3) a soft audio decoder configured for determining whether to decode the digital signal into a digital audio signal, based on the soft bits; and (4) an audio codec/processor configured for: generating the digital audio signal based on the digital signal, if it is determined to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal; and generating a muted digital audio signal, if it is determined not to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the demodulator is configured for generating the soft bits by determining an approximate log likelihood ratio indicating a confidence in a strength of the generated hard bits, based on the degree of closeness of the sequence of symbols to known legal sequences. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the soft audio decoder is configured for determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal by: decoding the digital signal into codeword bits; identifying a first subset of the codeword bits representing a high perceptual importance of the audio signal and a second subset of the codeword bits representing a low perceptual importance of the audio signal; generating a codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword with zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the audio codec/processor is configured for: generating the digital audio signal by generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; generating the muted digital audio signal by generating the muted digital audio signal based on the codeword with the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the digital audio signal by generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein: the soft audio decoder is configured for determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal by: decoding the digital signal into bits; generating a PCM audio sample from the bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating a zero PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is less than the predetermined threshold; the audio codec/processor is configured for generating the digital audio signal by generating the digital audio signal based on the PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; and the audio codec/processor is configured for generating the muted digital audio signal by generating the muted digital audio signal based on the zero PCM audio sample, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the bits is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the soft audio decoder is configured for determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal by: decoding the digital signal into codeword bits; identifying a first subset of the codeword bits representing the audio signal with a minimally perceptually acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and second subset of the codeword bits representing the audio signal with an SNR in excess of the minimally perceptually acceptable SNR established by the first subset; generating a codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword with zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the audio codec/processor is configured for: generating the digital audio signal by generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold; generating the muted digital audio signal by generating the muted digital audio signal based on the codeword with the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the first subset is less than the predetermined threshold; and generating the digital audio signal by generating the digital audio signal based on the codeword including the hard bits and the zero sample bits, if the magnitude of the approximate log likelihood ratio associated with the second subset is less than the predetermined threshold. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10: further comprising a forward error correction (FEC) decoder configured for: decoding the digital signal encoded with an FEC code; and modifying the soft bits based on the decoded digital signal; wherein the soft audio decoder is configured for determining whether to decode the digital signal by determining whether to decode the digital signal into the digital audio signal, based on the modified soft bits.