Self-synchronizing viterbi decoder

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• means for receiving a data packet that includes at least in part a preamble, an encoded block, and a payload;
• means for detecting the preamble of the data packet at a last symbol of the preamble or prior to the last symbol of the preamble;
• means for computing a branch metric for each of a plurality of transitions between states;
• means for initializing a path metric for each of a plurality of non-synchronization states and a plurality of synchronization states, each of the plurality of synchronization states being associated with the preamble;
• means for determining a survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states and for each of the plurality of synchronization states based at least in part on a respective path metric;
• and
• means for determining a traceback timing based at least in part on when the survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states was last in the preamble.

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
• receive a data packet that includes at least in part a preamble, an encoded block, and a payload;
• detect the preamble of the data packet at a last symbol of the preamble or prior to the last symbol of the preamble;
• compute a branch metric for each of a plurality of transitions between states;
• initialize a path metric for each of a plurality of non-synchronization states and a plurality of synchronization states, each of the plurality of synchronization states being associated with the preamble;
• determine a survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states and for each of the plurality of synchronization states based at least in part on a respective path metric;
• and
• determine a traceback timing based at least in part on when the survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states was last in the preamble.

A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, comprising code to:

• receive a data packet that includes at least in part a preamble, an encoded block, and a payload
• detect the preamble of the data packet at a last symbol of the preamble or prior to the last symbol of the preamble;
• compute a branch metric for each of a plurality of transitions between states;
• initialize a path metric for each of a plurality of non-synchronization states and a plurality of synchronization states when the preamble is detected, each of the plurality of synchronization states being associated with the preamble;
• determine a survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states and for each of the plurality of synchronization states based at least in part on a respective path metric;
• and
• determine a traceback timing based at least in part on when the survivor path for each of the plurality of non-synchronization states was last in the preamble.