Coordinated coding for digital transmission

A method for coding an input digital data stream to produce an output signal stream for each of a plurality L of channels, the method comprising the steps of

• receiving the input data stream and grouping the stream into data segments for coding,
• encoding each of said data segments with reference to a predetermined coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of said data segments, which encoded signals are permutations of one another, and
• propagating each of said L encoded signals for each of said data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels to thereby produce the output signal stream on each of the L channels, wherein each of the data segments contains Llog.sub.2 M positions defining a symbol period, and said step of propagating includes the step of transmitting, during each said symbol period, a message vector m=[m.sub.1,m.sub.2, . . . ,m.sub.L ] over the L channels, said message vector determined with reference to said predetermined coordinated code constellation, where m.sub.v is a transmitted signal on channel v,
• m.sub.v .epsilon.{-M.sup.L +1, -M.sup.L +3, . . . ,M.sup.L -3,M.sup.L -1}.

Circuitry for coding an input digital data stream to produce an output signal stream for each of a plurality L of channels, the circuitry comprising

• means for receiving the input data stream and for grouping the stream into data segments for coding,
• means for encoding each of said data segments with reference to a predetermined coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of said data segments, which encoded signals are permutations of one another, and
• means for propagating each of said L encoded signals for each of said data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels to thereby produce the output signal stream on each of the L channels, wherein each of the data segments contains Llog.sub.2 M positions defining a symbol period, and said means for propagating includes means for transmitting, during each said symbol period, a message vector m=[m.sub.1, m.sub.2, . . . , m.sub.L ]over the L channels, said message vector determined with reference to said predetermined coordinated code constellation, where m.sub.v is a transmitted signal on channel v,
• m.sub.v .epsilon.{-M.sup.L +1, -M.sup.L +3, . . . , M.sup.L -3, M.sup.L -1}.

A method for decoding received signals transmitted over a plurality L of channels to produce an outgoing data stream, the received signals resulting from grouping an incoming data stream into data segments defining a sequence of symbol periods, encoding each of the segments with reference to a predetermined multi-point, multi-dimensional coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of the data segments, and propagating each of the L encoded signals for each of the data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels, the decoding method comprising the steps of

• measuring the received signals to produce measured signals over each of the symbol periods,
• estimating the encoded signals from the measured signals utilizing a metric determined with reference to the coordinated code constellation to produce estimated signals for each of the symbol periods, wherein each of said L encoded signals for each of said data segments represents one of L coordinates of one of said points in said coordinated code constellation and wherein at most one of said points is located at each coordinate of each of said dimensions and at least one of said L coordinates of at least one of said points is different from other of said L coordinates, and
• generating the corresponding one of the data segments from said estimated signals in each of the symbol periods with reference to the coordinated code constellation.

A method for decoding received signals transmitted over a plurality L of channels to produce an outgoing data stream, the received signals resulting from grouping an incoming data stream into data segments defining a sequence of symbol periods, encoding each of the segments with reference to a predetermined coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of the data segments, and propagating each of the L encoded signals for each of the data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels, the decoding method comprising the steps of

• measuring the received signals to produce measured signals over each of the symbol periods,
• estimating the encoded signals from the measured signals utilizing a metric determined with reference to the coordinated code constellation to produce estimated signals for each of the symbol periods, the step of estimating including the steps of
• subtracting said estimated signals from said measured signals to determine interference estimates over each of the symbol periods, and
• computing said metric with reference to said interference estimates, and
• generating the corresponding one of the data segments from said estimated signals in each of the symbol periods with reference to the coordinated code constellation.

Circuitry for decoding received signals transmitted over a plurality L of channels to produce an outgoing data stream, the received signals resulting from grouping an incoming data stream into data segments defining a sequence of symbol periods, encoding each of the segments with reference to a predetermined multi-point, multi-dimensional coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of the data segments, and propagating each of the L encoded signals for each of the data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels, the decoding circuitry comprising

• means for measuring the received signals to produce measured signals over each of the symbol periods,
• means for estimating the encoded signals from the measured signals utilizing a metric determined with reference to the coordinated code constellation to produce estimated signals for each of the symbol periods, wherein each of said L encoded signals for each of said data segments represents one of L coordinates of one of said points in said coordinated code constellation and wherein at most one of said points is located at each coordinate of each of said dimensions and at least one of said L coordinates of at least one of said points is different from other of said L coordinates, and
• means for generating the corresponding one of the data segments from said estimated signals in each of the symbol periods with reference to the coordinated code constellation.

Circuitry for decoding received signals transmitted over a plurality L of channels to produce an outgoing data stream, the received signals resulting from grouping an incoming data stream into data segments defining a sequence of symbol periods, encoding each of the segments with reference to a predetermined coordinated code constellation to produce L encoded signals for each of the data segments, and propagating each of the L encoded signals for each of the data segments on a corresponding one of the L channels, the decoding circuitry comprising

• means for measuring the received signals to produce measured signals over each of the symbol periods,
• means for estimating the encoded signals from the measured signals utilizing a metric determined with reference to the coordinated code constellation to produce estimated signals for each if the symbol periods, said means for estimating including
• means for subtracting said estimated signals from said measured signals to determine interference estimates over each of the symbol periods, and
• means for computing said metric with reference to said interference estimates, and
• means for generating the corresponding one of the data segments from said estimated signals in each of the symbol periods with reference to the coordinated code constellation.