Interleaving and de-interleaving of data in telecommunications

Abstract

An interleaving process in which data is interleaved or interleaved data is de-interleaved. Input data units are distributed over a plurality of output groups of data units. In GSM telephony, input bits are distributed over nineteen transmission bursts. Incoming data units are written to a contiguous RAM and output groups are read from said RAM. Addressing circuitry controls the writing and reading to the RAM, such that data units are stored until required for an output group. After data has been read, these read locations are re-used for the storage of new input data, such that the duration over which a particular memory location stores a data unit depends upon the interleaving process delay for that particular data unit. The addressing circuitry includes modulo counters, each arranged to generate addressing signals for a respective set of memory locations within the RAM. Look-up tables are used to select modulo counts so as to provide conventional addresses to the RAM. In another embodiment block de-interleaving is performed during the writing of received bits to memory locations. However, said bits are written sequentially to said locations thereby allowing the remaining space to be used for other purposes. In particular, said space may be used for de-interleaving fast associated control channels etc. Bit position de-interleaving is then effected when the data is read from the memory locations or when read from intermediate frame buffer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.