Reception of a signal modulated according to a multilevel coding technique

A device for receiving a signal modulated according to a multi-level coding technique, comprising at least two coding levels each having a distinct robustness to noise,

• said signal comprising a plurality of symbols each comprising at least one bit, assigned to one of said coding levels,
• said device comprising decoding means for implementing at least two successive decoding iterations each comprising successive steps of decoding each of said bits ({tilde over (b)}3i, {tilde over (b)}2i, {tilde over (b)}1i), at least one of said successive steps of decoding taking into account the result of at least one possible preceding step of decoding;
• means for determining the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the robustness to noise of a coding level being inversely proportional to the error rate of said coding level;
• and
• means for determining a decoding order according to the robustness to noise of said coding levels,
• wherein, during said decoding iterations, said decoding means decode said bits according to said decoding order taking into account the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the bit or bits assigned to the coding level having a greatest robustness to noise, referred to as a most robust coding level, being decoded first.

A system for coding/decoding of a signal comprising a plurality of symbols each comprising at least one bit,

• wherein the system comprises:
• at least one coding device enabling the modulation of said signal according to a multi-level coding technique, comprising at least two coding levels each having a distinct robustness to noise, each of said bits being assigned to one of said coding levels;
• and
• at least one decoding device comprising:
• decoding means for implementing at least two successive decoding iterations each comprising successive steps of decoding each of said at least one bit, at least one of said successive steps of decoding taking into account the result of at least one, possible preceding step of decoding;
• means for determining the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the robustness to noise of a coding level being inversely proportional to the error rate of said coding level;
• and
• means for determining a decoding order according to the robustness to noise of said coding levels,
• wherein, during said decodes iterations, said decoding means decoding said bits according to said decoding order taking into account the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the bit or bits assigned to the coding level having a greatest robustness to noise, referred to as a most robust coding level, being decoded first.

A method of receiving a signal modulated according to a multi-level coding technique comprising at least two coding levels each having a distinct robustness to noise, said signal comprising a plurality of symbols (Sr) each comprising at least one bit, assigned to one of said coding levels, said method comprising:

• performing at least two successive decoding iterations with a decoder, each iteration comprising successive steps of decoding each of said at least one bit, at least one of said successive steps of decoding taking into account the result of at least one possible preceding step of decoding;
• determining the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the robustness to noise of a coding level being inversely proportional to the error rate of said coding level;
• and
• determining a decoding order according to the robustness to noise of said coding levels, wherein the steps of performing at least two decoding iterations, determining the robustness to noise of said coding levels, and determining the decoding order are performed within at least one of the following fields:
• digital radio transmissions, in particular of the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) type;
• error correction codes;
• digital signal processing;
• digital communications;
• recording/restoration of a digital signal,
• wherein, during said decoding iterations, said bits are decoded according to said decoding order taking into account the robustness to noise of said coding levels, the bit or bits assigned to the coding level having a greatest robustness to noise, referred to as a most robust coding level, being decoded first.