Early termination controller for iterative FEC decoders and method therefor

An apparatus for improving block error rate performance of a receiver having an iterative decoder in a communication system, the apparatus comprising:

• an early termination controller, the early termination controller controlling early termination of the iterative decoder by determining a first maximum number of iterations for each of the code blocks of the encoded frame of data, the encoded frame of data includes a quantity of code blocks where each code block has a corresponding code block size;
• iteratively performing a decoding operation on a first code block until the occurrence of one of (a) the first maximum number of iterations has been reached and (b) the first code block has converged;
• and
• determining a second maximum number of iterations for the remaining code blocks of the encoded frame of data based on the number of actual iterations used to decode the first code block.

A receiver having improved block error rate performance, the receiver comprising:

• a memory for storing data corresponding to a maximum number of iterations for each code block of an encoded frame of data;
• and
• a processor, the processor operating to:
• receive an encoded frame of data;
• determine a first maximum number of iterations for each of the code blocks of the encoded frame of data, where the encoded frame of data includes a quantity of code blocks where each code block has a corresponding code block size;
• iteratively perform a decoding operation on a first code block until the occurrence of one of (a) the first maximum number of iterations has been reached and (b) the first code block has converged;
• and
• determine a second maximum number of iterations for the remaining code blocks of the encoded frame of data based on the number of actual iterations used to decode the first code block.