Utilization of Reed-Solomon coding in mobile/hand-held digital television receivers

A receiver for parallel concatenated convolutionally coded (PCCC) mobile-handheld M/H-service data imbedded in digital television (DTV) signals also conveying main-service data, said DTV signals being transmitted as 8-level vestigial-sideband amplitude-modulated (8-VSB) radio-frequency carrier waves, said PCCC transmissions of M/H-service data intended to be received and decoded by mobile and hand-held receivers collectively referred to as M/H receivers, said receiver being an M/H receiver comprising:

• a tuner for receiving a selected one of 8-VSB DTV signals broadcast at radio frequencies and converting it to a baseband DTV signal comprising M/H Slots of signal selected from successive data fields of convolutionally byte-interleaved 207-byte data segments;
• a data slicer connected for performing 8-level data slicing of successive Nyquist-rate symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots to generate a first stream of soft most significant bits (MSBs) of respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots, a second stream of soft Z-sub-1 bits that are of intermediate significance in regard to said respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots, and a third stream of soft Z-sub-0 bits that are of least significance in regard to said respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots;
• and
• turbo decoding apparatus for decoding said parallel concatenated convolutionally coded M/H-service data contained in said baseband DTV signal, said turbo decoding apparatus comprising:
• a symbol de-interleaver for outer convolutional coding of said parallel concatenated convolutionally coded M/H-service data conveyed in symbol-interleaved format by said soft MSBs and said soft Z-sub-1 bits within said baseband DTV signal, thus to regenerate outer convolutional coding of said parallel concatenated convolutionally coded M/H-service data;
• soft-input/soft-output (SISO) decoding apparatus, said SISO decoding apparatus operable for decoding inner convolutional coding conveyed by said soft Z-sub-1 bits and said soft Z-sub-0 bits within said baseband DTV signal to generate a respective set of soft bits of M/H-service data each cycle of turbo decoding procedure, said SISO decoding apparatus further operable for decoding said regenerated outer convolutional coding of said parallel concatenated convolutionally coded M/H-service data to generate a respective set of soft bits of de-interleaved M/H-service data each cycle of turbo decoding procedure;
• a symbol interleaver connected for re-interleaving each of said sets of soft bits of de-interleaved M/H-service data to be processed for providing turbo feedback in said turbo decoding apparatus;
• a hard-data-bits selector for selecting hard bits of M/H-service data from a final set of soft bits of M/H-service data generated during each turbo decoding procedure for a respective one of said selected M/H Slots;
• a banked turbo decoder memory having a plurality of banks of addressable storage locations for temporarily storing soft bits, a first of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft MSBs of at least selected ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, a second of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft Z-sub-1 bits of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, a third of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft Z-sub-0 bits of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, and a fourth of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft extrinsic data regarding soft bits of M/H-service data;
• a unit for writing into said first bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said first stream of soft MSBs of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot, for writing into said second bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said second stream of soft Z-sub-1 bits of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot, and for writing into said third bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said third stream of soft Z-sub-0 bits of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot;
• an inner-coding input/output unit for said banked turbo decoder memory, said inner-coding input/output unit operable for reading soft Z-sub-1 bits and corresponding soft extrinsic data if any from said second and said fourth banks of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory concurrently with reading soft Z-sub-0bits from said third bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory, said inner-coding input/output unit further operable for combining soft Z-sub-1 bits and corresponding soft extrinsic data to generate adjusted Z-sub-1bits supplied together with said soft Z-sub-0 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory to said SISO decoding apparatus as inner convolutional coding to be decoded, said inner-coding input/output unit further operable for over-writing soft Z-sub-1 bits temporarily stored in said second bank of addressable storage locations with soft Z-sub-1 bits that result from said SISO decoding apparatus decoding said inner convolutional coding;
• an outer-coding input/output unit for said banked turbo decoder memory, said outer-coding input/output unit operable for reading selected ones of said soft MSBs from said first bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory concurrently with reading selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits from said second bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory, said selected ones of said soft MSBs and said selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory being selected so as to obtain said symbol-interleaved outer convolutional coding for de-interleaving by said symbol de-interleaver to regenerate said outer convolutional coding for decoding by said SISO decoding apparatus, said outer-coding input/output unit operable for writing extrinsic data concerning said soft bits of M/H-service data into said fourth bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory;
• and
• an extrinsic data feedback processor for differentially combining said selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory with soft M/H-service data bits decoded from said outer convolutional coding and re-interleaved by said symbol interleaver, thus to generate said extrinsic data concerning said soft bits of M/H-service data that said outer-coding input/output unit is operable for writing into said fourth bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory.

A receiver for parallel concatenated convolutionally coded (PCCC) mobile-handheld M/H-service data imbedded in digital television (DTV) signals also conveying main-service data, said DTV signals being transmitted as 8-level vestigial-sideband amplitude-modulated (8-VSB) radio-frequency carrier waves, said PCCC transmissions of M/H-service data intended to be received and decoded by mobile and hand-held receivers collectively referred to as M/H receivers, said receiver being an M/H receiver comprising:

• a tuner for receiving a selected one of 8-VSB DTV signals broadcast at radio frequencies and converting it to a baseband DTV signal comprising M/H Slots of signal selected from successive data fields of convolutionally byte-interleaved 207-byte data segments;
• a data slicer connected for performing 8-level data slicing of successive Nyquist-rate symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots to generate a first stream of soft most significant bits (MSBs) of respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots, a second stream of soft Z-sub-1 bits that are of intermediate significance in regard to said respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots, and a third stream of soft Z-sub-0 bits that are of least significance in regard to said respective ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in said selected M/H Slots;
• and
• turbo decoding apparatus for decoding said parallel concatenated convolutionally coded M/H-service data contained in said baseband DTV signal, said turbo decoding apparatus comprising:
• a banked turbo decoder memory having a plurality of banks of addressable storage locations for temporarily storing soft bits, a first of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft MSBs of at least selected ones of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, a second of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft Z-sub-1 bits of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, a third of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft Z-sub-0 bits of said symbols of said baseband DTV signal in one of said selected M/H Slots, and a fourth of said banks of addressable storage locations adapted for respectively temporarily storing soft extrinsic data regarding soft bits of M/H-service data;
• a unit for writing into said first bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said first stream of soft MSBs of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot, for writing into said second bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said second stream of soft Z-sub-1 bits of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot, and for writing into said third bank of addressable storage locations for temporary storage therein said third stream of soft Z-sub-0 bits of respective ones of said symbols in each successively selected M/H Slot;
• an inner-coding input/output unit for said banked turbo decoder memory, said inner-coding input/output unit operable for reading soft Z-sub-1 bits and corresponding soft extrinsic data if any from said second and said fourth banks of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory concurrently with reading soft Z-sub-0 bits from said third bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory, said inner-coding input/output unit further operable for combining soft Z-sub-1 bits and corresponding soft extrinsic data to generate adjusted Z-sub-1 bits supplied together with said soft Z-sub-0 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory to said SISO decoding apparatus as inner convolutional coding to be decoded, said inner-coding input/output unit further operable for over-writing soft Z-sub-1 bits temporarily stored in said second bank of addressable storage locations with soft Z-sub-1 bits that result from said SISO decoding apparatus decoding said inner convolutional coding;
• a de-interleaved outer-coding input/output unit for said banked turbo decoder memory, said de-interleaved outer-coding input/output unit operable for reading selected ones of said soft MSBs from said first bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory concurrently with reading selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits from said second bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory, said selected ones of said soft MSBs and said selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory being selected so as to obtain outer convolutional coding for decoding by said SISO decoding apparatus, said de-interleaved outer-coding input/output unit operable for writing extrinsic data concerning said soft bits of M/H-service data into said fourth bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory;
• and
• an extrinsic data feedback processor for differentially combining said selected ones of said soft Z-sub-1 bits read from said banked turbo decoder memory with soft M/H-service data bits decoded from said outer convolutional coding by said SISO decoding apparatus, thus to generate said extrinsic data concerning said soft bits of M/H-service data that said de-interleaved outer-coding input/output unit is operable for writing into said fourth bank of addressable storage locations in said banked turbo decoder memory so as to be symbol re-interleaved.