Method, network node, computer program and computer program product for decoding a signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9264180-B2
Application number	US-201114366995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2011
Priority date	Dec 21, 2011
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

According to a first aspect, it is presented a method for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols. The method is executed in a network node of a mobile communication system and comprises the steps of: receiving a sequence of symbols using a radio receiver; identifying at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the plurality of symbols; obtaining a working set of symbols, by omitting the at least one corrupted symbol from the sequence of symbols; and de-spreading the working set of symbols using a subset of a first de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the working set of symbols, to thereby provide a first decoded signal. A corresponding network node, computer program and computer program product are also presented.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols, the method being implemented in a hardware network node of a mobile communication system and the method comprising:
receiving, with the hardware network node, the sequence of symbols using a radio receiver;
identifying, with the hardware network node, at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the sequence of symbols;
obtaining, with the hardware network node, a working set of symbols by omitting the at least one corrupted symbol from the sequence of symbols; and
de-spreading, with the hardware network node, the working set of symbols using a subset of a first de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the working set of symbols, to thereby provide a first decoded signal,
wherein the sequence of symbols comprises four symbols.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises two code elements.

3. A method for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols, the method being implemented in a hardware network node of a mobile communication system and the method comprising:
receiving, with the hardware network node, the sequence of symbols using a radio receiver;
identifying, with the hardware network node, at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the sequence of symbols;
obtaining, with the hardware network node, a working set of symbols by omitting the at least one corrupted symbol from the sequence of symbols;
de-spreading, with the hardware network node, the working set of symbols using a subset of a first de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the working set of symbols, to thereby provide a first decoded signal;
removing, with the hardware network node, the contribution of the first decoded signal from the working set of symbols, yielding an adjusted working set of symbols;
de-spreading, with the hardware network node, the adjusted working set of symbols using a subset of a second de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the second de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the adjusted working set of symbols, to thereby provide a second decoded signal; and
de-spreading, with the hardware network node, the adjusted working set of symbols using a subset of a third de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the third de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the adjusted working set of symbols, to thereby provide a third decoded signal.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first decoded signal is associated with a first group of users, the second decoded signal is associated with a second group of users and the third decoded signal is associated with a third group of users.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the sequence of symbols comprises four symbols;
the step of de-spreading to provide the first decoded signal comprises de-spreading the last two symbols of the sequence of symbols;
the step of de-spreading to provide the second decoded signal comprises de-spreading the second and third symbols of the sequence of symbols; and
the step of de-spreading to provide the third decoded signal comprises de-spreading the second and third symbols of the sequence of symbols.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the step of removing comprises subtracting the contribution of the first decoded signal from the working set of symbols.

7. A hardware network node for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols, the hardware network node being configured to operate in a mobile communication system and the hardware network node comprising:
a receiver configured to receive the sequence of symbols using a radio receiver;
a corruption identifier configured to identify at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the sequence of symbols;
a working set obtainer configured to obtain a working set of symbols by omitting the at least one corrupted symbol from the sequence of symbols; and
a de-spreader configured to de-spread the working set of symbols using a subset of a first de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the working set of symbols, to thereby provide a first decoded signal,
wherein the sequence of symbols comprises four symbols.

8. The hardware network node according to claim 7 , wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises two code elements.

9. A hardware network node for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols, the hardware network node being configured to operate in a mobile communication system and the hardware network node comprising:
a receiver configured to receive the sequence of symbols using a radio receiver;
a corruption identifier configured to identify at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the sequence of symbols;
a working set obtainer configured to obtain a working set of symbols by omitting the at least one corrupted symbol from the sequence of symbols;
a de-spreader configured to de-spread the working set of symbols using a subset of a first de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the first de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the working set of symbols, to thereby provide a first decoded signal;
a contribution remover configured to remove the contribution of the first decoded signal from the working set of symbols, yielding an adjusted working set of symbols; and
the de-spreader is further configured to:
de-spread the adjusted working set of symbols using a subset of a second de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the second de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the adjusted working set of symbols, to thereby provide a second decoded signal; and
de-spread the adjusted working set of symbols using a subset of a third de-spreading code, wherein the subset of the third de-spreading code comprises code elements corresponding to the adjusted working set of symbols, to thereby provide a third decoded signal.

10. The hardware network node according to claim 9 , wherein the first decoded signal is associated with a first group of users, the second decoded signal is associated with a second group of users and the third decoded signal is associated with a third group of users.

11. The hardware network node according to claim 9 , wherein the sequence of symbols comprises four symbols; and the de-spreader is further configured to:
provide the first decoded signal comprising de-spreading the last two symbols of the sequence of symbols;
provide the second decoded signal comprising de-spreading the second and third symbols of the sequence of symbols; and
provide the third decoded signal comprising de-spreading the second and third symbols of the sequence of symbols.

12. A computer program product for decoding at least one signal from a sequence of symbols in a hardware network node of a mobile communication system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer program code which, when run on the hardware network node, causes the hardware network node to perform the steps of:
receiving the sequence of symbols using a radio receiver;
identifying at least one corrupted symbol by identifying a corruption of at least the first received symbol of the sequence of symbols;

Assignees

• Zhang Haochuan
• Hu Yang
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Zhang Haochuan
• Hu Yang

Classifications

• H04B1/70752

  Partial correlation · CPC title

• H04L1/0057

  Block codes (H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/7107

  Subtractive interference cancellation · CPC title

• H04B1/71072 Primary

  Successive interference cancellation · CPC title

• H04L1/0045 Primary

  Arrangements at the receiver end · CPC title