English to French Tech/Engineering Patents method and apparatus for merging bit probability information in serial localization with indecision

The method comprising weighting branch metrics calculated by the multi-stage demodulator based on the new probability information for the centroid-based values.

The method comprising:
grouping the modulation symbols into a plurality of subsets, adjacent ones of the subsets having one or more common modulation symbols so that at least two adjacent subsets overlap;
determining a centroid-based value for each subset of modulation symbols for use in localizing the search for the final symbol decision;
calculating a probability of each centroid-based value based on probability information generated by the decoder for a plurality of modem bits associated with each modulation symbol included in the corresponding subset of modulation symbols;
generating a composite probability for all of the centroid-based values based on the product of the probabilities of the centroid-based values; and
weighting the branch metrics based on the composite probability.