Method and apparatus for reducing power consumption in cellular telephones by adaptively determining the reliability of the reception of a received message block

摘要

A method for reducing power consumption in a cellular telephone that receives multiple copies of a message comprises the steps of receiving a copy of a message block having a plurality of data bits; generating soft output signals representative of all data bits in the message block; computing a block quality metric indicative of the reliability of the message block; comparing the block quality metric with a first threshold; if the block quality metric bears a predetermined relation to the first threshold, combining the copy of the message block with a previously accepted message block to obtain a combined message block; determining the number of erasures in the combined message block; comparing the number of erasures with a second threshold; if the number of erasures is below the second threshold, decoding the combined message block to determine the number of errors in the combined message block; comparing the number of errors with a third threshold and, if the number of errors is below the third threshold, accepting the combined message block; and generating timing signals instructing the receiving device to interrupt reception of further copies of the message block for a specified period of time.