Configurable architecture and its implementation of viterbi decorder

摘要

The present invention relates to a re-configurable Viterbi decoder. By re-setting the values of some registers, the inside control path and data path of the Viterbi decoder can be appropriately changed so as to meet the requirements of different communication systems. The Viterbi decoder comprises a branch metric calculator for receiving data items to be decoded and calculating the branch metrics; an add-compare-select unit for performing an add-compare-select operation on the output of the branch metric calculator and the corresponding path metric; a path metric storage unit (PMS unit) for saving a new path metric produced by the add-compare-select operation in an in-place way; a path memory for storing the shifted out selection bit after the add-compare-select operation; and a trace back unit for reading the selection bit of the path memory so as to perform the feedback decoding.