MULTILEVEL MODULATOR COMPRISING A COMPACT ERROR CORRECTING CODE PRODUCING UNIT

摘要

In a multilevel modulator for use in modulating an input digital signal of N levels into a multilevel modulated signal, the input digital signal is converted by a code converting unit into a major converted signal for the input digital signal and a minor converted signal corresponding to the major converted signal. The major converted signal is rearranged into groups each of which consists of a predetermined number of levels smaller than N and which is produced in a time division fashion together with the minor converted signal. A signal producing unit processes each group to produce a Lee-error correcting code sequence. Alternatively, major and minor converted signals are produced on quadrature-phase amplitude modulation of a circular signal arrangement of N-levels to divide the circular signal arrangement into a square signal arrangement and the remaining signal arrangement. In a counterpart multilevel demodulator, an inverse operation is carried out to reproduce the input digital signal.