Patent ID: 8687745
Filing Date: 2014-04-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. At a communication receiver, a method of blindly decoding a message included in a received signal according to an unknown one of a plurality of possible message formats, the message being accommodated by a control channel element (CCE) aggregation comprising an unknown number of control channel elements (CCEs) and a CCE starting position: determining message format likelihoods for at least a subset of the possible message formats by determining which message formats are more likely in a relative sense as a function of received signal quality at the communication receiver and message formats used in prior messages received by the communication receiver; ordering the possible message formats in the subset according to the determined message format likelihoods; iteratively blindly decoding the message from the received signal, assuming a different message format in each iteration in the order based on the message format likelihoods; wherein the blindly decoding of the message is restricted to CCE aggregations comprising a number of CCEs fewer than a pre-defined number; and in response to successfully decoding the message, adjusting the message format likelihoods for one or more additional messages in the received signal based on the message formats of any messages already successfully decoded from the received signal for a same received signal time.