Patent ID: 8331497

Claim:
A joint decoder and synchronizer for operating on an input signal modulated with encoded data, comprising: a plurality of channel observation modifiers, each configured for receiving an associated candidate signal distortion indicator and channel observations associated with the input signal, each channel observation modifier further operable for producing modified channel observations comprising the encoded data based on the associated candidate signal distortion indicator and the channel observations; a plurality of synchronization processors, each associated with a respective channel observation modifier, each synchronization processor operative for receiving modified channel observations from its associated channel observation modifier, synchronizing to the modified channel observations received from its associated channel observation modifier, and producing corrected channel observations; a plurality of partial decoders, each associated with a respective synchronization processor, each partial decoder operative for partially decoding the encoded data embedded within the corrected channel observations received from its associated synchronization processor and producing an associated indication of decoding success; and a branch selector operative for selecting a signal distortion indicator for decode processing based on a comparison of the indications of decoding success received from the partial decoders.