Patent ID: 7339918

Claim:
A method for improving the quality of data transmission in cellular radio systems utilizing time division multiple access, the method comprising: measuring the strength of the signal the base station receives in at least two consecutive time slots, wherein the difference in signal strengths is considerable enough to produce an erroneous bit decision if the difference exceeds a determined threshold value, determining a first weighting coefficient by comparing the strength of the signal the base station receives in a time slot with the strength of the signal the base station receives in a previous time slot, determining a second weighting coefficient by comparing the strength of the signal the base station receives in a time slot with the strength of the signal the base station receives in a following time slot, reducing, using the first determined weighting coefficient, in soft bit decision-making in a decoder, the significance of at least one symbol at a beginning of a burst the base station receives in a time slot if the difference between the measured signal strengths is considerable enough to produce an erroneous bit decision, and reducing, using the second determined weighting coefficient, in soft bit decision-making in the decoder, the significance of at least one symbol at an end of the burst the base station receives in a time slot if the difference between the measured signal strengths is considerable enough to produce an erroneous bit decision.