Patent ID: 8411709

Claim:
A decoder comprising: error checking logic to ascertain whether one or more received packets have been corrupted; a buffer operable to store forward or reverse state information associated with packets that are received by the decoder; and convolutional-turbo-code (CTC) decoding logic operatively associated with the error checking logic and the buffer, the CTC decoding logic having an unknown starting state in which all trellis states of the CTC decoding logic have a same initial probability, and operable to: receive a packet in an hybrid automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) transmission mode and determine whether the packet is a retransmitted packet; for the retransmitted packet, read buffered forward or reverse state information stored in the buffer and associated with a previously transmitted packet, at least a portion of the previously-transmitted packet corrupted or not decodable; and assign, based on the buffered forward or reverse state information, a starting probability to one of the trellis states of the CTC decoding logic to attempt to decode the retransmitted packet, the assigned starting probability different from the initial probability.