Patent ID: 7587008

Claim:
A metric generator implemented within a communication device, the metric generator comprising: an input that is operable to: receive a first discrete valued modulation symbol that corresponds to a first signal path having a first SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio); and receive a second discrete valued modulation symbol that corresponds to a second signal path having a second SNR; a metric calculation functional block that is operable to: calculate a first symbol metric corresponding to the first discrete valued modulation symbol using an amplification factor, a variance of the first SNR, and a standard deviation of the first SNR; and calculate a second symbol metric corresponding to the second discrete valued modulation symbol using the amplification factor, a variance of the second SNR, and a standard deviation of the second SNR; and an output that is operable to provide the first symbol metric and the second symbol metric to an ECC (Error Correcting Code) decoder.