Patent ID: 7715503

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: an input that is operative to receive a signal from a communication channel; a metric calculator that is operative to: process a first symbol derived from the signal thereby generating a first plurality of metrics based on a first constellation corresponding to the first symbol; and process a second symbol derived from the signal thereby generating a second plurality of metrics based on a second constellation corresponding to the second symbol; at least one soft-in soft-out (SISO) module, coupled to the metric calculator, that is operative to: calculate first extrinsic information corresponding to the first symbol using the first plurality of metrics; and calculate second extrinsic information corresponding to the second symbol using the second plurality of metrics; an output processor that is operative to: make a first estimate of the first symbol using the first extrinsic information; and make a second estimate of the second symbol using the second extrinsic information.