Patent ID: 7623597

Claim:
A method for processing a received signal, the method comprising: determining a first soft decision metric associated with a most likely decoded data element based upon a received undetected signal comprising a plurality of channel data symbols conveying a block encoded data message, wherein the first soft decision metric is determined based upon a first set of soft data bit decision metrics determined for at least one data bit conveyed by the plurality of channel symbols, the first set of soft data bit decision metrics comprising soft data bit decisions for at least one most likely detected data bit decision for each of the at least one data bit; determining a second soft decision metric associated with a next most likely decoded data element based upon the received undetected signal, wherein the second soft decision metric is determined based upon a second set of soft data bit decision metrics determined for the at least one data bit conveyed by the plurality of channel symbols, the second set of soft data bit decision metrics comprising soft data bit decisions for at least one next most likely bit decision for each of the at least one data; calculating a difference between the first soft decision metric and the second soft decision metric; normalizing the difference based upon a power of the received undetected signal to produce a normalized difference; and scaling the normalized difference by a communications channel dependent factor to produce a decoded data element confidence indicator.