Patent ID: 8181098

Claim:
A method in a Viterbi decoder comprising: computing, including executing a first Viterbi algorithm, a maximum likelihood (ML) path in a Viterbi trellis, wherein the Viterbi trellis has a plurality of nodes corresponding to a plurality of trellis states at a plurality of trellis stages; selecting during executing a second Viterbi algorithm, a first merge point, wherein the first merge point is a node on the ML path that has a smallest difference between an ML path metric at the first merge point and a first non-surviving path metric at the first merge point compared to other path metric differences at other nodes on the ML path; computing a second path in the Viterbi trellis, wherein the second path is based on the ML path with a portion of the first non-surviving path substituted for a corresponding portion of the ML path at the first merge point; and in response to a second decoded bit sequence passing an error check, outputting the second decoded bit sequence, wherein the second decoded bit sequence corresponds to the second path.