Packet decoding method and apparatus

1. A method for decoding a packet comprising a plurality of blocks, the method comprising:

acquiring the plurality of blocks constituting the packet;

extracting a plurality of codeword candidates corresponding to the blocks;

selecting some of the plurality of codeword candidates in a descending order based on a posterior probability among the plurality of codeword candidates, that a corresponding codeword is a correct codeword for decoding a corresponding block;

combining the selected codeword candidates into a plurality of codeword combinations;

selecting a codeword combination having a highest posterior probability and having passed a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) test without error, among the plurality of codeword combinations; and

decoding the selected codeword combination.

2. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the packet comprises K blocks, K being an integer greater than 1, and

wherein the combination of the selected codeword candidates into the plurality of codeword combinations comprises:

combining first codeword candidates selected in the descending order of posterior probability among the codeword candidates corresponding to a first block of the K blocks and combining second codeword candidates selected in the descending order of posterior probability among the codeword candidates corresponding to a second block of the K blocks, into codeword combinations; and

acquiring entire codeword combinations for first to K th blocks by repeating the combining of the combined codeword combinations and next codeword candidates.

3. The method of claim 2 ,

wherein the combining of the selected codeword candidates into the plurality of codeword combinations further comprises selecting some codeword candidate combination in the descending order of the posterior probability among the codeword candidates combined after combining the first and second codeword candidates, and

wherein the combining of the selected codeword combination and the next codeword candidates is repeated to generate the entire codeword combinations for the first to K th blocks.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting of some of the codeword candidates comprises:

determining a number of codeword candidates to be selected per block (M) based on the posterior probability, M being an integer greater than 1; and

selecting M codeword candidates in the descending order of the posterior probability among the plurality of codeword candidates.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining of the number of codeword candidates to be selected per block (M) based on the posterior probability comprises determining M based on highest and second highest posterior probabilities of the codeword candidates among the posterior probabilities of the plurality of codeword candidates.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combining of the selected codeword candidates into the plurality of codeword combinations is performed in a reverse order.

7. An apparatus for decoding a packet comprising a plurality of blocks, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive the plurality of blocks constituting the packet; and

at least one processor configured to:

acquire the plurality of blocks constituting the packet,

extract a plurality of codeword candidates corresponding to the blocks,

select some of the plurality of codeword candidates in a descending order based on a posterior probability among the plurality of codeword candidates, that a corresponding codeword is a correct codeword for decoding a corresponding block,

combine the selected codeword candidates into a plurality of codeword combinations,

select a codeword combination having a highest posterior probability and having passed a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) test without error among the plural codeword combinations, and

decode the selected codeword combination.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the packet comprises K blocks, K being an integer greater than 1, and the at least one processor is further configured to:

combine first codeword candidates selected in the descending order of posterior probability among the codeword candidates corresponding to a first block of the K blocks,

combine second codeword candidates selected in the descending order of posterior probability among the codeword candidates corresponding to a second block of the K blocks into codeword combinations, and

acquire entire codeword combinations for first to K th blocks by repeating the combining of the combined codeword combinations and next codeword candidates.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

select some codeword candidate combination in the descending order of the posterior probability among the codeword candidates combined after combining the first and second codeword candidates, and

repeat combining of the selected codeword combination and the next codeword candidates to generate the entire codeword combinations for the first to K th blocks.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine a number of codeword candidates to be selected per block (M) based on the probability among the plurality of codeword candidates, M being an integer greater than 1, and

select M codeword candidates in the descending order of the posterior probability among the plurality of codeword candidates.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the number of codeword candidates to be selected per block (M) based on the posterior probability by determining M based on highest and second highest posterior probabilities of the codeword candidates among the posterior probabilities of the plurality of codeword candidates.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the selected codeword candidates are combined into the plurality of codeword combinations in a reverse order.