Method and system for a distributed receiver

1. A first semiconductor die comprising:

an interface receiver circuit operable to:

receive an externally-generated signal that carries decision outputs of a symbol de-mapper that is external to the first semiconductor die, the externally-generated signal comprising a plurality of time stamps, each one of the plurality of time stamps corresponding to one of the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper, and

process the externally-generated signal to recover the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper carried in the externally-generated signal; and

a demodulation circuit operable to recover one datastreams based on the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper.

2. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , further comprising:

circuitry operable to combine a plurality of signals from a plurality of second semiconductor dice, each of the plurality of signals comprising decision outputs of a respective one of a plurality of symbol de-mappers that are external to the first semiconductor die.

3. The first semiconductor die of claim 2 , wherein:

the first semiconductor die resides in a baseband unit of a cellular basestation; and

each of the plurality of second semiconductor dice resides in a respective one of a plurality of remote radio units of a satellite basestation.

4. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , wherein the first semiconductor die resides in a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) indoor unit and each of the plurality of second semiconductor dice resides in a respective one of a plurality of DBS reception assemblies.

5. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , wherein the first semiconductor die resides in cable television customer premise equipment.

6. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , wherein the interface receiver circuit is further operable to recover equalizer settings carried in the externally-generated signal.

7. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , wherein the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper are formatted as log-likelihood ratios.

8. The first semiconductor die of claim 1 , wherein the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper are hard decision outputs when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is below a determined threshold and are soft decision outputs when the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is above the determined threshold.

9. A method comprising:

recovering, via an interface receiver circuit in a first semiconductor die, decision outputs of a symbol de-mapper carried in an externally-generated signal, wherein the symbol de-mapper is external to the first semiconductor die, the externally-generated signal comprising a plurality of time stamps, each one of the plurality of time stamps corresponding to one of the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper; and

recovering, via a demodulation circuit in the first semiconductor die, one or more datastreams based on the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising combining, via circuitry of the first semiconductor die, a plurality of signals from a plurality of second semiconductor dice, each of the plurality of signals comprising decision outputs of a respective one of a plurality of symbol de-mappers that are external to the first semiconductor die.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

the first semiconductor die resides in a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) indoor unit; and

each of the plurality of second semiconductor dice resides in a respective one of a plurality of direct broadcast satellite (DBS) reception assemblies.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first semiconductor die resides in cable television customer premise equipment.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first semiconductor die resides in a baseband unit of a cellular basestation; and

each of the plurality of second semiconductor dice resides in a respective one of a plurality of remote radio units of a satellite basestation.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising recovering, via the interface receiver circuit, equalizer settings carried in the externally generated signal.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper are formatted as log-likelihood ratios.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper are hard decision outputs when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is below a determined threshold and are soft decision outputs when the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is above the determined threshold.

17. A semiconductor die comprising:

an interface receiver circuit operable to:

receive an externally-generated signal that carries decision outputs of a symbol de-mapper that is external to the first semiconductor die, the externally-generated signal comprising a plurality of time stamps, each one of the plurality of time stamps corresponding to one of the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper, and

process the externally-generated signal to recover the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper carried in the externally-generated signal, wherein the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper are selected to be one of a plurality of hard symbols and a plurality of soft symbols; and

a demodulation circuit operable to recover one datastreams based on the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper.

18. The semiconductor die of claim 17 , wherein the demodulation circuit is further operable to recover timing of the externally-generated signal, equalize the externally-generated signal, and slice the externally-generated signal according to a determined symbol constellation.

19. The semiconductor die of claim 18 , wherein the demodulation circuit is further operable to perform forward error correction decoding based on the decision outputs of the symbol de-mapper.

20. The semiconductor die of claim 17 , wherein the semiconductor die is operable to select between outputting the plurality of hard decisions and the plurality of soft decisions based on characteristics of the externally-generated signal.