This disclosure provides a decoding method and apparatus in the communications field. The method includes: extracting at least one piece of prior information from at least one first transport block that has been successfully decoded, and assembling the at least one piece of prior information into a prior information set, where one piece of prior information includes header information of a transmission protocol layer of one first transport block; when a to-be-decoded second transport block sent by a transmit end is received, selecting first prior information from the prior information set, where the second transport block is a transport block obtained by the transmit end by coding a third transport block; and decoding the second transport block based on the first prior information and first demodulation information of the second transport block, to obtain the third transport block.

One example method includes obtaining L.sub.1 first decoding paths of an (i−1).sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits, where i is an integer, received data corresponds to P groups of to-be-decoded bits, and 1<i≤P, determining at least one second decoding path corresponding to each first decoding path, where a quantity of second decoding paths corresponding to each first decoding path is less than 2.sup.n, and where n is a quantity of information bits included in an i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits, and determining at least one reserved decoding path of the i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits in second decoding paths corresponding to the L.sub.1 first decoding paths. The at least one reserved decoding path includes a decoding result of the i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits.

One example method includes obtaining L.sub.1 first decoding paths of an (i−1).sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits, where i is an integer, received data corresponds to P groups of to-be-decoded bits, and 1<i≤P, determining at least one second decoding path corresponding to each first decoding path, where a quantity of second decoding paths corresponding to each first decoding path is less than 2.sup.n, and where n is a quantity of information bits included in an i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits, and determining at least one reserved decoding path of the i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits in second decoding paths corresponding to the L.sub.1 first decoding paths. The at least one reserved decoding path includes a decoding result of the i.sup.th group of to-be-decoded bits.

A polar code decoding apparatus according to an embodiment includes a divider configured to generate a decoding tree in which a plurality of nodes including one or more critical sets for a polar-encoded codeword are formed in a hierarchical structure, and divide the decoding tree into one or more partitions, each partition equally including lowest nodes of the decoding tree, a determiner configured to determine a memory size for storing a primary decoding result based on a specific partition, the specific partition being selected from among the one or more partitions based on the number of critical sets included in each partition, and a decoder configured to decode the codeword primarily by using a successive cancellation (SC) decoding technique.

A polar code decoding apparatus according to an embodiment includes a divider configured to generate a decoding tree in which a plurality of nodes including one or more critical sets for a polar-encoded codeword are formed in a hierarchical structure, and divide the decoding tree into one or more partitions, each partition equally including lowest nodes of the decoding tree, a determiner configured to determine a memory size for storing a primary decoding result based on a specific partition, the specific partition being selected from among the one or more partitions based on the number of critical sets included in each partition, and a decoder configured to decode the codeword primarily by using a successive cancellation (SC) decoding technique.

A memory system includes an encoder and a decoder. The encoder is configured to generate multi-dimensionally-coded data to be written into the non-volatile memory. Data bits of the multi-dimensionally-coded data are grouped into first and second dimensional codes with respect to first and second dimensions, respectively. The decoder is configured to, with respect to each of the first and second dimensional codes included in read multi-dimensionally-coded data, generate a syndrome value of the dimensional code, generate low-reliability location information, generate a soft-input value based on the syndrome value and the low-reliability location information, decode the dimensional code through correction of the dimensional code using the soft-input value, and store modification information indicating a bit of the dimensional code corrected through the correction and reliability information indicating reliability of the correction. The decoder generates the soft-input value also based on the modification information and the reliability information in the memory.

A memory system includes an encoder and a decoder. The encoder is configured to generate multi-dimensionally-coded data to be written into the non-volatile memory. Data bits of the multi-dimensionally-coded data are grouped into first and second dimensional codes with respect to first and second dimensions, respectively. The decoder is configured to, with respect to each of the first and second dimensional codes included in read multi-dimensionally-coded data, generate a syndrome value of the dimensional code, generate low-reliability location information, generate a soft-input value based on the syndrome value and the low-reliability location information, decode the dimensional code through correction of the dimensional code using the soft-input value, and store modification information indicating a bit of the dimensional code corrected through the correction and reliability information indicating reliability of the correction. The decoder generates the soft-input value also based on the modification information and the reliability information in the memory.

A polar decoder circuit can execute successive cancellation list polar decoding on multiple threads concurrently. An LLR update engine of the polar decoder circuit and a sort engine of the polar decoder circuit can operate concurrently, with the LLR update engine computing updated path metrics for one codeword while the sort engine sorts candidates for one or more other codewords according to path metrics already computed by the LLR update engine. Threads corresponding to different codewords can cycle sequentially between the LLR update engine and the sort engine.

A method of soft-decision decoding including training a machine learning agent with communication signal training data; providing to the trained machine learning agent a signal that has been received via a communications channel; operating the machine learning agent to determine respective probabilities that the received signal corresponds to each of a plurality of symbols; and, based on the determined probabilities, performing soft decision decoding on the received signal.

Systems and methods are provided for decoding data read from non-volatile storage devices. A method that may include decoding a first codeword read from a storage location of a non-volatile storage device using a first decoder without soft information, determining that the first decoder has failed to decode the first codeword, decoding the first codeword using a second decoder without soft information, determining that the second decoder has succeeded in decoding the first codeword, generating soft information associated with the storage location using decoding information generated by the second decoder and decoding a subsequent codeword from the storage location using the soft information associated with the storage location. The second decoder may be more powerful than the first decoder.