A metric sorter, a successive list cancellation decoder and metric sorting method

The present invention provides a metric sorter (10,11) for sorting metrics of a successive list cancellation, SLC, decoder unit (12), comprising an extracting means (10) and a sorting means (11), the extracting means (10) being adapted to extract L smallest metrics from 2L input metrics, and to supply the extracted L smallest metrics to the SLC decoder unit (12) and the sorting means (11), and the sorting means (11) being adapted to sort the extracted L smallest metrics from the extracting means (10) and to supply the sorted L smallest metrics to the extracting means (10), wherein the 2L input metrics comprise the sorted L smallest metrics from the sorting means (11) and L new metrics supplied from the SLC decoder unit (12). The invention provides a corresponding metric sorting method and a SLC decoder. The advantage of the invention is a significantly reduced latency of the SLC decoding.