  Near optimal decoding of good error control codes is generally a difficult
task. However, for a certain type of (sufficiently) good codes an efficient
decoding algorithm with near optimal performance exists. These codes are
defined via a combination of constituent codes with low complexity trellis
representations. Their decoding algorithm is an instance of (loopy) belief
propagation and is based on an iterative transfer of constituent beliefs. The
beliefs are thereby given by the symbol probabilities computed in the
constituent trellises. Even though weak constituent codes are employed close to
optimal performance is obtained, i.e., the encoder/decoder pair (almost)
achieves the information theoretic capacity. However, (loopy) belief
propagation only performs well for a rather specific set of codes, which limits
its applicability.
  In this paper a generalisation of iterative decoding is presented. It is
proposed to transfer more values than just the constituent beliefs. This is
achieved by the transfer of beliefs obtained by independently investigating
parts of the code space. This leads to the concept of discriminators, which are
used to improve the decoder resolution within certain areas and defines
discriminated symbol beliefs. It is shown that these beliefs approximate the
overall symbol probabilities. This leads to an iteration rule that (below
channel capacity) typically only admits the solution of the overall decoding
problem. Via a Gauss approximation a low complexity version of this algorithm
is derived. Moreover, the approach may then be applied to a wide range of
channel maps without significant complexity increase.
