Methods and apparatus employing FEC codes with permanent inactivation of symbols for encoding and decoding processes

摘要

Encoding of a plurality of encoded symbols is provided wherein an encoded symbol is generated from a combination of a first symbol generated from a first set of intermediate symbols and a second symbol generated from a second set of intermediate symbols, each set having at least one different coding parameter, wherein the intermediate symbols are generated based on the set of source symbols. A method of decoding data is also provided, wherein a set of intermediate symbols is decoded from a set of received encoded symbols, the intermediate symbols organized into a first and second sets of symbols for decoding, wherein intermediate symbols in the second set are permanently inactivated for the purpose of scheduling the decoding process to recover the intermediate symbols from the encoded symbols, wherein at least some of the source symbols are recovered from the decoded set of intermediate symbols.

主权项

1. A method of electronically transmitting data via one or more transmitters capable of outputting an electronic signal, wherein the data to be transmitted is represented by an ordered set of source symbols and the data is transmitted as a sequence of encoded symbols representing at least a portion of the electronic signal, the method comprising:
obtaining, in an electronically readable form, the ordered set of source symbols; generating a set of intermediate symbols from the ordered set of source symbols, wherein the source symbols can be regenerated from the set of intermediate symbols; designating sets of the intermediate symbols such that each intermediate symbol is designated as a member of one of the sets of intermediate symbols and there are at least a first set of intermediate symbols and a second set of intermediate symbols, and wherein each set of intermediate symbols has associated with it distinct encoding parameters and has as members at least one intermediate symbol; and generating a plurality of encoded symbols, wherein an encoded symbol is generated from one or more of the intermediate symbols, wherein at least one encoded symbol is generated, directly or indirectly, from a plurality of intermediate symbols selected from a plurality of the sets of intermediate symbols.