System and method for determining the fault-tolerance of an erasure code

摘要

A method for determining a fault tolerance of an erasure code comprises deriving base erasure patterns from a generator matrix of an erasure code, determining which of the base erasure patterns are adjacent to one another and XORing the adjacent base erasure patterns with one another to produce child erasure patterns of the erasure code. The method further comprises combining the base erasure patterns and the child erasure patterns to form a minimal erasures list (MEL) for the erasure code, whereby the MEL corresponds to the fault tolerance of the erasure code. Also provided are methods for communicating and storing data by using the fault tolerance of erasure codes.