Method and apparatus for performing Reed-Solomon Product-like decoding of data in CD-ROM format

摘要

A method and apparatus processing a Reed-Solomon Product-like Code (RSPC) error correction in a substantially real time mode are provided. Two RSPC error correctors are provided in the CD-ROM decoder which perform RSPC error correction over the LSB and MSB of each word respectively. In addition, a 16-bit buffer-memory or a Fast-Page-Mode buffer-memory is provided to store the CD-ROM data temporarily. The LSB and MSB of each word are retrieved from the buffer memory during the same memory cycle and fed to the first and second RSPC error corrector substantially at the same time. The first RSPC error corrector performs the RSPC operation over the LSB. The second RSPC error corrector performs the RSPC operation over the MSB. The respective operations are performed during substantially the same time interval. The invention results in shorter buffer-memory access time and shorter overall RSPC processing time and achieves a substantially real time access of a high speed CD-ROM.