Method of and apparatus for decoding a data stream which is protected by a multi-symbol error protection code

摘要

During the decoding of channel symbols included in multi-symbol code words in a data stream which is protected by a multi-symbol error correcting code such as a Reed-Solomon code, all channel symbols are first demodulated to derive the corresponding code symbols and a first indicator flag indicates whether or not the demodulation is reliable. All code symbols of a code word are subsequently collected, after which decoding is commenced to decode such code symbols and if correction of incorrect symbols of a code word is possible the code word is corrected. The decoding reliability of the corrected code word is indicated by a second indicator flag. If the corrected code word is unreliable, the stream of channel symbols is addressed again. During the latter operation, only the unreliably demodulated code symbols are replaced by new code symbols in order to enable renewed decoding of the code word.