Patent ID: 7243288

Claim:
A decoding system for decoding block codes comprising information bits and parity bits, comprising: a first decoder adapted to receive a first partial word including a first set of parity bit values associated with a first subset of the parity bits and a first set of information bit values, the first decoder being adapted to decode the first partial word and generate a first refined word including a first set of refined information bit values; and a second decoder adapted to receive a second partial word including a second set of parity bit values associated with a second subset of the parity bits and the first set of refined information bit values, the second decoder being adapted to decode the second partial word and generate a second refined word including a second set of refined information bit values, wherein the first decoder is adapted to receive a first partial parity matrix and decode the first partial word based on the first partial parity matrix, the first partial parity matrix being based on the first subset of the parity bits.