Patent ID: 7222284

Claim:
A communication unit for a multiple code rate communication system comprising: a codeword defining N codeword elements and K information elements coded at a code rate R=K/(N−P), wherein P is a number of punctured elements of the codeword; a first storage location for storing an error reduction code mother code definition; a second storage location for storing a maximum puncture sequence S max , wherein the maximum puncture sequence S max is stored in and retrieved from a plurality of memory elements, wherein S max is the puncture sequence for a maximum code rate R max , and further wherein S max comprises a minimum puncture sequence S 1 that is a puncture sequence for a minimum code rate R 1 , wherein the minimum puncture sequence S 1 is stored in and retrieved from a subset of the plurality of memory elements that store the maximum puncture sequence S max , wherein the codeword is one of decoded or encoded through the error reduction code mother code definition read from the first storage location and a selected one of puncturing sequences S 1 , S 2 , . . . S max read from the second storage location wherein the sequence S 2 is stored in and retrieved from a subset of the plurality of memory elements that store the maximum puncture sequence S max .