Patent ID: 7200795

Claim:
A method of encoding user data into codevectors (C) of an error correcting code (ECC), comprising the steps of: generating a first block (B) of a fixed first number (Z 1 ) of data symbols by taking a fixed second number (Z 2 ), being smaller than said first number (Z 1 ), of user data symbols (U), and a fixed third number (Z 3 ) of dummy data symbols (D), and by arranging said user data symbols (U) and said dummy data symbols (D) in a predetermined order, encoding said first block (B) of data symbols using an ECC encoder ( 2 ) to obtain a codeword (E) having a fixed number of symbols, said codeword (E) comprising said first block (B) of data symbols and a second block of a fixed forth number (Z 4 ) of parity symbols (P), and generating a codevector (C) by selecting a fifth predetermined number (Z 5 ) of user data symbols (U 2 ) and a sixth predetermined number (Z 6 ) of parity symbols (P 1 ) from said codeword (E), the sum of said fifth and sixth number being predetermined and smaller than the sum of said second and forth number.