Patent ID: 7836376

Claim:
A method of encoding a block of data using an apparatus comprising a main input, a splitter comprising a splitter input and a splitter output, a block oriented code encoder comprising an encoder data input, an encoder coupled to the encoder input, and an encoder control input, and a global controller, the method comprising: receiving at the main input of the apparatus the block of data to be encoded; operating the splitter to split the block of data into a set of sub-blocks in which a last sub-block to be encoded has a last sub-block size consistent with a decoding latency equal to or being the closest to a desired decoding latency and at least another sub-block has a greatest sub-block size, the greatest sub-block size being consistent with a given decoding speed, and the splitter output adapted to sequentially deliver the sub-blocks; receiving at the encoder control input of the encoder information representative of a size of the block of data to be encoded; and operating the global controller based on received control information to either couple the splitter input to the main input and the encoder data input to the splitter output, or couple the encoder data input to the main input.