Patent ID: 6981197

Claim:
An interleave type decoding method, comprising steps of: receiving an interleaved block containing a number, L, of interleaved codewords, wherein the interleaving was done in such a manner that any L consecutive symbols consist of exactly one symbol from each of the L codewords, the interleaved codewords being made up of symbols; de-interleaving the interleaved block of symbols to obtain estimated codewords for the block of symbols, wherein errors may be present in the symbols; performing a first decoding of the estimated codewords by using a first error correction code; marking erasure positions in uncorrectable estimated codewords; performing a second decoding of the estimated codewords where the second decoding is at least partially based on the erasure positions marked from correctable estimated codewords; and whereby the first and second decoding enhances the error correction capability to a number, L·(t 0 +1)−1, of symbols, where L is the number of codewords in a de-interleaved block and t 0 is the random error correction capability of an individual codeword.