Patent ID: 8397137

Claim:
A method of decoding a data block received by a receiver node in a communication network comprising a plurality of nodes wherein a sender node broadcasts data to a plurality of nodes in the network and the receiver node receives same data directly from the sender node and via at least one node other than the sender node, the data block being encoded using an error correction code which can correct an erasure, wherein the method comprises: an obtaining step of obtaining a data block directly received from the sender node and at least one corresponding data block received via a node other than the sender node; a determining step of determining an erasure symbol in the data block directly received from the sender node; a replacing step of replacing the erasure symbol by a value of a corresponding symbol corresponding to the erasure symbol in the corresponding data block if the corresponding symbol is not an erasure symbol; and a correction step of correcting the erasure symbol, which could not be replaced in the replacing step, using the error correction code.