Patent ID: 7467344

Claim:
A system for communicating source data from a data source over a communications link, comprising a source device, the source device including: an encoder organizing a selected portion of source data into a data block having rows and columns, the encoder forming an encoded column from each column of the data block by appending column error-correction data for the column to the column, the column error-correction data being formed for each column by using a Reed-Solomon code to form the column error-correction data, and forming an encoded row from each row of the data block and from each row of column error-correction data by appending row error-correction data for the row to the row, the row error-correction data being formed for each row by using a BCH-type code to form the row error-correction data; and a transmitter transmitting each encoded row and a first predetermined number of rows of column error-correction data of the data block over the communication link, the first predetermined number of rows being less than a total number of rows formed by column error-correction data.