Patent ID: 8239728

Claim:
A method for encoding a signal, comprising: receiving input data; encoding a first portion of the input data to obtain a first set of encoded data; using a processor to process at least some part of the input data to determine which one of a plurality of subsets the input data corresponds to, wherein: the plurality of subsets includes a first subset, a second subset, and a third subset; and the first subset has a greater signal margin (SM) than the second subset and the third subset and the third subset has a greater SM than the second subset; in the event the input data corresponds to the first subset, using the processor to output the first set of encoded data and a second portion of the input data; in the event the input data corresponds to the second subset: using the processor to encode the second portion of the input data using a first code to obtain a second set of encoded data; and outputting the first set of encoded data and the second set of encoded data and in the event the input data corresponds to the third subset: using the processor to encode the second portion of the input data using a second code to obtain a third set of encoded data, wherein the first code is a stronger code than the second code; and outputting the first set of encoded data and the third set of encoded data.