Patent ID: 7783961

Claim:
A method for generating rate-compatible codes for a digital data communication system that is performed by a transmitter for the transmission of data to a receiver over a wireless channel, the method comprising the steps of: for a given range of code rates and responsive to minimizing maximal step recoverable punctured nodes, puncturing a maximum number of parity nodes in an initial low density parity check code to obtain a first low density parity check code with a highest code rate; for a given range of code rates and responsive to minimizing maximal step recoverable punctured nodes, repeatedly unpuncturing at least one of the punctured parity nodes in the first low density parity check code so as to obtain a next low density parity check code with a lowest code rate lower than the highest code rate; and extending the initial low density parity check code with a mixture of at least one degree-1 parity node and at least one degree-2 parity node from an accumulate structure so as to obtain a second low density parity check code with a lower code rate than the lowest code rate obtained by the repeatedly unpuncturing step, wherein each of said low density parity check codes are rate-compatible and wherein the mixture is determined by optimizing the proportions of the degree-1 parity nodes and the degree-2 parity nodes in the mixture with respect to a minimum signal-to-noise ratio measure.