Triple orthogonally interleaed error correction system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In accordance with the present invention there is provided a triple orthogonally interleaved error correction system to detect and correct errors in data transmissions through the use of relatively few error correction symbols in proportion to the amount of user data transmitted.
In accordance with the broader aspects of the present invention, the data stream to be transmitted or stored is encoded by a first error correction encoder to form a series of code words.
The code words are input to an interleaver where the code words are orthogonally interleaved.
A second error correction encoder then encodes the series of code words.
The code words are further processed by a second interleaver and subsequently encoded by a third error correction encoder.
The triple orthogonally interleaved encoded data is then ready for transmission or storage through a chosen media channel.
On the reception or play back side of the system, the data is recovered from the media channel and processed by a corresponding series of decoders and deinterleavers in reverse order from the transmission and storage side to recover the user data stream and correct any introduced errors.
In particular, the data stream to be transmitted or stored is input into the system and first processed by a first error correction encoder that divides the raw data into a series of code groups comprised of K symbols per group, wherein each symbol is comprised of eight data bits (one byte).
The first encoder generates a first error correction symbol (C3) that is appended onto its associated code group of symbol length K to form a code word of symbol length N.
The C3 error correction symbols generated for each code word can correct up to T erroneously transmitted or stored symbols, wherein T=(N-K)/2.
After the C3 error correction symbols are appended, the generated code words are stored in the columns of an outer interleaver as a first series of two-dimensional "data planes.
" Thus, each column of the outer interleaver is comprised of an integral number of C3 encoded code words of symbol length N, with each row of each column containing a integral number of individual data symbols or correction symbols