Method and apparatus for generating parity bits in a forward error correction (fec) system

Abstract

A method and apparatus for performing parity bit generation. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a parity bit generator that multiplies words comprising message bits by a partial parity multiplication sub-matrix to generate intermediate parity values, and recursively adds (modulo-2) respective intermediate values together so that by the end of the recursive process, a final parity vector exists. This final parity vector can then be added to a message word to create a code word. By recursively using the partial parity multiplication sub-matrix in this way, the number of gates needed to perform parity bit generation is kept relatively small. Consequently the amount of power consumed by the parity bit generator during parity bit generation is relatively small. This is in contrast to typical parity bit generators, which multiply all of the message bits by a full parity multiplication matrix without recursion. The typical non-recursive process, which utilizes the complete parity multiplication matrix, requires a very large number of gates and a large area on an IC to implement the parity bit generator. Also, because of the large number of gates associated with parity bit generators that use the typical approach, those generators consume a large amount of power. The method and apparatus of the present invention are suitable for use with an encoder of a forward error correction (FEC) system.