A class of error control codes for M-spotty byte errors occurred in a limited number of bytes

Abstract

Spotty byte error control codes are very effective for correcting/ detecting errors in semiconductor memory systems using recent high-density RAM chips with wide I/O data, e.g., 8, 16, or 32 bits I/O data. A spotty byte error is defined as random t-bit errors within a byte of length b-bit, where t les b, and also m-spotty byte errors as multiple spotty byte errors in a byte. In semiconductor memory systems, in general, errors are occurred in a limited number of RAM chips, that is, occurred in a limited number of bytes. Considering this situation, this paper presents a new class of m-spotty byte error control codes where errors are confined to a limited number of bytes. The proposed codes require much smaller check-bit length than the conventional m-spotty byte error control codes and the RS codes. And also, this paper clarifies a decoding algorithm of the proposed codes