Quasi-cyclic LDPC encoding and decoding for non-integer multiples of circulant size

A method for processing quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) data, comprising:

• receiving an input signal, which includes decision and reliability information corresponding to unpadded data;
• introducing into the input signal decision and reliability information corresponding to padded data;
• using a low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder to perform message passing one or more times to obtain decoded data, including by using (1) the decision and reliability information corresponding to the unpadded data and (2) the decision and reliability information corresponding to the padded data, including by giving preference to the decision and reliability information corresponding to the padded data over the decision and reliability information corresponding to the unpadded data during message passing;
• and
• removing zero padding from the decoded data.

A computer program product for processing quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) data, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

• receiving an input signal, which includes decision and reliability information corresponding to unpadded data;
• introducing into the input signal decision and reliability information corresponding to padded data;
• performing message passing one or more times to obtain decoded data, including by using (1) the decision and reliability information corresponding to the unpadded data and (2) the decision and reliability information corresponding to the padded data, including by giving preference to the decision and reliability information corresponding to the padded data over the decision and reliability information corresponding to the unpadded data during message passing;
• and
• removing zero padding from the decoded data.