A Unified View on Known Algebraic Decoding Algorithms and New Decoding Concepts

Known properties of cyclic codes are used to give a unified description of many classical decoding algorithms for Reed-Solomon codes up to half the minimum distance. This description allows also simplified proofs for these decoders. Further, a novel decoding algorithm is derived using these properties directly and variants of a new error/erasure decoding algorithm are given. For decoding beyond half the minimum distance, a basis of all solutions for decoding is derived. This basis allows to use side information in order to decode beyond half the minimum distance. Other methods where this basis can be used are power decoding, also known as virtual syndrome extension, where additional equations are generated by taking powers of the received symbols, and interleaved Reed-Solomon codes. The extended Euclidean algorithm, which calculates the greatest common divisor, plays an essential role in many presented methods.