Combined puncturing and path pruning for convolutional codes and the application to unequal error protection

In this paper, puncturing and path pruning are combined for convolutional codes to construct a new coding scheme for unequal error protection (UEP), called the hybrid punctured and path-pruned convolutional codes. From an algebraic viewpoint, we show that the hybrid codes not only inherit all the advantages of the conventional rate-compatible punctured convolutional codes and path-compatible pruned convolutional codes but also can provide more flexible choices of protection capability for UEP. In addition, a data-multiplexing scheme originally proposed for path-pruned codes which can guarantee smooth transition between rates without additional zero-padding for frame termination is proven applicable to the hybrid codes to improve the system throughput.