Efficient, programmable and scalable low density parity check decoder

In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, methods and apparatus allowing for an efficient design of an LDPC decoder suitable for a range of code-block sizes and bit-rates, which is also suitable for both ASIC and FPGA implementations, are provided. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the overhead associated with correction data sent along the transmission channel can be minimized. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an LDPC decoder is suitable for both ASIC and FPGA implementations. Method and apparatus allowing for an efficient design of an LDPC decoder suitable for a range of code-block sizes and bit-rates are presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such an LDPC decoder can be implemented in both ASIC and FPGA implementations. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention such an LDPC decoder can be optimized for either eIRA based H matrices or for general H matrices, as may be desirable. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an H parity matrix can be constructed and/or manipulated to arrange the bit-node message "columns" to facilitate mapping to MPB "columns" and corresponding access via LUT pointer tables to minimize processing cycles so as to, for example: (i) minimize address conflicts within the same MPB that will take multiple access cycles to resolve; (ii) minimize splitting of bit-node messages across MPB "columns" that will take multiple access cycles to resolve; and (iii) balance the bit-node computations across all the MPB/LUT "columns" so that they will complete their computations at nearly the same time.