Efficient method and apparatus for interleaving and de-interleaving data

The present invention relates generally to the field of data communications and in particular to a method and system for interleaving and de-interleaving data in a data communications system. Presented is a method and system for interleaving or de-interleaving a datastream of codewords divided into indexed symbols including the step of allocating an electronic memory into a predetermined number of FIFOs equal to the desired depth (D) of the interleave operation. Thereafter, for each symbol of each codeword to be operated upon, the method and system performs the following: (1) determine a first operational index of the symbol corresponding to the position of the symbol within a non-interleaved codeword; (2) perform a first operation upon one of the FIFOs identified by the first operational index of the symbol and a first predetermined criteria defining the location of the symbol in the electronic memory; (3) determine a second operational index of a corresponding symbol in an interleaved codeword; and (4) perform a second operation upon one of the FIFOs identified by the second operational index and a second predetermined criteria defining the location of the corresponding symbol in the electronic memory. An additional embodiment wherein the interleaving and de-interleaving are performed on a codeword basis is also presented.