Encoding method and encoder

1. An encoding method for encoding a signal having information bits by adding parity bits to the information bits, comprising:

a step of computing the parity bits by executing quasi-division operations using a polynomial having coefficients as a dividend, at least some of the coefficients being formed by the information bits, and h generator polynomials G0(x), . . . , Gh−1(x) as divisors, wherein h is an integer greater than or equal to 2; and

a step of outputting an encoded signal having the computed parity bits concatenated with the information bits.

2. The encoding method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of generating a linear code in which a codeword created by cyclically shifting an arbitrary codeword by p bit positions is also a codeword of the linear code.

3. The encoding method according to claim 2 , wherein p is an integer greater than or equal to 2 and is equal to h.

4. The encoding method according to claim 3 , wherein

p is the number of generator polynomials G i (X)

i=0, 1, . . . , (p−1);

for each i, one generator polynomial G i (X) is selected from code polynomials;

a degree of the selected polynomial G i (X) is a smallest in all candidate polynomials, each of which is a polynomial having i as the remainder of the degree of the candidate polynomial divided by p, wherein each of the code polynomials is represented by

∑

i

=

0

p

-

1

⁢

Q

i

⁡

(

x

p

)

⁢

G

i

⁡

(

x

)

;

and

(

9

)

coefficients of x j of the code polynomials are information bits, and

the other coefficients of the code polynomials are parity bits,

wherein

j is greater than or equal to m i mod p, and

m i is the degree of the selected polynomial G i (X).

5. The encoding method, wherein a codeword created by reversing the order of information bits of an arbitrary codeword generated by an encoding method of claim 4 is also a codeword.

6. The encoding method according to claim 3 , wherein

p is the number of generator polynomials G i (X)

i=0, 1, . . . , (p−1);

for each i, one generator polynomial G i (X) is selected from code polynomials;

a coefficient r of the selected polynomial G i (X) is the largest in all candidate polynomials, each of which is divisible by x r but not by x r+1 , and each of which has i as a remainder of r divided by p, wherein

each generator polynomial G i (X) is divisible by x ri but not by x ri+1 ;

each of the code polynomials is represented by

∑

i

=

0

p

-

1

⁢

Q

i

⁡

(

x

-

p

)

⁢

G

i

⁡

(

x

)

;

and

(

10

)

coefficients of x j of the code polynomials are information bits, and

the other coefficients of the code polynomials are parity bits,

wherein

j is less than or equal to r j mod p.

7. The encoding method, wherein a codeword created by reversing the order of information bits of an arbitrary codeword generated by an encoding method of claim 6 is also a codeword.

8. An encoder for encoding a signal having information bits by adding parity bits to the information bits, comprising:

a parity generator for computing the parity bits by quasi-division operations using a polynomial having coefficients as a dividend, at least some of the coefficients being formed by the information bits, and h generator polynomials G 0 (x), . . . , G h−1 (x) as divisors, wherein h is an integer greater than or equal to 2; and

an adder for adding the computed parity bits to the information bits to produce an encoded output signal.

9. An encoder for encoding a signal having information bits into a codeword by a linear code, the information bits appearing in the codeword as a part of the codeword, and the linear code being a code in which a codeword resulting from cyclically shifting an arbitrary codeword by p bit positions is also a codeword, comprising:

a parity generator for generating parity bits by executing quasi-division operations using p polynomials G 0 (x), . . . , G p−1 (x) as divisors and a polynomial having the information bits as coefficients as a dividend; and

concatenation means for concatenating the parity bits that are generated by the parity generator with the information bits to generate the code polynomial and outputting the encoded signal.

10. The encoder according to claim 9 , wherein the parity generator simultaneously receives a plurality of information bits and sequentially generates parity bits corresponding to the information bits.