Majority detection in error recovery

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of retry bit values for each bit of a codeword having one or more bits, each retry bit value associated with one of a plurality of retries, each retry comprising a separate read of the codeword from a storage location;

for at least one bit of the codeword, an accumulator counting the number of occurrences of at least one retry bit value across the plurality of retries; and

determining a value of at least one bit of the codeword based on a majority of corresponding retry bit values of the at least one bit in the plurality of retries.

2. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

performing the steps of receiving and determining in response to an error recovery mode caused by a failure of an error correction code (ECC) decoder to correct a first codeword.

3. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a plurality of retries using multiple read mechanisms on a single pass of the codeword.

4. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a plurality of retries until a retry time-out expires.

5. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a plurality of retries until an error correction code (ECC) decoder successfully corrects the codeword.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the step of determining further comprises:

determining reliability information for a value of at least one bit of the codeword based on a reoccurrence ratio of corresponding retry values in the plurality of retries;

determining whether the at least one bit value is uncertain based on the reliability information and a threshold of uncertainty; and

declaring an uncertain bit as an erasure.

7. The method as in claim 6 , further comprising:

declaring a symbol of the codeword as an erasure in response to a bit declared as an erasure within the symbol.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a codeword having one or more bits for a plurality of retries, each retry comprising a separate estimation of the values of the bits of the codeword; and

an error recovery system determining reliability information for a value of at least one bit of the codeword based on a reoccurrence ratio of corresponding retry values of the at least one bit in the plurality of retries.

9. The method as in claim 8 , further comprising:

determining whether the at least one bit value is uncertain based on the reliability information and a threshold of uncertainty; and

declaring an uncertain bit as an erasure.

10. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

declaring a symbol of the codeword as an erasure in response to a bit declared as an erasure within the symbol.

11. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

adjusting the threshold of uncertainty to declare either more or fewer erasures.

12. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

adjusting the threshold of uncertainty to provide a number of erasures that is within an error correction ability of an error correction code (ECC) decoder.

13. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

setting the threshold of uncertainty equal to 50%, wherein no bits are determined to be uncertain.

14. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

providing additional erasure confidence to the declared erasures based on one or more additional erasure possibility indications.

15. The method as in claim 14 , wherein the additional erasure possibility indications are selected from a group consisting of: thermal asperity indications and illegal pattern indications.

16. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

adjusting the threshold of uncertainty to declare a most confident erasure first; and

adjusting the threshold of uncertainty to declare zero or more next most confident erasures until an error correction code (ECC) decoder is able to correct the codeword.

17. The method as in claim 9 , further comprising:

declaring a bit value as a 1 if the reliability information indicates that a majority of retry values are 1 and the reliability information is greater than the threshold of uncertainty;

declaring a bit value as a 0 if the reliability information indicates that a majority of retry values are 0 and the reliability information is greater than the threshold of uncertainty; and

determining that a bit value is uncertain if the reliability information for the majority of either retry value is less than the threshold of uncertainty.

18. The method as in claim 8 , further comprising:

determining the value of the at least one bit of the codeword based on a majority of corresponding retry values of the at least one bit in the plurality of retries; and

determining the reliability information for the determined value of the at least one bit of the codeword.

19. The method as in claim 8 , further comprising:

utilizing with the reliability information one of either a Generalized Minimum Distance (GMD) decoding, a Chase decoding, and an Algebraic Soft Decoding (ASD).

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a codeword having one or more bits for a plurality of retries, each retry comprising a separate determination of the values of the bits in the codeword;

means for determining a value of at least one bit of the codeword based on a majority of corresponding retry values of the at least one bit in the plurality of retries; and

means for determining reliability information for the determined value of the at least one bit of the codeword based on a reoccurrence ratio of corresponding retry values of the at least one bit in the plurality of retries.