ECC with out of order completion

1. A method of processing a sequence of data frames in an error correction code (ECC) decoder, including:

receiving a first data frame in the sequence of data frames;

storing the first data frame;

initiating processing of the first data frame through the ECC decoder;

receiving a second data frame from the input sequence of data frames;

storing the second data frame; and

initiating processing of the second data frame through the ECC decoder before the first data frame is finished being processed through the ECC decoder.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder includes two or more stages, and wherein processing of the second data frame is initiated after the first data frame is finished processing through a first stage of the ECC decoder.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder includes one or more iterative stages.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder outputs a corrected second data frame corresponding to the second data frame before outputting a corrected first data frame corresponding to the first data frame.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder outputs a corrected second data frame corresponding to the second data frame before outputting a corrected first data frame corresponding to the first data frame, and further including reordering the corrected first data frame before the corrected second data frame.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder is associated with a low density parity check (LDPC) code.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder is associated with a Reed-Solomon code.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder includes a soft output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) processing stage.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ECC decoder uses reliability information.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data frames are associated with disk sectors.

11. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data frames are associated with a communications system.

12. A system for processing a sequence of data frames in an error correction code (ECC) decoder, including:

a processor configured to:

receiving a first data frame in the sequence of data frames;

store the first data frame;

initiate processing of the first data frame through the ECC decoder;

receive a second data frame from the input sequence of data frames;

store the second data frame; and

initiate processing of the second data frame through the ECC decoder before the first data frame is finished being processed through the ECC decoder; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory provides the processor with instructions.

13. A system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the ECC decoder includes two or more stages, and wherein processing of the second data frame is initiated after the first data frame is finished processing through a first stage of the ECC decoder.

14. A system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the ECC decoder includes one or more iterative stages.

15. A system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the ECC decoder outputs a corrected second data frame corresponding to the second data frame before outputting a corrected first data frame corresponding to the first data frame.

16. A computer program product for processing a sequence of data frames in an error correction code (ECC) decoder, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a first data frame in the sequence of data frames;

storing the first data frame;

initiating processing of the first data frame through the ECC decoder;

receiving a second data frame from the input sequence of data frames;

storing the second data frame; and

initiating processing of the second data frame through the ECC decoder before the first data frame is finished being processed through the ECC decoder.

17. A computer program product as recited in claim 16 , wherein the ECC decoder includes two or more stages, and wherein processing of the second data frame is initiated after the first data frame is finished processing through a first stage of the ECC decoder.

18. A computer program product as recited in claim 16 , wherein the ECC decoder includes one or more iterative stages.

19. A computer program product as recited in claim 16 , wherein the ECC decoder outputs a corrected second data frame corresponding to the second data frame before outputting a corrected first data frame corresponding to the first data frame.