Error-correcting tandem encoding system

Claim 1

An error-correcting tandem system comprising a transmitter section and a receiver section; said transmitter section comprising: multiplexer means for multiplexing data and voice signals supplied thereto; Reed-Solomon encoder means for Reed-Solomon-encoding an output signal from said multiplexer means while interleaving the output signal without causing a delay; convolutional encoder means for convolutionally encoding a Reed-Solomon encoded signal from said Reed-Solomon encoder means; and phase-shift keying modulator means having a fixed bit rate for phase-shift-keying an output signal from said convolutional encoder means; said receiver section comprising: phase-shift-keying demodulator means having a fixed bit rate for demodulating a phase-shift-keyed signal supplied thereto; Viterbi decoder means for decoding a demodulated output signal from said phase-shift-keying demodulator means based on a Viterbi algorithm; deinterleaver means for deinterleaving a decoded output signal from said Viterbi decoder means; Reed-Solomon decode means for decoding a deinterleaved output signal from said deinterleaver means; first separator means for separating voice and data signals from a decoded output signal from said Reed-Solomon decoder means; second separator means for extracting a voice signal from the decoded output signal from said Viterbi decoder means; and selector means for selecting the voice signal extracted by said second separator means when a decoding delay poses a problem, and for selecting the voice signal separated by said first separator means when a decoding delay poses no problem.