Linear block codes

We assume that the output of an information source is a sequence of binary digits "0" or "1." In block coding, this binary information sequence is segmented into message blocks of fixed length; each message block, denoted by u, consists of k information digits. There are a total of 2 distinct messages. The encoder, according to certain rules, transforms each input message u into a binary n-tuple v with n > k. This binary n-tuple v is referred to as the code word (or code vector) of the message u , as shown in Figure 1.