Error states and synchronization recovery for variable length codes

An efficient technique for obtaining a variable length code (VLC) resistant to synchronization loss due to channel errors is proposed. Bit errors in the channel lead to incorrect decoding of a VLC and result in error states for continuous codewords. In this paper first a precise value is found for assessing the ability of a VLC to recover synchronization from the error states. Next a new transformation for converting a code into another of the same efficiency (equivalent transformation) is introduced, and several VLCs with an identical efficiency are compared through estimation of synchronization recovery in order to find an error-resistant VLC. Based on the equivalent transformation, an efficient method for finding an error-resistant VLC with high recovery performance from among multiple VLCs is described