A General Method of Applying Error Correction to Synchronous Digital Systems

This paper describes a general method of applying error correction to synchronous digital d a t a systems. It includes, as a special case, the wellknown scheme of triplication with vote taking. 2 Since the scheme employs error-correcting codes, it is capable of detecting errors as well as correcting them. Hence, maintenance personnel can be alerted as soon as a fault occurs. Also, it has the property of enabling the system to which it is applied to continue to function correctly even when faults are present and maintenance is being performed, provided all the faults are confined to any one of the several subunits which comprise the sys577 578 T H E B E L L SYSTEM T E C H N I C A L J O U R N A L , MARCH 19G1 Fig. 1 -- E r r o r correction by triplication and vote taking.