In one embodiment, a method for data communication may include receiving a first set of soft bit values in a Hybrid Automatic Repeat-Request (HARQ) buffer using a first bit width. The method may also include soft combining the first set of soft bit values with a second set of soft bit values to obtain a set of combined soft bit values. The method may also include transforming the set of combined soft bit values from the first bit width to a decoder input bit width to obtain a set of transformed soft bit values.