Patent ID: 9531504
Filing Date: 2016-12-27
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: receiving, at a radio access network (RAN), at least one indication of signal quality as measured by a wireless communication device (WCD) served by the RAN; determining that each of the at least one indication of signal quality meets or exceeds a threshold signal quality, wherein indications of signal quality that meet or exceed the threshold signal quality are associated with a greater extent of positive acknowledgment messages received by the RAN than indications of signal quality that do not meet or exceed the threshold signal quality; based on the at least one indication of signal quality meeting or exceeding the threshold signal quality, instructing the WCD to bundle at least one hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment that the WCD transmits to the RAN; and receiving, at the RAN, a single HARQ acknowledgement message from the WCD in response to a plurality of HARQ subpackets that the RAN transmits to the WCD, wherein, when the single HARQ acknowledgement message from the WCD is a negative acknowledgement message that indicates that at least one of the plurality of HARQ subpackets was not successfully received by the WCD, the RAN transmits a replacement HARQ subpacket to the WCD, wherein the first plurality of HARQ subpackets is derived from one or more full packets, and wherein a HARQ subpacket not successfully received by the WCD and the replacement HARQ subpacket are derived from a common full packet.