Patent ID: 8023487

Claim:
A method for transmitting data over a network in which multiple transmission conditions can be used for transmitting data, each transmission condition being associated with a rating indicative of how successful previous data transmissions using that transmission condition have been, the method comprising: transmitting data over the network using a selected transmission condition; updating the rating associated with the selected transmission condition in dependence on a determination of the success of that transmission, wherein a transmission is deemed to be successful if an acknowledgement is received for the transmitted data, a transmission being repeated until such an acknowledgement is received or until the number of transmissions exceeds a predetermined number without an acknowledgement having been received for the transmitted data, and wherein the determination of the success of the transmission is performed in dependence on the number of times the data is transmitted without receiving an acknowledgement for that data; updating the ratings associated with each transmission condition other than the selected transmission condition by adjusting each of those ratings by a predetermined amount; and selecting a transmission condition in dependence on the updated ratings.