Patent ID: 8213356

Claim:
A downlink transmission method for use in a multi-hop communication system, the system comprising a source apparatus, a destination apparatus and one or more intermediate apparatuses, and the system providing two or more different communication paths extending between said source apparatus and said destination apparatus, said source apparatus being operable to transmit information indirectly to the destination apparatus along a series of links forming a first such communication path via one or more of said intermediate apparatuses and also being operable to transmit information to said destination apparatus along one link forming a second such communication path, and the intermediate apparatus or each intermediate apparatus being operable to receive information from a previous apparatus along a path and to transmit the received information to a subsequent apparatus along a path; the method comprising transmitting particular information from the source apparatus along the first communication path via one or more of said intermediate apparatuses to the destination apparatus; transmitting the same particular information from the source apparatus along the second communication path to the destination apparatus; and combining the same particular information transmitted along the first and second communication paths in the destination apparatus, wherein the second communication path is a direct communication path and the same particular information is transmitted along the second path directly from said source apparatus to said destination apparatus.