Patent ID: 8542706

Claim:
A communications method, the method comprising: generating a first sequence of M bits communicating a first packet header and a packet payload corresponding to said first packet header, said first packet header indicating a full length of said packet payload; determining, after generation of a portion of said sequence of M bits communicating the first packet header, a rate option and a number N of bits to be transmitted in a first transmission segment based on a channel quality; transmitting N of said M bits and a rate indicator, said N bits communicating said first packet header and including a portion of said packet payload; and when the portion of said packet payload is less than the indicated full length of said packet payload, forming a second sequence of X bits communicating a second packet header and at least some of a remainder portion of said packet payload, said second packet header indicating a length of the remainder portion of said packet payload, said remainder portion being an untransmitted portion of said packet payload, X, M and N being positive integers.