Patent ID: 8443248

Claim:
A method for decoding data packets in a wireless communication system that uses a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) technique, the method comprising the steps of: providing a HARQ memory in a receiver; receiving softbits of each of a plurality of demodulated sub-packets of a received data packet; storing the softbits of said demodulated sub-packets in said HARQ memory; receiving softbits of each of a plurality of retransmitted demodulated sub-packets of a retransmitted data packet; combining the softbits of a sub-packet from an initially transmitted data packet with the softbits of the respective sub-packet from a retransmitted data packet; wherein the size of the HARQ memory is defined according to M p =(1−(1−p tp ) −N cb )·N cb ·L cb , where p tp is the probability of data packet errors, N cb is the number of sub-packets per data packet, and L cb is the maximum length of a sub-packet; and the method further comprising: prior to the storing step, performing an error check on each sub-packet; and the storing step comprises: storing, in said HARQ memory, only softbits of those demodulated sub-packets of a received data packet which failed the error check; the method further comprising: for those demodulated sub-packets of a received data packet that have passed said error check, storing decoded data bits in a second memory.