Patent ID: 8203944

Claim:
A method for transmitting data over a network in which more than two transmission conditions can be used for transmitting data, each transmission condition having a score associated with it that indicates how successful previous data transmissions using that transmission condition have been, and each transmission condition including a transmission rate, the method comprising: selecting a transmission condition from the more than two transmission conditions, said selection being made in dependence on a predetermined preference distribution that, for each of the more than two transmission conditions, defines a non-zero probability of that transmission condition being selected, whereby all of the more than two transmission conditions have a chance of being selected; using the selected transmission condition when transmitting data over the network, and determining a success of the transmission; determining a score for the selected transmission condition in dependence on the success of the transmission using the selected transmission condition; updating the preference distribution in dependence on the difference between the score determined for the selected transmission condition and one or more scores associated with transmission conditions other than the selected transmission condition, and thereafter selecting a transmission condition for transmitting data over the network from the more than two transmission conditions in dependence on the updated preference distribution; and interleaving transmissions at the transmission rate of the selected transmission condition with transmissions at transmission rates of others of the transmission conditions.