Patent ID: 8750333

Claim:
A method performed at a network node of a wireless network, the method comprising: determining whether or not to use an extended header for a protocol layer in wirelessly communicating with a mobile terminal, the protocol layer being a layer above a physical (L1) layer; using the extended header for the protocol layer in transmitting and/or receiving a protocol data unit (PDU) of the protocol layer when it is determined that the extended header is to be used; and using a legacy header for the protocol layer in transmitting and/or receiving a protocol data unit (PDU) of the protocol layer when it is not determined that the extended header is to be used, wherein the extended header comprises a legacy indicator (L-I) field of a predetermined number of indicator bits for use in indicating a value of a characteristic of the PDU, wherein there is a legacy indicator threshold value associated with the characteristic, the legacy indicator threshold value being a maximum value of the characteristic that can be indicated by the legacy indicator field L-I, wherein the extended header comprises an extended indicator field (E-I) logically concatenated with the legacy indicator field L-I such that the E-I/L-I concatenation comprises sufficient number of bits to specify a value of the characteristic of the PDU beyond the legacy indicator threshold value, wherein a size of the extended header for the protocol layer is no greater than a size of the legacy header for the same protocol layer, and wherein the step of determining whether or not to use the extended header for the protocol layer comprises determining that the extended header for the protocol layer is to be used when a transport block (TB) size of the L1 layer is greater than a legacy TB threshold size.