Patent ID: 7801063

Claim:
A wireless communication device, comprising: a controller to control transmission of data at a transmission data rate and to control retransmission of said data at a retransmission data rate, wherein said retransmission is performed if an acknowledgement is not received for a current frame; and a rate selection mechanism that progressively reduces said retransmission data rate to at least one of two or more lower retransmission data rates only for said current frame if an acknowledgement is not received for a current frame after n attempts of transmission at said transmission data rate, wherein a second lower retransmission data rate is selected if an acknowledgement is not received for a current frame after m attempts of retransmission at a first lower retransmission data rate, wherein m equals a maximum number of attempts parameter corresponding to said first lower retransmission data rate, wherein m and n are integers, and wherein m and n are greater than one.