Patent ID: 7848287

Claim:
A method of transferring upper-layer packet data units (PDUs) associated with a plurality of time-sensitive applications each having a maximum data transfer delay constraint, comprising: constructing one or more radio link control (RLC) data blocks from each upper-layer PDU; initializing a timer for each RLC data block or group of RLC data blocks associated with the same time-sensitive application, each timer being initialized to a timer value corresponding to the maximum data transfer delay constraint of the time-sensitive application associated with the RLC data block or group of RLC data blocks for which the timer is initialized; storing the RLC data blocks for the different time-sensitive applications in a buffer prior to transmission so that RLC data blocks having timers initialized to different timer values are stored in the same buffer; starting the timer associated with one of the RLC data blocks or group of RLC data blocks responsive to initial transmission of the RLC data block or group of RLC data blocks; re-transmitting an unacknowledged RLC data block so long as the timer associated with the unacknowledged RLC data block has not expired; and deleting the unacknowledged RLC data block from the buffer responsive to the timer associated with the unacknowledged RLC data block expiring or a received message indicating reception of the unacknowledged RLC data block.