Patent ID: 7636301

Claim:
A system, comprising: a transmitter configured to perform lower layer functions for a primary link between the system and a receiver; and a controller configured to perform an automatic repeat request protocol used over the primary link, wherein the controller is placed remotely to the transmitter and is configured to transmit digital data frames via a secondary link to the transmitter for transmission to the receiver, when the transmission is a first transmission of the digital data frames from the system to the receiver, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the digital data frames to the receiver via the primary link and store the digital data frames transmitted to the receiver in a memory of the transmitter at least temporarily, wherein if the receiver requests a retransmission of a digital data frame that is not received correctly, according to the automatic repeat request protocol, the controller is configured to determine if the requested digital data frame is still stored in the memory of the transmitter, if the requested digital data frame is still stored in the memory of the transmitter, the controller is configured to transmit only a control signal to the transmitter, and the transmitter is configured to identify the digital data frame among the digital data frames stored in the memory according to the control signal and retransmit the requested digital data frame to the receiver, and if the requested digital data frame is not stored in the memory of the transmitter anymore, the controller is configured to retransmit the requested digital data frame to the transmitter and the transmitter is configured to retransmit the requested digital data frame to the receiver.