Patent ID: 7245594

Claim:
A method for increasing the data throughput rate of a communication network, comprising: generating a plurality of interleaved data slots and gap slots at an access point, wherein the plurality of interleaved data slots and gap slots form at least one packet; transmitting the at least one packet to an access terminal at a particular data rate; receiving at least one indicator message from the access terminal during a time period associated with at least one gap slot indicating a reception status, wherein the indicator message comprises a bit received during a slot n, and the access point designates each slot in accordance with an alternating pattern,; and modifying a subsequent data packet for transmission to the access terminal in accordance with the indicator message received at the access point, wherein modifying the subsequent data packet for transmission to the access terminal comprises: deciding the bit is a request for a termination of transmission if a repetition of one of the plurality of data packets is already scheduled for slot n+1; deciding the bit is a request for retransmission if an already transmitted packet ended transmission in slot n−1; deciding the bit is a request for retransmission if a previous indicator bit caused a retransmission of an already transmitted packet in slot n−1 and fewer than a predetermined number of retransmissions have been already processed for the plurality of data packets; and deciding the bit is a false alarm if no conditions are satisfied.