Patent ID: 8279781

Claim:
A method for transmitting over a long delay, half-duplex channel where a device can transmit or receive, but not both at the same time, the method comprising: (a) for M information packets, generating N M linear coded packets; (b) transmitting, via a transmitter, the N M linear coded packets to a receiver; and (c) upon reception of the N M linear coded packets at the receiver, determining a remaining number of degrees of freedom needed to decode the M information packets; (d) determining an optimal number of coded packets the transmitter will send in a next transmission based upon one or more channel characteristics and information in an acknowledgement packet; and wherein determining an optimal number of coded packets to be transmitted back-to-back before stopping to wait for an acknowledgment packet from the receiver comprises: determining the number of degrees of freedom the receiver requires to decode the information; determining a packet error probability value; determining a latency value; and determining an optimal number of coded packets to be transmitted back-to-back before stopping to wait for an acknowledgment packet from the receiver using the number of degrees of freedom, the packet error probability value and the latency value.