Patent ID: 8548485

Claim:
A method for adaptively transmitting information to a plurality of nodes in a local area of a base station, the method comprising: assigning each node in the plurality of nodes to at least one category in a plurality of categories based on a set of transmission characteristics; receiving channel quality information from one or more of the plurality of nodes within the local area of the base station; identifying at least one category of nodes in the plurality of categories to receive a transmission from the base station; selecting a transmission rate for a downlink transmission to nodes in the at least one category of nodes based on the received channel quality information, the selected transmission rate corresponding to one of the lowest channel qualities; simultaneously transmitting a same message to nodes in the at least one category of nodes at the selected transmission rate; receiving a request for retransmission of the same message from at least one node in the at least one category of nodes; and retransmitting the same message to— nodes in the at least one category of nodes, and nodes in at least one category of nodes having channel quality information lower than the at least one category of nodes, based on the request for retransmission.