Patent ID: 7072307

Claim:
A method of operating a wireless transmitter to wirelessly transmit a data packet on a variable rate channel to a receiver, the method comprising: coding a plurality of data bits of the data packet to produce a plurality of parity bits, wherein the plurality of data bits and the plurality of parity bits comprise an encoder packet; forming a first sub packet from the encoder packet as a first transmission, the first sub packet including the data bits and a first set of the parity bits, and the first sub packet having a first coding rate; transmitting the first transmission to the receiver at a first bit rate; receiving an indication from the receiver that the first transmission was not successfully decoded; and forming a second sub packet from the encoder packet as a second transmission, the second sub packet having a second set of parity bits that are different than the first set of parity bits, and the second sub packet having a second coding rate; transmitting the second transmission to the receiver at a second bit rate that differs from the first bit rate; receiving an indication from the receiver that the first transmission and the second transmission were not successfully decoded; forming a third sub packet from the encoder packet as a third transmission, the third sub packet having a third set of parity bits that are different than the first set of parity bits and the second set of parity bits, and the third sub packet having a third coding rate; and transmitting the third transmission to the receiver at a third bit rate that differs from at least the first bit rate.